Sonic Automotive (SAH) Competitors

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) and Sonic Automotive (NYSE:SAH) are both mid-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, community ranking, risk, profitability, media sentiment, valuation and dividends.

Is LAD or SAH a better dividend stock?

Lithia Motors pays an annual dividend of $2.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Sonic Automotive pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Lithia Motors pays out 7.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Sonic Automotive pays out 22.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Lithia Motors has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, LAD or SAH?

Lithia Motors has higher revenue and earnings than Sonic Automotive. Sonic Automotive is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lithia Motors, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lithia Motors	$36.19B	0.23	$802M	$29.68	10.75
Sonic Automotive	$14.22B	0.15	$216M	$6.18	10.17

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in LAD or SAH?

46.9% of Sonic Automotive shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Lithia Motors shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 42.7% of Sonic Automotive shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is LAD or SAH more profitable?

Lithia Motors has a net margin of 2.21% compared to Sonic Automotive's net margin of 1.52%. Sonic Automotive's return on equity of 19.96% beat Lithia Motors' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lithia Motors	2.21%	12.43%	3.53%
Sonic Automotive	1.52%	19.96%	3.43%

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer LAD or SAH?

Lithia Motors received 236 more outperform votes than Sonic Automotive when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 66.31% of users gave Lithia Motors an outperform vote while only 53.06% of users gave Sonic Automotive an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Lithia Motors	Outperform Votes 496 66.31%	Underperform Votes 252 33.69%
Sonic Automotive	Outperform Votes 260 53.06%	Underperform Votes 230 46.94%

Does the media refer more to LAD or SAH?

In the previous week, Sonic Automotive had 1 more articles in the media than Lithia Motors. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Sonic Automotive and 6 mentions for Lithia Motors. Lithia Motors' average media sentiment score of 1.56 beat Sonic Automotive's score of 0.08 indicating that Lithia Motors is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Lithia Motors	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Sonic Automotive	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do analysts rate LAD or SAH?

Lithia Motors presently has a consensus price target of $371.36, suggesting a potential upside of 16.35%. Sonic Automotive has a consensus price target of $77.80, suggesting a potential upside of 23.73%. Given Sonic Automotive's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Sonic Automotive is more favorable than Lithia Motors.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lithia Motors	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.64
Sonic Automotive	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has more risk and volatility, LAD or SAH?

Lithia Motors has a beta of 1.69, indicating that its stock price is 69% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sonic Automotive has a beta of 1.7, indicating that its stock price is 70% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Lithia Motors beats Sonic Automotive on 13 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.