Lithia Motors (LAD)

• Market cap: $7.58B
• 1 day: 1.91%
• 5 days: -0.33%
• 1 month: -4.71%
• 3 months: -18.11%
• 6 months: -8.50%
• Year to date: -17.26%
• 1 year: 10.58%
• 5 years: 200.76%
• 10 years: 184.71%
• Sector: Consumer Discretionary
• Industry: Auto & Truck Dealerships

About: Lithia Motors is a retailer of new and used vehicles and related services. The company offers over 50 brands of vehicles at nearly 500 stores globally across the US, Canada, and UK. The company has expanded largely through the acquisition of dealerships in smaller regional markets but now seeks to grow in any part of the US and we expect more deals over time in the US and, at times, abroad. Annual revenue in 2024 was $36.2 billion and we see over $50 billion possible in a few years. The US was 78% of 2024 revenue and the UK second at 19%, due to the 2024 Pendragon acquisition. In 2024, new vehicle sales were about 49% of total revenue. Lithia was founded in 1946, went public in 1996, and is the largest US auto dealer. It is based in Medford, Oregon.

Employees: 30,000

Fund manager confidence

Based on 2024 Q4 regulatory disclosures by fund managers ($100M+ AUM)

88% more first-time investments, than exits

New positions opened: 90 | Existing positions closed: 48

14% more capital invested

Capital invested by funds: $8.8B [Q3] → $10B (+$1.21B) [Q4]

9% more funds holding

Funds holding: 401 [Q3] → 436 (+35) [Q4]

1.38% more ownership

Funds ownership: 103.73% [Q3] → 105.12% (+1.38%) [Q4]

4% more call options, than puts

Call options by funds: $43.5M | Put options by funds: $41.9M

24% less repeat investments, than reductions

Existing positions increased: 123 | Existing positions reduced: 162

27% less funds holding in top 10

Funds holding in top 10: 11 [Q3] → 8 (-3) [Q4]

Research analyst outlook

4 Wall Street Analysts provided 1 year price targets over the past 3 months

• Low target: $360 25% upside
• Avg. target: $399 38% upside
• High target: $440 52% upside

4 analyst ratings

• positive: 3 75%
• neutral: 1 25%
• negative: 0 0%

JP Morgan Rajat Gupta 57% 1-year accuracy 25 / 44 met price target	25% upside $360	Overweight Maintained	27 Mar 2025
Benchmark Michael Albanese 9% 1-year accuracy 2 / 22 met price target	39% upside $400	Buy Reiterated	20 Feb 2025
Evercore ISI Group Douglas Dutton 0% 1-year accuracy 0 / 3 met price target	52% upside $440	Outperform Maintained	18 Feb 2025
Wells Fargo Colin Langan 34% 1-year accuracy 11 / 32 met price target	38% upside $397	Equal-Weight Maintained	13 Feb 2025