Sonic Automotive (SAH)
NYSE:SAH
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Sonic Automotive
(NYSE:SAH)
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Rating:64Neutral
Price Target:
$82.00
▲(15.98% Upside)
Action:ReiteratedDate:05/03/26
The score is held back primarily by leveraged financial structure and compressed, volatile margins despite strong recent revenue growth and uneven free-cash-flow consistency. Offsetting positives include strong technical momentum (price above major moving averages with positive MACD), attractive valuation (low P/E with a dividend), and a generally confident earnings-call tone with reiterated guidance and substantial shareholder-return actions, tempered by same-store volume/GPU pressures and planned cost increases from marketing.
Positive Factors
High-margin fixed-ops & F&I contribution
Fixed-ops and F&I now generate the majority of gross profit, providing recurring, higher-margin revenue streams that are less cyclical than new-vehicle sales. This structural mix improves cash predictability, supports working capital and cushions margin volatility from vehicle retail cycles.
Negative Factors
High leverage on the balance sheet
Elevated debt-to-equity increases refinancing, covenant and interest-rate sensitivity, reducing financial flexibility during downturns. High leverage constrains ability to absorb cyclical revenue shocks, limits investment capacity, and raises the risk of covenant-driven limits on dividends, buybacks or acquisitions.
Read all positive and negative factors
Positive Factors
Negative Factors
High-margin fixed-ops & F&I contribution
Fixed-ops and F&I now generate the majority of gross profit, providing recurring, higher-margin revenue streams that are less cyclical than new-vehicle sales. This structural mix improves cash predictability, supports working capital and cushions margin volatility from vehicle retail cycles.
Read all positive factors
Sonic Automotive (SAH) vs. SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY)
Market Cap
$2.65B
Dividend Yield2.27%
Average Volume (3M)201.34K
Price to Earnings (P/E)9.5
Beta (1Y)0.91
Revenue Growth4.82%
EPS Growth-55.13%
CountryUS
Employees10,800
SectorConsumer Cyclical
Sector Strength84
IndustryAuto - Dealerships
Share Statistics
EPS (TTM)3.22
Shares Outstanding21,517,576
10 Day Avg. Volume225,503
30 Day Avg. Volume201,338
Financial Highlights & Ratios
PEG Ratio-0.39
Price to Book (P/B)1.97
Price to Sales (P/S)0.14
P/FCF Ratio5.04
Enterprise Value/Market Cap2.69
Enterprise Value/Revenue0.47
Enterprise Value/Gross Profit3.17
Enterprise Value/Ebitda13.79
Forecast
1Y Price Target
$76.50Price Target Upside8.20% Upside
Rating ConsensusModerate Buy
Number of Analyst Covering7
EPS Forecast (FY)6.64
Revenue Forecast (FY)$15.64B
Sonic Automotive Business Overview & Revenue Model
Company Description
Sonic Automotive, Inc. operates as an automotive retailer in the United States. It operates in two segments, Franchised Dealerships and EchoPark. The Franchised Dealerships segment is involved in the sale of new and used cars and light trucks, and...
How the Company Makes Money
Sonic Automotive primarily makes money through multiple dealership-related revenue streams: (1) New vehicle sales: revenue from selling new cars and trucks through franchised dealerships; profitability is driven by vehicle gross margins, manufactu...
Sonic Automotive Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Any
Operating Income by Segment
Shows segment-level profitability after operating costs like salaries, facility expenses, and marketing. Indicates which parts of the dealership network truly generate operating cash and where management may need to cut costs or invest to improve returns.
Shows segment-level profitability after operating costs like salaries, facility expenses, and marketing. Indicates which parts of the dealership network truly generate operating cash and where management may need to cut costs or invest to improve returns.
Data provided by:
The Fly
The FlySonic Automotive Earnings Call Summary
Earnings Call Date:Apr 30, 2026
(Q1-2026)
| % Change Since: |
Next Earnings Date:Jul 23, 2026
Earnings Call Sentiment Positive
The call conveyed multiple operational and financial wins: record revenue and gross profit, robust EBITDA and income momentum at EchoPark, strong fixed operations and F&I performance, meaningful powersports growth, improved sourcing that raises GPU resilience, and a strong capital-return posture (buybacks and dividend increase). Key challenges include a 4% same-store revenue decline driven by a 10% drop in new vehicle retail volume, same-store GPU pressures in new and used vehicles, and the risk of wholesale auction price volatility narrowing margins. Management emphasized mitigation actions—non-auction sourcing, fixed-ops growth, EchoPark efficiency, targeted marketing investment, and balance sheet flexibility—indicating confidence in execution despite macro and industry headwinds.Positive Updates
Record Quarterly Revenue and Gross Profit
Total revenues of $3.7 billion (record first quarter), up 1% year-over-year; total gross profit of $598.8 million (record first quarter), up 6% year-over-year.
Negative Updates
Same-Store Revenue and New Vehicle Volume Declines
Franchised same-store revenues declined 4% year-over-year to $2.9 billion. Same-store new vehicle retail volume decreased 10% year-over-year, attributed in part to prior-year pull-forward ahead of 2025 tariff announcements.
Read all updates
Q1-2026 Updates
Positive
Negative
Record Quarterly Revenue and Gross Profit
Total revenues of $3.7 billion (record first quarter), up 1% year-over-year; total gross profit of $598.8 million (record first quarter), up 6% year-over-year.
Read all positive updates
Company Guidance
Management reiterated full‑year 2026 guidance (see Page 13 of the investor presentation) that incorporates tariff uncertainty and represents the company’s current expectations, while flagging a disciplined plan to resume EchoPark store openings in late 2026 and to begin funding brand marketing this year (potentially increasing advertising by $10–$20 million, mostly in H2); EchoPark is expected to deliver sub‑ to high‑single‑digit unit gains, building on Q1 results (revenues $581M, gross profit $68M, adjusted segment income $12.6M, adjusted EBITDA $18.6M, unit sales +3%, total GPU $3,502/unit); corporate priorities include maintaining ~$770M available liquidity (including $381M cash/floor deposits), opportunistic capital deployment (Q1 repurchases ~2.1M shares for ~$136M, Board approved an additional $500M repurchase authorization and an 8% dividend increase to $0.41/share), and continued margin/leverage focus (fixed ops targeting >$100M/month gross, mid‑single‑digit fixed ops growth, and current net leverage a bit over two turns).Sonic Automotive Financial Statement Overview
Summary
Income Statement
63
Positive
Balance Sheet
38
Negative
Cash Flow
47
Neutral
| Breakdown | TTM | Dec 2025 | Dec 2024 | Dec 2023 | Dec 2022 | Dec 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Income Statement | ||||||
| Total Revenue | 15.19B | 15.15B | 14.22B | 14.37B | 14.00B | 12.40B |
| Gross Profit | 2.25B | 2.22B | 2.04B | 2.10B | 2.19B | 1.81B |
| EBITDA | 517.70M | 531.00M | 610.80M | 565.00M | 441.00M | 622.50M |
| Net Income | 108.90M | 118.70M | 216.00M | 178.20M | 88.50M | 348.90M |
Balance Sheet | ||||||
| Total Assets | 6.12B | 5.97B | 5.90B | 5.36B | 4.98B | 4.98B |
| Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments | 5.70M | 6.30M | 44.00M | 28.90M | 229.20M | 299.40M |
| Total Debt | 4.43B | 4.23B | 4.13B | 3.86B | 3.49B | 3.32B |
| Total Liabilities | 5.14B | 4.90B | 4.83B | 4.47B | 4.08B | 3.90B |
| Stockholders Equity | 981.30M | 1.07B | 1.06B | 891.90M | 895.20M | 1.08B |
Cash Flow | ||||||
| Free Cash Flow | 263.30M | 417.50M | -89.60M | -256.50M | 153.90M | 503.50M |
| Operating Cash Flow | 405.20M | 567.40M | 97.70M | -52.90M | 381.00M | 801.70M |
| Investing Cash Flow | -441.80M | -499.00M | -178.30M | -218.70M | -299.70M | -1.30B |
| Financing Cash Flow | -22.30M | -106.10M | 95.80M | 71.30M | -151.50M | 624.80M |
Sonic Automotive Technical Analysis
Positive
70.70
Price Trends
63.22
Positive
62.98
Positive
68.61
Positive
Market Momentum
1.57
Negative
65.24
Neutral
80.62
Negative
Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For SAH, the sentiment is Positive. The current price of 70.7 is above the 20-day moving average (MA) of 65.98, above the 50-day MA of 63.22, and above the 200-day MA of 68.61, indicating a bullish trend. The MACD of 1.57 indicates Negative momentum. The RSI at 65.24 is Neutral, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 80.62 is Negative, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Positive sentiment for SAH.
Sonic Automotive Risk Analysis
Sonic Automotive disclosed 36 risk factors in its most recent earnings report. Sonic Automotive reported the most risks in the "Finance & Corporate" category.
Finance & Corporate - Financial and accounting risks. Risks related to the execution of corporate activity and strategy
Latest Risks Added 0 New Risks
Sonic Automotive Peers Comparison
UnderperformOutperform
Sector (61)
Name | Overall Rating | Market Cap | P/E Ratio | ROE | Dividend Yield | Revenue Growth | EPS Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
66 Neutral | $6.60B | 14.55 | 10.61% | 0.64% | 2.37% | -10.19% | |
64 Neutral | $2.65B | 9.47 | 11.15% | 2.27% | 4.82% | -55.13% | |
63 Neutral | $3.68B | 4.94 | 10.55% | ― | 4.83% | 33.96% | |
63 Neutral | $6.85B | 8.25 | 28.44% | ― | 1.94% | 9.88% | |
61 Neutral | $18.38B | 12.79 | -2.54% | 3.03% | 1.52% | -15.83% | |
61 Neutral | $4.09B | 7.62 | 11.04% | 0.49% | 7.17% | -26.51% | |
57 Neutral | $5.59B | -13.17 | 4.05% | ― | -1.64% | -50.32% |
* Consumer Cyclical Sector Average
SAH
Sonic Automotive
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14.94
23.32%
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Sonic Automotive Corporate Events
Business Operations and StrategyShareholder Meetings
Sonic Automotive Shareholders Approve New 2026 Equity Plan
Positive
May 1, 2026
At its annual meeting held on April 29, 2026, Sonic Automotive, Inc. stockholders approved a new 2026 Equity Incentive Plan, which replaces the company’s 2012 Stock Incentive Plan and became effective retroactively as of February 11, 2026. T...
Business Operations and StrategyStock BuybackDividendsFinancial DisclosuresM&A Transactions
Sonic Automotive Posts Record Q1 Results, Boosts Shareholder Returns
Positive
Apr 30, 2026
On April 30, 2026, Sonic Automotive reported first-quarter 2026 results showing record consolidated revenue of $3.7 billion and gross profit of $598.8 million, with adjusted net income rising 7% year over year despite lower reported earnings due t...
Business Operations and StrategyPrivate Placements and Financing
Sonic Automotive Secures $150 Million PNC Bridge Credit
Neutral
Apr 2, 2026
On March 27, 2026, Sonic Automotive entered into a Bridge Facility Credit Agreement with PNC Bank for a senior unsecured term loan of $150 million and immediately borrowed the full amount, which matures the earlier of 364 days from closing or upon...
Business Operations and StrategyStock BuybackDividendsFinancial Disclosures
Sonic Automotive Posts Record Profit Amid Dividend Increase
Positive
Feb 18, 2026
On February 18, 2026, Sonic Automotive reported fourth-quarter 2025 revenue of $3.9 billion, down 1% year over year, but delivered a record quarterly gross profit of $598.7 million and adjusted net income of $52.2 million, while also repurchasing ...
Business Operations and StrategyExecutive/Board Changes
Sonic Automotive Sets 2026 Performance-Based Executive Bonus Plan
Positive
Feb 13, 2026
On February 11, 2026, Sonic Automotive’s Compensation Committee set the framework for 2026 performance-based cash bonuses covering the period from January 1 to December 31, 2026, for Chairman and CEO David Bruton Smith, President Jeff Dyke, ...
Glossary
BuyA stock rated as a "Buy" is expected to perform better than the overall market or a specific benchmark over the near-to-medium term. This rating suggests the stock is likely to deliver higher returns compared to other stocks in the same sector or market index. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
HoldA stock rated as a "Hold" is expected to perform in line with the overall market or a specific benchmark. This rating indicates that the stock is neither particularly compelling nor unfavorable for investment. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
SellA stock rated as a "Sell" is expected to perform worse than the overall market or a specific benchmark over the near-to-medium term. This rating suggests the stock may deliver lower returns compared to other stocks in the same sector or market index. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
Disclaimer
This AI Analyst Stock Report is automatically generated by our AI systems using advanced algorithms and publicly available financial, technical, and market data. While the information provided aims to be accurate and insightful, it is intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Any content created by an AI (Artificial Intelligence) system may contain inaccuracies and/or contain errors. Investing in stocks carries inherent risks, and past performance is not indicative of future results. This report does not account for your personal financial circumstances, objectives, or risk tolerance. Always conduct your own research or consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. The analysis and recommendations provided are based on historical and current data and may not fully reflect future market conditions or unexpected developments. Neither the creators of this report nor its affiliated entities guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information presented. Use this report at your own discretion and risk.