Autonation Inc (AN) is undervalued and Lithia Motors Inc (LAD) is undervalued.
Against our estimates of intrinsic value, LAD trades at the wider discount: a margin of safety of +67%, against +35% for AN.
Values as of the 22 Sept 2026 close.
Discounting its cash flows at 6.6% (average of 3 methods) values the shares at $261.45; the price of $169.61 is 35% below that value, and 84% of that value comes from beyond year five.
Leak Score 86/100 on 3 of 12 signals
Discounting its cash flows at 6.9% (average of 2 methods) values the shares at $940.77; the price of $312.32 is 67% below that value, and 84% of that value comes from beyond year five.
Leak Score 41/100 on 3 of 12 signals
| Metric | AN | LAD |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Undervalued | Undervalued |
| Price | $169.61 | $312.32 |
| Intrinsic value | $261.45 | $940.77 |
| Margin of safety | +35% | +67% |
| Leak Score | 86/100 (3/12) | 41/100 (3/12) |
| Market cap | $5.6B | $6.9B |
| Revenue growth, 5 years | 6.3% | 23.4% |
| Operating margin | 4.7% | 3.8% |
| Net margin | 2.8% | 1.9% |
| Return on equity | 32.8% | 10.7% |
| Debt to equity | 5.02 | 2.59 |
| P/E | 7.9x | 10.3x |
| Forward P/E | 6.8x | 7.3x |
| P/B | 2.5x | 1.1x |
| Dividend yield | — | 0.7% |