Carmax Inc vs Lithia Motors Inc

Carmax Inc (KMX) is overvalued 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 -111% for KMX.

Values as of the 22 Sept 2026 close.

Carmax Inc (KMX)

Discounting its cash flows at 7.0% values the shares at $26.99; the price of $56.84 is 111% above that value.

Leak Score 0/100 on 3 of 12 signals

Lithia Motors Inc (LAD)

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

MetricKMXLAD
VerdictOvervaluedUndervalued
Price$56.84$312.32
Intrinsic value$26.99$940.77
Margin of safety-111%+67%
Leak Score0/100 (3/12)41/100 (3/12)
Market cap$8.1B$6.9B
Revenue growth, 5 years6.7%23.4%
Operating margin2.1%3.8%
Net margin0.8%1.9%
Return on equity3.6%10.7%
Debt to equity3.082.59
P/E37.4x10.3x
Forward P/E7.3x
P/B1.3x1.1x
Dividend yield0.7%

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