Autonation Stock Analysis

AN Stock  USD 204.98  2.09  1.01%   
Below is the normalized historical share price chart for AutoNation extending back to November 05, 1984. This chart has been adjusted for all splits and dividends and is plotted against all major global economic recessions. As of today, the current price of AutoNation stands at 204.98, as last reported on the 31st of January, with the highest price reaching 207.12 and the lowest price hitting 203.70 during the day.
IPO Date
3rd of March 1992
200 Day MA
202.9312
50 Day MA
210.9964
Beta
0.877
 
Black Monday
 
Oil Shock
 
Dot-com Bubble
 
Housing Crash
 
Credit Downgrade
 
Yuan Drop
 
Covid
 
Interest Hikes
AutoNation holds a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.417. At this time, AutoNation's Short and Long Term Debt Total is very stable compared to the past year. As of the 31st of January 2026, Short Term Debt is likely to grow to about 5.9 B, while Net Debt is likely to drop about 3.1 B. With a high degree of financial leverage come high-interest payments, which usually reduce AutoNation's Earnings Per Share (EPS).

Asset vs Debt

Equity vs Debt

AutoNation's liquidity is one of the most fundamental aspects of both its future profitability and its ability to meet different types of ongoing financial obligations. AutoNation's cash, liquid assets, total liabilities, and shareholder equity can be utilized to evaluate how much leverage the Company is using to sustain its current operations. For traders, higher-leverage indicators usually imply a higher risk to shareholders. In addition, it helps AutoNation Stock's retail investors understand whether an upcoming fall or rise in the market will negatively affect AutoNation's stakeholders.
For most companies, including AutoNation, marketable securities, inventories, and receivables are the most common assets that could be converted to cash. However, for AutoNation, the most critical issue when managing liquidity is ensuring that current assets are properly aligned with current liabilities. If they are not, AutoNation's management will need to obtain alternative financing to ensure there are always enough cash equivalents on the balance sheet to meet obligations.
Price Book
2.9905
Enterprise Value Ebitda
10.8302
Price Sales
0.2693
Shares Float
34.5 M
Wall Street Target Price
239.3
As of the 31st of January 2026, Capital Stock is likely to grow to about 640 K, while Total Stockholder Equity is likely to drop about 2.6 B. . At this time, AutoNation's Price Earnings Ratio is very stable compared to the past year. As of the 31st of January 2026, Price Book Value Ratio is likely to grow to 6.15, while Price To Sales Ratio is likely to drop 0.28.
AutoNation is undervalued with Real Value of 222.46 and Target Price of 239.3. The main objective of AutoNation stock analysis is to determine its intrinsic value, which is an estimate of what AutoNation is worth, separate from its market price. There are two main types of AutoNation's stock analysis: fundamental analysis and technical analysis.
The AutoNation stock is traded in the USA on New York Stock Exchange, with the market opening at 09:30:00 and closing at 16:00:00 every Mon,Tue,Wed,Thu,Fri except for officially observed holidays in the USA. AutoNation is usually not traded on Labour Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year 's Day, Dr . Martin Luther King Jr 's Birthday, Washington 's Birthday, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth Holiday, Independence Day ( substitute day ), Independence Day. AutoNation Stock trading window is adjusted to America/New York timezone.
Check out Trending Equities to better understand how to build diversified portfolios, which includes a position in AutoNation. Also, note that the market value of any company could be closely tied with the direction of predictive economic indicators such as signals in employment.
To learn how to invest in AutoNation Stock, please use our How to Invest in AutoNation guide.

AutoNation Stock Analysis Notes

About 95.0% of the company shares are held by institutions such as insurance companies. The book value of AutoNation was presently reported as 68.11. The company has Price/Earnings To Growth (PEG) ratio of 0.84. AutoNation recorded earning per share (EPS) of 16.98. The entity had not issued any dividends in recent years. The firm had 2:1 split on the 10th of June 1996. AutoNation, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as an automotive retailer in the United States. AutoNation, Inc. was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Autonation operates under Auto Truck Dealerships classification in the United States and is traded on New York Stock Exchange. It employs 22200 people. For more info on AutoNation please contact Michael Manley at 954 769 6000 or go to https://www.autonation.com.

AutoNation Investment Alerts

Over 95.0% of the company shares are held by institutions such as insurance companies
Latest headline from seekingalpha.com: Penske Automotive adds to its presence in the Orlando region with an acquisition

AutoNation Largest EPS Surprises

Earnings surprises can significantly impact AutoNation's stock price both in the short term and over time. Negative earnings surprises usually result in a price decline. However, it has been seen that positive earnings surprises lead to an immediate rise in a stock's price and a gradual increase over time. This is why we often hear news about some companies beating earning projections. Financial analysts spend a large amount of time predicting earnings per share (EPS) along with other important future indicators. Many analysts use forecasting models, management guidance, and additional fundamental information to derive an EPS estimate.
Reported
Fiscal Date
Estimated EPS
Reported EPS
Surprise
1997-04-28
1997-03-310.070.080.0114 
1997-01-30
1996-12-310.070.06-0.0114 
1996-10-23
1996-09-300.060.070.0116 
View All Earnings Estimates

AutoNation Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Scores

AutoNation's ESG score is a quantitative measure that evaluates AutoNation's performance and commitment regarding environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. These scores are becoming increasingly crucial in investment decision-making processes, providing insights into non-financial aspects of AutoNation's operations that may have significant financial implications and affect AutoNation's stock price as well as guide investors towards more socially responsible investments.

AutoNation Stock Institutional Investors

Shares
Geode Capital Management, Llc2025-06-30
455.7 K
Morgan Stanley - Brokerage Accounts2025-06-30
448 K
Holocene Advisors, Lp2025-06-30
396.7 K
Gamco Investors, Inc. Et Al2025-06-30
363.1 K
Squarepoint Ops Llc2025-06-30
316.9 K
Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc2025-06-30
315.3 K
Norges Bank2025-06-30
315.2 K
Bank Of America Corp2025-06-30
277.5 K
Bank Of New York Mellon Corp2025-06-30
271.9 K
Vanguard Group Inc2025-06-30
3.1 M
Blackrock Inc2025-06-30
2.6 M
Note, although AutoNation's institutional investors appear to be way more sophisticated than retail investors, it remains unclear if professional active investment managers can reliably enhance risk-adjusted returns by an amount that exceeds fees and expenses.

AutoNation Market Capitalization

The company currently falls under 'Mid-Cap' category with a market capitalization of 7.52 B.

AutoNation Profitablity

The company has Net Profit Margin (PM) of 0.02 %, which suggests that even a small decline in it sales will erase profits and may result in a net loss, or a negative profit margin. This is way below average. Likewise, it shows Net Operating Margin (NOM) of 0.05 %, which signifies that for every $100 of sales, it has a net operating income of $0.05.
Last ReportedProjected for Next Year
Return On Tangible Assets 0.06  0.06 
Return On Capital Employed 0.17  0.10 
Return On Assets 0.05  0.05 
Return On Equity 0.25  0.27 

Management Efficiency

AutoNation has Return on Asset (ROA) of 0.0653 % which means that for every $100 of assets, it generated a profit of $0.0653. This is way below average. Likewise, it shows a return on total equity (ROE) of 0.2716 %, which means that it produced $0.2716 on every 100 dollars invested by current stockholders. AutoNation's management efficiency ratios could be used to measure how well AutoNation manages its routine affairs as well as how well it operates its assets and liabilities. At this time, AutoNation's Return On Tangible Assets are very stable compared to the past year. As of the 31st of January 2026, Return On Assets is likely to grow to 0.05, while Return On Capital Employed is likely to drop 0.10. At this time, AutoNation's Return On Assets are very stable compared to the past year.
Last ReportedProjected for Next Year
Book Value Per Share 55.43  58.20 
Tangible Book Value Per Share 2.22  3.11 
Enterprise Value Over EBITDA 11.08  19.36 
Price Book Value Ratio 3.17  6.15 
Enterprise Value Multiple 11.08  19.36 
Price Fair Value 3.17  6.15 
Enterprise Value10.3 B5.7 B
Leadership effectiveness at AutoNation is a strong indicator of its financial stability. We analyze various metrics to provide insights into the stock's investment viability.
Operating Margin
0.047
Profit Margin
0.0238
Beta
0.877
Return On Assets
0.0653
Return On Equity
0.2716

Technical Drivers

As of the 31st of January, AutoNation shows the Mean Deviation of 1.23, risk adjusted performance of 0.034, and Downside Deviation of 1.6. AutoNation technical analysis gives you the methodology to make use of historical prices and volume patterns to determine a pattern that approximates the direction of the firm's future prices.

AutoNation Price Movement Analysis

Execute Study
The output start index for this execution was twenty-three with a total number of output elements of thirty-eight. The Bollinger Bands is very popular indicator that was developed by John Bollinger. It consist of three lines. AutoNation middle band is a simple moving average of its typical price. The upper and lower bands are (N) standard deviations above and below the middle band. The bands widen and narrow when the volatility of the price is higher or lower, respectively. The upper and lower bands can also be interpreted as price targets for AutoNation. When the price bounces off of the lower band and crosses the middle band, then the upper band becomes the price target.

AutoNation Insider Trading Activities

Some recent studies suggest that insider trading raises the cost of capital for securities issuers and decreases overall economic growth. Trading by specific AutoNation insiders, such as employees or executives, is commonly permitted as long as it does not rely on AutoNation's material information that is not in the public domain. Local jurisdictions usually require such trading to be reported in order to monitor insider transactions. In many U.S. states, trading conducted by corporate officers, key employees, directors, or significant shareholders must be reported to the regulator or publicly disclosed, usually within a few business days of the trade. In these cases AutoNation insiders are required to file a Form 4 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) when buying or selling shares of their own companies.

AutoNation Outstanding Bonds

AutoNation issues bonds to finance its operations. Corporate bonds make up one of the largest components of the U.S. bond market, which is considered the world's largest securities market. AutoNation uses the proceeds from bond sales for a wide variety of purposes, including financing ongoing mergers and acquisitions, buying new equipment, investing in research and development, buying back their own stock, paying dividends to shareholders, and even refinancing existing debt. Most AutoNation bonds can be classified according to their maturity, which is the date when AutoNation has to pay back the principal to investors. Maturities can be short-term, medium-term, or long-term (more than ten years). Longer-term bonds usually offer higher interest rates but may entail additional risks.

AutoNation Predictive Daily Indicators

AutoNation intraday indicators are useful technical analysis tools used by many experienced traders. Just like the conventional technical analysis, daily indicators help intraday investors to analyze the price movement with the timing of AutoNation stock daily movement. By combining multiple daily indicators into a single trading strategy, you can limit your risk while still earning strong returns on your managed positions.

AutoNation Corporate Filings

F4
30th of January 2026
The report filed by a party regarding the acquisition or disposition of a company's common stock, as well as derivative securities such as options, warrants, and convertible securities
ViewVerify
F3
21st of January 2026
An amendment to the original Schedule 13D filing
ViewVerify
F4
6th of January 2026
The report filed by a party regarding the acquisition or disposition of a company's common stock, as well as derivative securities such as options, warrants, and convertible securities
ViewVerify
F3
12th of December 2025
An amendment to the original Schedule 13D filing
ViewVerify
F4
10th of December 2025
The report filed by a party regarding the acquisition or disposition of a company's common stock, as well as derivative securities such as options, warrants, and convertible securities
ViewVerify
F3
3rd of December 2025
The schedule filed by any person or group who acquires beneficial ownership of more than 5% of a voting class of a company's equity securities registered under Section 12 of the Act
ViewVerify
F4
20th of November 2025
The report filed by a party regarding the acquisition or disposition of a company's common stock, as well as derivative securities such as options, warrants, and convertible securities
ViewVerify
8K
14th of November 2025
Report filed with the SEC to announce major events that shareholders should know about
ViewVerify

AutoNation Forecast Models

AutoNation's time-series forecasting models are one of many AutoNation's stock analysis techniques aimed at predicting future share value based on previously observed values. Time-series forecasting models ae widely used for non-stationary data. Non-stationary data are called the data whose statistical properties e.g. the mean and standard deviation are not constant over time but instead, these metrics vary over time. These non-stationary AutoNation's historical data is usually called time-series. Some empirical experimentation suggests that the statistical forecasting models outperform the models based exclusively on fundamental analysis to predict the direction of the market movement and maximize returns from investment trading.

AutoNation Bond Ratings

AutoNation financial ratings play a critical role in determining how much AutoNation have to pay to access credit markets, i.e., the amount of interest on their issued debt. The threshold between investment-grade and speculative-grade ratings has important market implications for AutoNation's borrowing costs.
Piotroski F Score
6
HealthyView
Beneish M Score
(2.60)
Unlikely ManipulatorView

AutoNation Debt to Cash Allocation

As AutoNation follows its natural business cycle, the capital allocation decisions will not magically go away. AutoNation's decision-makers have to determine if most of the cash flows will be poured back into or reinvested in the business, reserved for other projects beyond operational needs, or paid back to stakeholders and investors.
AutoNation reports 8.65 B of total liabilities with total debt to equity ratio (D/E) of 2.42, which may imply that the company relies heavily on debt financing. AutoNation has a current ratio of 1.03, indicating that it is in a questionable position to pay out its debt commitments in time. Nevertheless, prudent borrowing could serve as an effective mechanism for AutoNation to finance growth opportunities yielding strong returns.

AutoNation Total Assets Over Time

AutoNation Assets Financed by Debt

The debt-to-assets ratio shows the degree to which AutoNation uses debt to finance its assets. It includes both long-term and short-term borrowings maturing within one year. It also includes both tangible and intangible assets, such as goodwill.

AutoNation Debt Ratio

    
  30.0   
It appears that about 70% of AutoNation's assets are financed through equity. Typically, companies with high debt-to-asset ratios are said to be highly leveraged. The higher the ratio, the greater risk will be associated with the AutoNation's operation. In addition, a high debt-to-assets ratio may indicate a low borrowing capacity of AutoNation, which in turn will lower the firm's financial flexibility.

AutoNation Corporate Bonds Issued

AutoNation issues bonds to finance its operations. Corporate bonds make up one of the most significant components of the U.S. bond market and are considered the world's largest securities market. AutoNation uses the proceeds from bond sales for a wide variety of purposes, including financing ongoing mergers and acquisitions, buying new equipment, investing in research and development, buying back their own stock, paying dividends to shareholders, and even refinancing existing debt.

AutoNation Net Debt

Net Debt

3.05 Billion

At this time, AutoNation's Net Debt is very stable compared to the past year.

About AutoNation Stock Analysis

Stock analysis is the technique used by a trader or investor to examine and evaluate how AutoNation prices is reacting to, or reflecting on a current market direction and economic conditions. It can be used to make informed decisions about market timing, and when buying or selling AutoNation shares will generate the highest return on investment. We also built our stock analysis module to help investors to gain an insight into the world economy as a whole, the stock market, thematic ideas. a specific sector, or an individual Stock such as AutoNation. By using and applying AutoNation Stock analysis, traders can create a robust methodology for identifying AutoNation entry and exit points for their positions.
Last ReportedProjected for Next Year
Pretax Profit Margin 0.04  0.04 
Operating Profit Margin 0.04  0.05 
Net Profit Margin 0.02  0.02 
Gross Profit Margin 0.16  0.13 

Current AutoNation Analysis - Recommendations

We track the performance of the top 100 financial experts across various large and mid-size financial boutiques. AutoNation analyst recommendations are determined by taking all analyst recommendations and averaging them as Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Strong Sell or Sell. There is no one specific way to measure analysis performance other than comparing it to the past results via a very sophisticated attribution analysis. AutoNation analyst consensus and target price projections should be used in combination with other traditional techniques such as stock price forecasting, technical analysis, earnings estimate, and various momentum models.
Target PriceAdvice# of Analysts
239.3Buy14Odds
AutoNation current and past analyst recommendations published by a number of research institutions as well as average analyst consensus.
Most AutoNation analysts issue ratings four times a year, at intervals of three months. Ratings are usually accompanied by a target price to helps potential investors understand AutoNation stock's fair price compared to its market value. Analysts arrive at stock ratings after researching public financial statements of AutoNation, talking to its executives and customers, or listening to AutoNation conference calls.
AutoNation Analyst Advice Details

AutoNation Stock Analysis Indicators

AutoNation stock analysis indicators help investors evaluate how AutoNation stock reacts to ongoing and evolving market conditions. The investors can use it to make informed decisions about market timing and determine when trading AutoNation shares will generate the highest return on investment. By understating and applying AutoNation stock analysis, traders can identify AutoNation position entry and exit signals to maximize returns.
Begin Period Cash Flow77 M
Long Term Debt2.6 B
Common Stock Shares Outstanding40.3 M
Total Stockholder Equity2.5 B
Total Cashflows From Investing Activities12.3 M
Tax Provision224.5 M
Quarterly Earnings Growth Y O Y0.226
Property Plant And Equipment Net4.2 B
Cash And Short Term Investments59.8 M
Cash59.8 M
Accounts Payable376.6 M
Net Debt4.9 B
50 Day M A210.9964
Total Current Liabilities6.3 B
Other Operating Expenses25.5 B
Non Current Assets Total8.3 B
Forward Price Earnings9.7847
Non Currrent Assets Other1.8 B
Stock Based Compensation36.5 M
Check out Trending Equities to better understand how to build diversified portfolios, which includes a position in AutoNation. Also, note that the market value of any company could be closely tied with the direction of predictive economic indicators such as signals in employment.
To learn how to invest in AutoNation Stock, please use our How to Invest in AutoNation guide.
You can also try the Insider Screener module to find insiders across different sectors to evaluate their impact on performance.
Will Automotive Retail sector continue expanding? Could AutoNation diversify its offerings? Factors like these will boost the valuation of AutoNation. If investors know AutoNation will grow in the future, the company's valuation will be higher. Accurate valuation requires analyzing both current fundamentals and future growth trajectories. Every AutoNation data point contributes insight, yet successful analysis hinges on identifying the most consequential variables.
Quarterly Earnings Growth
0.226
Earnings Share
16.98
Revenue Per Share
724.135
Quarterly Revenue Growth
0.069
Return On Assets
0.0653
Understanding AutoNation requires distinguishing between market price and book value, where the latter reflects AutoNation's accounting equity. The concept of intrinsic value—what AutoNation's is actually worth based on fundamentals—guides informed investors toward better entry and exit points. Seasoned market participants apply comprehensive analytical frameworks to derive fundamental worth and identify mispriced opportunities. Market sentiment, economic cycles, and investor behavior can push AutoNation's price substantially above or below its fundamental value.
Understanding that AutoNation's value differs from its trading price is crucial, as each reflects different aspects of the company. Evaluating whether AutoNation represents a sound investment requires analyzing earnings trends, revenue growth, technical signals, industry dynamics, and expert forecasts. In contrast, AutoNation's trading price reflects the actual exchange value where willing buyers and sellers reach mutual agreement.