Sonic Automotive
SAH NYSE· Automotive Retail
Last close · Oct 26, 2026
$61.26
KIRA · Stoqly’s AI analyst, in plain words
- Sonic Automotive had $15.2B of revenue in fiscal 2025, up 6.5% on the year before. Over five years, revenue changed +9.2% a year on average.
- Its operating margin was 2.4%, down 0.8 pts: of every 100 in sales, about 2 is left after running the business.
- Sonic Automotive made $119M of net profit in fiscal 2025. From fiscal 2016 to 2025, diluted EPS grew 6.0% a year.
- Free cash flow was $418M in fiscal 2025, 2.8% of revenue.
- Sonic Automotive returned $131M to shareholders in fiscal 2025, 31% of free cash flow. The diluted share count fell 0.9%.
- Sonic Automotive owes $2.0B more than it holds in cash, about 3.7 years of operating profit.
Market cap
$2.0B
P/E
9.8x
Revenue
$15.2B
Net income
$119M
Free cash flow
$418M
Operating margin
2.4%
Sonic Automotive in 30 seconds · fiscal 2025
Are sales growing?
+6.5%
Yes. Sales grew 6.5% last year.
Does it make a profit?
0.8%
A little. It keeps 0.8% of every sale as profit.
Does profit turn into cash?
2.8%
Partly. 2.8% of sales ends up as free cash.
Is debt under control?
3.7x
Heavy. Repaying its debt would take 3.7 years of operating profit.
How healthy are the accounts?
6 / 9
Mixed. It passes 6 of 9 health tests.
How is the share priced?
9.8x
One share costs 9.8 times its yearly profit per share. Typical for its sector: 17.9x.
What Sonic Automotive does
No business description yet.
- Fiscal year ends
- December 31, 2025
- Latest annual report
- 10-K · Feb 23, 2026
- Legal name
- SONIC AUTOMOTIVE, INC.
- CIK
- 0001043509
Sonic Automotive · SAH
Results and finances
The last 5 fiscal years. Amounts in USD.
| Fiscal year | FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales and profit | |||||
| Revenue | $12.4B | $14.0B | $14.4B | $14.2B | $15.2B |
| Revenue growth | 26.9% | 12.9% | 2.7% | −1.0% | 6.5% |
| Gross margin | 15.4% | 16.6% | 15.6% | 15.4% | 15.7% |
| Operating margin | 4.3% | 2.2% | 3.0% | 3.2% | 2.4% |
| Net income | $349M | $88.5M | $178M | $216M | $119M |
| Net margin | 2.8% | 0.6% | 1.2% | 1.5% | 0.8% |
| Diluted EPS | $8.06 | $2.23 | $4.97 | $6.18 | $3.42 |
| Cash | |||||
| Cash from operations | $306M | $406M | −$15.7M | $109M | $567M |
| Capital expenditure | $298M | $227M | $204M | $187M | $150M |
| Free cash flow | $8.1M | $179M | −$219M | −$78.1M | $418M |
| FCF margin | 0.1% | 1.3% | −1.5% | −0.6% | 2.8% |
| Dividends paid | $18.3M | $34.5M | $40.0M | $40.8M | $48.8M |
| Share buybacks | $93.3M | $262M | $178M | $34.4M | $82.4M |
| Share count change | 1.9% | −8.3% | −9.6% | −2.5% | −0.9% |
| Debt and strength | |||||
| Cash and short-term investments | $299M | $229M | $28.9M | $44.0M | $6.3M |
| Debt incl. finance leases | $1.7B | $2.0B | $1.9B | $1.9B | $2.0B |
| Shareholders' equity | $1.1B | $895M | $892M | $1.1B | $1.1B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 2.3x | 4.0x | 3.4x | 3.1x | 3.7x |
| Current ratio | 1.1x | 1.2x | 1.1x | 1.1x | 1.1x |
| Interest coverage | 9.4x | 2.7x | 2.5x | 2.3x | 1.9x |
| Returns and quality | |||||
| Return on capital | 20.7% | 6.1% | 11.4% | 13.5% | 12.2% |
| Return on equity | 36.9% | 9.0% | 19.9% | 22.1% | 11.1% |
| Piotroski F-score | 6 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
| Altman Z'' | 2.0 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.7 |
Insiders bought, 12 months
$10.6M
1 insider
Insiders sold, 12 months
$9.6M
2 insiders
Of sales under plans
100%
$9.6M
How to read these numbers
- Revenue:
- Total sales reported in the income statement.
- Operating margin:
- Operating income as a share of revenue.
- Net income:
- Profit after all expenses, interest and tax.
- Free cash flow:
- Cash from operations minus capital spending.
- Net debt / EBITDA:
- Years of EBITDA needed to pay off net debt. Below zero means more cash than debt.
- Return on capital:
- After-tax operating income as a share of the money invested in the business: debt plus equity, minus cash.
Sonic Automotive · SAH
Charts and comparison
Ten years at a glance, and how it stacks up against similar companies.
Revenue
Net income
Margins, % of revenue
Cash vs debt (incl. leases)
Free cash flow
Dividends and buybacks
Similar companies
Each company’s latest fiscal year. Fiscal years end in different months, so periods don’t line up exactly.
| Company | Market cap | Growth | Op. margin | FCF margin | ROIC | P/E | F-score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sonic Automotive SAH | $2.0B | 6.5% | 2.4% | 2.8% | 12.2% | 9.8x | 6 |
| O'Reilly Automotive ORLY | $75.5B | 6.4% | 19.5% | 9.0% | 59.7% | 28.9x | 7 |
| Asbury Automotive Group ABG | $3.2B | 4.7% | 4.8% | — | 9.2% | 6.5x | 6 |
| AutoZone AZO | $53.9B | 2.4% | 19.1% | 9.5% | 58.2% | 21.9x | 6 |
| Murphy USA MUSA | $10.0B | −4.3% | 3.7% | 1.9% | 20.5% | 16.5x | 5 |
Price compared with profit (P/E)
How many times its yearly profit per share one share costs. Higher means investors pay more for each unit of profit.
KIRA
At $61.26 a share, the company is worth $2.0B: 9.8 times its earnings of the last four quarters.
Sonic Automotive grew sales faster than 4 of its 4 similar companies. Its P/E is higher than 1 of 4.
Source: SEC EDGAR XBRL filings (CIK 0001043509). Data updated October 20, 2026. For information only — not investment advice. Check the original filings before relying on any figure.