CarMax vs Lithia Motors
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The short version
- Lithia Motors is the larger business, with $37.6B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $25.9B for CarMax.
- Lithia Motors grew revenue faster (4.0%, against −1.8%).
- CarMax turned more of its sales into free cash flow (4.8% FCF margin, against 0.0%).
- Lithia Motors earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (7.8%, against 1.3%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of CarMax’s earnings: a P/E of 24.3x against 9.7x for Lithia Motors.
| Latest fiscal year | KMX · FY26 | LAD · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $7.3B | $6.7B |
| Revenue | $25.9B | $37.6B |
| Free cash flow | $1.2B | $5.8M |
| Net income | $247M | $820M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | −1.8% | 4.0% |
| 5-year growth | 6.4% | 23.5% |
| Share count change | −5.4% | −6.3% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 10.8% | 15.2% |
| Operating margin | — | 4.2% |
| Net margin | 1.0% | 2.2% |
| FCF margin | 4.8% | 0.0% |
| Return on capital | 1.3% | 7.8% |
| Return on equity | 4.1% | 12.4% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $17.3B | $9.4B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 20.6x | 4.9x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $643M | $1.0B |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 24.3x | 9.7x |
| Piotroski F-score | 5 | 3 |
FY17
KMX $15.9B
LAD $10.1B
FY18
KMX $17.1B
LAD $11.8B
FY19
KMX $18.2B
LAD $12.7B
FY20
KMX $20.3B
LAD $13.1B
FY21
KMX $19.0B
LAD $22.8B
FY22
KMX $31.9B
LAD $28.2B
FY23
KMX $29.7B
LAD $31.0B
FY24
KMX $26.5B
LAD $36.2B
FY25
KMX $26.4B
LAD $37.6B
FY26
KMX $25.9B
LAD —
KMX
LAD
FY17
KMX —
LAD 4.1%
FY18
KMX —
LAD 3.8%
FY19
KMX —
LAD 3.9%
FY20
KMX —
LAD 5.3%
FY21
KMX —
LAD 7.3%
FY22
KMX —
LAD 6.9%
FY23
KMX —
LAD 5.5%
FY24
KMX —
LAD 4.3%
FY25
KMX —
LAD 4.2%
FY26
KMX —
LAD —
KMX
LAD
FY17
KMX −$873M
LAD $43.5M
FY18
KMX −$377M
LAD $362M
FY19
KMX −$142M
LAD $400M
FY20
KMX −$569M
LAD $377M
FY21
KMX $503M
LAD $1.5B
FY22
KMX −$2.9B
LAD −$913M
FY23
KMX $861M
LAD −$703M
FY24
KMX −$6.7M
LAD $73.7M
FY25
KMX $157M
LAD $5.8M
FY26
KMX $1.2B
LAD —
KMX
LAD
FY17
KMX 4.5%
LAD 18.6%
FY18
KMX 4.4%
LAD 17.9%
FY19
KMX 5.3%
LAD 14.7%
FY20
KMX 5.3%
LAD 13.2%
FY21
KMX 4.3%
LAD 20.2%
FY22
KMX 5.8%
LAD 16.3%
FY23
KMX 2.5%
LAD 10.9%
FY24
KMX 2.4%
LAD 8.8%
FY25
KMX 2.4%
LAD 7.8%
FY26
KMX 1.3%
LAD —
KMX
LAD
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.