Advance Auto Parts vs Sonic Automotive
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The short version
- Sonic Automotive is the larger business, with $15.2B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $8.6B for Advance Auto Parts, about 1.8 times as much.
- Sonic Automotive grew revenue faster (6.5%, against −5.4%).
- Sonic Automotive kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (2.4% operating margin, against −0.5%).
- Sonic Automotive turned more of its sales into free cash flow (2.8% FCF margin, against −3.5%).
- Sonic Automotive earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (12.2%, against −1.5%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Advance Auto Parts’s earnings: a P/E of 34.2x against 9.8x for Sonic Automotive.
| Latest fiscal year | AAP · FY25 | SAH · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $2.9B | $2.0B |
| Revenue | $8.6B | $15.2B |
| Free cash flow | −$298M | $418M |
| Net income | $44.0M | $119M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | −5.4% | 6.5% |
| 5-year growth | −3.2% | 9.2% |
| Share count change | 1.2% | −0.9% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 43.4% | 15.7% |
| Operating margin | −0.5% | 2.4% |
| Net margin | 0.5% | 0.8% |
| FCF margin | −3.5% | 2.8% |
| Return on capital | −1.5% | 12.2% |
| Return on equity | 2.0% | 11.1% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $289M | $2.0B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.3x | 3.7x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $60.0M | $131M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 34.2x | 9.8x |
| Piotroski F-score | 5 | 6 |
Revenue
FY16
AAP $9.6B
SAH $9.7B
FY17
AAP $9.4B
SAH $9.9B
FY18
AAP $9.6B
SAH $10.0B
FY19
AAP $9.7B
SAH $10.5B
FY20
AAP $10.1B
SAH $9.8B
FY21
AAP $11.0B
SAH $12.4B
FY22
AAP $9.1B
SAH $14.0B
FY23
AAP $9.2B
SAH $14.4B
FY24
AAP $9.1B
SAH $14.2B
FY25
AAP $8.6B
SAH $15.2B
AAP
SAH
Operating margin
FY16
AAP 8.2%
SAH 2.4%
FY17
AAP 6.1%
SAH 2.1%
FY18
AAP 6.3%
SAH 1.8%
FY19
AAP 7.0%
SAH 2.9%
FY20
AAP 7.4%
SAH 0.4%
FY21
AAP 7.5%
SAH 4.3%
FY22
AAP 5.7%
SAH 2.2%
FY23
AAP 0.4%
SAH 3.0%
FY24
AAP −7.8%
SAH 3.2%
FY25
AAP −0.5%
SAH 2.4%
AAP
SAH
Free cash flow
FY16
AAP $264M
SAH $10.1M
FY17
AAP $411M
SAH −$71.4M
FY18
AAP $617M
SAH −$19.9M
FY19
AAP $597M
SAH $45.2M
FY20
AAP $702M
SAH $154M
FY21
AAP $817M
SAH $8.1M
FY22
AAP $338M
SAH $179M
FY23
AAP $61.0M
SAH −$219M
FY24
AAP −$96.0M
SAH −$78.1M
FY25
AAP −$298M
SAH $418M
AAP
SAH
Return on capital
FY16
AAP 13.2%
SAH 9.0%
FY17
AAP 13.5%
SAH 10.8%
FY18
AAP 12.1%
SAH 6.9%
FY19
AAP 13.6%
SAH 13.0%
FY20
AAP 14.9%
SAH 1.7%
FY21
AAP 17.3%
SAH 20.7%
FY22
AAP 11.4%
SAH 6.1%
FY23
AAP 0.8%
SAH 11.4%
FY24
AAP −19.1%
SAH 13.5%
FY25
AAP −1.5%
SAH 12.2%
AAP
SAH
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.