Lithia Motors vs Penske Automotive Group
Add, change or remove companies; up to four.
The short version
- Lithia Motors is the larger business, with $37.6B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $31.8B for Penske Automotive Group.
- Lithia Motors grew revenue faster (4.0%, against −0.2%).
- Penske Automotive Group turned more of its sales into free cash flow (2.1% FCF margin, against 0.0%).
- Penske Automotive Group earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (12.8%, against 7.8%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Penske Automotive Group’s earnings: a P/E of 15.4x against 9.7x for Lithia Motors.
| Latest fiscal year | LAD · FY25 | PAG · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $6.7B | $14.0B |
| Revenue | $37.6B | $31.8B |
| Free cash flow | $5.8M | $651M |
| Net income | $820M | $935M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 4.0% | −0.2% |
| 5-year growth | 23.5% | 9.2% |
| Share count change | −6.3% | −1.0% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 15.2% | 16.4% |
| Operating margin | 4.2% | 4.0% |
| Net margin | 2.2% | 2.9% |
| FCF margin | 0.0% | 2.1% |
| Return on capital | 7.8% | 12.8% |
| Return on equity | 12.4% | 17.1% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $9.4B | $2.1B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 4.9x | 1.5x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $1.0B | $503M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 9.7x | 15.4x |
| Piotroski F-score | 3 | 6 |
Revenue
FY16
LAD $8.7B
PAG $20.1B
FY17
LAD $10.1B
PAG $21.4B
FY18
LAD $11.8B
PAG $22.8B
FY19
LAD $12.7B
PAG $23.2B
FY20
LAD $13.1B
PAG $20.4B
FY21
LAD $22.8B
PAG $25.6B
FY22
LAD $28.2B
PAG $27.8B
FY23
LAD $31.0B
PAG $30.9B
FY24
LAD $36.2B
PAG $31.9B
FY25
LAD $37.6B
PAG $31.8B
LAD
PAG
Operating margin
FY16
LAD 3.9%
PAG 2.9%
FY17
LAD 4.1%
PAG 2.9%
FY18
LAD 3.8%
PAG 2.9%
FY19
LAD 3.9%
PAG 2.8%
FY20
LAD 5.3%
PAG 3.5%
FY21
LAD 7.3%
PAG 5.3%
FY22
LAD 6.9%
PAG 5.4%
FY23
LAD 5.5%
PAG 4.6%
FY24
LAD 4.3%
PAG 4.3%
FY25
LAD 4.2%
PAG 4.0%
LAD
PAG
Free cash flow
FY16
LAD −$9.9M
PAG $168M
FY17
LAD $43.5M
PAG $376M
FY18
LAD $362M
PAG $309M
FY19
LAD $400M
PAG $273M
FY20
LAD $377M
PAG $1.0B
FY21
LAD $1.5B
PAG $1.0B
FY22
LAD −$913M
PAG $1.2B
FY23
LAD −$703M
PAG $759M
FY24
LAD $73.7M
PAG $853M
FY25
LAD $5.8M
PAG $651M
LAD
PAG
Return on capital
FY16
LAD 18.9%
PAG 11.8%
FY17
LAD 18.6%
PAG 15.0%
FY18
LAD 17.9%
PAG 11.1%
FY19
LAD 14.7%
PAG 9.6%
FY20
LAD 13.2%
PAG 10.7%
FY21
LAD 20.2%
PAG 19.3%
FY22
LAD 16.3%
PAG 19.6%
FY23
LAD 10.9%
PAG 17.3%
FY24
LAD 8.8%
PAG 15.2%
FY25
LAD 7.8%
PAG 12.8%
LAD
PAG
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.