Best Buy vs Lithia Motors
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The short version
- Best Buy is the larger business, with $41.7B of revenue in fiscal 2026 against $37.6B for Lithia Motors.
- Lithia Motors grew revenue faster (4.0%, against 0.4%).
- Lithia Motors kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (4.2% operating margin, against 3.3%).
- Best Buy turned more of its sales into free cash flow (3.0% FCF margin, against 0.0%).
- Best Buy earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (43.9%, against 7.8%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Best Buy’s earnings: a P/E of 16.6x against 9.7x for Lithia Motors.
| Latest fiscal year | BBY · FY26 | LAD · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $21.2B | $6.7B |
| Revenue | $41.7B | $37.6B |
| Free cash flow | $1.3B | $5.8M |
| Net income | $1.1B | $820M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 0.4% | 4.0% |
| 5-year growth | −2.5% | 23.5% |
| Share count change | −2.1% | −6.3% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 22.5% | 15.2% |
| Operating margin | 3.3% | 4.2% |
| Net margin | 2.6% | 2.2% |
| FCF margin | 3.0% | 0.0% |
| Return on capital | 43.9% | 7.8% |
| Return on equity | 37.0% | 12.4% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | −$562M | $9.4B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | −0.3x | 4.9x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $1.1B | $1.0B |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 16.6x | 9.7x |
| Piotroski F-score | 7 | 3 |
Revenue
FY17
BBY $39.4B
LAD $10.1B
FY18
BBY $42.2B
LAD $11.8B
FY19
BBY $42.9B
LAD $12.7B
FY20
BBY $43.6B
LAD $13.1B
FY21
BBY $47.3B
LAD $22.8B
FY22
BBY $51.8B
LAD $28.2B
FY23
BBY $46.3B
LAD $31.0B
FY24
BBY $43.5B
LAD $36.2B
FY25
BBY $41.5B
LAD $37.6B
FY26
BBY $41.7B
LAD —
BBY
LAD
Operating margin
FY17
BBY 4.7%
LAD 4.1%
FY18
BBY 4.4%
LAD 3.8%
FY19
BBY 4.4%
LAD 3.9%
FY20
BBY 4.6%
LAD 5.3%
FY21
BBY 5.1%
LAD 7.3%
FY22
BBY 5.9%
LAD 6.9%
FY23
BBY 3.9%
LAD 5.5%
FY24
BBY 3.6%
LAD 4.3%
FY25
BBY 3.0%
LAD 4.2%
FY26
BBY 3.3%
LAD —
BBY
LAD
Free cash flow
FY17
BBY $2.0B
LAD $43.5M
FY18
BBY $1.5B
LAD $362M
FY19
BBY $1.6B
LAD $400M
FY20
BBY $1.8B
LAD $377M
FY21
BBY $4.2B
LAD $1.5B
FY22
BBY $2.5B
LAD −$913M
FY23
BBY $894M
LAD −$703M
FY24
BBY $675M
LAD $73.7M
FY25
BBY $1.4B
LAD $5.8M
FY26
BBY $1.3B
LAD —
BBY
LAD
Return on capital
FY17
BBY 53.9%
LAD 18.6%
FY18
BBY 53.5%
LAD 17.9%
FY19
BBY 64.8%
LAD 14.7%
FY20
BBY 58.9%
LAD 13.2%
FY21
BBY —
LAD 20.2%
FY22
BBY —
LAD 16.3%
FY23
BBY 81.5%
LAD 10.9%
FY24
BBY 48.7%
LAD 8.8%
FY25
BBY 34.5%
LAD 7.8%
FY26
BBY 43.9%
LAD —
BBY
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.