AutoNation Inc

AN: XNYS (USA)

Morningstar Rating for Stocks	Fair Value	Economic Moat	Capital Allocation
	$168.00	Zzbppg	Mmvzlycqk

AutoNation Earnings: Good First Quarter and More Buybacks Leading to a Fair Value Estimate Increase

David Whiston

Apr 26, 2024

Narrow-moat AutoNation reported a good first quarter to start 2024, with diluted EPS down 26% year over year to $4.49 but still ahead of the LSEG consensus of $4.27. We are raising our fair value estimate to $171 from $162 after adjusting our model for how the year has started. The change is from a lower share count after increasing our 2024 share repurchase spending by $200 million to $900 million; better working capital inflows; the time value of money; and a slightly lower tax rate throughout our five-year explicit forecast period.

Sponsor Center

Transparency is our policy. Learn how it impacts everything we do

Transparency is how we protect the integrity of our work and keep empowering investors to achieve their goals and dreams. And we have unwavering standards for how we keep that integrity intact, from our research and data to our policies on content and your personal data.

We’d like to share more about how we work and what drives our day-to-day business.

How we make money

We sell different types of products and services to both investment professionals and individual investors. These products and services are usually sold through license agreements or subscriptions. Our investment management business generates asset-based fees, which are calculated as a percentage of assets under management. We also sell both admissions and sponsorship packages for our investment conferences and advertising on our websites and newsletters.

How we use your personal data

How we use your information depends on the product and service that you use and your relationship with us. We may use it to:

Verify your identity, personalize the content you receive, or create and administer your account.
Provide specific products and services to you, such as portfolio management or data aggregation.
Develop and improve features of our offerings.
Gear advertisements and other marketing efforts towards your interests.

To learn more about how we handle and protect your data, visit our privacy center.

How we approach editorial content

Maintaining independence and editorial freedom is essential to our mission of empowering investor success. We provide a platform for our authors to report on investments fairly, accurately, and from the investor’s point of view. We also respect individual opinions––they represent the unvarnished thinking of our people and exacting analysis of our research processes. Our authors can publish views that we may or may not agree with, but they show their work, distinguish facts from opinions, and make sure their analysis is clear and in no way misleading or deceptive.

To further protect the integrity of our editorial content, we keep a strict separation between our sales teams and authors to remove any pressure or influence on our analyses and research.

Read our editorial policy to learn more about our process.

United States