Stocks · Consumer Cyclical · Auto - Dealerships
AutoNation, Inc. AN
$162.46 -1.53% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $5.44B
Next earnings report: Oct 22, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- The diluted share count fell 11.7% in a year, mainly through buybacks.
- Earnings beat analyst estimates in each of the last 7 quarters (average surprise over the last four: +3.4%).
- Net debt is 6.9× EBITDA, a high level of leverage.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Consumer Cyclical sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 31%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 23%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 45%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 20%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 47%
- Gross marginBottom 15%
- Operating marginBottom 42%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Bottom 6%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 5%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 19%
- Interest coverBottom 40%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 6%
- Free-cash-flow yieldBottom 21%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 33%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 20%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Top 43%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 42%
- 6-month returnBottom 23%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 27%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 43%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 18%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 36%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 17%
- Share of analysts rating BuyTop 37%
- Upside to consensus price targetTop 28%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 49%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 10%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 25%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 19%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 1.9% | -0.1% | ↓ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 9.4% | 35.4% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 17.9% | 17.8% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | 4.9% | 4.6% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | -1.6% | 0.0% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | -0.1% | 1.9% | ↓ | Bottom 31% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 35.4% | 9.4% | ↑ | Top 23% |
| Gross margin | 17.8% | 17.9% | ↓ | Bottom 15% |
| Operating margin | 4.6% | 4.9% | ↓ | Bottom 42% |
| Net margin | 2.8% | 2.3% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 0.0% | -1.6% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 6.7% | — | Top 47% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 0.8% | — | Bottom 45% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 0.38×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- 3.1%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.0%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -1.4 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 6.87×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 2.9×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.00%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 10.63%
- Shareholder yield
- 10.63%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -11.7%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -9.3%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 31, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 7
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 7 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +3.4%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -0.0%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 3 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $243.00
- Target vs current price
- +49.6%
- Analysts with a rating
- 34
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 59%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 31, 2026 | +1.5% | -1.0% | -1.5% | -7.4% | — |
| May 1, 2026 | +4.0% | -1.1% | -3.3% | -11.6% | +3.7% |
| Feb 6, 2026 | +4.7% | +6.2% | +1.3% | -5.5% | -0.7% |
| Oct 23, 2025 | +3.3% | -3.6% | -9.2% | -7.8% | -0.5% |
| Jul 25, 2025 | +16.2% | +1.5% | -3.8% | +5.0% | +7.2% |
| Apr 25, 2025 | +5.9% | +1.0% | +1.0% | +4.2% | +16.5% |
| Feb 11, 2025 | +16.7% | +1.3% | +0.4% | -14.4% | -8.9% |
| Oct 25, 2024 | -8.2% | -4.5% | -4.7% | +4.2% | +13.5% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 31, 2026 | $5.56 | $5.48 | +1.5% | $6.93B |
| May 1, 2026 | $4.69 | $4.51 | +4.0% | $6.55B |
| Feb 6, 2026 | $5.08 | $4.85 | +4.7% | $6.93B |
| Oct 23, 2025 | $5.01 | $4.85 | +3.3% | $7.04B |
| Jul 25, 2025 | $5.46 | $4.70 | +16.2% | $6.97B |
| Apr 25, 2025 | $4.68 | $4.42 | +5.9% | $6.69B |
| Feb 11, 2025 | $4.97 | $4.26 | +16.7% | $7.21B |
| Oct 25, 2024 | $4.02 | $4.38 | -8.2% | $6.59B |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 7.5× | 8.7× | 43th | Top 6% |
| P/E (forward) | 7.5× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 10.2× | — | — | Top 33% |
| EV / Sales | 0.61× | — | — | Top 20% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 0.22% | — | — | Bottom 21% |
| Earnings yield | 13.29% | — | — | Top 6% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 4.3× – 12.8× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- -27.3%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +35.4%
- Change in P/E multiple
- -22.8%
Most of the move came from earnings growth.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✗ Price above 200-day average
- ✗ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -2.7%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -1.4%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -17.5%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -18.2%
- RSI (14)
- 32.1
- Relative volume
- 0.60×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 42.0%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 76th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.73
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.37
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -29.4%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -31.8%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 29, 2026 | Sep 29, 2026 | -31.8% | 43 days | Not yet recovered |
| Jul 19, 2023 | Oct 25, 2023 | -29.5% | 69 days | 180 days (Jul 16, 2024) |
| Aug 16, 2022 | Oct 20, 2022 | -27.8% | 46 days | 71 days (Feb 2, 2023) |
| Oct 25, 2021 | Apr 6, 2022 | -25.4% | 113 days | 90 days (Aug 16, 2022) |
| Sep 8, 2025 | May 19, 2026 | -21.4% | 175 days | 48 days (Jul 29, 2026) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $5.44B
- P/E (TTM)
- 7.5
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $21.59
- Revenue (TTM)
- $27.45B
- 52-week range
- $152.86 – $235.81
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $25.84B | $26.98B | $26.95B | $26.77B | $27.63B |
| Gross profit | $4.95B | $5.27B | $5.13B | $4.79B | $4.95B |
| Operating income | $1.90B | $2.02B | $1.65B | $1.31B | $1.31B |
| Net income | $1.37B | $1.38B | $1.02B | $692.2M | $649.1M |
| EPS (diluted) | $18.31 | $24.29 | $22.74 | $16.92 | $17.04 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $6.59B | $7.21B | $6.69B | $6.97B | $7.04B | $6.93B | $6.55B | $6.93B |
| Net income | $185.8M | $186.1M | $175.5M | $86.4M | $215.1M | $172.1M | $205.4M | $182.1M |
| EPS (diluted) | $4.61 | $4.62 | $4.45 | $2.26 | $5.65 | $4.70 | $5.85 | $5.39 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $1.63B | $1.67B | $724.0M | $314.7M | $111.9M |
| Capital expenditure | -$215.7M | -$329.0M | -$410.3M | -$328.5M | -$309.4M |
| Free cash flow | $1.41B | $1.34B | $313.7M | -$13.8M | -$197.5M |
| Dividends paid | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net share buybacks | -$2.32B | -$1.70B | -$874.4M | -$460.0M | -$790.9M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $123.9M
- Total assets
- $15.48B
- Total liabilities
- $13.23B
- Total debt
- $11.33B
- Net debt
- $11.21B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $2.26B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 31, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Jul 3, 2000 | $0.69 | — |
| Apr 27, 1995 | $0.50 | — |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 2,637,336
- Days to cover
- 5.68
- Change vs previous report
- +18.0%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Jun 10, 1996
- 2-for-1
- Jan 12, 1987
- 1-for-10