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How to buy AutoNation stock
Own AutoNation stock in just a few minutes.
Fact checked
AutoNation, Inc is an auto & truck dealerships business based in the US. AutoNation shares (AN) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. AutoNation employs 21,600 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$20.4 billion.
How to buy shares in AutoNation
- Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
- Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
- Search for AutoNation. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: AN. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
- Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until AutoNation reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
- Decide on how many to buy. Weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of AutoNation, depending on your broker.
- Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of AutoNation. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.
What's in this guide?
AutoNation share price
Use our graph to track the performance of AN stocks over time.AutoNation shares at a glance
Information last updated 2021-03-03.
| 52-week range | USD$20.59 - USD$82.9 |
|---|---|
| 50-day moving average | USD$76.4594 |
| 200-day moving average | USD$64.9427 |
| Wall St. target price | USD$83 |
| PE ratio | 17.7175 |
| Dividend yield | N/A (0%) |
| Earnings per share (TTM) | USD$4.298 |
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The value of any investment can go up or down depending on news, trends and market conditions. We are not investment advisers, so do your own due diligence to understand the risks before you invest.
Is it a good time to buy AutoNation stock?
The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.
This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.
Is AutoNation under- or over-valued?
Valuing AutoNation stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of AutoNation's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.
AutoNation's P/E ratio
AutoNation's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 18x. In other words, AutoNation shares trade at around 18x recent earnings.
That's relatively low compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The low P/E ratio could mean that investors are pessimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're under-valued.
AutoNation's PEG ratio
AutoNation's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 0.8603. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.
The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into AutoNation's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.
AutoNation's EBITDA
AutoNation's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is USD$1.2 billion.
The EBITDA is a measure of a AutoNation's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.
AutoNation financials
| Revenue TTM | USD$20.4 billion |
|---|---|
| Operating margin TTM | 4.77% |
| Gross profit TTM | USD$3.6 billion |
| Return on assets TTM | 5.95% |
| Return on equity TTM | 11.94% |
| Profit margin | 1.87% |
| Book value | $38.759 |
| Market capitalisation | USD$6.3 billion |
TTM: trailing 12 months
Shorting AutoNation shares
There are currently 3.3 million AutoNation shares held short by investors – that's known as AutoNation's "short interest". This figure is 3.1% up from 3.2 million last month.
There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting AutoNation shares can be evaluated.
AutoNation's "short interest ratio" (SIR)
AutoNation's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of AutoNation shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of AutoNation shares traded daily (recently around 536581.10749186). AutoNation's SIR currently stands at 6.14. In other words for every 100,000 AutoNation shares traded daily on the market, roughly 6140 shares are currently held short.
However AutoNation's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of AutoNation shares, or, against the total number of tradable AutoNation shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case AutoNation's short interest could be expressed as 0.04% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 AutoNation shares in existence, roughly 40 shares are currently held short) or 0.0641% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable AutoNation shares, roughly 64 shares are currently held short).
A SIR below 10% would generally be considered to indicate a fairly optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against AutoNation.
Find out more about how you can short AutoNation stock.
AutoNation share dividends
We're not expecting AutoNation to pay a dividend over the next 12 months.
Have AutoNation's shares ever split?
AutoNation's shares were split on a 2:1 basis on 10 June 1996. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 2 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your AutoNation shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 50% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for AutoNation shares which in turn could have impacted AutoNation's share price.
AutoNation share price volatility
Over the last 12 months, AutoNation's shares have ranged in value from as little as $20.59 up to $82.9. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".
Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while AutoNation's is 1.4931. This would suggest that AutoNation's shares are more volatile than the average for this exchange and represent, relatively-speaking, a higher risk (but potentially also market-beating returns).
AutoNation overview
AutoNation, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as an automotive retailer in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Domestic, Import, and Premium Luxury. It offers a range of automotive products and services, including new and used vehicles; and parts and services, such as automotive repair and maintenance, and wholesale parts and collision services. The company also provides automotive finance and insurance products comprising vehicle services and other protection products, as well as arranges finance for vehicle purchases through third-party finance sources. As of December 31, 2020, it owned and operated 315 new vehicle franchises from 230 stores located primarily in metropolitan markets in the Sunbelt region. The company also owned and operated 74 AutoNation-branded collision centers, 5 AutoNation USA used vehicle stores, 4 AutoNation-branded automotive auction operations, and 3 parts distribution centers. AutoNation, Inc. was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
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