Automotive retailer Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) will be reporting results tomorrow morning. Here’s what to look for.

Lithia met analysts’ revenue expectations last quarter, reporting revenues of $9.23 billion, up 13.8% year on year. It was a very strong quarter for the company, with an impressive beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates and a decent beat of analysts’ earnings estimates.

Is Lithia a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free.

This quarter, analysts are expecting Lithia’s revenue to grow 14.3% year on year to $9.46 billion, in line with the 13.5% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $7.60 per share.

Heading into earnings, analysts covering the company have grown increasingly bearish with revenue estimates seeing 5 downward revisions over the last 30 days (we track 10 analysts). Lithia has missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates six times over the last two years.

Looking at Lithia’s peers in the automotive and marine retail segment, some have already reported their Q3 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. CarMax posted flat year-on-year revenue, beating analysts’ expectations by 2.7%, and AutoZone reported revenues up 9%, in line with consensus estimates. CarMax traded up 3.8% following the results while AutoZone was also up 2.1%.

Read our full analysis of CarMax’s results here and AutoZone’s results here.

Growth stocks have been quite volatile since the start of 2024, and while some of the automotive and marine retail stocks have fared somewhat better, they have not been spared, with share prices down 2.4% on average over the last month. Lithia’s stock price was unchanged during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $352.80 (compared to the current share price of $306.51).

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