Is the business good?
How good a business is AN?
AutoNation, Inc. earns 39% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so the business is worth more the bigger it gets.
39%
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 30 points above what the capital costs: growth creates value
- Operating margin
- 4.4%
Operating margin · Auto & Truck Dealerships median 5.3% · 12 months to Q1 2026
- Cash conversion
- −0.15×
Cash conversion · −0.51× a year ago · some of the reported profit has not turned into cash yet
- Share count, year on year
- −11%
Share count, year on year · bought back, each share owns more of the company
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | 2.8% |
| FY2021 | 7.4% |
| FY2022 | 7.5% |
| FY2023 | 6.1% |
| FY2024 | 4.9% |
| FY2025 | 4.5% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 18%
- Operating margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 4.4%
- Net margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 2.5%
- Free cash flow margin
- −0.38%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $27.5B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- −$104M
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- $679M
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 39%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion from the cash flow statement.
Auto & Truck Dealerships
Ranks #5 of 15 by Smart Score