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Sonic Automotive, Inc. (SAH)

NYSE / Consumer Cyclical / Auto - Dealerships

Share price

63.61 USD Market dataClose of Oct 16, 2026

Market capitalisation

2.01B USD Market dataClose of Oct 16, 2026
Market data
Oct 16, 2026
Filed accounts
FY2025, filed Feb 23, 2026
Ratios computed
Oct 16, 2026
Filed years
16, FY2009 to FY2025
Four kinds of sourceSEC filingCompany statementMarket dataComputedWhat each means
SEC filingFiled with the SEC
Read from a statement the company filed with the SEC, with the form, fiscal year, filing date and accession beside it.
Company statementCompany statement
What the company says about itself in a filing: an 8-K item, the auditor, its own segment names.
Market dataMarket data
Prices, market value and what analysts publish, with the date they are as of.
ComputedComputed by ValueScreener
Worked out by us from the other three, with the inputs and the formula one press away. A score is a research output, not a rating or a recommendation.
Reading

1 of 10

Overview

What the business is, what it costs, and how it reads on four questions.

Market dataSEC filingComputed

Four questions, at a glance

Quality

Return on equity

11.1% Computed

From the FY2025 filing

Read quality

Valuation

Price to earnings

18.23x Computed

FY2025 accounts, priced at the latest close

Read valuation

Cash generation

Free cash flow yield

18.9% Computed

FY2025 accounts, priced at the latest close

Read cash generation

Revenue and net income, as filed

FY2016 Revenue: 9.73B USDFY2016 Net income: 93.2M USDFY2017 Revenue: 9.87B USDFY2017 Net income: 93.0M USDFY2018 Revenue: 9.95B USDFY2018 Net income: 51.6M USDFY2019 Revenue: 10.45B USDFY2019 Net income: 144.1M USDFY2020 Revenue: 9.77B USDFY2020 Net income: -51.4M USDFY2021 Revenue: 12.40B USDFY2021 Net income: 348.9M USDFY2022 Revenue: 14.00B USDFY2022 Net income: 88.5M USDFY2023 Revenue: 14.37B USDFY2023 Net income: 178.2M USDFY2024 Revenue: 14.22B USDFY2024 Net income: 216.0M USDFY2025 Revenue: 15.15B USDFY2025 Net income: 118.7M USD
Revenue Net income10 filed fiscal years, from the annual reports; the table in Filings names each document.
Named tests met
1 of 30 Which tests
The business, and the score behind its five axes

The reading, in brief

Is it cheap

Price to earnings is 18.23x at the close of 2026-10-16 on FY2025 figures; the lines are 15.00x (Graham's defensive ceiling) and, by market convention, 10.00x, 25.00x and 40.00x, and this sits between 15.00x and 25.00x.

Today, against the Consumer Cyclical sector (302 companies), 18.23x sits at the 46th percentile; the middle half of that group runs from 12.53x to 31.18x.

Is it good

Return on equity was 11.1% in FY2025, in the band labelled "Ordinary" (8.0% to 15.0%), on lines anchored on Damodaran's cost-of-capital data.

Today, against the Consumer Cyclical sector (436 companies), 11.1% sits at the 63rd percentile; the middle half of that group runs from -19.6% to 16.9%.

Is it safe

Net debt to EBITDA was 4.31x in FY2025, in the band labelled "High, covenant territory" (4.00x and above), on lines set by credit-analyst convention, suggesting debt in the range lenders write covenants around.

No peer distribution is published for net debt to EBITDA today; the year-by-year comparison uses the filed annual figures.

Year by year against peers
Whether Sonic Automotive, Inc.'s return on equity stayed above the median of the Consumer Cyclical sector, year by year. (FY2021 to FY2025, 5 fiscal years of Sonic Automotive, Inc. with a comparable figure)
The direction
Which way Sonic Automotive, Inc.'s return on equity has moved, and how steadily. (FY2016 to FY2025, 10 filed years of Sonic Automotive, Inc.)
What could explain it
What in Sonic Automotive, Inc.'s filed statements could explain the movements. (5 readings drawn from the statement lines Sonic Automotive, Inc. filed)
What to check next
What to check next on Sonic Automotive, Inc., and where in its filings. (3 questions for Sonic Automotive, Inc.)
In one paragraph
One paragraph on Sonic Automotive, Inc.'s returns, cash, balance sheet and price. (14 of sixteen figures read for Sonic Automotive, Inc.)

These are SAH’s filed figures. The research desk says what they mean, against peers and its own years, with what to check next.

Research SAHPart of Serious. New accounts start with 30 days of Professional, free, no card.

2 of 10

What changed

The newest filing, what it moved, and when the next one is due.

SEC filingCompany statement

The newest accounts on file are the FY2025 annual report: 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, accession 0001628280-26-010570.

3 of 10

Quality

The returns the business earns on its capital, and the margins behind them.

SEC filingComputed

Sonic Automotive, Inc: returns on capital and margins, each with its source
FigureValue, source and document
Return on invested capital, after tax
Why n/a

The filed income tax is outside 0 to 100% of pre-tax income (a tax benefit on a profit, a charge on a loss, or a charge above the profit), which is a one-off in the tax line and not a rate operating profit was taxed at, so after-tax operating profit is not computed.

n/a ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570
Return on equity11.1% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570
Return on capital employed, pre-tax10.9% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570
Return on assets2.0% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570
Gross margin15.7% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570
Operating margin2.4% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570
Net margin0.8% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570
SAH 0.8%
GPI 1.4%BGSI 0.6%ABG 2.7%AN 2.4%OPLN 9.2%
0.6%9.2%
Net margin: SAH against the 5 companies named under Valuation context, each as filed for its own latest year. Placement only: no average is drawn.

4 of 10

Financial strength

What it owes against what it owns, and whether it can meet what falls due.

SEC filingComputedCompany statement

Sonic Automotive, Inc: leverage, liquidity and distress, each with its source
FigureValue, source and document
Debt to equity2.15 ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570
Current ratio1.09 ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570
Quick ratio0.32 ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570
Interest coverage
Why n/a

No interest expense is filed for this year, so coverage is not computed.

n/a ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570
Altman Z-score3.41 ComputedClose of Oct 16, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570
Net debt2.29B ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570
Total assets 5.97BTotal liabilities 4.90BShareholders' equity 1.07BOwnsOwes, and equity
Total assets Total liabilities Shareholders’ equity
The balance sheet, line by line

Financial health

What Sonic Automotive, Inc owned and owed at the end of fiscal 2025, from the balance sheet it filed (10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570).

Sonic Automotive, Inc: balance sheet position
Total assets5.97B FiledFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026
Total liabilities4.90B FiledFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026
Shareholders' equity1.07B FiledFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026
Cash6.3M FiledFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026
Total debt2.30B FiledFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026
Net debt2.29B
Current ratio1.09
Debt to equity2.15
  • Interest cover: FY2025: No interest expense is filed for this year, so coverage is not computed.

Read from the filed balance sheet for each year, with the income statement of the same year supplying operating profit where a ratio needs it. Nothing here is a view on whether this company is sound.

5 of 10

Valuation context

What the market charges for it, against its own record and companies like it.

Market dataSEC filingComputed

Sonic Automotive, Inc: what the market charges, each with its source
FigureValue, source and document
Price to earnings18.23x ComputedClose of Oct 16, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570
P/E on trailing twelve months10.10x ComputedClose of Oct 16, 2026 · Trailing four quarters, each as known on the day; the quarterly filings are listed under Filings
Price to book2.07x ComputedClose of Oct 16, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570
Price to sales0.15x ComputedClose of Oct 16, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570
Enterprise value to EBIT12.24x ComputedClose of Oct 16, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570
Enterprise value to EBITDA8.47x ComputedClose of Oct 16, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570
Price to earnings over growth
Why n/a

We do not hold this figure for this company, so there is nothing to show.

n/a ComputedClose of Oct 16, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570
Diluted earnings per share3.42 USD FiledFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570
Graham number49.16 USD ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570

We publish no fair value or price target of our own. Value SAH on your own assumptions in the DCF workbench, starting from the filed figures.

Its own record, and companies like it

Valuation

What the market charges for Sonic Automotive, Inc today, and the multiples it has carried. No value of ours: the figures are the filings’ and the market’s.

Sonic Automotive, Inc: valuation
Share price63.61 USD
Market capitalisation2.01B USD
Enterprise value to EBITDA8.47x
Graham number49.16 USD
Diluted earnings per share, FY20253.42 USD

Price to earnings on trailing twelve months, a different basis from the fiscal-year P/E above, since Oct 3, 2016: low 3.02x, median 10.82x, high 44.34x, latest 10.10x. 2,136 trading days with a meaningful ratio, 388 more on a loss and left out. Each close over the trailing twelve months of earnings as known that day: a quarter counts from the day it was filed.

Companies like Sonic Automotive, Inc

  1. Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (GPI)Market cap 2.89B USD
  2. Boyd Group Services Inc. (BGSI)Market cap 2.27B USD
  3. Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. (ABG)Market cap 3.05B USD
  4. AutoNation, Inc. (AN)Market cap 5.35B USD
  5. OPENLANE, Inc. (OPLN)Market cap 4.52B USD

Same industry (Auto - Dealerships) and size band (Mid, 2B to 10B), nearest in market value, net margin and current ratio. Each of those counts equally, by how many of the companies considered sit between the two on it. Closest first: the order is likeness and nothing else.

6 of 10

Cash generation

Whether profit arrives as cash, and what is paid back to shareholders.

SEC filingComputed

Sonic Automotive, Inc: cash generation and what is paid out, each with its source
FigureValue, source and document
Free cash flow yield18.9% ComputedClose of Oct 16, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570
Free cash flow417.5M USD ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570
Free cash flow margin2.8% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570
Dividend yield2.5% ComputedClose of Oct 16, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570
Payout ratio41.1% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570
FY2016 Free cash flow: 10.1M USDFY2016 Net income: 93.2M USDFY2017 Free cash flow: -71.4M USDFY2017 Net income: 93.0M USDFY2018 Free cash flow: -19.9M USDFY2018 Net income: 51.6M USDFY2019 Free cash flow: 45.2M USDFY2019 Net income: 144.1M USDFY2020 Free cash flow: 153.9M USDFY2020 Net income: -51.4M USDFY2021 Free cash flow: 8.1M USDFY2021 Net income: 348.9M USDFY2022 Free cash flow: 179.0M USDFY2022 Net income: 88.5M USDFY2023 Free cash flow: -219.3M USDFY2023 Net income: 178.2M USDFY2024 Free cash flow: -78.1M USDFY2024 Net income: 216.0M USDFY2025 Free cash flow: 417.5M USDFY2025 Net income: 118.7M USD
Free cash flow Net incomeProfit that arrives as cash stands level with net income; a gap year after year is worth reading about.

7 of 10

Filings

Every figure, the year it is for and the document it was read from.

SEC filingMarket data

The filed figures

Computed from the accounts this company filed with the SEC and, in a ratio with a price in it, the last close, dated on this page. Every filed figure below carries the fiscal year and the filing date its accounts were read from, and every blank carries the reason it is blank. Nothing here is a view on this company.

Sonic Automotive, Inc.: the eight ratios, with the fiscal year and filing date behind each.
FigureValueYearAs of
18.23xFY2025Oct 16, 2026
2.07xFY2025Oct 16, 2026
12.24xFY2025Oct 16, 2026
18.9%FY2025Oct 16, 2026
n/aFY2025Feb 23, 2026
n/a The filed income tax is outside 0 to 100% of pre-tax income (a tax benefit on a profit, a charge on a loss, or a charge above the profit), which is a one-off in the tax line and not a rate operating profit was taxed at, so after-tax operating profit is not computed.
2.5%FY2025Oct 16, 2026
2.15FY2025Feb 23, 2026
1.09FY2025Feb 23, 2026
0.15xFY2025Oct 16, 2026
n/aFY2025Oct 16, 2026
n/a This figure compares a year against the one before it, and we hold one filed year for this company.
3.41FY2025Oct 16, 2026
-2.61FY2025Feb 23, 2026
6/9FY2025Feb 23, 2026

The figures are computed from the accounts for fiscal 2025, the newest full year on file. 16 filed fiscal years on record, FY2009 to FY2025, from SEC EDGAR. Prices as of Oct 16, 2026. Ratios recomputed Oct 16, 2026. Two facts, because a recompute is not a fresh quote.

The year and the filing date name the statement each figure’s accounts are read from, and they stand even where the figure itself could not be computed: the line beneath a blank says what that statement did not carry. A figure’s name opens its formula and the filings behind it; a statement that names no SEC filing has no filing date, and reads n/a.

Ten years of filed figures, year by year

Ten years of filed figures

10 filed fiscal years, FY2016 to FY2025, read from the annual reports Sonic Automotive, Inc filed with the SEC. Each year names its filing. Amounts in USD, as filed.

Sonic Automotive, Inc: revenue, earnings, free cash flow and returns, by fiscal year, with the filing each year was read from
YearRevenueOperating incomeNet incomeEPS, dilutedFree cash flowOperating marginReturn on equityFiling
FY202515.15B367.5M118.7M3.42417.5M2.4%11.1%10-K, Feb 23, 20260001628280-26-010570
FY202414.22B461.5M216.0M6.18-78.1M3.2%20.3%10-K, Feb 19, 20250001043509-25-000003
FY202314.37B423.6M178.2M4.97-219.3M3.0%20.0%10-K, Feb 22, 20240001043509-24-000022
FY202214.00B314.0M88.5M2.23179.0M2.2%9.9%10-K, Feb 17, 20230001043509-23-000003
FY202112.40B538.4M348.9M8.068.1M4.3%32.4%10-K, Feb 25, 20220001043509-22-000004
FY20209.77B33.9M-51.4M-1.21153.9M0.3%-6.3%10-K, Feb 23, 20210001043509-21-000004
FY201910.45B307.7M144.1M3.3045.2M2.9%15.3%10-K, Feb 21, 20200001043509-20-000006
FY20189.95B177.7M51.6M1.20-19.9M1.8%6.3%10-K, Feb 21, 20190001628280-19-001674
FY20179.87B211.6M93.0M2.09-71.4M2.1%11.8%10-K, Feb 28, 20180001564590-18-003800
FY20169.73B232.9M93.2M2.0310.1M2.4%12.8%10-K, Feb 27, 20170001564590-17-002476
  • Revenue, compound annual growth FY2016 to FY2025: 5.0%
  • Earnings, compound annual growth FY2016 to FY2025: 2.7%
  • Earnings per share, compound annual growth FY2016 to FY2025: 6.0%
  • Free cash flow, compound annual growth FY2016 to FY2025: 51.2%

Every figure in this section is a line of a filed annual statement or a ratio of two of them. Nothing here is estimated or smoothed. Earnings per share filed before a share split are put on today's share count, and say so. Nothing here is a verdict on the company.

8 of 10

Risks and guardrails

The accounting screens, the published tests, and the lines you can set to be told.

ComputedCompany statement

Sonic Automotive, Inc: accounting screens and published tests, each with its source
FigureValue, source and document
Beneish M-score-2.61 ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570
Piotroski F-score6/9 ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 23, 2026, 0001628280-26-010570
Named tests met1 of 30 Computed
Beta0.84 ComputedClose of Oct 16, 2026

The named tests

Of 30 tests value investors published: 1 met, 26 not met, 3 we could not complete. Counts, never a score: a single figure would have to decide that meeting one investor’s criteria and meeting another’s are worth the same.

Which tests, by name(all 30)
Meets
Cash-covered dividend
Does not
Defensive investor (Benjamin Graham); Deep value; Large cap, low P/E; High F-score, low P/B (Joseph Piotroski); Three forensic scores; Low PEG, low debt (Peter Lynch); High returns and growth; Gross margin, turnover (Robert Novy-Marx); EV/EBITDA and coverage; High yield, low payout; Dividends and buybacks; Low beta, profitable; Near the 52-week low; Z-score and coverage (Edward Altman); Two thirds of NCAV (Benjamin Graham); P/E times P/B (Benjamin Graham); High returns, low debt; Owner earnings yield; High return on tangibles; Low P/S, rising earnings (James O'Shaughnessy); Book or below, low debt (Walter Schloss); Tangible book or below; Clean books, high ROIC; Cheapest quarter on P/E (David Dreman); Cheapest quarter on P/B (David Dreman); Low P/E, growth, yield (John Neff)
Not measured
Earnings yield and ROIC (Joel Greenblatt); ROIC at or above WACC; Cash-flow yield and ROIC. A test with a figure we could not read is incomplete, never met and never failed.
Figures we could not read(5)
  • Return on Invested Capital: The filed income tax is outside 0 to 100% of pre-tax income (a tax benefit on a profit, a charge on a loss, or a charge above the profit), which is a one-off in the tax line and not a rate operating profit was taxed at, so after-tax operating profit is not computed.
  • PEG Ratio: We do not hold this figure for this company, so there is nothing to show.
  • Eps Growth 5Y: We do not hold this figure for this company, so there is nothing to show.
  • Interest Coverage: No interest expense is filed for this year, so coverage is not computed.
  • ROIC-WACC Spread: We do not hold this figure for this company, so there is nothing to show.

9 of 10

Declared positions

Whether anybody here owns this company.

Positions declared by Javier Sanz Alvarez: no holding in any company shown here, as of October 3, 2026.

10 of 10

Next step

What to do with what you have read.

A thesis is your reason for owning it, in your words, with the figures that must stay true. Checking those figures every night against the newest filed accounts, and telling you once when one breaks, is what the subscription adds.

More on this company

What this cannot tell you

  • 5 figures could not be read on this company, among them Return on Invested Capital, PEG Ratio, Eps Growth 5Y. Each blank in the table above names the rest, with its reason. 3 named tests come back incomplete because of them, which is neither met nor missed.

And the one that is true of all of it: This is what the numbers say today. It cannot tell you the day one of them stops being true. Nothing here can, because the reasons are not written down.

Running this once is arithmetic on public documents and you are welcome to it. Writing down why you own each company, in your own words and with the numbers that have to stay true for it to hold, and then having those numbers re-checked every night against the newest filed accounts, and against the latest close where a rule watches a price, is Professional, the plan a new account starts on for 30 days, one trial per person. It writes to you the day one breaks, and stays quiet when nothing does. The check runs every night at 23:30 UTC. A filing is picked up the night after it is published.

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ValueScreener · valuescreener.ai · Computed from accounts filed with the SEC by this company, read from EDGAR, and from dated closing prices. On this page a filed figure opens into its formula, its inputs and the statement, fiscal year and filing date it was read from, and a price into the day of its close. A figure that cannot show that trail says so.

A computation on accounts filed with the SEC, not a recommendation and not advice. Past filings do not indicate future results. Risk disclaimer.

Once a week, what changed in the filings of US-listed companies, why it can matter to a thesis, and what deserves a closer review. Grounded in filings, not market noise.

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Risk disclaimer. This service is provided for research and education only. Nothing on it is investment advice, a recommendation, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Capital is at risk, and past performance does not indicate future results. Figures come from filed accounts and may be incomplete, delayed or later restated, so verify a number against the filing before you act on it.