Automotive Analyst Ward holds a conference call with President & CEO Kornick, CFO Hulgrave and EVP Pordon will be held on August 3 at 2 pm hosted by Benchmark.
Automotive Analyst Ward holds a conference call with President & CEO Kornick, CFO Hulgrave and EVP Pordon will be held on August 3 at 2 pm hosted by Benchmark.
Reports Q2 revenue $6.99B, consensus $6.01B. Same-store new and used retail automotive unit sales increased 81.7%. Commenting on the company's results, chair and CEO Roger Penske said, "Our business produced an all-time record second quarter driven by strength across all areas of our business. Strong volume and vehicle margins, improving service and parts operations, a growing Class 8 commercial truck market, record performance at Penske Transportation Solutions, and continuing cost controls all contributed to the record performance. I am particularly pleased with the continued expense discipline driving a 1,860-basis point improvement in selling, general, and administrative expense as a percent of gross profit." Penske continued, "Despite the ongoing disruption to new vehicle supply, our performance in the quarter demonstrates the strength of the auto and commercial truck retail model and the benefit from our diversification."
Automotive Analyst Ward holds a conference call with President & CEO Kornick, CFO Hulgrave and EVP Pordon will be held on August 3 at 2 pm hosted by Benchmark.
Catch up on today's top five analyst downgrades with this list compiled by The Fly: 1. Glaukos (GKOS) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Stephens with analyst Chris Cooley saying he has increased concern that proposed rates are not likely to improve materially and that surgeons may initially shift to performing goniotomy or significantly reduce their MIGS volume as the procedure could become unprofitable. 2. Penske Automotive (PAG) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley with analyst Adam Jonas saying the franchise auto dealers have "benefitted substantially from the strongest supply-demand imbalance and inventory tightness seen in memory," but after another record strong quarter Jonas believes cycle-high conditions provide "an outstanding opportunity" to reduce exposure to the franchise dealers before secular issues begin to surface. 3. Lowe's (LOW) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Wedbush with analyst Seth Basham noting that existing home sales turnover, normally the largest driver of home improvement spending in the next two-three quarters, has peaked, and widely-cited forecasts call for only minimal increases in 2022 as weakening affordability and limited supply constrain sales. 4. Palo Alto Networks (PANW) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Loop Capital with analyst Yum Kim citing his recent industry checks into the security software industry which revealed that for the first time since the onset of COVID, large organizations are planning to focus on better management of all the investments in security software that they have, and many admit that "these were made in haste without having a long-term strategic plan in place." 5. Zscaler (ZS) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Loop Capital with analyst Yun Kim saying that he is not making a negative call on any security software vendor, but also believes that their collective growth rates may have peaked. This list is just a portion of The Fly's full analyst coverage. To see The Fly's full Street Research coverage, click here.
As previously reported, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas downgraded Penske Automotive to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $94, up from $92. The franchise auto dealers have "benefitted substantially from the strongest supply-demand imbalance and inventory tightness seen in memory," but after another record strong quarter Jonas believes cycle-high conditions provide "an outstanding opportunity" to reduce exposure to the franchise dealers before secular issues begin to surface, he tells investors.
Penske Automotive and Cox Automotive announced they have jointly developed a transformational, fully automated technology platform to enable the online retail sale of used vehicles. The automated online buying platform, which is owned exclusively by Cox Automotive allows consumers to select from high-quality, preowned vehicles through PAG's U.S. CarShop used vehicle SuperCenters and franchised dealerships. Cox Automotive's patent-pending artificial intelligence retail technology, Essential Commerce, powers CarShop's U.S. digital platform to provide consumers with an automated,100% online vehicle purchase. Features include personalized monthly payments across all inventories, trade-in capabilities, application, approval for financing, digital contracting, and digital signatures. Esntial Commerce offers payment personalization based on the consumer's risk profile, selected vehicle, and preferred deal structure using an AI/machine learning algorithm. Offering actual financing and the ability to immediately transact online allows consumers to move forward confidently, knowing their financing has been approved.
BofA analyst John Murphy raised the firm's price target on Penske Automotive to $141 from $119 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The analyst expects Q2 "beats across the board versus low expectations and outlooks" for the automotive industry. The current semiconductor shortage that is dragging on sales is creating additional pent-up demand "to be more rationally released over a multi-year recovery," Murphy tells investors in a research note.