Penske Automotive Group PAG recently acquired Erhard BMW of Bloomfield, located in Bloomfield Hills, MI. The buyout represents the company’s 48th BMW dealership globally and the largest BMW dealership in Michigan. The Erhard BMW store, founded in 1965 by Erhard Dahm, is located on Telegraph Road, north of Square Lake Road.
Penske is ecstatic about the buyout. This dealership has a robust reputation for serving BMW loyal customers in the metropolitan Detroit market for more than 50 years. Moreover, the buyout seeks to scale up the company’s relationship with the BMW brand.
Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed but roughly $100 million in annualized revenues are expected to be generated from the acquisition.
Headquartered in Michigan, Penske is a diversified international transportation services company that operates automotive and commercial truck dealerships primarily in the United States, the U.K., Canada, and Western Europe.
The company has been on a buyout binge as it seeks to profitably consolidate retail automotive and commercial truck dealerships into its network.
The firm has become one of the largest dealership groups for Freightliner in North America, with the acquisition of Warner Truck Centers, representing six dealership locations in Utah and Idaho, including a flagship operation in Salt Lake City. The acquisition of Warner Truck Centers nearly doubled its retail commercial truck dealership revenues and accelerated its diversification while opening up opportunities for growth and increased profitability. The buyout of Kansas City Freightliner expanded Penske’s Premier Truck Group (PTG) arm’s scale with the addition of five full-service dealerships, four parts and service centers as well as two collision centers. This acquisition is likely to generate $450 million in annualized revenues.
This November, Penske acquired McCoy Freightliner, a retailer of medium and heavy-duty commercial trucks located in Oregon. The acquisition is projected to add $200 million in annualized revenues. The buyout of McCoy has added two full-service dealerships located in Portland and Salem, OR, and a remarketing center in Portland to Premier Group’s existing operations.
The spree of acquisitions has contributed approximately $1.2 billion to Penske’s year-to-date expected annualized revenues as the company thrives to achieve its target of reaching $1 billion in earnings before taxes in 2023.
As part of the firm’s used-vehicle expansion, Penske’s U.S. supercenters have been rebranded as CarShop. Penske is on track to step up CarShop’s footprint from its current 22 locations to 40 by the end of 2023, thereby generating at least $150,000 in unit sales and $2.5-$3 billion in total revenues. Also, rising e-commerce initiatives are helping Penske boost sales. The firm’s move to enhance its digital performance rates and boost online sales through home delivery and clicks and collect initiatives have helped generate revenues.
Penske currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Key Auto Companies to Tap On
Other top-ranked stocks in the auto space include Goodyear Tire GT, LCI Industries LCII and Harley-Davidson HOG, all of which flaunt a Zacks Rank of 1.
Goodyear has an expected earnings growth rate of 196.86% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has been revised upward by 80 cents over the last 60 days.
Goodyear beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in the last four quarters. GT has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 228.45%, on average. Its shares have rallied 88.1% over the past year.
LCI Industries has an expected earnings growth rate of 67.95% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has been revised upward by 45 cents over the last 60 days.
LCI Industries beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in three of the last four quarters while missing once. LCII has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 10.09%, on average. Its shares have rallied 18.5% over the past year.
Harley-Davidson has an expected earnings growth rate of 34.92% for the current quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has been revised upward by 32 cents over the last 60 days.
Harley-Davidson beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in three of the last four quarters while missing once. HOG has a trailing four-quarter negative earnings surprise of 138.45%, on average. Its shares have risen 2.3% over the past year.
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