← All companies ← ABEO Manual ABM → ← AAP Auto Dealers & Services AN →

ABG, Asbury Automotive Group Inc

Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. is a Fortune 500 company and one of the largest franchised automotive retailers in the United States.

As of December 31, 2025, we owned and operated 223 new vehicle franchises, representing 36 brands of automobiles at 171 dealership locations, 39 collision centers, and Total Care Auto, Powered by Asbury ("TCA" or "TCA Business"), our finance and insurance ("F&I") product provider, within 15 states.

Our omni-channel platform is designed to engage with customers where and when they want to interact and to increase our market share through digital innovation.

Latest annual: FY2025 10-K

ABG · Asbury Automotive Group Inc

The business

What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.

Revenue · FY2025

$18.0B

+4.7% YoY · 20% 5-yr CAGR

Vital signs · TTM, with 5-yr average

Revenue $18.0B 5-yr avg $15.1B

Gross margin 17% 5-yr avg 18%

Operating margin 4.4% 5-yr avg 6.5%

ROIC 8% 5-yr avg 11%

Next report Est. 10/26–11/2 · the 10-Q for the quarter ended late September · due within 40 days of period end · has filed ~30 days after · the wire records it on arrival

The business in brief

read the 10-K →

What this business is and what moves its needle, from its own SEC filings.

What moves the needle: Gross margin has run about 17% and operating margin about 4.8% through the cycle, a thin spread that turns the result on volume and the cost of what it sells far more than on the price it sets. That margin has held in a narrow 4.5%–8.2% band over the years, so steadiness itself is the evidence — the lever is unit growth and cost discipline, not a moving line. On its own account, the filing leans hardest on pricing power & competition, set against the numbers in what the filing emphasizes, below.
Is it a good business?: Return on capital has run in the teens (median 14%, above 15% in 5 of 10 years). Owner earnings agree: roughly 4% of revenue reaches owners as cash, consistently. Returns like these are solid but short of clear franchise economics; whether they hold is what the 10-K settles, not the multiple.

Every line is arithmetic on the company's filings, shown in full in the sections below.

The record

Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.

The record, 2016–2025

realized figures from each filing · older years to the left

2016’16	2017’17	2018’18	2019’19	2020’20	2021’21	2022’22	2023’23	2024’24	2025’25	TTMTTMJun 2026
											Income statement
$6.5B	$6.5B	$6.9B	$7.2B	$7.1B	$9.8B	$15.4B	$14.8B	$17.2B	$18.0B	$18.0B	RevenueRevenue
$1.1B	$1.1B	$1.1B	$1.2B	$1.2B	$1.9B	$3.1B	$2.8B	$2.9B	$3.1B	$3.1B	Gross profitGross prof.
16%	16%	16%	16%	17%	19%	20%	19%	17%	17%	17%	Gross marginGross mgn
11%	11%	11%	11%	11%	11%	11%	11%	11%	11%	12%	SG&A / revenueSG&A/rev
$298M	$288M	$311M	$325M	$371M	$792M	$1.3B	$954M	$836M	$861M	$782M	Operating incomeOp. inc.
4.6%	4.5%	4.5%	4.5%	5.2%	8.0%	8.2%	6.4%	4.9%	4.8%	4.4%	Operating marginOp. mgn
$268M	$209M	$225M	$244M	$338M	$698M	$1.3B	$801M	$575M	$662M	—	Pretax incomePretax
$167M	$139M	$168M	$184M	$254M	$532M	$997M	$603M	$430M	$492M	$510M	Net incomeNet inc.
38%	33%	25%	24%	25%	24%	24%	25%	25%	26%	26%	Effective tax rateTax rate
											Cash flow & returns
$143M	$266M	$10M	$350M	$653M	$1.2B	$696M	$313M	$671M	$775M	$811M	Operating cash flowOp. cash
$31M	$32M	$34M	$36M	$39M	$42M	$69M	$68M	$75M	$82M	$90M	Depreciation & amortizationD&A
($67M)	$82M	($202M)	$117M	$347M	$573M	($391M)	($381M)	$139M	$173M	$183M	Working capital & otherWC & other
$81M	$42M	$40M	$58M	—	$74M	$95M	$142M	—	—	—	CapexCapex
1.2%	0.7%	0.6%	0.8%	—	0.8%	0.6%	1.0%	—	—	—	Capex / revenueCapex/rev
$112M	$234M	($30M)	$314M	—	$1.1B	$627M	$245M	—	—	—	Owner earningsOwner earn.
1.7%	3.6%	−0.4%	4.3%	—	11.4%	4.1%	1.7%	—	—	—	Owner earnings marginOE mgn
$61M	$224M	($30M)	$292M	—	$1.1B	$601M	$171M	—	—	—	Free cash flowFCF
0.9%	3.5%	−0.4%	4.1%	—	11.1%	3.9%	1.2%	—	—	—	Free cash flow marginFCF mgn
$0	$80M	$91M	$210M	$954M	$3.7B	$5M	$1.5B	$5M	$1.8B	$1.8B	AcquisitionsAcquis.
$216M	$40M	$110M	$21M	$5M	$10M	$9M	$11M	$10M	$13M	—	BuybacksBuybacks
$5M	($128M)	($150M)	($228M)	($821M)	($3.9B)	$465M	($1.7B)	($137M)	($1.5B)	—	Investing cash flowInv. cash
($147M)	($137M)	$143M	($127M)	$166M	$2.9B	($1.1B)	$1.2B	($510M)	$653M	—	Financing cash flowFin. cash
$600K	$1M	$4M	($5M)	($2M)	$178M	$56M	($190M)	$24M	($29M)	—	Change in cashΔ cash
15%	15%	17%	16%	13%	11%	16%	11%	10%	9%	8%	ROICROIC
60%	35%	36%	29%	28%	25%	34%	19%	12%	13%	13%	Return on equityROE
60%	35%	36%	29%	28%	25%	34%	19%	12%	13%	13%	Retained to equityRetained/eq
											Balance sheet
$3M	$5M	$8M	$4M	$1M	$190M	$241M	$52M	$84M	$41M	$36M	Cash & investmentsCash+inv
$138M	$129M	$130M	$136M	$156M	$230M	$172M	$226M	$286M	$295M	$258M	ReceivablesReceiv.
$895M	$822M	$1.1B	$985M	$875M	$718M	$959M	$1.8B	$2.0B	$2.1B	$2.1B	InventoryInvent.
$82M	$92M	$82M	$82M	$98M	$164M	$147M	$156M	$169M	$152M	$163M	Accounts payablePayables
$951M	$858M	$1.1B	$1.0B	$933M	$784M	$984M	$1.8B	$2.1B	$2.3B	$2.2B	Operating working capitalOper. WC
$1.3B	$1.3B	$1.6B	$1.6B	$1.4B	$1.9B	$1.9B	$3.1B	$3.1B	$3.4B	$3.1B	Current assetsCur. assets
$1.1B	$1.1B	$1.3B	$1.2B	$1.2B	$1.6B	$1.0B	$2.9B	$2.8B	$3.6B	$3.4B	Current liabilitiesCur. liab.
1.2×	1.2×	1.2×	1.3×	1.1×	1.2×	1.8×	1.1×	1.1×	0.9×	0.9×	Current ratioCurr. ratio
$815M	$834M	$886M	$910M	$956M	$2.0B	$1.9B	$2.3B	$2.6B	$3.1B	—	Net PP&ENet PP&E
$128M	$161M	$181M	$202M	$562M	$2.3B	$1.8B	$2.0B	$2.0B	$2.3B	$2.3B	GoodwillGoodwill
$2.3B	$2.4B	$2.7B	$2.9B	$3.7B	$8.0B	$8.0B	$10.2B	$10.3B	$11.6B	$11.4B	Total assetsAssets
$936M	$883M	$913M	$922M	$1.2B	$3.5B	$3.3B	$3.2B	$3.0B	$3.1B	$3.5B	Total debtDebt
$932M	$878M	$905M	$919M	$1.2B	$3.3B	$3.1B	$3.2B	$2.9B	$3.1B	$3.4B	Net debt / (cash)Net debt
—	—	—	—	—	7.8×	7.9×	5.8×	—	—	4.7×	Interest coverageInt. cov.
$280M	$394M	$473M	$646M	$906M	$2.1B	$2.9B	$3.2B	$3.5B	$3.9B	$3.9B	Shareholders’ equityEquity
0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.1%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	Stock comp / revenueSBC/rev
—	—	—	—	—	—	—	$15M	$1M	—	$1M	Goodwill written downGW imp.
											Per share
22.6M	21.0M	20.3M	19.3M	19.3M	20.1M	22.4M	21.0M	20.0M	19.6M	18.7M	Shares out (diluted)Shares
$288.84	$307.45	$338.64	$373.59	$369.52	$489.44	$689.01	$704.89	$859.43	$918.32	$961.23	Revenue / shareRev/sh
$7.40	$6.62	$8.28	$9.55	$13.18	$26.49	$44.52	$28.69	$21.52	$25.10	$27.25	EPS (diluted)EPS
$4.95	$11.15	$-1.49	$16.25	—	$55.81	$27.99	$11.68	—	—	—	Owner earnings / shareOE/sh
$2.70	$10.67	$-1.49	$15.14	—	$54.20	$26.85	$8.13	—	—	—	Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh
$3.60	$2.01	$1.99	$2.98	—	$3.69	$4.22	$6.78	—	—	—	Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh
$12.38	$18.77	$23.31	$33.49	$46.92	$105.25	$129.62	$154.48	$175.10	$198.57	$209.80	Book value / shareBVPS

Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded

	9-yr	5-yr
Revenue / share	+13.7%/yr	+20.0%/yr
Owner earnings / share	+13.1%/yr (7-yr)	—
EPS	+14.5%/yr	+13.7%/yr
Capital spending / share	+9.4%/yr (7-yr)	+27.8%/yr
Book value / share	+36.1%/yr	+33.4%/yr

The year, in the company's words

the filing →

Verbatim from the 10-K's management discussion. Each sentence is shown only because its subject, direction, and stated figures check out against the filed numbers on this page. The words are the company's; the arithmetic is the record's.

Operating income+3.0%
“Income from operations during 2025 increased by $25.0 million (3%) compared to 2024, primarily due to a $123.0 million (4%) increase in gross profit and an $8.5 million (6%) decrease in asset impairments, partially offset by a $99.0 million (5%) increase in selling, general and administrative expenses and an $8.5 million (6%) increase in depreciation and amortization expense.”
✓ figure matches the filed record

Where the cash went

ReinvestBuybacksDividendsAcquisitionsRetainedBeyond op. cash

Each year's outlays against its operating cash: the mix, and how it drifts. The hatched cap is spending beyond that year's operating cash — financed from the balance sheet or borrowing, not operations.

FY2016FY2025

Owner-earnings bridge

FY2018–FY2023cash-flow statement, SEC EDGAR →

Net income is the accountant's number; owner earnings is the cash an owner could take out. The walk between them, off the cash-flow statement, and whether the gap is widening or holding.

In fiscal 2023 the business earned $245M of owner earnings, the operating cash left after the $68M it takes just to hold its position. It put $75M more into growth; free cash flow, after that spending, was $171M.

Reported net income$603M

Owner earnings$245M · 2% of revenue

	FY2023	FY2022	FY2021	FY2019	FY2018
Reported net income	$603M	$997M	$532M	$184M	$168M
Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back	+$68M	+$69M	+$42M	+$36M	+$34M
Stock-based compensationreal costnon-cash, but a real cost	+$24M	+$21M	+$16M	+$13M	+$11M
Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items	−$381M	−$391M	+$573M	+$117M	−$202M
Cash from operations	$313M	$696M	$1.2B	$350M	$10M
Maintenance capital expenditurethe spending needed just to hold position and volume	−$68M	−$69M	−$42M	−$36M	−$40M
Owner earnings	$245M	$627M	$1.1B	$314M	($30M)
Growth capital expenditurediscretionary; spent to get bigger, not to stand still	−$75M	−$26M	−$32M	−$21M	—
Free cash flow	$171M	$601M	$1.1B	$292M	($30M)
Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue	2%	4%	11%	4%	0%

Owner earnings is the cash an owner could pull out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position (here about $68M, roughly its depreciation, the rate its assets wear out). The other $75M of its capital spending is growth it chose, not upkeep it owed; charged only with the maintenance it must do, the business earns well more than the year's free cash flow shows. The cash-flow statement also adds stock comp back as non-cash, but it is a real cost paid in shares; counted as the expense it is (less $24M), owner earnings is nearer $222M.

Much of fiscal 2023's profit didn't arrive as operating cash; it sits in “working capital & other” above. That can be a real inventory or timing swing, or profit that doesn't run through operating cash at all: a heavy tax year, equity-method earnings, or investment income booked through investing. For a year like this, owner earnings understates the cash earned; the full cash-flow statement carries the rest.

Maintenance capex is estimated as depreciation where a growing business invests above it; free cash flow is the figure the scorecard's free-cash margin reads.

III

Quality & stewardship

Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.

Owner’s Scorecard

FY2025 10-K · source on SEC EDGAR →

Material weakness in financial controls

“Controls and Procedures" below, we previously concluded that a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting existed as of December 31, 2024 and, accordingly, internal control over financial reporting and our disclosure controls and…”

The figures below are only as sound as the controls that produced them. read the note →

Will it survive?

Can it pay its interest? —

Interest expense not tagged in the data

What this means
No usable interest-expense line was tagged in the filing data, but the balance sheet carries real net debt — so the interest burden here is unknown, not absent. Read the debt on the net-debt check below.
How heavy is the debt, net of cash? $3.2B · 3.7× operating profit

Meaningful net debt

Cash $40M + ST investments $500K − debt $3.2B

What this means
Netting $41M of cash and short-term investments against $3.2B of debt leaves $3.2B owed, about 3.7× a year's operating profit (3.8× on the gross debt, before the cash). Net debt is the leverage figure that matters: the cash is already set against the debt. Strategic or illiquid investments aren't counted here.
How long is cash tied up? 54d

Tight

DSO 6 + DIO 52 − DPO 4 days

What this means
Days cash is tied up between paying suppliers and collecting from customers. Lower is better; a long cycle means growth itself eats cash.

Is it a good business?

Return on invested capital 14%

Solid through the cycle

10-yr median, range 9%–17%; 9% latest = NOPAT $639M ÷ invested capital $7.1B

Industry peers: median 13%

What this means
The rate the business earns on the money tied up in it, Buffett's north star, because over time a stock tracks the ROIC beneath it. Above ~15% sustained hints at a moat; a return below the cost of capital (~8%) erodes value as a business grows rather than building it — the test Buffett weighs most. The headline is the median of the last 10 years (it ran 9% most recently), so one peak or trough year doesn't set the verdict. Asset-light businesses (R&D expensed, little capital) read artificially high, pair this with Owner Earnings.
Owner-earnings margin —

Not enough data

Industry peers: median 1%

What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
Are earnings backed by cash? 1.58×

Cash-backed

Cash from ops $775M ÷ net income $492M

In the filing’s words The filing discloses a material weakness in its financial controls — the reported numbers here, and the record built on them, are only as reliable as the controls that produced them.

What this means
How much of reported profit showed up as operating cash. Above 1× is reassuring; well below suggests earnings lean on accruals. One year is noisy, growth and working-capital swings distort it, and this is operating cash, not free cash. Watch the multi-year trend.

How is the cash used?

Where do the earnings go? —

Not enough data

What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
Investing or harvesting? —

Not enough data

What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.

The promise and the pay packet

Is the buyback buying ownership, or mopping up? 0.2%

The count is genuinely shrinking

Stock compensation $28M (fiscal 2025), 0.2% of revenue · repurchases $13M · diluted shares -12.5% since 2022

What this means
Stock handed to employees is a real cost paid in the owner's own currency: it is charged against profit, but the shares it creates are permanent. Many companies repurchase stock at the same time, which looks like a return of capital and often is not — if the count barely moves, the cash merely cancelled the pay packet and bought the owner nothing. The three states worth telling apart are a count genuinely shrinking, a count standing still despite large repurchases, and a count rising because the issuance was never offset at all.

Graham’s defensive tests · 3 of 5 met

Graham’s numerical criteria for the defensive investor (The Intelligent Investor, ch. 14), run on the filings. A floor of safety, not a buy signal; many fine modern businesses fail his strictest liquidity rules by design.

Adequate size Pass

Revenue ≥ $2B · $18.0B

What this means
Big enough to weather a storm. Graham's 1972 floor was ~$100M of sales (≈ $700M today); we use a $2B revenue line as a conservative modern stand-in.
Strong liquidity Miss

Current ratio ≥ 2× · 0.95×

What this means
Current assets at least twice current liabilities, near-term bills covered without touching the business. Strict by design: many cash-rich modern firms run leaner and miss it, holding their cushion in longer-dated securities.
Conservative debt Miss

Debt ≤ working capital · $3.2B vs ($179M) WC

What this means
Graham's rule that borrowings not exceed net current assets. Capital-heavy and buyback-heavy firms routinely fail it, read it next to interest coverage, not alone.
Earnings stability Pass

A profit every year (10-yr record) · no losses

What this means
Graham wanted earnings in each of the past ten years, the stability a defensive owner leans on.
Dividend record —

Uninterrupted dividends · no dividend line tagged in the data

What this means
An unbroken dividend was Graham's mark of durability. This record carries no dividends-paid line in any year — common for partnerships, whose distributions file under tags the chain doesn't read — so the criterion is withheld rather than judged on silence.
Earnings growth Pass

Earnings +33% over the record · +221%

What this means
At least a third more earnings than a decade ago, averaging three years at each end. Net income (not per-share), so stock splits don't distort it, buybacks and dilution show up in the share-count line instead.
Moderate price —

P/E ≤ 15 and P/E × P/B ≤ 22.5 · decided by the price

What this means
Graham's valuation gate, the wall he kept between a sound business and a sound investment. Three-year average earnings are $28.31/share (latest year $27.41), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $216.80/share. Enter a price in “What the price implies” just below for the P/E, P/B, and whether it clears. But this is the rule Buffett outgrew: there's no hard P/E law, and a wonderful business can deserve a far richer multiple if the thesis holds, treat it as the bargain-hunter's floor, not a verdict on the price.

Durability & moat, 2016–2025

Whether the record’s returns held, and what the capital reinvested earned.

Profitable years 10 of 10

What this means
Never lost money over the record, the earnings stability Graham insisted on.
Return on capital ≥ 15% 5 of 10 yrs

What this means
A moat shows up as a high return on invested capital that holds year after year, not one good vintage.
Operating margin 5% → 5% (3-yr avg ends)

In the filing’s words The filing attributes gains to higher prices, but the margin in the record has not followed — the claim outruns the result here.

What this means
Through the cycle the operating margin held roughly steady — about 5% early, 5% lately, median 5%.
Reinvestment, incremental ROIC 9%

What this means
Reinvested capital came back at only a modest incremental return — near the cost of capital, where extra growth adds little per dollar. The record shows whether it is a soft stretch or a thinning moat.
Owner earnings growth +14%/yr

What this means
Owner earnings grew about 14% a year over the record.
Worst year 2017 · 4.5% op. margin

What this means
Stayed profitable even in its hardest year, the resilience that survives recessions.
Share count −1.6%/yr

What this means
The share count is shrinking, buybacks are quietly growing your slice of the business.

All figures as filed; the source filing is linked above.

Current Position

as of the latest quarter, Jun 30, 2026

Can the business pay what it owes this year, off the freshest balance sheet: the quality of the assets, the debt actually coming due, and what a low ratio means here.

Current assets$3.1B

Cash & short-term investments$36M
Receivables$258M
Inventory$2.1B
Other current assets$680M

Current liabilities$3.4B

Accounts payable$833M
Other current liabilities$2.6B

Current ratio0.91×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×

Quick ratio0.29×stricter: inventory excluded

Cash ratio0.01×strictest: cash alone against what's due

Working capital($305M)the cushion left after near-term bills

Revenue, latest quarter vs. a year ago+0.3%the freshest read on whether the business is still growing

Current ratio, recent quarters1.2× → 0.9×

Deeper floors

Tangible book value$1.7Bequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles

Debt incl. operating leases$233M$233M of it operating leases

Deferred revenue$862Mcustomer cash collected before delivery; operating float

From the company's latest filing.

Debt maturity

the debt note, SEC EDGAR →

Not how much it owes, but when it falls due, and against what. The ladder the company files, beside cash on hand and a year's owner earnings.

'26$484M

'27$42M

'28$610M

'29$838M

'30$483M

later$1.1B

Bars scaled to the largest single year; “later” is everything due after 2030, shown apart since it dwarfs the years.

Due in the next 12 months$484Mthe first rung: what must be repaid or rolled over within the year

Within two years$527Mthe near wall, the part most exposed to today’s credit conditions

Biggest single year$838Min 2029the lumpiest maturity, where a refinancing, if needed, is largest

Total scheduled principal$3.6Bevery year plus what lies beyond, as the footnote totals it

Against what the business has and earns

Cash & short-term investments, Jun 30, 2026$36M

Together, against $484M due next year0.07×

Cash on hand as of Jun 30, 2026 comes to $36M against the $484M due in the twelve months after the Dec 31, 2025 schedule: about 7% of it, so the near maturities lean on refinancing or the rest of the year’s cash.

Maturity schedule extracted from the company’s Dec 31, 2025 annual report and reconciled to the total the table states.

How the cash was used, 2016–2023

Over the record, the business generated $2.9B of operating cash; how management split it reads as a balanced allocator, splitting cash between the business, owners, and the balance sheet.

Reinvested$533M · 18%
Buybacks$417M · 14%
Retained (debt / cash)$2.0B · 68%

Returned to owners$417M
16% of the owner earnings the business produced over the span, $0 as dividends and $417M as buybacks.
Source of fundingOperating cash
Operating cash covered reinvestment and returns; over the span debt rose $2.5B and cash and short-term investments rose $32M.
Average price paid for buybacks$6.98
Across the years where the filing reports a share count, 3M shares were bought for $21M, about $6.98 each.
Net change in share count−17.3%
The diluted count fell from 23M to 19M, so the buybacks outran the stock issued to staff.
Dividend record—
No dividend line was reported in the filing data over the span; the record here neither confirms nor rules out a payout.
Return on what it retained24%
Of the earnings it kept rather than paid out ($2.4B over the span), annual owner earnings (first three years vs last three) grew $559M, so each retained $1 added about 0.24 of yearly owner earnings. Buffett's test, run on owner earnings instead of market value.

Buybacks are gross of stock issued to staff; the share-count line above is the net of that, the figure that decides whether owners gained. The average price paid blends a year of purchases (and any accelerated repurchase), so it is close, not exact. The record of where the cash went and on what terms.

Acquisitions & goodwill

from the balance sheet & the 10-year cash-flow record

Goodwill grows only when a company acquires and falls only when it concedes it overpaid. The size of that bet, the cash put into buying rather than building, and how much has already been written off.

Goodwill$2.3B20% of all assets; the premium carried on the balance sheet for businesses acquired

Against book equity59%goodwill is this share of book equity; the rest is the company’s own retained and paid-in capital

Cash spent acquiring$8.6Bover 17 years since fiscal 2009 buying other businesses, against $533M of capital spent building over the 10-year record

$16M written down across 2 years (2023, 2024): goodwill the company has already conceded it overpaid for, charged against earnings. A write-down costs no cash (the cash went out when the deal was signed), but it is management marking its own past judgment to market.

Goodwill, acquired intangibles and equity from the latest balance sheet; acquisition spend summed across the company's full tagged history, write-downs across the 10-year record, from the company's own filings.

Management, ownership & pay

read the proxy →

From the proxy: how much of the business the people running it own, and how they are paid, beside what the business earned for its owners in the same years.

Fiscal year	Chief executive	Pay, as filed	“Actually paid”	Owner earnings
2021	Mr. Hult	$7.5M	$9.7M	$1.1B
2022	Mr. Hult	$8.6M	$9.6M	$627M
2023	Mr. Hult	$8.1M	$10.5M	$245M
2024	Mr. Hult	$9.0M	$8.7M	—
2025	Mr. Hult	$10.7M	$10.3M	—

Both pay figures are the company’s own, from the pay-versus-performance table its proxy statement files. “As filed” is the Summary Compensation Table total: salary, bonus, and equity awards at their value on the day of grant. “Actually paid” is the SEC’s prescribed recalculation, which re-marks those equity awards to what they became as they vested; it can swing far above or below the filed figure in either direction, and negative years occur. Owner earnings are the whole business's, from the record above, for the same fiscal years.

Insider ownership<1%
The stake all directors and executive officers hold together, per the 2026 proxy: skin in the game, the first thing Munger reads.
Stock-based compensation$28M
The slice of the business handed to employees in shares in fiscal 2025, 0.2% of revenue, equal to 3.2% of operating profit. Buffett's oldest accounting fight: this is compensation, compensation is an expense, real whether or not the headline earnings admit it. One trap: the cash-flow statement adds SBC back, so the operating cash, and the owner earnings drawn from it, are flattered by exactly this amount; counted as the cost it is, what an owner keeps is lower.

Peers, Auto Dealers & Services

The same industry, side by side on owner economics. Each column names the period it is read over, and a median resting on fewer than three years carries that count beside it; the group median at the foot is the line to read each figure against.

Company	Revenuelatest FY, USD	Gross marginmedian over the record	Op. marginmedian over the record	ROICmedian over the record	Owner earn. marginmedian over the record
PAGPenske Automotive	$31.8B	16%	3.7%	13%	3%
ANAutoNation	$27.6B	18%	4.3%	14%	1%
KMXCarMax	$25.9B	12%	5.3%	4%	0%
GPIGroup 1 Automotive	$22.6B	16%	3.9%	13%	3%
CVNACarvana	$20.3B	14%	-0.7%	-3%	-17%
MUSAMurphy USA	$19.4B	84%2y	3.6%	20%	3%
ABGAsbury Automotive Group Inc	$18.0B	17%	4.8%	14%	4%
SAHSonic Automotive Inc.	$15.2B	15%	2.4%	14%	1%
Group median	—	16%	3.8%	13%	2%

The price

What a price has to assume.

What the price implies

reverse-DCF

Type today's close and see the owner-earnings growth you'd have to believe to justify it, beside what Asbury Automotive Group Inc has delivered.

Asbury Automotive Group Inc’s latest year runs above its own through-cycle margin — the reported figure may flatter a peak. So the tool opens on the through-cycle base, Graham’s averaging cutting both ways; clear the toggle below to read the latest year exactly as reported.

Today’s price $

Through the cycle, Asbury Automotive Group Inc earns about $653M on its 3.6% median owner-earnings margin. This year’s — margin runs in line with that. Normalize, below, values the price on that through-cycle figure rather than the latest year.

Base Normalize · through-cycle ($653M) Net of stock comp (−$30M TTM)

—

The assumptions Required return 9% Years of high growth 10 Terminal growth 2.5%

9.0% = the 4.71% 10-year Treasury (Aug 18, 2026) + 4.29 points of equity premium. The rate you require is yours to set.

Enter a price above to run it.

Implied by the price—

Owner-earnings growth · ’18→’23+25%/yr

Owner-earnings growth · ’16→’23+15%/yr

Owner-earnings yield—

P/E (3-yr earnings ’23–’25)—

P/B—

Graham’s price gate—

Graham capped the multiple at 15×; Buffett and Munger let that rule go: a wonderful business can deserve 50× if the thesis holds. The gate marks the bargain-hunter's floor.

Against a high-grade bond: Graham’s yardstick bond yield%

Prefilled with the 10-year Treasury (4.71%, as of Aug 18, 2026). Edit it for today’s exact figure, or a AAA corporate yield.

Graham measured a stock against the bond you could own instead, the heart of his margin of safety. Enter a price above to weigh the owner-earnings yield against this bond.

Owner earnings — on 18M shares outstanding, per the 10-Q cover, as of 2026-07-29; net debt $3.4B. The if-converted diluted count is 19M, 4% above the shares outstanding: the dilution overhang (convertibles, options) a buyer inherits. The base opens on the through-cycle figure (the latest year sits off the record’s own median, and Graham’s averaging cuts both ways); clear Normalize to use the year as filed. Net of stock comp treats option pay as the expense it is. The dials set the multiple a growth belief justifies; the price, and every dollar on this page, is yours.

Weigh ABG against another business →

The owners of ABG: the meeting and the votes →

Cite: Owner Scorecard, "Asbury Automotive Group Inc (ABG), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/ABG, data as of 2026-08-17.

Manual order: ← ABEO its page in the Manual ABM →

Industry order: ← AAP the Auto Dealers & Services chapter AN →