Asbury (ABG) Enhances Foothold in Denver on Stevinson Buyout
Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. ABG recently completed the acquisition of Stevinson Automotive.
Family-owned and operated Stevinson has been in business in Colorado for 59 years. This U.S.-based car dealership possesses a portfolio of an impressive mix of dealerships with an attractive stake of industry-leading brands in the Denver market. Its revenues consists of 48% Toyota, 27% Lexus, 10% Porsche, 8% Chevrolet, 4% Hyundai, and 3% Jaguar.
Stevinson's operating assets taken over include eight new vehicle franchises – two Lexus, two Toyota, one Porsche, one Chevrolet, one Hyundai and one Jaguar and one additional Land Rover open point. All of the acquired dealerships are located in the Denver market.
Asbury is highly thrilled about the buyout. The Denver market is one of the most economically vibrant in the United States and an ideal market for strong automotive brands. The acquisition will further boost the company’s growing footprint in the attractive and dynamic Denver market, with the help of a well-respected and successful dealership group like Stevinson. In fact, many of Stevinson’s award-winning dealerships are considered the best in the country. Further, Stevinson has a team of more than 600 members who are skilled professionals and are dedicated to the customer-centric approach in line with Asbury’s working model.
The purchase will add approximately $715 million in annualized revenues to Asbury, lending the company an edge to execute its five-year plan to generate $20 billion in annual revenues by 2025.
Stevinson is highly optimistic about Asbury and its exceptional team continuing its legacy. For a family business like Stevinson having deep roots in the Denver market, it was crucial to identify the right buyer. Nonetheless, after getting acquainted with the Asbury team, it was convinced that Asbury’s business approach, philosophy toward employees and customers perfectly align with Stevinson’s.
Kerrigan Advisors represented Stevinson in the transaction. Meanwhile, Stephen Dietrich of Holland & Knight served as legal counsel to Stevinson and Kevin Sutton and Katherine Frazier of Hill Ward Henderson served as legal counsel to Asbury.
Georgia-based Asbury is one of the largest automotive retailers. Asbury offers customers an extensive range of automotive products and services, including new and used vehicle sales and related financing and insurance, vehicle maintenance and repair services, replacement parts and service contracts. Asbury currently operates 101 dealerships, consisting of 125 franchises, representing 31 domestic and foreign brands of vehicles. Asbury also operates 24 collision repair centers.
Asbury also has a number of other acquisitions within its contract aimed at increasing its revenues and profitability strategically. Asbury has an additional $5.7 billion in annualized revenues from the recent transformational acquisition of Larry H. Miller Dealerships, the eighth largest dealership in the United States, and Total Care Auto, powered by Landcar.
Asbury currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Auto Companies to Focus on
Other top-ranked stocks in the auto space include Tesla TSLA, Harley-Davidson HOG and Goodyear Tire GT, all of which flaunt a Zacks Rank of 1.
Tesla has an expected earnings growth rate of 166.96% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has been revised upward by 6 cents over the last 30 days.
Tesla beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in three of the last four quarters while missing once. TSLA has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 25.38%, on average. Its shares have rallied 74% 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 2 cents over the last 30 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 dropped around 3.6% over the past year.
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 42 cents over the last 30 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 101.8% over the past year.
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