Penske Automotive Group, Inc. PAG

Competitive advantage analysis · consumer-cyclical

Corporate Default
Overall moat score
65/100
Moderate

About Penske Automotive Group, Inc.

Penske Automotive Group, Inc., a diversified transportation services company, operates automotive and commercial truck dealerships worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Retail Automotive, Retail Commercial Truck, Other, and Non-Automotive Investments. It operates dealerships under franchise agreements with various automotive manufacturers and distributors. The company is also involved in the sale of new and used vehicles, maintenance and repair services, … Full PAG analysis →

Competitive advantage assessment

Key strengths

  • ROIC Sustainably Above Peers ROIC at 77.8th percentile exceeds peers and WACC, demonstrating superior capital allocation.
  • Margins Stable Across Cycles Operating margin volatility is low (stability score 1.00), demonstrating pricing resilience across cycles.

The dashed ring is the peer median. Defense scores are percentile ranks against peers, so 50 is roughly the typical company in this group.

Upgrade to unlock the signals and evidence behind each defense.

Premium access

Unlock full defense analysis

Get key signals, strengths, and risks for every moat dimension.

Upgrade to Premium Unlock all moat defenses and evidence.

Pricing Power

Moderate
68

Where PAG ranks in Auto & Truck Dealerships

Penske Automotive Group, Inc. ranks #9 of 31 scored companies in Auto & Truck Dealerships by moat score — the top 29%. The widest moat in the group is CarGurus, Inc. (CARG) at 77/100.

Moat scores for companies ranked near PAG in Auto & Truck Dealerships
# Company Moat score Rating
5 Cars.com Inc. CARS 71/100 Moderate
6 OPENLANE, Inc. KAR 70/100 Moderate
7 Valvoline Inc. VVV 69/100 Moderate
8 Carvana Co. CVNA 65/100 Moderate
9 Penske Automotive Group, Inc. PAG 65/100 Moderate
10 Driven Brands Holdings Inc. DRVN 64/100 Moderate
11 Asbury Automotive Group Inc ABG 60/100 Moderate
12 AutoNation, Inc. AN 59/100 Moderate
13 Group 1 Automotive, Inc. GPI 56/100 Moderate

See every General Corporate company ranked by moat score →

How PAG scores on the Corporate Default defenses

Pricing Power

Score 68 · 20% of the moat score

Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.

Cost Advantage

Score 64 · 15% of the moat score

A cost advantage means delivering the same product for structurally less — better purchasing, denser distribution, a more automated process.

Customer Stickiness

Score 64 · 15% of the moat score

Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.

Capital Efficiency

Score 80 · 18% of the moat score

Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.

Resilience

Score 56 · 17% of the moat score

Resilience is the capacity to get through a bad year on its own terms — enough liquidity, enough interest cover, and enough cash generation to avoid a rescue financing or a forced sale.

Scale & Market Position

Score 54 · 15% of the moat score

Scale matters only when it converts into economics.

How each Corporate Default defense is measured, in full →

Understanding PAG's moat

What is Penske Automotive Group, Inc.'s moat score?

Penske Automotive Group, Inc. (PAG) scores 65 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #9 of 31 scored companies in Auto & Truck Dealerships, the top 29%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 30 companies in Auto & Truck Dealerships. Its strongest defense is Capital Efficiency (80/100) and its weakest is Scale & Market Position (54/100).

How does Penske Automotive Group, Inc. compare with other Auto & Truck Dealerships companies?

Penske Automotive Group, Inc. ranks #9 of 31 scored companies in Auto & Truck Dealerships by moat score. The widest moat in Auto & Truck Dealerships is CarGurus, Inc. (CARG) at 77/100. The companies ranked closest are Carvana Co. (CVNA) at 65 just above it and Driven Brands Holdings Inc. (DRVN) at 64 just below it.

How is the moat score calculated?

Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Corporate Default in this case, chosen because the defenses that matter to a bank are not the ones that matter to a software company. Every defense combines several financial signals, and each signal is measured as a percentile against a peer group of 30 companies in Auto & Truck Dealerships. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is Penske Automotive Group, Inc. scored with the Corporate Default template?

Most public companies sell a product or a service at a margin, so the moat question is whether that margin survives contact with competitors. The Corporate template scores the six defenses that show up in a general operating company's financial signature: whether it can hold price, produce more cheaply than rivals, keep its customers, earn a return above its cost of capital, withstand a downturn, and turn size into economics.

Which competitive defenses are measured for Penske Automotive Group, Inc.?

The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and PAG scores: Pricing Power (68), Cost Advantage (64), Customer Stickiness (64), Capital Efficiency (80), Resilience (56), Scale & Market Position (54). Each is scored independently as a percentile against peers, so a company can be strong on one and weak on another — the overall score reflects how those defenses are weighted for this industry.

Send Feedback
Please select a category.
0/1000