UPDATE: Stifel Raises PT on Lithia Motors Following Management Meetings

In a report published Wednesday, Stifel analyst James Albertine reiterated a Buy rating on Lithia Motors (NYSE: LAD), and raised the price target from $65.00 to $83.00.

In the report, Stifel noted, “Our view is (a) the pending vehicle replacement inflection, (b) small market recovery, and (c) further internal optimization drives more upside at LAD relative to peers through mid-decade. LAD currently trades at roughly 8.3x FY15E EV/EBITDA, though we see upside to current EPS expectations. Our $83 target implies 9.5x our FY15E EV/EBITDA, or roughly a 5% premium to peer AN (Hold, $53.49), a 10% discount to used retailer KMX (Buy, $51.79), a 5%-10% premium to auto parts retailers, and a 15%-20% premium to the public dealer peer average.”

Lithia Motors closed on Tuesday at $71.35.