Gap, Inc. (...

Lithia Motors, Inc. (LAD) is a Zacks #1 Rank Top Performer for Friday with shares that have gained approximately 7.5%.

< ?DART(15);?> Earnings estimates have been steadily moving higher for the company, which announced a sharp positive earnings surprise in its second-quarter report despite a soft new vehicle market.

LAD, which sells 27 brands of new and all brands of used vehicles at nearly 90 stores in 13 states, is part of the retail/wholesale auto/truck industry. It is 1 of 3 companies from this space on today's Zacks #1 Rank List, which includes 226 stocks in total. The other 2 companies are AutoNation, Inc. (AN) and Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (GPI), which was featured as a Top Performer yesterday.

Earnings Estimates

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for this year is currently at 64 cents, marking an advance of 56% over the past

...

Shares of Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (GPI) are up approximately 6% today, which puts this automotive retailer on the Zacks #1 Rank Top Performers List.

< ?DART(15);?> Earnings estimates have been trending higher for the company, especially after its late-July second-quarter report that saw a positive earnings surprise and a good guidance.

Volume is around 505,000 shares so far today, slightly below the daily average of 592,000. GPI is part of the retail/wholesale auto/truck industry; one of only 2 from that space on today's 226-stock Zacks #1 Rank List. (The other company is AutoNation, Inc. (AN).)

Earnings Estimates

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for this year and next is currently $1.41 per share and $1.91 per share, respectively. (That suggests year-over-year profit growth of more than 35%.) Both periods have seen upward revisions from 2 of 6 analysts in 30 days.

...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – September 1, 2009 – Four free stock picks are being made available today on Zacks.com. The industry’s leading independent research firm highlights one Zacks #1 Rank Strong Buy or a Zacks #2 Rank Buy stock for each of the four main styles of investing: Aggressive Growth, Growth & Income, Momentum, and Value.

The four highlighted picks are: Apollo Group, Inc. (APOL), Lancaster Colony Corporation (LANC), Autonation, Inc. (AN) and Watson Wyatt Worldwide, Inc. (WW).      Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Four daily picks are offered free at http://at.zacks.com/?id=5607

Zacks #1 Rank Stocks have nearly tripled the S&P 500 since 1988, producing an average annual return of +26%. Performance has been notable even during volatile and down times. For example, during the last bear market, 2000-2002, the market tumbled -37.6% – but Zacks #1 Rank stocks gained +43.8%.

Here is

...

Autonation, Inc. (...

When you invest in a stock, one of the best things you can see is analysts raising their expectations about what the company is going to earn for the current fiscal year. There are several ways of measuring this, but the following is a list of the companies with the biggest increases in their consensus earnings expectations for this year over the last month.

To make the list, a company had to have a current mean (average) estimate of over 50 cents, be a member of the S&P 500 and have at least three estimates for this year. The 50-cent restriction was put in to prevent small dollar changes that are huge percentage moves from dominating the list (going from a penny expected to a nickel). Having 3 or more estimates also helps insure it was not a fluke. The S&P 500 restriction was put in to make sure we

...

Autonation Inc.’s (AN) share price has entered into oversold territory with a stochastic value of 6.74. The Zacks #1 Rank (“Strong Buy") stock has topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate in 3 of last 4 quarters with an average surprise of 14.97%, or 2 cents per share. The full-year Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased by 10 cents over the past month to $1.03 per share."AN" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?Zacks Investment Research

Here are the stocks added to the Zacks #1 Rank ("strong buy") List today:

Amkor Technology Inc (AMKR) AutoNation Inc (AN) Avery Dennison Corp (AVY) Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA (BBV) Banco Santander SA (STD) Brush Engineered Material (BW) Cabela's Inc (CAB) Capella Education Co (CPLA) Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (CMG) Churchill Downs Inc (CHDN) CNOOC Ltd (CEO) CPFL Energia SA (CPL) Drew Industries Inc (DW) Dynamics Research Corp (DRCO) Encore Capital Group Inc (ECPG) Expedia Inc (EXPE) F5 Networks Inc (...

Highlights include General Motors Corp. (GM), Lear Corp. (LEA), TRW Automotive Holdings Corp. (TRW), AutoNation, Inc. (AN) and CarMax, Inc. (KMX). The economic data out today provides mixed signals on the economy. On the down side, real personal income dropped 0.3% in March, a tick lower than the 0.2% consensus expectations. This follows a decline of 0.2% in February and a 0.1% increase in January. Income wages and salaries fared worse, falling 0.5%, accelerating from declines of 0.4% in February and 0.3% in January. Disposable income (i.e. after tax) was unchanged in March. It was also unchanged in February. In January, it jumped 1.6% due to a large cost-of-living adjustment to Social Security checks (calculated yearly, so Social Security recipients got to play catch up for the oil-price-related inflation during 2008). Real Personal Spending fell 0.2% in March, partially reversing increases of 0.1%

...

AutoNation Inc. (AN) slumped the most in more than 4 months on speculation that the largest publicly-traded U.S. car retailer continues to face liquidity concerns.

The Ft. Lauderdale, Florida-based company has been suffering due to waning auto sales amid tighter credit markets and the deepening recession. AutoNation has been impacted by sales declines in California and Florida, where it holds a majority of the market share. The company's debts and interest charges have also been mounting.

On Wednesday, the Zacks #3 Rank ("Hold") company announced a new incentive program, saying it would cover up to 6 months of car payments on new or used vehicles if a customer suffers a layoff.

Shares of AN are down more than 11% today.

"AN" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?Zacks Investment Research