Sonic Automotive Stock Upgraded By Morgan Stanley, Rolls Forward

Sonic Automotive gained major support earlier this week when Morgan Stanley upgraded their stock. Morgan Stanley Analyst Ravi Shankar changed the Sonic stock classification from Underperform to Outperform. He also became more optimistic about the target stock price. It went from $22 to $30. That upgrade from Shankar helped propel the sonic stock up 7.47% as it closed at $25.03 on Monday September 29th. The most recent price for Sonic Automotive (SAH) is $24.03.

Why is Sonic trending up? They plan to take a risk to improve the car buying experience. How will they do this? That claim has been made many times. According to reports, Sonic is serious in its chase for the 60 minutes or less buying experience. An attempt to hit that mark at Sonic-owned Morrie’s Mazda store in Minnesota proved unsuccessful. The best time was 42 minutes and one transaction lasted over three hours. The CEO of Morrie’s Mazda Kark Schmidt told the Automotive news that the 60-minute goal is realistic. Schmidt explained, “I have strong feelings that 60 minutes is doable. But there are several obstacles some within the dealership’s control and some that aren’t.”

The next generation of consumers are used to getting what they want right away. Perhaps their parents understood that car deals can take several hours, but Millennials have smart phones and desire instant results. Their research doesn’t stop before they visit a dealership, it continues on their phone while on the lot. How can dealers service a fast-paced and digitally equipped generation? Sonic Automotive has their plan in place. They want to speed up the process and make it as low-key as possible. What else can be done? Are car deals supposed to involve a lot of movement between rooms, private chats with a manager and hours of time, or is a change coming?