What it is: An index that tracks the stock price and market capitalization of each of the seven major public dealership groups: AutoNation Inc., Asbury Automotive Group Inc., Group 1 Automotive Inc., Lithia Motors Inc., Penske Automotive Group Inc. and Sonic Automotive Inc., plus CarMax Inc., the nation’s largest used-vehicle retailer. The Kerrigan Index is weighted by the market capitalization of each company, benchmarked at 100, as of Jan. 3, 2000. Data is generated daily and the report is typically published monthly, said Ryan Kerrigan, managing director of Kerrigan Advisors.
Where it comes from: Kerrigan Advisors, a dealership sell-side firm in Incline Village, Nev. The company started publishing the Kerrigan Index more than four years ago, Kerrigan said.
How it’s used: To measure the financial health of seven of the largest U.S. auto retailers. Kerrigan said that while a majority of dealerships are private, the trends seen within the public companies often reflect what’s going on with private dealers.
Limits: The index doesn’t include other publicly traded used-vehicle retailers such as Carvana Co., Shift Technologies Inc. or Vroom Inc.