OPENLANE Valuation

Is KAR undervalued compared to its fair value, analyst forecasts and its price relative to the market?

Valuation Score

2/6

Valuation Score 2/6

  • Below Fair Value

  • Significantly Below Fair Value

  • Price-To-Earnings vs Peers

  • Price-To-Earnings vs Industry

  • Price-To-Earnings vs Fair Ratio

  • Analyst Forecast

Share Price vs Fair Value

What is the Fair Price of KAR when looking at its future cash flows? For this estimate we use a Discounted Cash Flow model.

Below Fair Value: KAR ($20.29) is trading below our estimate of fair value ($48.4)

Significantly Below Fair Value: KAR is trading below fair value by more than 20%.


Key Valuation Metric

Which metric is best to use when looking at relative valuation for KAR?

Key metric: As KAR is profitable we use its Price-To-Earnings Ratio for relative valuation analysis.

The above table shows the Price to Earnings ratio for KAR. This is calculated by dividing KAR's market cap by their current earnings.
What is KAR's PE Ratio?
PE Ratio104.2x
EarningsUS$20.80m
Market CapUS$2.17b

Price to Earnings Ratio vs Peers

How does KAR's PE Ratio compare to its peers?

The above table shows the PE ratio for KAR vs its peers. Here we also display the market cap and forecasted growth for additional consideration.
CompanyForward PEEstimated GrowthMarket Cap
Peer Average58.3x
60.1x48.0%US$2.1b
VSTS Vestis
102.8x38.7%US$2.1b
UNF UniFirst
22.9x6.9%US$3.3b
LQDT Liquidity Services
47.6xn/aUS$965.6m
KAR OPENLANE
104.2x81.6%US$2.2b

Price-To-Earnings vs Peers: KAR is expensive based on its Price-To-Earnings Ratio (104.2x) compared to the peer average (58.3x).


Price to Earnings Ratio vs Industry

How does KAR's PE Ratio compare vs other companies in the US Commercial Services Industry?

6 CompaniesPrice / EarningsEstimated GrowthMarket Cap
SGTM Sustainable Green Team
3.2xn/aUS$35.60m
PGTK Pacific Green Technologies
3.6xn/aUS$28.52m
OMEX Odyssey Marine Exploration
0.6xn/aUS$7.83m
BLPG Blue Line Protection Group
3.6xn/aUS$454.58k
KAR 104.2xIndustry Avg. 31.3xNo. of Companies8PE020406080100+
6 CompaniesEstimated GrowthMarket Cap
No more companies

Price-To-Earnings vs Industry: KAR is expensive based on its Price-To-Earnings Ratio (104.2x) compared to the US Commercial Services industry average (31.1x).


Price to Earnings Ratio vs Fair Ratio

What is KAR's PE Ratio compared to its Fair PE Ratio? This is the expected PE Ratio taking into account the company's forecast earnings growth, profit margins and other risk factors.

KAR PE Ratio vs Fair Ratio.
Fair Ratio
Current PE Ratio104.2x
Fair PE Ratio67.2x

Price-To-Earnings vs Fair Ratio: KAR is expensive based on its Price-To-Earnings Ratio (104.2x) compared to the estimated Fair Price-To-Earnings Ratio (67.2x).


Analyst Price Targets

What is the analyst 12-month forecast and do we have any statistical confidence in the consensus price target?

The above table shows the analyst KAR forecast and predictions for the stock price in 12 month’s time.
DateShare PriceAverage 1Y Price TargetDispersionHighLow1Y Actual priceAnalysts
CurrentUS$20.29
US$22.17
+9.2%
9.5%US$25.00US$19.00n/a6
Dec ’25US$20.20
US$21.50
+6.4%
9.6%US$25.00US$19.00n/a6
Nov ’25US$15.90
US$20.50
+28.9%
11.5%US$25.00US$17.00n/a6
Oct ’25US$16.63
US$20.17
+21.3%
11.9%US$25.00US$17.00n/a6
Sep ’25US$17.33
US$19.83
+14.4%
12.8%US$25.00US$17.00n/a6
Aug ’25US$17.92
US$19.83
+10.7%
12.8%US$25.00US$17.00n/a6
Jul ’25US$16.37
US$19.83
+21.2%
12.8%US$25.00US$17.00n/a6
Jun ’25US$17.25
US$19.83
+15.0%
12.8%US$25.00US$17.00n/a6
May ’25US$17.45
US$19.17
+9.8%
15.8%US$25.00US$15.00n/a6
Apr ’25US$17.16
US$18.50
+7.8%
17.3%US$25.00US$15.00n/a6
Mar ’25US$15.86
US$18.33
+15.6%
17.4%US$25.00US$15.00n/a6
Feb ’25US$14.35
US$18.29
+27.4%
17.2%US$25.00US$15.00n/a7
Jan ’25US$14.81
US$18.29
+23.5%
17.2%US$25.00US$15.00n/a7
Dec ’24US$14.87
US$18.29
+23.0%
17.2%US$25.00US$15.00US$20.207
Nov ’24US$13.55
US$18.67
+37.8%
17.4%US$25.00US$15.00US$15.906
Oct ’24US$14.92
US$18.00
+20.6%
17.8%US$25.00US$15.00US$16.637
Sep ’24US$15.82
US$18.00
+13.8%
17.8%US$25.00US$15.00US$17.337
Aug ’24US$15.86
US$18.29
+15.3%
17.5%US$25.00US$15.00US$17.927
Jul ’24US$15.22
US$18.00
+18.3%
18.8%US$25.00US$15.00US$16.377
Jun ’24US$15.01
US$18.00
+19.9%
18.8%US$25.00US$15.00US$17.257
May ’24US$13.69
US$17.57
+28.4%
21.7%US$25.00US$13.00US$17.457
Apr ’24US$13.68
US$17.43
+27.4%
22.9%US$25.00US$12.00US$17.167
Mar ’24US$13.95
US$18.14
+30.1%
21.1%US$25.00US$12.00US$15.867
Feb ’24US$14.92
US$19.00
+27.3%
22.2%US$25.00US$12.00US$14.357
Jan ’24US$13.05
US$19.86
+52.2%
21.8%US$25.00US$12.00US$14.817
Dec ’23US$13.97
US$19.86
+42.1%
21.8%US$25.00US$12.00US$14.877

Analyst Forecast: Target price is less than 20% higher than the current share price.


Discover undervalued companies

Company Analysis and Financial Data Status

DataLast Updated (UTC time)
Company Analysis2024/12/20 16:26
End of Day Share Price 2024/12/20 00:00
Earnings2024/09/30
Annual Earnings2023/12/31

Data Sources

The data used in our company analysis is from S&P Global Market Intelligence LLC. The following data is used in our analysis model to generate this report. Data is normalised which can introduce a delay from the source being available.

PackageDataTimeframeExample US Source *
Company Financials10 years
  • Income statement
  • Cash flow statement
  • Balance sheet
Analyst Consensus Estimates+3 years
  • Forecast financials
  • Analyst price targets
Market Prices30 years
  • Stock prices
  • Dividends, Splits and Actions
Ownership10 years
  • Top shareholders
  • Insider trading
Management10 years
  • Leadership team
  • Board of directors
Key Developments10 years
  • Company announcements

* example for US securities, for non-US equivalent regulatory forms and sources are used.

Unless specified all financial data is based on a yearly period but updated quarterly. This is known as Trailing Twelve Month (TTM) or Last Twelve Month (LTM) Data. Learn more here.

Analysis Model and Snowflake

Details of the analysis model used to generate this report is available on our Github page, we also have guides on how to use our reports and tutorials on Youtube.

Learn about the world class team who designed and built the Simply Wall St analysis model.

Industry and Sector Metrics

Our industry and section metrics are calculated every 6 hours by Simply Wall St, details of our process are available on .

Analyst Sources

OPENLANE, Inc. is covered by 24 analysts. 7 of those analysts submitted the estimates of revenue or earnings used as inputs to our report. Analysts submissions are updated throughout the day.

AnalystInstitution
Craig KennisonBaird
Manav PatnaikBarclays
Gary PrestopinoBarrington Research Associates, Inc.