Morgan Stanley Cuts Lithia Motors Price Target By ~10%

Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas lowered Lithia Motors Inc LAD price target to $303 from $335 and kept an Underweight rating on the shares.
Jonas notes that he does not rate any U.S. franchise dealers as Overweight at this time.
The analyst saw the inability of legacy automaker OEMs to control the consumer experience in a direct-to-consumer model as "one of the biggest threats to legacy OEMs," even "bigger than the threat of electrification."
Jonas added that despite franchise dealers overall beating consensus expectations in Q3, he saw secular industry headwinds despite peak earnings.
Price Action: LAD shares are trading lower by 8.72% at $305.04 on the last check Wednesday.