Consumer Cyclical ยท Auto & Truck Dealerships ยท Completed evidence
ABG relative to SAH
Asbury Automotive Group Inc is the relatively depressed leg. Sonic Automotive Inc is the relatively extended leg.
Specific pair strategy
What is the play in ABG / SAH?
This is a relative trade. The result depends on which security performs better, not on whether the whole market rises or falls.
Watchlist pair - not triggered
Possible future structure: long ABG / short SAH
The proposed pair would look for ABG to outperform SAH, but the current evidence does not yet justify treating the gap as a convergence trade.
This is the relatively depressed leg. The case needs it to recover or at least hold up better than the other leg.
This is the relatively extended leg. The case needs it to lag or weaken relative to the long leg.
A favourable relative move means ABG rises more than SAH, falls less than SAH, or rises while SAH falls. If SAH outperforms ABG, the pair moves against the case.
Wait for a completed daily turn toward normal and fresh evidence that ABG is improving relative to SAH. The size of the gap alone is not the trigger.
If the daily gap keeps widening, leave the pair alone rather than averaging into the separation.
Do not use the pair if the completed gap keeps widening, ABG continues to weaken relative to SAH, or the relationship moves into a break state.
Monitor whether the two evidence paths continue to close together alongside the spread.
Evidence now
- ABG Market Dynamics is improving.
- SAH Market Dynamics is weakening.
What would invalidate it?
If either leg reverses its evidence path, the convergence case becomes one-sided and less dependable.
Possible setup paths
How the relative-value idea could be expressed
These are research structures, not recommendations or position-size instructions. The current course above determines whether any structure is ready to study now.
Long ABG / short SAH
Treat both legs as one relative position. The setup looks for ABG to outperform SAH; ABG can rise faster, fall less, or rise while SAH falls. The pair loses ground when SAH outperforms ABG.
When it becomes relevantThis is a structure to study only after the current course changes from โWait for the daily turnโ to confirmed convergence. The clearest next checkpoint is a sustained turn from a stable or extending daily gap to a narrowing one.Principal riskRequires a live review of both legs, borrow availability and cost, event dates, liquidity and the research normalisation.Study ABG alone if its own evidence confirms
This simpler expression focuses on recovery in ABG. It avoids short-borrow mechanics, but it no longer isolates relative value: the result is exposed to the broad market, the sector and ABG-specific news.
When it becomes relevantA stronger case needs improving ABG price structure and supporting evidence, not just a wide relationship gap.Principal riskCarries full single-security and broad-market direction risk.Study SAH alone if its support continues to weaken
This expression focuses on weakness in SAH. It may fit a leader-rollover case, but it also abandons the relative hedge and adds direct market direction, squeeze and company-event risk.
When it becomes relevantWeakening in SAH must be visible in its own completed evidence; relative extension alone is not enough.Principal riskShort selling can involve unlimited loss, borrow fees, recalls and forced close-outs.Any practical expression needs an independent review of suitability, portfolio risk, liquidity, current news and earnings, borrow availability and cost, transaction costs and tax.
Relationship gap ยท technical name: standardised residual
How far apart are they compared with normal?
Zero is the pair's historical centre. The outer guides show increasingly unusual departures from it.
This is the relationship gap after allowing for the pair's usual co-movement. Zero is its historical centre; the distance is measured in standard deviations, so different pairs can be compared on the same scale.
The latest gap is 0.85 standard deviations from normal. ABG is the relatively depressed leg and SAH is the relatively extended leg. That is unusual separation, not proof that either security is cheap or expensive.
A move toward zero means convergence. A move farther from zero means the separation is extending and raises the risk that the old relationship is changing.
Common-base price paths
Which security created the gap?
Both paths begin at 100 so their relative movement is visible without mixing different share prices.
Both securities are reset to 100 at the first date. This removes the distraction of different share prices and shows how their completed weekly price paths diverged. It is not a valuation chart.
Since the common starting point, ABG is -8.0% and SAH is +54.6%. The chart shows which price path contributed to the separation; the fitted relationship measure is more precise than the raw visual distance.
For convergence, watch for ABG to catch up, SAH to lose ground, or both. The relationship can close even if both securities rise or both fall.
ABGSAH
ABG ยท Asbury Automotive Group Inc
26/100 evidence score- Market Dynamics
- 1.039 ยท change 0.086
- Trend
- Negative
- Stage
- Stage 4 ยท Declining
- Smart Money
- Neutral
- News sentiment
- Neutral
- Options
- Mixed
SAH ยท Sonic Automotive Inc
52/100 evidence score- Market Dynamics
- 0.083 ยท change -1.186
- Trend
- Negative
- Stage
- Stage 2 ยท Advancing
- Smart Money
- Neutral
- Short interest
- Neutral
- Options
- Volatility
Relationship diagnostics
Why this pair is on the map
How closely completed weekly returns moved together across the measurement window.
How consistent the fitted relationship remained across earlier and later parts of the sample.
An observed mean-reversion clock, not a deadline or a forecast.
How often the residual crossed its historical centre; repeated crossings matter more than a single fit.
The latest residual's location inside its own completed history.
Stored price, volume and size context only. It does not include a live short locate or cost.
0 of 1 non-overlapping historical separations resolved after the relationship was fitted on earlier data.
Median time to return near the earlier fitted centre among the held-out cases that resolved.
The largest further move recorded after a measured held-out separation, before resolution or the observation window ended.
State history
What changed and when
Research state changed
Changed from Unconfirmed stretch to Two-sided convergence.
Relationship discovered
Published as Unconfirmed stretch after the completed 2026-08-14 observation.
Same-industry map