A Business at a Glance
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Cars.com Inc.
CARS
$718M
Mkt Cap
$11.46
+0.35%
Cars.com Inc. (CARS) has a current P/E ratio of 39.8, compared to its historical median P/E of 31.4. The stock is currently considered Fair based on its historical valuation range.
Cars.com Inc. (CARS) has a 5-year average return on invested capital (ROIC) of 5.2%. This is below average and may indicate limited pricing power.
Cars.com Inc. (CARS) has a market capitalization of $655M. It is classified as a small-cap stock.
Cars.com Inc. (CARS) does not currently pay a regular dividend. However, the company returns capital to shareholders through share buybacks, with a buyback yield of 13.09%.
Based on historical P/E analysis, Cars.com Inc. (CARS) appears fair. The current P/E of 39.8 is 27% above its historical median of 31.4. The estimated fair value CAGR (P/E method) is -5.9%.
Cars.com Inc. (CARS) operates in the Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation industry, within the Technology sector.
Cars.com Inc. (CARS) reported annual revenue of $723 million in its most recent fiscal year, based on SEC EDGAR filings.
Our premier automotive marketplace, Cars.com, empowers shoppers with the data, resources and digital tools they need to make informed buying decisions and seamlessly connect with automotive retailers. We also equip dealerships and OEMs with innovative solutions and data-driven intelligence to better reach and influence our 26 million average monthly shoppers. Not only does our marketplace drive ready-to-buy customers to the dealership, we believe our interconnected ecosystem of products also allows dealerships to operate more efficiently by facilitating a faster and easier car buying and selling experience. The strength of our products and solutions has attracted approximately 19,500 franchise and independent dealer customers across the U.S. and Canada to our platform. Approximately 80% of our dealer customers subscribe to either the Cars.
| Metric | TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 724M | 723M | 719M | 689M | 654M | 624M |
| Net Income | 27M | 20M | 48M | 118M | 17M | 11M |
| EPS | $0.45 | $0.32 | $0.72 | $1.74 | $0.25 | $0.15 |
| Free Cash Flow | 158M | 147M | 150M | 135M | 127M | 137M |
| ROIC | 5.1% | 4.0% | 4.5% | 6.1% | 6.0% | 5.6% |
| Gross Margin | - | - | 39.7% | 32.6% | 33.6% | - |
| Debt/Equity | 0.98 | 0.99 | 0.93 | 1.04 | 1.30 | 1.25 |
| Dividends/Share | $0.00 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Operating Income | 70M | 60M | 53M | 54M | 66M | 48M |
| Operating Margin | 9.7% | 8.3% | 7.4% | 7.9% | 10.1% | 7.8% |
| ROE | 5.9% | 4.1% | 9.6% | 27.0% | 4.4% | 2.8% |
| Shares Outstanding | 57M | 63M | 67M | 68M | 69M | 72M |
| Metric | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income Statement | ||||||||||||
| Revenue | 597M | 633M | 626M | 662M | 607M | 548M | 624M | 654M | 689M | 719M | 723M | 724M |
| Gross Margin | 43.8% | 44.9% | 42.8% | 39.5% | N/A | N/A | N/A | 33.6% | 32.6% | 39.7% | N/A | N/A |
| R&D | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| SG&A | 23M | 24M | 45M | 73M | 74M | 59M | 74M | 68M | 73M | 84M | 91M | 87M |
| EBIT | 158M | 177M | 134M | 84M | -446M | -887M | 48M | 66M | 54M | 53M | 60M | 70M |
| Op. Margin | 26.4% | 27.9% | 21.4% | 12.7% | -73.5% | -162.1% | 7.8% | 10.1% | 7.9% | 7.4% | 8.3% | 9.7% |
| Net Income | 158M | 176M | 224M | 39M | -445M | -789M | 11M | 17M | 118M | 48M | 20M | 27M |
| Net Margin | 26.5% | 27.9% | 35.8% | 5.9% | -73.4% | -144.1% | 1.7% | 2.6% | 17.2% | 6.7% | 2.8% | 3.7% |
| Non-Recurring | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 379M | 506M | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Returns on Capital | ||||||||||||
| ROIC | N/A | 7.5% | 5.8% | 2.5% | -22.0% | -58.5% | 5.6% | 6.0% | 6.1% | 4.5% | 4.0% | 5.1% |
| ROE | N/A | 7.5% | 11.0% | 2.3% | -32.2% | -104.6% | 2.8% | 4.4% | 27.0% | 9.6% | 4.1% | 5.9% |
| ROA | 217.1% | 13.5% | 8.9% | 1.5% | -19.2% | -50.8% | 1.0% | 1.7% | 10.8% | 4.2% | 1.8% | 2.6% |
| Cash Flow | ||||||||||||
| Op. Cash Flow | 190M | 199M | 186M | 164M | 101M | 139M | 138M | 129M | 137M | 153M | 152M | 162M |
| Free Cash Flow | 181M | 189M | 153M | 149M | 80M | 122M | 137M | 127M | 135M | 150M | 147M | 158M |
| Owner Earnings | 109M | 116M | 95M | 50M | 48M | 60M | 59M | 36M | 20M | 19M | 3.3M | 24M |
| CapEx | 9.1M | 9.7M | 33M | 14M | 21M | 17M | 1.5M | 1.8M | 1.3M | 3.0M | 4.3M | 3.7M |
| Maint. CapEx | 81M | 83M | 89M | 104M | 46M | 63M | 57M | 70M | 88M | 103M | 117M | 107M |
| Growth CapEx | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D&A | 81M | 83M | 89M | 104M | 46M | 63M | 57M | 70M | 88M | 103M | 117M | 107M |
| CapEx/OCF | N/A | N/A | 17.6% | 8.7% | 20.9% | 12.1% | 13.9% | 1.4% | 0.9% | 2.0% | 2.8% | 2.3% |
| Capital Allocation | ||||||||||||
| Dividends Paid | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dividend Yield | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Share Buybacks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 97M | 40M | 0 | 0 | 49M | 31M | 49M | 87M | 86M |
| Buyback Yield | N/A | N/A | N/A | 6.5% | 5.0% | N/A | N/A | 5.5% | 2.4% | 4.2% | 11.0% | 13.1% |
| Stock-Based Comp | N/A | N/A | 2.6M | 9.4M | 7.6M | 15M | 21M | 22M | 28M | 31M | 31M | 32M |
| Debt Repayment | 0 | 0 | 91M | 83M | 58M | 616M | 120M | 41M | 36M | 30M | 15M | 15M |
| Balance Sheet | ||||||||||||
| Net Debt | N/A | N/A | 558M | 667M | 663M | 549M | 458M | 469M | 472M | 425M | 412M | 387M |
| Cash & Equiv. | 100K | 8.9M | 21M | 25M | 14M | 68M | 39M | 32M | 39M | 51M | 56M | 65M |
| Long-Term Debt | N/A | N/A | 557M | 665M | 611M | 576M | 457M | 458M | 460M | 455M | 452M | 452M |
| Debt/Equity | N/A | 0.05 | 0.34 | 0.43 | 0.59 | 1.68 | 1.25 | 1.30 | 1.04 | 0.93 | 0.99 | 0.98 |
| Interest Coverage | 39433.3 | 1879.3 | 10.9 | 3.0 | -14.5 | -23.4 | 1.2 | 1.9 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Equity | N/A | 2.4B | 1.7B | 1.6B | 1.1B | 368M | 398M | 384M | 492M | 511M | 473M | 461M |
| Total Assets | 73M | 2.5B | 2.5B | 2.6B | 2.0B | 1.1B | 1.0B | 1.0B | 1.2B | 1.1B | 1.1B | 1.1B |
| Total Liabilities | N/A | 130M | 832M | 974M | 887M | 736M | 609M | 640M | 680M | 600M | 590M | 593M |
| Intangibles | N/A | 1.6B | 1.5B | 1.5B | 1.3B | 835M | 769M | 707M | 669M | 586M | 527M | 516M |
| Retained Earnings | N/A | N/A | 177M | 118M | -367M | -1.2B | -1.1B | -1.1B | -1.0B | -962M | -941M | -937M |
| Working Capital | N/A | 48M | 52M | 43M | 24M | 88M | 53M | 43M | 33M | 97M | 98M | 101M |
| Current Assets | N/A | 120M | 143M | 154M | 122M | 178M | 147M | 149M | 178M | 214M | 212M | 218M |
| Current Liabilities | N/A | 72M | 90M | 111M | 99M | 90M | 94M | 106M | 146M | 117M | 113M | 117M |
| Per Share Data | ||||||||||||
| EPS | 2.20 | 2.46 | 3.13 | 0.55 | -6.65 | -11.74 | 0.15 | 0.25 | 1.74 | 0.72 | 0.32 | 0.45 |
| Owner EPS | 1.52 | 1.62 | 1.32 | 0.71 | 0.71 | 0.90 | 0.82 | 0.53 | 0.30 | 0.28 | 0.05 | 0.41 |
| Book Value | N/A | 33.72 | 23.42 | 23.06 | 17.04 | 5.48 | 5.53 | 5.59 | 7.23 | 7.64 | 7.54 | 8.06 |
| Cash Flow/Share | 2.65 | 2.78 | 2.59 | 2.32 | 1.52 | 2.06 | 1.92 | 1.87 | 2.01 | 2.28 | 2.42 | 2.34 |
| Dividends/Share | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 0.00 |
| Shares Out. | 71.7M | 71.7M | 71.7M | 70.6M | 67.0M | 67.2M | 71.9M | 68.8M | 68.1M | 66.9M | 62.7M | 57.2M |
| Valuation | ||||||||||||
| P/E Ratio | N/A | N/A | 9.2 | 38.8 | N/A | N/A | 111.3 | 51.3 | 11.1 | 24.1 | 39.3 | 25.3 |
| P/FCF | N/A | N/A | 13.5 | 10.1 | 9.9 | 6.5 | 8.8 | 7.0 | 9.7 | 7.8 | 5.3 | 4.1 |
| EV/EBIT | N/A | N/A | 19.5 | 25.9 | N/A | N/A | 33.1 | 19.8 | 32.3 | 28.3 | 18.7 | 14.8 |
| Price/Book | N/A | N/A | 1.2 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 2.3 | 3.0 | 2.3 | 2.7 | 2.3 | 1.7 | 1.4 |
| Price/Sales | N/A | N/A | 3.0 | 2.9 | 1.9 | N/A | N/A | 1.4 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 1.1 | 0.9 |
| FCF Yield | N/A | N/A | 7.4% | 9.9% | 10.1% | 15.3% | 11.4% | 14.3% | 10.3% | 12.9% | 18.7% | 24.1% |
| Market Cap | N/A | N/A | 2.1B | 1.5B | 797M | 794M | 1.2B | 883M | 1.3B | 1.2B | 788M | 655M |
| Avg. Price | N/A | N/A | 25.78 | 27.45 | 17.67 | 8.23 | 13.42 | 12.92 | 18.27 | 17.96 | 12.68 | 11.46 |
| Year-End Price | N/A | N/A | 28.82 | 21.33 | 11.90 | 11.81 | 16.70 | 12.83 | 19.38 | 17.36 | 12.57 | 11.46 |
Cars.com Inc. passes 4 of 9 quality checks, suggesting mixed fundamentals.
Cars.com Inc. trades at 39.8x trailing earnings, compared to its 15-year median P/E of 31.4x, suggesting it is currently Fair relative to its historical range. On a free-cash-flow basis, the stock trades at 4.6x vs a median of 8.8x. The company's 5-year average ROIC is 5.2% with a gross margin of 35.3%. Total shareholder yield (buybacks) is 13.1%. At current prices, the estimated annualized return to fair value is +5.7%.
Cars.com Inc. (CARS) has a net profit margin of 2.8%. This is a modest margin.
Cars.com Inc. (CARS) generated $147 million in free cash flow in its most recent fiscal year. Positive free cash flow supports dividends, buybacks, and debt reduction.
Cars.com Inc. (CARS) has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. This indicates moderate leverage.
Cars.com Inc. (CARS) reported earnings per share (EPS) of $0.32 in its most recent fiscal year.
Cars.com Inc. (CARS) has a return on equity (ROE) of 4.1%. This indicates moderate shareholder returns.
Cars.com Inc. (CARS) has a 5-year average gross margin of 35.3%. This indicates decent pricing power.
The Ledger Terminal provides 11 years of financial data for Cars.com Inc. (CARS), sourced directly from SEC EDGAR filings. This includes income statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements, and key financial ratios.
Cars.com Inc. (CARS) has a book value per share of $7.54, based on its most recent annual SEC filing.