Cars.com Inc.

NYSE:CARS Stock Report

Market Cap: US$1.1b

Cars.com Past Earnings Performance

Past criteria checks 1/6

Cars.com has been growing earnings at an average annual rate of 76.8%, while the Interactive Media and Services industry saw earnings growing at 13.4% annually. Revenues have been growing at an average rate of 4.7% per year. Cars.com's return on equity is 7.8%, and it has net margins of 5.5%.

Key information

76.8%

Earnings growth rate

76.8%

EPS growth rate

Interactive Media and Services Industry Growth6.2%
Revenue growth rate4.7%
Return on equity7.8%
Net Margin5.5%
Last Earnings Update30 Sep 2024

Recent past performance updates

Earnings Troubles May Signal Larger Issues for Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) Shareholders

Nov 14
Earnings Troubles May Signal Larger Issues for Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) Shareholders

Recent updates

Why Investors Shouldn't Be Surprised By Cars.com Inc.'s (NYSE:CARS) 26% Share Price Surge

Nov 23
Why Investors Shouldn't Be Surprised By Cars.com Inc.'s (NYSE:CARS) 26% Share Price Surge

Cars.com Contends With Uneven Dealer Demand (Downgrade)

Nov 19

Earnings Troubles May Signal Larger Issues for Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) Shareholders

Nov 14
Earnings Troubles May Signal Larger Issues for Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) Shareholders

Is Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) A Risky Investment?

Sep 18
Is Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) A Risky Investment?

Cars.com Is Not In The Growth Race

Aug 28

Improved Earnings Required Before Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) Shares Find Their Feet

Jun 20
Improved Earnings Required Before Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) Shares Find Their Feet

Is Now The Time To Put Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) On Your Watchlist?

May 10
Is Now The Time To Put Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) On Your Watchlist?

We Think Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) Is Taking Some Risk With Its Debt

Apr 15
We Think Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) Is Taking Some Risk With Its Debt

Analyst Estimates: Here's What Brokers Think Of Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) After Its Full-Year Report

Feb 24
Analyst Estimates: Here's What Brokers Think Of Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) After Its Full-Year Report

Getting In Cheap On Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) Is Unlikely

Jan 03
Getting In Cheap On Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) Is Unlikely

Here's Why We Think Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) Might Deserve Your Attention Today

Dec 12
Here's Why We Think Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) Might Deserve Your Attention Today

Cars.com Improves Guidance As Car Market Shifts (Rating Upgrade)

Oct 20

Is Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) Using Too Much Debt?

Aug 22
Is Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) Using Too Much Debt?

Is Now An Opportune Moment To Examine Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS)?

Aug 07
Is Now An Opportune Moment To Examine Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS)?

Cars.com: Still Strong Trends But Upside Is Limited

Aug 02

With EPS Growth And More, Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) Makes An Interesting Case

Jun 27
With EPS Growth And More, Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) Makes An Interesting Case

Cars.com Inc.'s (NYSE:CARS) Intrinsic Value Is Potentially 44% Above Its Share Price

Jun 08
Cars.com Inc.'s (NYSE:CARS) Intrinsic Value Is Potentially 44% Above Its Share Price

Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) Seems To Use Debt Quite Sensibly

May 15
Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) Seems To Use Debt Quite Sensibly

Is There Now An Opportunity In Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS)?

May 02
Is There Now An Opportunity In Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS)?

Cars.com Q4 Earnings Preview: Path Towards 5% Buybacks

Feb 21

Cars.com: Still Strong Trends And Upside Potential

Jan 25

Is Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) A Risky Investment?

Dec 11
Is Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) A Risky Investment?

Revenue & Expenses Breakdown

How Cars.com makes and spends money. Based on latest reported earnings, on an LTM basis.

Earnings and Revenue History

NYSE:CARS Revenue, expenses and earnings (USD Millions)
DateRevenueEarningsG+A ExpensesR&D Expenses
30 Sep 24718393260
30 Jun 24713253240
31 Mar 247021083160
31 Dec 236891183110
30 Sep 236781203030
30 Jun 236681132960
31 Mar 23663242920
31 Dec 22654172880
30 Sep 2264442940
30 Jun 2263692930
31 Mar 22629102880
31 Dec 21624112810
30 Sep 21618212690
30 Jun 2160662580
31 Mar 21553-242400
31 Dec 20548-7892420
30 Sep 20547-8282420
30 Jun 20554-1,2422530
31 Mar 20601-1,2242680
31 Dec 19607-4452910
30 Sep 19619-4322650
30 Jun 19636102700
31 Mar 19656292620
31 Dec 18662392950
30 Sep 186541812760
30 Jun 186451862610
31 Mar 186331982640
31 Dec 176262242550
30 Sep 176311212370
30 Jun 176341522340
31 Mar 176341702360
31 Dec 166331762350
30 Sep 166241692440
30 Jun 166131582490
31 Mar 166031542480
31 Dec 155971582350
31 Dec 14496-5533250
31 Dec 13418692270

Quality Earnings: CARS has a large one-off gain of $25.3M impacting its last 12 months of financial results to 30th September, 2024.

Growing Profit Margin: CARS's current net profit margins (5.5%) are lower than last year (17.8%).

Free Cash Flow vs Earnings Analysis

Past Earnings Growth Analysis

Earnings Trend: CARS has become profitable over the past 5 years, growing earnings by 76.8% per year.

Accelerating Growth: CARS's has had negative earnings growth over the past year, so it can't be compared to its 5-year average.

Earnings vs Industry: CARS had negative earnings growth (-67.4%) over the past year, making it difficult to compare to the Interactive Media and Services industry average (-2.5%).

Return on Equity

High ROE: CARS's Return on Equity (7.8%) is considered low.

Return on Assets

Return on Capital Employed

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Company Analysis and Financial Data Status

DataLast Updated (UTC time)
Company Analysis2024/12/22 22:13
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

Cars.com Inc. is covered by 13 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
Gary PrestopinoBarrington Research Associates, Inc.
Daniel KurnosBenchmark Company
Sameet SinhaB. Riley Securities, Inc.