Loading…
Employees: 1,700
Size Cars.com (CARS) is a United States Information Technology company (Internet Software/Services) with a market value of $715M, the 2469th largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $13.35 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 14.3%, against -7.5% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — 4th highest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 1.1% over the last twelve months (peer median +11.2%); the operating margin is 11.4% (peer median 5.7%).
Valuation It trades at 6.2× forward earnings against a peer median of 16.1× (3rd cheapest of 16).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 6% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +6%, so the hurdle is +0 pp: the price needs faster growth than the company has been delivering — of companies that just grew 25–50% a year, 93.8% slowed down over the next four years.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 2.5 points below its cost of capital (10.2% WACC).
Credit Cars.com has 1 bond outstanding ($400M), rated BB- by the agencies and trading like B at a weighted spread of 306 bp.
Short interest Short interest is 15.4% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 25 Feb 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $726M | $723M | $719M | $689M | $654M |
| Revenue growth | — | +1% | +4% | +5% | — |
| Gross profit | $414M | $391M | $374M | $366M | $356M |
| EBITDA | $157M | $152M | $161M | $157M | $161M |
| Net income | $34.3M | $20.1M | $48.2M | $118M | $17.2M |
| Free cash flow | $128M | $126M | $148M | $135M | $109M |
| Capital expenditure | $24.2M | $25.9M | $24.4M | $20.9M | $19.7M |
| Total debt | $447M | $468M | $497M | $539M | $501M |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | CARS | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +37.1% | -6.9% | highest of 21 |
| 6-month return | +14.3% | -7.5% | 4th highest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -4.8% | -41.2% | highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +1.1% | +11.2% | 6th lowest of 20 |
| Operating margin | 11.4% | 5.7% | 6th highest of 20 |
| Forward P/E | 6.2× | 16.1× | 3rd cheapest of 16 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 5.7% | 21.0% | 4th least demanding of 13 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +5.7% | +18.7% | lowest of 13 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | +0.0 pp | -7.9 pp | 5th most demanding of 13 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | -2.5 pp | -7.1 pp | 6th highest of 16 |
| EV / EBITDA | 7.2× | 11.3× | 3rd cheapest of 13 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 2.6× | -1.0× | 3rd most indebted of 15 |
| Bond spread | 306 bp | n/a | — |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cars.com CARS | United States | $715M | +14% | +1% | 11% | 6.2× | 5.7% | +5.7% |
| Phoenix Education Partners PXED | United States | $718M | -36% | +1% | 17% | 5.0× | n/a | n/a |
| Jumia Technologies AG Sponsored ADR JMIA | United States | $676M | -29% | +27% | -27% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Nextdoor NXDR | United States | $758M | -3% | +10% | -17% | 350.1× | 24.0% | +15.9% |
| SiteMinder SDR.AX | Australia | $666M | +14% | +19% | -2% | 94.9× | 21.9% | +21.4% |
| Le Travenues Technology IXIGO.NS | India | $775M | -2% | +16% | 6% | 47.3× | 38.2% | +55.4% |
| Digital Garage 4819.T | Japan | $654M | -10% | +4% | -6% | 61.2× | 30.0% | +7.1% |
| Auction Technology ATG.L | United Kingdom | $789M | +36% | +22% | 11% | 16.1× | 22.7% | +32.6% |
| PubMatic PUBM | United States | $811M | +82% | -1% | -5% | 360.6× | 7.8% | +13.7% |
| FuboTV FUBO | United States | $830M | -26% | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Shanghai Able Digital Science&Tech 2687.HK | Hong Kong | $612M | -50% | +19% | 10% | 20.6× | n/a | n/a |
| Just Dial JUSTDIAL.NS | India | $610M | +24% | +9% | 25% | 10.9× | n/a | n/a |
| Yalla Group Ltd. Sponsored ADR YALA | United States | $863M | -21% | -4% | 31% | 7.0× | n/a | n/a |
| Gushengtang 2273.HK | Hong Kong | $874M | +1% | +12% | 13% | 13.4× | 2.4% | +27.6% |
| Zhejiang NetSun 002095.SZ | China | $583M | -5% | -2% | -2% | n/a | 20.0% | +6.6% |
| iQIYI, Inc. Sponsored ADR IQ | United States | $886M | -20% | -3% | -2% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| TeamViewer TMV.DE | Germany | $894M | -5% | +2% | 34% | 5.2× | -11.0% | +10.4% |
| LegalZoom.com LZ | United States | $897M | -19% | +12% | 4% | 6.7× | 6.1% | +9.9% |
| Omada Health OMDA | United States | $924M | +2% | +48% | 0% | 37.1× | 28.7% | +42.9% |
| BuySell Technologies 7685.T | Japan | $938M | -28% | +58% | 11% | 15.0× | -1.2% | +46.8% |
| Sify Technologies Limited Sponsored ADR SIFY | United States | $941M | -20% | +11% | 8% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Cars.com has 1 bond outstanding with $400M face value. The agencies rate it BB-; its bonds trade like B. Weighted yield 7.66%, a spread of 306 bp over government bonds.