Online new and used car marketplace Cars.com (NYSE: CARS) will be announcing earnings results this Thursday before market open. Here’s what investors should know.
Cars.com met analysts’ revenue expectations last quarter, reporting revenues of $178.7 million, flat year on year. It was a mixed quarter for the company, with a narrow beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates but revenue in line with analysts’ estimates. It reported 19,412 active buyers, flat year on year.
Is Cars.com a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free for active Edge members.
This quarter, analysts are expecting Cars.com’s revenue to be flat year on year at $181.4 million, slowing from the 3.1% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $0.49 per share.
Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. Cars.com has missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates five times over the last two years.
Looking at Cars.com’s peers in the online marketplace segment, some have already reported their Q3 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. EverQuote delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 20.3%, beating analysts’ expectations by 4.3%, and Etsy reported revenues up 2.4%, topping estimates by 3.3%. EverQuote traded up 8.3% following the results while Etsy was down 17.2%.
Read our full analysis of EverQuote’s results here and Etsy’s results here.
Debates around the economy’s health and the impact of potential tariffs and corporate tax cuts have caused much uncertainty in 2025. While some of the online marketplace stocks have shown solid performance in this choppy environment, the group has generally underperformed, with share prices down 7.7% on average over the last month. Cars.com is down 16.6% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $16.71 (compared to the current share price of $10.47).
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