Cars.com (CARS) & Its Competitors Financial Survey
by Michael Walen · The Markets DailyCars.com (NYSE:CARS – Get Free Report) is one of 192 public companies in the “Interactive Media & Services” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Cars.com to similar companies based on the strength of its institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, profitability, risk and dividends.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Cars.com and its peers revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Net Income | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Cars.com | $723.24 million | $20.05 million | 17.45 |
| Cars.com Competitors | $13.02 billion | $3.45 billion | 7.94 |
Cars.com’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Cars.com. Cars.com is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
89.2% of Cars.com shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.1% of shares of all “Interactive Media & Services” companies are owned by institutional investors. 3.4% of Cars.com shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 24.0% of shares of all “Interactive Media & Services” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Profitability
This table compares Cars.com and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Cars.com | 5.92% | 19.86% | 8.73% |
| Cars.com Competitors | -350.34% | -20.63% | 4.02% |
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Cars.com and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Cars.com | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2.62 |
| Cars.com Competitors | 1446 | 6027 | 11559 | 443 | 2.56 |
Cars.com presently has a consensus target price of $15.25, suggesting a potential upside of 16.55%. As a group, “Interactive Media & Services” companies have a potential upside of 33.30%. Given Cars.com’s peers higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Cars.com has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.
Risk and Volatility
Cars.com has a beta of 1.66, meaning that its stock price is 66% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cars.com’s peers have a beta of 1.88, meaning that their average stock price is 88% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Cars.com beats its peers on 7 of the 13 factors compared.
Cars.com Company Profile
Cars.com Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as a digital automotive marketplace that connects local car dealers to consumers in the United States. The company offers a suite of digital solutions that creates connections between individuals researching cars or looking to purchase a car with car dealerships and automotive original equipment manufacturers. It also sells online subscription advertising products to car dealerships by its direct sales force, as well as through its affiliate sales channel. In addition, the company sells display advertising to national advertisers. Further, it offers online automotive marketplace service that connects buyers and sellers through Cars.com, Auto.com, DealerRater.com, NewCars.com, PickupTrucks.com, DealerInspire.com, and LaunchDigitalMarketing.com Websites. Its platform hosts approximately 4.9 million new and used vehicle listings and serves approximately 20,000 franchise and independent car dealers. Cars.com Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.