Cars.com Inc. Common Stock (CARS)

FairStock Score: 31/100 — RISKY

Key Financials

AI Analysis

AI-generated, general educational analysis — not personal investment advice.

I look for durable economics and a price that leaves room for error. Cars.com operates a marketplace and dealer software tools in auto retail. Its dealer and buyer network may create a modest moat, but growth is nearly flat: in FY2025, the year ended 2025-12-31, revenue was $723.2M, only slightly above FY2024 revenue of $719.2M. Profit history is uneven: FY2025 net income was $20.1M, down from FY2024's $48.2M and FY2023's $118.4M. Yet in fiscal Q2 2026, the quarter ended 2026-06-30, revenue was $179.9M and net income was $14.3M, up from $7.0M in fiscal Q2 2025, the quarter ended 2025-06-30. That rebound is real but only one quarter. Financial health gives pause. FairStock's debt-to-equity ratio is 1.01 and its Altman Z-score is -0.34, which suggests balance-sheet risk. FairStock's ROE is 7.40% and ROCE is 5.01%, modest returns. Still, cash generation stands out: trailing free cash flow is $127.4M, a 24.3% FCF yield against the $524.6M market cap at the 2026-10-13 close. FairStock's Piotroski F-score is 8/9, and its PEG ratio is 0.17. Valuation is not demanding. At the 2026-10-13 close of $9.80, FairStock's P/E is 17.19, P/B is 1.19, EV/EBITDA is 5.96, and Graham Number is $10.27, leaving only a 4.58% margin of safety. FairStock score is 31/100. The Lynch category is STALWART, with profit growth of 16.8% a year over four years but revenue growth of 3.8%. I would want clearer sales growth and less leverage before calling this a classic bargain.

In plain English: Cars.com runs online marketplaces and software tools that help car dealers and manufacturers sell vehicles and manage listings. The company is profitable and produces a lot of cash compared with its stock-market value, but sales are barely growing and it carries meaningful debt. At the recent price of $9.80 on 2026-10-13, the stock looks roughly in line with its earnings and accounting value rather than clearly cheap or expensive.

The full AI analysis, bull and bear case and key monitorables are in FairStock Pro.

Data as of 2026-10-13 close · note generated 2026-10-15 · model deepseek-flash

Sources (SEC EDGAR): fiscal Q2 2026 10-Q (period ended 2026-06-30) · fiscal Q1 2026 10-Q (period ended 2026-03-31) · fiscal Q3 2025 10-Q (period ended 2025-09-30) · fiscal Q2 2025 10-Q (period ended 2025-06-30) · FY2025 10-K (period ended 2025-12-31) · FY2024 10-K (period ended 2024-12-31) · FY2023 10-K (period ended 2023-12-31)

Fundamentals from company filings and market-data providers; prices are end-of-day, not real-time. AI-generated analysis is general and educational — not personal investment advice. Scoring methodology · Score test · Disclaimer