Cars.Com Inc. (CARS) Stock Forecast Oct. 16, 2026
Analysis updated on Oct. 16, 2026 (UTC) · Alpha · vs marketSwitch to Total · NYSE
Cars.Com Inc. (CARS) stock forecast summary
Our AI ranks Cars.Com Inc. outside the neutral middle of its coverage (a directional signal). Create a free account and follow it to see the exact price target.
Cars.Com Inc. is a small-cap company with a market capitalization of $547M. It ranks number 40 by market capitalization among the 60 Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation issuers in our coverage with a current forecast.
For CARS, the Spearman rank correlation between our 90-day forecasts and the returns that followed is 37.0%, measured on 357 forecast dates between 2022-07-29 and 2026-07-17 on this stock's own recent history. A rank correlation runs from -100% to +100%: it measures whether higher forecasts were followed by higher returns, and a value near zero or below means the model has shown little skill on this stock. On the 30-day forecasts the same correlation is 14.0%, measured on 400 forecast dates between 2022-07-29 and 2026-09-16. Across our coverage, the out-of-sample test on 4495 stocks from 2025-01-06 to 2026-07-07 produced a positive net return in 82.5% of rebalance periods (factor-neutral book, net of estimated costs). Full backtest report
Expected return relative to the market over the horizon: a positive alpha means the model expects the stock to beat the market, whatever the market does. Ratings: strong buy ≥ +1.8%, buy ≥ +0.2%, sell < -0.9%, strong sell < -1.2% (top 15%, next 20%, middle 30%, next 20%, bottom 15% of the 2026-10-16 signals)
A free account shows the exact forecast, rating and rank of 3 tickers you follow, CARS included.
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How CARS ranks among 5171 stocks
90D Alpha forecasts of every company scored, cut into five relative ratings at the 15th, 35th, 65th and 85th percentiles (dashed lines).
Cars.Com Inc. (CARS) fundamentals
Trailing twelve months. The industry median and the rank (1 = highest) are taken over the Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation peers listed below that report each metric.
Valuation & Market
| Metric | CARS | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Market Cap | $547M | 40/60 |
| P/E Ratio | 22.20x | 16/29 |
| P/B Ratio | 1.23x | 38/47 |
| EPS | $0.46 | – |
| Book Value/Share | $8.29 | – |
| Revenue/Share | $13.55 | – |
| FCF/Share | $2.80 | – |
Profitability & Margins
| Metric | CARS | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| ROE | 7.7% | 16/31 |
| ROA | 3.4% | 17/33 |
| ROIC | 9.1% | 16/39 |
| Operating Margin | 11.4% | 13/46 |
| Net Margin | 4.7% | 16/33 |
| EBT Margin | 7.4% | 18/47 |
| Tax Rate | 36.3% | – |
Financial Health
| Metric | CARS | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Current Ratio | 2.00x | 21/51 |
| D/E Ratio | 1.28x | 23/51 |
| Financial Leverage | 2.28x | 20/45 |
| Working Capital | $97M | 23/51 |
Cash Flow
| Metric | CARS | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Operating Cash Flow | $152M | 25/49 |
| Free Cash Flow | $150M | 21/35 |
| Capital Spending | -$2M | 8/35 |
| OCF Growth YoY | 8.7% | 21/31 |
| FCF Growth YoY | 11.6% | 18/27 |
| FCF/Sales | 20.6% | 14/35 |
| CapEx/Sales | 0.2% | 30/35 |
Operational Efficiency
| Metric | CARS | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Asset Turnover | 0.72x | 18/33 |
| Receivables Turnover | 5.1x | 30/35 |
| Fixed Assets Turnover | 21.2x | 17/35 |
| Days Sales Outstanding | 72 days | 6/35 |
Income Statement
| Metric | CARS | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Total Revenue | $726M | 26/38 |
| Operating Income | $83M | 18/48 |
| Net Income | $34M | 14/35 |
| SG&A Expense | $388M | 23/43 |
Dividend & Shareholder Information
| Metric | CARS | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Shares Outstanding | 54M | – |
| Net Income Growth | -16.4% | 14/21 |
| EPS Growth | -30.3% | 19/24 |
Balance Sheet Highlights (USD millions)
| Total Current Assets | $195M | 19.3% of assets |
| Cash & Short-term Investments | $33M | 3.3% of assets |
| Accounts Receivable | $143M | 14.1% of assets |
| Total Liabilities | $569M | 56.2% of assets |
| Short-term Debt | $65M | 6.4% of assets |
CARS quarterly financials and insider trading
Cars.Com Inc. (CARS) industry peers
Companies classified under the same SEC industry code as Cars.Com Inc. (Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation): 60 common-stock issuers with a forecast this week, one row per issuer, largest first. This is a classification match, not a curated list of competitors.
Reveal all forecasts · See exact % predictions for all competitors
Sign up free| Company | 90-Day AI Forecast (Alpha) | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|
| CARS Cars.Com Inc. | ▲ | $547M |
| ADP Automatic Data Processing Inc | ▼ | $114.77B |
| WDAY Workday, Inc. | ▲ | $47.39B |
| RDDT Reddit, Inc. | ▲ | $30.59B |
| VRSK Verisk Analytics, Inc. | ▼ | $26.11B |
| TOST Toast, Inc. | ▶ | $18.62B |
| HNGE Hinge Health, Inc. | ▲ | $8.00B |
| RNG Ringcentral, Inc. | ▲ | $6.68B |
| PEGA Pegasystems Inc | ▲ | $5.91B |
| BILI Bilibili Inc. | ▼ | $5.88B |
| APLD Applied Digital Corp. | ▶ | $5.26B |
| QBTS D-Wave Quantum Inc. | ▼ | $4.73B |
| JOYY Joyy Inc. | ▼ | $4.24B |
| LIF Life360, Inc. | ▲ | $3.35B |
| FA First Advantage Corp | ▶ | $3.29B |
| LFTO Liftoff Mobile, Inc. | ▼ | $2.87B |
| CARG Cargurus, Inc. | ▲ | $2.70B |
| FIVN Five9, Inc. | ▲ | $2.41B |
| ATHM Autohome Inc. | ▶ | $2.40B |
| RAMP Liveramp Holdings, Inc. | ▼ | $2.28B |
| DXC Dxc Technology Co | ▶ | $2.18B |
| INFQ Infleqtion, Inc. | ▼ | $1.93B |
| EVTC Evertec, Inc. | ▶ | $1.86B |
| INOD Innodata Inc | ▲ | $1.82B |
| GLOB Globant S.A. | ▲ | $1.73B |
| HAWK Hawkeye 360, Inc. | ▼ | $1.22B |
| CLVT Clarivate Plc | ▲ | $1.17B |
| GDRX Goodrx Holdings, Inc. | ▲ | $1.15B |
| SHAZ Sharonai Holdings Inc. | ▼ | $1.11B |
| UPWK Upwork, Inc | ▲ | $1.09B |
| LZ Legalzoom.Com, Inc. | ▶ | $1.06B |
| PLTK Playtika Holding Corp. | ▲ | $831M |
| TASK Taskus, Inc. | ▲ | $781M |
| BRUN Boost Run Inc. | ▼ | $707M |
| YEXT Yext, Inc. | ▶ | $706M |
| DDI Doubledown Interactive Co., Ltd. | ▼ | $684M |
| NRDS Nerdwallet, Inc. | ▶ | $641M |
| SOPH Sophia Genetics Sa | ▲ | $621M |
| IBEX Ibex Ltd | ▲ | $606M |
| OOMA Ooma Inc | ▲ | $565M |
| GRVY Gravity Co., Ltd. | ▼ | $464M |
| TRVG Trivago N.V. | ▲ | $284M |
| EGHT 8x8 Inc /De/ | ▲ | $280M |
| GLOO Gloo Holdings, Inc. | ▲ | $280M |
| MOVE Corvex, Inc. | ▼ | $265M |
| FCCN Spectral Capital Corp | ▲ | $251M |
| AIAI Aiai Holdings Corp | ▼ | $212M |
| FIRY Firy Inc. | ▲ | $192M |
| SSTK Shutterstock, Inc. | ▲ | $170M |
| QMLS Qumulusai, Inc. | ▼ | $137M |
| TRAK Repositrak, Inc. | ▶ | $135M |
| TCX Tucows Inc /Pa/ | ▲ | $117M |
| BHIC Bioscience Health Innovations, Inc. | ▶ | $80M |
| DTCX Datacentrex, Inc. | ▼ | $57M |
| VERI Veritone, Inc. | ▶ | $56M |
| CAST Freecast, Inc. | ▼ | $55M |
| PHUN Phunware, Inc. | ▶ | $43M |
| SJ Scienjoy Holding Corp | ▲ | $40M |
| DGNX Diginex Ltd | ▼ | $34M |
| GMHS Gamehaus Holdings Inc. | ▶ | $32M |
Where CARS sits on the market map
Cars.Com Inc. (CARS) stock news
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Cars.Com Inc. (CARS) stock forecast FAQ
What is the Cars.Com Inc. (CARS) stock forecast?
Our AI ranks Cars.Com Inc. outside the neutral middle of its coverage (a directional signal). Create a free account and follow it to see the exact price target.
How accurate are Cars.Com Inc. stock predictions?
For CARS, the Spearman rank correlation between our 90-day forecasts and the returns that followed is 37.0%, measured on 357 forecast dates between 2022-07-29 and 2026-07-17 on this stock's own recent history. A rank correlation runs from -100% to +100%: it measures whether higher forecasts were followed by higher returns, and a value near zero or below means the model has shown little skill on this stock. On the 30-day forecasts the same correlation is 14.0%, measured on 400 forecast dates between 2022-07-29 and 2026-09-16. Across our coverage, the out-of-sample test on 4495 stocks from 2025-01-06 to 2026-07-07 produced a positive net return in 82.5% of rebalance periods (factor-neutral book, net of estimated costs). Full backtest report
How often are Cars.Com Inc. forecasts updated?
Cars.Com Inc. forecasts are refreshed on trading days as the daily model run completes. The forecast on this page was produced on Oct. 16, 2026.
Which companies are Cars.Com Inc.'s industry peers?
60 issuers in our coverage, CARS included, share the SEC industry code Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation. The largest are: Automatic Data Processing Inc (ADP), Workday, Inc. (WDAY), Reddit, Inc. (RDDT), Verisk Analytics, Inc. (VRSK), Toast, Inc. (TOST), Hinge Health, Inc. (HNGE).
This analysis is generated automatically using our proprietary AI systems and should not be considered personalized investment advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Always conduct your own research and consider consulting a financial advisor before making investment decisions.