Cars.com's (CARS) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at DA Davidson

Key Points

• DA Davidson reaffirmed a Buy rating on Cars.com with a $13 price target, implying roughly a 32% upside from the current share price.
• Analyst views are mixed—four Buy, two Hold and two Sell—giving a MarketBeat consensus of Hold and an average target price of $16.00.
• Shares traded near $9.84 after Cars.com reported Q results that missed EPS expectations ($0.44 vs. $0.56); the company has a market cap of about $577M and institutional ownership around 89%.

Cars.com (NYSE:CARS - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reiterated by research analysts at DA Davidson in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $13.00 price objective on the stock. DA Davidson's price target points to a potential upside of 32.15% from the stock's current price.

CARS has been the subject of several other research reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Cars.com from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $10.00 price objective (down from $16.00) on shares of Cars.com in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Cars.com from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. BTIG Research reissued a "buy" rating and set a $13.00 price objective on shares of Cars.com in a research note on Friday. Finally, Barrington Research reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of Cars.com in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $16.00.

Cars.com Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:CARS traded up $0.09 during trading on Monday, hitting $9.84. 514,300 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,318,219. Cars.com has a 1-year low of $7.40 and a 1-year high of $13.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $9.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market cap of $576.84 million, a P/E ratio of 30.74 and a beta of 1.46.

Cars.com (NYSE:CARS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.12). Cars.com had a return on equity of 17.31% and a net margin of 2.77%.The business had revenue of $183.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $183.44 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.49 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Cars.com will post 1.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cars.com in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,673,000. Villanova Investment Management Co LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cars.com by 36.7% in the third quarter. Villanova Investment Management Co LLC now owns 367,070 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,486,000 after buying an additional 98,559 shares during the period. Hill Path Capital LP boosted its holdings in shares of Cars.com by 23.2% in the third quarter. Hill Path Capital LP now owns 2,481,032 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,318,000 after buying an additional 468,000 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cars.com in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,496,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Cars.com by 143.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 531,486 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,495,000 after buying an additional 313,128 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.15% of the company's stock.

About Cars.com

Cars.com operates as a leading online automotive marketplace in the United States, connecting car shoppers with new and used vehicle listings from dealerships and private sellers. The platform enables consumers to research makes and models, compare prices, read expert and user reviews, and access tools such as TrueCost to estimate ownership expenses over time. Through its website and mobile applications, Cars.com aims to simplify the car-buying process by aggregating detailed vehicle data, payment calculators, and dealership ratings into a single user-friendly experience.

On the dealer side, Cars.com provides a suite of marketing and lead-generation services designed to help automotive retailers reach potential buyers and manage their online presence.

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