Cars.com (CARS) Competitors

TripAdvisor (NASDAQ:TRIP) and Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, profitability, institutional ownership, media sentiment, dividends, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Which has more risk & volatility, TRIP or CARS?

TripAdvisor has a beta of 1.28, meaning that its share price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cars.com has a beta of 1.86, meaning that its share price is 86% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to TRIP or CARS?

In the previous week, TripAdvisor had 20 more articles in the media than Cars.com. MarketBeat recorded 33 mentions for TripAdvisor and 13 mentions for Cars.com. TripAdvisor's average media sentiment score of 0.75 beat Cars.com's score of 0.32 indicating that TripAdvisor is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
TripAdvisor	15 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	10 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Cars.com	3 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do analysts prefer TRIP or CARS?

TripAdvisor presently has a consensus price target of $17.27, suggesting a potential downside of 0.51%. Cars.com has a consensus price target of $18.30, suggesting a potential upside of 50.67%. Given Cars.com's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Cars.com is more favorable than TripAdvisor.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TripAdvisor	2 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Cars.com	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of TRIP or CARS?

99.0% of TripAdvisor shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.2% of Cars.com shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.1% of TripAdvisor shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.4% of Cars.com shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is TRIP or CARS more profitable?

Cars.com has a net margin of 6.32% compared to TripAdvisor's net margin of 2.94%. Cars.com's return on equity of 16.86% beat TripAdvisor's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TripAdvisor	2.94%	10.68%	3.34%
Cars.com	6.32%	16.86%	7.61%

Which has better earnings and valuation, TRIP or CARS?

Cars.com has lower revenue, but higher earnings than TripAdvisor. Cars.com is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than TripAdvisor, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
TripAdvisor	$1.84B	1.34	$5M	$0.37	46.92
Cars.com	$719.15M	1.07	$48.19M	$0.68	17.86

Summary

Cars.com beats TripAdvisor on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.