Skip to main content
CARS $11.86 -0.04%
CARS logo

CARS · Cars.com Inc.

Track CARS — free
$11.86 -0.01 (-0.04%)
Market Cap
$641.86M
Shares
53.53M
All earnings calls

Earnings call · FY2026 Q2

CARS Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call

CARS Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call

Concluded Aug 6, 2026 Audio replay
Aug 6, 2026 40:40 40 turns
Period
FY2026 Q2
Runtime
40:40
Sources
4 artifacts

Executive readout · one minute

What matters this quarter

Cars.com delivered Q2 2026 revenue of $179.9 million (in line with guidance) and adjusted EBITDA margin of 29.4% (above guidance), with marketplace revenue growing over 7% year-over-year—the fastest since 2021—and reaffirmed its 2026 financial targets while signaling continued improvement into 2027.

Marketplace growth and dealer subscription 61 Dealer verified listings product launch 38 Carson AI shopping assistant 28 Premium Plus package 16 Traffic and marketing optimization 15 Interconnected marketplace strategy 13

Management tone

Confident

Net tone +55 · moderate hedging

Grounding quotes
  • “we delivered another quarter of revenue growth and increased profitability”
  • “we are pacing well to meet our 2026 financial targets and we are positioned to deliver further improvement in 2027”

Forward guidance

2 guided metrics

Management's latest ranges and targets are included below.

Research coverage

4 live sources

Switch sources without leaving this page or losing your listening position.

Revenue $179.93M +0.7% YoY
Diluted EPS $0.25 +127.3% YoY
Net income $14.26M +103.5% YoY

Research materials

Open the source you need; every reader stays inside this workspace.

Key takeaways

What improved, and what deserves a closer read.

Constructive signals

  • Net income rose 103% Y/Y to $14.3 million.
  • Year-to-date share repurchases of $57 million are on pace to the $90 million 2026 target, representing a 28% Y/Y increase in buybacks.
  • Marketplace ARPD reached an all-time high while marketplace subscribers rebounded to their highest level since 2023.

Risks & pressure points

  • OEM and National revenue declined 18% Y/Y as previously expected.
  • Dealer count declined slightly Y/Y due to lower Solutions adoption.
  • Full-year 2026 guidance was only reaffirmed, not raised, despite Q2 outperformance.

Key moments

Jump directly to management's words in the synchronized transcript.

Guidance from the call

Stated verbally and extracted from the transcript.

Metric Guided
Adjusted EBITDA margin
Q3
28.5% – 29.5%
Adjusted EBITDA margin
Third quarter
28.5% – 29.5%

Quarter detail

How the reported period landed and where the business moved.

Capital returned

Buybacks · derived
$37.01M
Shares repurchased
3.68M
Full-screen source Call document