Wall Street Zen Upgrades Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) to “Buy”

Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on CARS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Cars.com from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Cars.com from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Cars.com in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 target price (up from $21.00) on shares of Cars.com in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Cars.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.90.

Cars.com Stock Performance

Shares of CARS traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $11.14. 1,590,735 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 816,485. The stock has a market capitalization of $684.19 million, a P/E ratio of 17.96 and a beta of 1.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $11.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.82. Cars.com has a 12-month low of $9.56 and a 12-month high of $20.47.

Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.02). Cars.com had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 5.71%.The firm had revenue of $181.57 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $181.37 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Cars.com will post 1.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Cars.com

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Cars.com by 33.7% during the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 557,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,626,000 after buying an additional 140,493 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Cars.com by 13.2% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 398,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,485,000 after purchasing an additional 46,562 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in Cars.com by 59.2% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 54,798 shares of the company’s stock worth $618,000 after purchasing an additional 20,376 shares during the period. Peregrine Capital Management LLC grew its position in Cars.com by 10.9% in the second quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 321,989 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,816,000 after acquiring an additional 31,548 shares during the period. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cars.com by 71.3% during the 1st quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 102,416 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,154,000 after purchasing an additional 42,641 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.15% of the company’s stock.

Cars.com Company Profile

Cars.com Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a digital automotive marketplace that connects local car dealers to consumers in the United States. The company offers a suite of digital solutions that creates connections between individuals researching cars or looking to purchase a car with car dealerships and automotive original equipment manufacturers.