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

Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

CARS has been the subject of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Cars.com from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of Cars.com in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Cars.com from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Cars.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Cars.com in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cars.com currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.90.

Cars.com Stock Performance

Shares of CARS opened at $11.14 on Friday. Cars.com has a 12-month low of $9.56 and a 12-month high of $20.47. The stock has a market cap of $684.19 million, a P/E ratio of 17.96 and a beta of 1.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company has a 50-day moving average of $11.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.82.

Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $181.57 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $181.37 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Cars.com will post 1.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Cars.com

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Cars.com by 33.7% in the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 557,299 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,626,000 after purchasing an additional 140,493 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake 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 period. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Cars.com by 59.2% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 54,798 shares of the company’s stock valued at $618,000 after purchasing an additional 20,376 shares during the last quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cars.com by 10.9% in the 2nd quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 321,989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,816,000 after purchasing an additional 31,548 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $1,154,000 after buying 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.