Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 7,307,418 shares, a decline of 13.4% from the March 15th total of 8,437,551 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,536,017 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.9 days. Approximately 12.8% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CARS shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Cars.com from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $10.00 target price (down from $16.00) on shares of Cars.com in a research note on Friday, February 27th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $13.00 target price on shares of Cars.com in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Zacks Research upgraded Cars.com from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $13.00 target price on shares of Cars.com in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $16.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cars.com

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Cars.com by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,139,080 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,296,000 after purchasing an additional 39,173 shares in the last quarter. Par Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cars.com by 31.0% during the 4th quarter. Par Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,697,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,911,000 after purchasing an additional 639,000 shares in the last quarter. Hill Path Capital LP raised its stake in shares of Cars.com by 23.2% during the 3rd quarter. Hill Path Capital LP now owns 2,481,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,318,000 after purchasing an additional 468,000 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cars.com by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,203,622 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,708,000 after purchasing an additional 138,229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Cars.com by 112.1% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,127,095 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,751,000 after purchasing an additional 595,609 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.15% of the company’s stock.

Cars.com Trading Up 3.6%

NYSE CARS opened at $10.61 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $622.35 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.17 and a beta of 1.46. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $9.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 1.87. Cars.com has a 52 week low of $7.40 and a 52 week high of $13.97.

Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) last released its 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). The firm had revenue of $183.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $183.44 million. Cars.com had a net margin of 2.77% and a return on equity of 17.31%. The company’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.49 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cars.com will post 1.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.