Cars.com (CARS) Reports Q4: Everything You Need To Know Ahead Of Earnings

Cars.com (CARS) Reports Q4: Everything You Need To Know Ahead Of Earnings

Petr Huřťák

Thu, February 26, 2026 at 1:36 AM GMT+9 2 min read

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CARS

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Online new and used car marketplace Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) will be reporting results tomorrow before market open. Here’s what to look for.

Cars.com met analysts’ revenue expectations last quarter, reporting revenues of $181.6 million, up 1.1% year on year. It was a satisfactory quarter for the company, with a decent beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates. It reported 19,526 active buyers, up 1.4% year on year.

Is Cars.com a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free for active Edge members.

This quarter, the market is expecting Cars.com’s revenue to grow 1.8% year on year, improving from its flat revenue in the same quarter last year.

Cars.com Total Revenue

Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. Cars.com has missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates multiple times over the last two years.

Looking at Cars.com’s peers in the online marketplace segment, some have already reported their Q4 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. EverQuote delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 32.5%, beating analysts’ expectations by 10.4%, and Shutterstock reported a revenue decline of 12%, falling short of estimates by 12.7%. EverQuote traded up 1.2% following the results while Shutterstock was down 12.8%.

Read our full analysis of EverQuote’s results here and Shutterstock’s results here.

Debates around the economy’s health and the impact of potential tariffs and corporate tax cuts have caused much uncertainty in 2025. Unfortunately, online marketplace stocks have struggled in this environment as share prices are down 18.7% on average over the last month. Cars.com is down 10.9% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $16.79 (compared to the current share price of $10.37).

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