Cars.com Reports Third Quarter 2026 Results

Focused execution drove efficiency and profitability gains while also powering Marketplace momentum, including launch of new self-service Marketplace Starter package

• Revenue of $181.9 million includes 5% year-over-year Marketplace revenue growth
• Net income increased to $16.3 million, up 113% year-over-year
• Adjusted EBITDA grew to $55.8 million and Adjusted EBITDA margin of 30.7% outperformed guidance range by 120 bps
• Share repurchases totaled 1.4 million shares for $16 million; year-to-date share repurchases totaled 7.6 million shares for $74 million and are on pace to 2026 target of $90 million

CHICAGO, Nov. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Cars.com Inc. (NYSE: CARS), a trusted audience-powered and data-driven technology platform that simplifies buying and selling cars, today released its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2026.

"Our third quarter results reinforced the growing strength of our core, scaled Marketplace. We once again grew Marketplace customers, reached another milestone in Premium+ package adoption, and also launched our first ever self-service subscription designed to meet the needs of local independent dealers. These outcomes flow directly from fundamental improvements to our operating model throughout 2026 that span our focus areas of product innovation, process efficiency, and organizational talent. Though still early, these steps point in the right direction. We are moving swiftly to extend that momentum across the rest of our portfolio as we build the foundation for product-led growth and long-term value creation," said Tobias Hartmann, Chief Executive Officer of Cars.com, Inc.

Financial Highlights

Key Metrics and Operational Highlights

• Marketplace revenue was up 5% Y/Y based on both customer growth and greater uptake of higher-tier subscriptions, with Premium+ reaching 12% adoption for the quarter.
• New self-service Marketplace Starter offering⁽¹⁾ was adopted by nearly 400 independent dealers, driving listings on Cars.com and adding new capabilities to serve local dealers.
• ARPD rose 3% Y/Y based on healthy Marketplace performance and set its second-highest quarterly record.
• Traffic and Average Monthly UVs performance reflects continued optimization of audience acquisition strategy, which delivered robust year-over-year growth in lead volume.
• Cars.com was the #1 most cited automotive marketplace across major LLMs.²
• Carson, the Cars.com AI-powered shopping assistant, crossed 1 million monthly users, nearly doubling year-over-year.
• Appointed Mausam Bhatt as Chief Product Officer, a leader with deep experience in building and scaling digital businesses and marketplaces, underscoring the Company's commitment to accelerating innovation and its product-led growth strategy.

Q3 2026 Results

Revenue for the third quarter of $181.9 million was up slightly year-over-year. Subscription-based Dealer revenue of $163.4 million was up 1% year-over-year, driven by greater Marketplace value delivery and customer count, partially offset by a decline in media and solutions products. OEM and National revenue of $15.7 million was down 3% year-over-year though up 15% quarter-over-quarter as OEM advertising recovered sequentially, as expected.

Total operating expenses for the third quarter were $153.0 million compared to $164.8 million in the prior year period, down 7% year-over-year. While depreciation and amortization continued to decrease, the Company drove operating leverage by active cost management and improved efficiencies within General and Administrative and Sales and Marketing expenses. Adjusted operating expenses were $142.4 million, down 5% year-over-year, largely reflecting the aforementioned factors.

Net income for the third quarter was $16.3 million, or $0.30 per diluted share, compared to $7.7 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, in the year-ago period. The change in Net income is primarily attributable to higher operating income. Adjusted net income for the third quarter was $32.3 million, or $0.58 per diluted share, compared to $30.4 million, or $0.48 per diluted share a year ago.

Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter was $55.8 million, or 30.7% of revenue, compared to $54.6 million, or 30.1% of revenue in the year-ago period.

Cash Flow and Balance Sheet

Net cash provided by operating activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2026 was $114.7 million, compared to $114.5 million in the prior year. Free cash flow for the nine months ended September 30, 2026 totaled $97.3 million, compared to $94.5 million in the prior year.

The Company repaid $5 million of debt during the quarter, reducing total debt outstanding to $445.0 million as of September 30, 2026. Total liquidity as of September 30, 2026 was $369.6 million, which is defined as Cash and cash equivalents of $64.6 million and revolver capacity of $305.0 million.

Share Repurchase

The Company repurchased 1.4 million shares of common stock for $16 million in the third quarter, and 7.6 million shares of common stock for $74 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2026. The Company's 2026 share repurchase target remains $90 million, reflecting its commitment to returning capital to stockholders. Shares repurchased and retired year-to-date through September 30, 2026 represent over 12% of the Company's common shares outstanding as of prior year-end.

As of September 30, 2026, approximately $100.2 million remains available under the current share repurchase authorization, which expires in February 2028.

Outlook

Full Year 2026
The Company reaffirms its full year 2026 guidance:

• Revenue is expected to be flat to up 2% year-over-year, reflecting growth in Marketplace revenue and pressure in Dealer and OEM media products amid current market conditions.
• Adjusted EBITDA margin is expected to be between 29.0% to 30.0%.

Q3 2026 Earnings Call

As previously announced, management will hold a conference call and webcast today at 8:00 a.m. CT. This webcast may be accessed at the Cars.com Investor Relations website, investor.cars.com. An archive of the webcast will be available at investor.cars.com following the conclusion of the call.

About Cars.com Inc.

Cars.com Inc. (NYSE: CARS) is a leading marketplace for automotive sales. For over 25 years, we've combined the most reviews in the industry, straight answers, and tools that cut through the noise to help shoppers make confident car decisions. Our scaled marketplace paired with interconnected technology, data, and media gives dealers and OEMs everything they need to sell more cars. Learn more at Cars.com.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This earnings release discusses Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA margin, Adjusted net income, Adjusted net income per diluted share, Free Cash Flow and Adjusted Operating Expenses. These financial measures are not prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States ("GAAP"). These financial measures are presented as supplemental measures of operating performance because the Company believes they provide meaningful information regarding the Company's performance and provide a basis to compare operating results between periods. In addition, the Company uses Adjusted EBITDA as a measure for determining incentive compensation targets. Adjusted EBITDA is also used as a performance measure under the Company's credit agreement and includes adjustments such as the items defined below and other further adjustments, which are defined in the credit agreement. These non-GAAP financial measures are frequently used by the Company's lenders, securities analysts, investors and other interested parties to evaluate companies in the Company's industry.

While a reconciliation of non-GAAP measures to corresponding GAAP measures is not available on a  forward-looking basis without unreasonable effort due to, as applicable, the timing, amount, valuation and number of future employee equity awards and the uncertainty relating to the timing, frequency, and effect of acquisitions and the significance of the resulting transaction-related expenses, the Company has provided a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable financial measure prepared in accordance with GAAP in this earnings release, see "Non-GAAP Reconciliations" below.

Other companies may define or calculate these measures differently, limiting their usefulness as comparative measures. Because of these limitations, non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered in isolation or as substitutes for performance measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. Definitions of these non-GAAP financial measures and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are presented in the tables below.

The Company defines Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) before (1) interest expense, net, (2) income tax (benefit) expense, (3) depreciation, (4) amortization of intangible assets, (5) stock-based compensation expense, (6) unrealized mark-to-market adjustments and cash transactions related to derivative instruments, (7) unrealized foreign currency exchange gains and losses, and (8) certain other items, such as transaction-related items, severance, transformation and other exit costs and write-off and impairments of goodwill, intangible assets and other long-lived assets.

Transaction-related items result from actual or potential transactions such as business combinations, mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, spin-offs, financing transactions, and other strategic transactions, including, without limitation, (1) transaction-related bonuses and (2) expenses for advisors and representatives such as investment bankers, consultants, attorneys and accounting firms. Transaction-related items may also include, without limitation, transition and integration costs such as retention bonuses and acquisition-related milestone payments to acquired employees, consulting, compensation and other incremental costs associated with integration projects, fair value changes to contingent considerations and amortization of deferred revenue related to the AccuTrade acquisition.

The Company defines Adjusted Net Income as GAAP net (loss) income excluding, net of their related tax effects: (1) amortization of intangible assets, (2) stock-based compensation expense, (3) unrealized mark-to-market adjustments and cash transactions related to derivative instruments, (4) unrealized foreign currency exchange gains and losses, and (5) certain other items, such as transaction-related costs, severance, transformation and other exit costs and write-off and impairments of goodwill, intangible assets and other long-lived assets.

The Company defines Free Cash Flow as net cash provided by operating activities less capital expenditures, including purchases of property and equipment and capitalization of internally developed technology.

The Company defines Adjusted Operating Expenses as total operating expenses adjusted to exclude stock-based compensation, write-off and impairments of goodwill, intangible assets, long-lived assets, severance, transformation and other exit costs and transaction-related items.

Key Metric Definitions

Average Monthly Unique Visitors ("UVs") and Traffic ("Visits"). The Company defines UVs in a given month as the number of distinct visitors that engage with its platform during that month. Visitors are identified upon first visit to an individual Cars.com property on an individual device/browser combination or installation of one of its mobile apps on an individual device. If a visitor accesses more than one of its web properties or apps or uses more than one device or browser, each of those unique property/browser/app/device combinations counts toward the number of UVs. Traffic is defined as the number of visits to Cars.com desktop and mobile properties (responsive sites and mobile apps). The Company measures UVs and Traffic via RudderStack. These metrics do not include traffic to Dealer Inspire, D2C Media, or DealerClub websites.

Monthly Average Revenue Per Dealer ("ARPD"). The Company believes that its ability to grow ARPD is an indicator of the value proposition of its platform. The Company defines ARPD as Dealer revenue, excluding digital advertising services and DealerClub, during the period divided by the monthly average number of Dealer Customers during the same period.

Dealer Customers. Dealer Customers represent dealerships using the Company's products as of the end of each reporting period. Each physical or virtual dealership location is counted separately, whether it is a single-location proprietorship or part of a large, consolidated dealer group. Multi-franchise dealerships at a single location are counted as one dealer. Dealer Customer metrics do not include DealerClub.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. All statements other than statements of historical facts are forward-looking statements. These statements often use words such as "believe," "expect," "project," "anticipate," "outlook," "intend," "strategy," "plan," "estimate," "target," "seek," "will," "may," "would," "should," "could," "forecasts," "mission," "strive," "more," "goal" or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, beliefs, strategies, estimates, projections and assumptions, experience in the industry as well as our perceptions of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments, and other factors we think are appropriate. Such forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Cars Commerce and its management based on their knowledge and understanding of the business and industry, are inherently uncertain. While Cars Commerce and its management make such statements in good faith and believe such judgments are reasonable, you should understand that these statements are not guarantees of future strategic action, performance or results. Our actual results, performance, achievements, strategic actions or prospects could differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Given these uncertainties, you should not rely on forward-looking statements in making investment decisions. When we make comparisons of results between current and prior periods, we do not intend to express any future trends, or indications of future performance, unless expressed as such, and you should view such comparisons as historical data. Whether or not any such forward-looking statement is in fact achieved will depend on future events, some of which are beyond our control.

Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other important factors, many of which are beyond our control, that could cause our actual results and strategic actions to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. For a detailed discussion of many of these and other risks and uncertainties, see "Part I, Item 1A., Risk Factors" and "Part II, Item 7., Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on February 26, 2026 and our other filings filed with the SEC and available on our website at investor.cars.com or via EDGAR at www.sec.gov.

You should evaluate all forward-looking statements made in this press release in the context of these risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based only on information currently available to us and speak only as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation, other than as may be required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking or cautionary statements to reflect changes in assumptions, the occurrence of events, unanticipated or otherwise, or changes in future operating results over time or otherwise. The forward-looking statements in this report are intended to be subject to the safe harbor protection provided by the federal securities laws.

Cars.com Inc. Investor Relations Contact:
Katherine Chen
kchen@cars.com

Cars.com Inc. Media Contact:
Christine Spinelli
pr@cars.com

SOURCE Cars.com Inc.