# Cars.com Inc. (CARS)

Informational only - not investment advice.

CIK: 0001683606
SIC: 7374 Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation
SIC breadcrumb: [Services](/division/I/) > [Business Services](/major-group/73/) > [SIC 7374 Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation](/industry/7374/)
Latest 10-K filed: 2026-02-26
SEC page: https://www.sec.gov/edgar/browse/?CIK=1683606
Filing source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1683606/000119312526076546/cars-20251231.htm

## At a glance

FY2025 · period end 2025-12-31 · filed 2026-02-26 · accession 0001193125-26-076546 · source: https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0001683606.json

| Metric | Value | FY | Provenance |
| --- | ---: | ---: | --- |
| Revenue | 723,239,000 USD | 2025 | verified |
| Net income | 20,052,000 USD | 2025 | verified |
| Assets | 1,062,418,000 USD | 2025 | verified |
| Free cash flow | 147,353,000 USD | 2025 | computed |
| Net margin | 2.77% | 2025 | computed |
| Operating margin | 8.33% | 2025 | computed |
| Revenue YoY | +0.57% | 2025 | computed |
| ROE | 4.24% | 2025 | computed |

Computed values are grepcent-computed from the verified facts above and may differ from ratios the company itself reports. Free cash flow = operating cash flow − capital expenditures. Net margin = net income ÷ revenue. Operating margin = operating income ÷ revenue. Revenue YoY = FY2025 revenue ÷ FY2024 revenue − 1 (consecutive fiscal years only). ROE = net income ÷ period-end stockholders' equity.

No market price, no rating, no forecast on this site. Not investment advice.

### Peer percentile fingerprint

| Ratio | CARS | Peer median | Percentile | N |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| Net margin | 2.8% | 5.8% | 36 | 29 |
| Operating margin | 8.3% | 7.7% | 56 | 28 |
| Revenue growth | 0.6% | 10.0% | 7 | 30 |
| FCF margin | 20.4% | 17.5% | 64 | 29 |
| ROE | 4.2% | 14.1% | 23 | 27 |
| ROA | 1.9% | 5.0% | 28 | 30 |
| Liabilities / equity | 1.25 | 1.28 | 46 | 27 |
| Current ratio | 1.87 | 1.64 | 55 | 30 |

Percentile = share of the N covered peers reporting that ratio whose value is lower (ties counted half); computed among grepcent-covered companies in SIC industry 7374 Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation, not the whole market. A higher percentile means a higher value of the ratio, not a better company. Ratios with fewer than 8 reporting peers are omitted. Latest reported values per company; fiscal periods may differ. Descriptive arithmetic - not a score, rating, or ranking.

## Selected Fundamentals
| Metric | Value | Unit | FY | Filed |
| --- | ---: | --- | ---: | --- |
| Revenue | 723239000 | USD | 2025 | 2026-02-26 |
| Net income | 20052000 | USD | 2025 | 2026-02-26 |
| Assets | 1062418000 | USD | 2025 | 2026-02-26 |

## Financials

Annual standardized facts from SEC companyfacts as of latest extracted filing date 2026-02-26. Source: https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0001683606.json. Derived margins, ratios, and free cash flow are computed from the extracted annual SEC facts.

| Metric | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| Revenue | 633,106,000 | 626,262,000 | 662,127,000 | 606,682,000 | 547,503,000 | 623,683,000 | 653,876,000 | 689,183,000 | 719,152,000 | 723,239,000 |
| Net income | 176,370,000 | 224,443,000 | 38,809,000 | -445,324,000 | -789,106,000 | 10,791,000 | 17,206,000 | 118,442,000 | 48,188,000 | 20,052,000 |
| Operating income | 176,650,000 | 134,256,000 | 83,924,000 | -446,060,000 | -887,327,000 | 48,338,000 | 66,036,000 | 54,116,000 | 53,498,000 | 60,250,000 |
| Diluted EPS | 2.46 | 3.13 | 0.55 | -6.65 | -11.74 | 0.15 | 0.25 | 1.74 | 0.72 | 0.32 |
| Operating cash flow | 199,153,000 | 185,929,000 | 163,548,000 | 101,484,000 | 138,616,000 | 138,003,000 | 128,511,000 | 136,720,000 | 152,524,000 | 151,639,000 |
| Capital expenditures | 9,701,000 | 32,774,000 | 14,233,000 | 21,257,000 | 16,712,000 | 1,451,000 | 1,828,000 | 1,280,000 | 3,000,000 | 4,286,000 |
| Share buybacks |  | 0.00 | 97,190,000 | 40,000,000 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 48,982,000 | 31,293,000 | 49,179,000 | 86,907,000 |
| Assets | 2,547,266,000 | 2,511,039,000 | 2,600,549,000 | 2,027,991,000 | 1,075,712,000 | 1,007,205,000 | 1,024,870,000 | 1,172,449,000 | 1,111,865,000 | 1,062,418,000 |
| Liabilities | 129,981,000 | 831,911,000 | 973,626,000 | 886,923,000 | 735,536,000 | 609,185,000 | 640,440,000 | 680,341,000 | 600,380,000 | 589,888,000 |
| Stockholders' equity | 2,417,285,000 | 1,679,128,000 | 1,626,923,000 | 1,141,068,000 | 368,190,000 | 398,020,000 | 384,430,000 | 492,108,000 | 511,485,000 | 472,530,000 |
| Cash and cash equivalents | 8,896,000 | 20,563,000 | 25,463,000 | 13,549,000 | 67,719,000 | 39,069,000 | 31,715,000 | 39,198,000 | 50,673,000 | 56,236,000 |
| Free cash flow | 189,452,000 | 153,155,000 | 149,315,000 | 80,227,000 | 121,904,000 | 136,552,000 | 126,683,000 | 135,440,000 | 149,524,000 | 147,353,000 |

### Ratios

ROE and ROA use period-end equity/assets. Liabilities / equity uses total liabilities divided by stockholders' equity. Current ratio uses current assets divided by current liabilities when both are reported.

| Metric | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| Net margin | 27.86% | 35.84% | 5.86% | -73.40% | -144.13% | 1.73% | 2.63% | 17.19% | 6.70% | 2.77% |
| Operating margin | 27.90% | 21.44% | 12.67% | -73.52% |  | 7.75% | 10.10% | 7.85% | 7.44% | 8.33% |
| Return on equity | 7.30% | 13.37% | 2.39% | -39.03% | -214.32% | 2.71% | 4.48% | 24.07% | 9.42% | 4.24% |
| Return on assets | 6.92% | 8.94% | 1.49% | -21.96% | -73.36% | 1.07% | 1.68% | 10.10% | 4.33% | 1.89% |
| Liabilities / equity | 0.05 | 0.50 | 0.60 | 0.78 | 2.00 | 1.53 | 1.67 | 1.38 | 1.17 | 1.25 |
| Current ratio | 1.66 | 1.58 | 1.39 | 1.24 | 1.97 | 1.56 | 1.40 | 1.22 | 1.83 | 1.87 |

## As-reported value updates

7 tracked differences above grepcent's stated thresholds were found between the earliest XBRL-filed value and the value currently on file for the same fiscal period.

Ledger: /company/CARS/revisions/


## Quarterly

Quarterly standardized facts from SEC companyfacts as of latest extracted filing date 2026-08-06. Source: https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0001683606.json.

Flow metrics use discrete quarter-length periods from 10-Q/10-Q/A filings. Q4 revenue and net income are derived only when annual FY and nine-month YTD facts exist for the same fiscal year; derived Q4 values are labeled. EPS Q4 is not derived.

| Quarter | End date | Revenue | Net income | Diluted EPS | Method |
| --- | --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | --- |
| 2022-Q3 | 2022-09-30 |  |  | -0.04 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2023-Q1 | 2023-03-31 |  |  | 0.17 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2023-Q2 | 2023-06-30 |  |  | 1.37 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2023-Q3 | 2023-06-30 |  | 94,126,000 |  | reported discrete quarter |
| 2023-Q3 | 2023-09-30 | 174,333,000 |  | 0.07 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2023-Q4 | 2023-12-31 | 179,606,000 | 8,346,000 |  | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD |
| 2024-Q1 | 2024-03-31 | 180,176,000 | 784,000 | 0.01 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2024-Q2 | 2024-03-31 |  | 784,000 |  | reported discrete quarter |
| 2024-Q2 | 2024-06-30 | 178,894,000 |  | 0.17 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2024-Q3 | 2024-06-30 |  | 11,381,000 |  | reported discrete quarter |
| 2024-Q3 | 2024-09-30 | 179,651,000 |  | 0.28 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2024-Q4 | 2024-12-31 | 180,431,000 | 17,304,000 |  | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD |
| 2025-Q1 | 2025-03-31 | 179,024,000 | -2,013,000 | -0.03 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2025-Q2 | 2025-03-31 |  | -2,013,000 |  | reported discrete quarter |
| 2025-Q2 | 2025-06-30 | 178,739,000 |  | 0.11 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2025-Q3 | 2025-06-30 |  | 7,009,000 |  | reported discrete quarter |
| 2025-Q3 | 2025-09-30 | 181,573,000 |  | 0.12 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2025-Q4 | 2025-12-31 | 183,903,000 | 7,398,000 |  | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD |
| 2026-Q1 | 2026-03-31 | 180,223,000 | 4,978,000 | 0.08 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2026-Q2 | 2026-03-31 |  | 4,978,000 |  | reported discrete quarter |
| 2026-Q2 | 2026-06-30 | 179,934,000 |  | 0.25 | reported discrete quarter |

## Filed narrative (10-K & 10-Q)

## Business

Verbatim Item 1 Business section from CARS's latest 10-K: [/company/CARS/business/](/company/CARS/business/).

## Risk Factors

Verbatim Item 1A Risk Factors from CARS's latest 10-K: [/company/CARS/risk-factors/](/company/CARS/risk-factors/).

## Latest quarter (10-Q)

Latest 10-Q source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1683606/000119312526337949/cars-20260630.htm

Extracted structurally from real Item 2 body heading to real Item 3/4 boundary.
Confidence: high
Filing date: 2026-08-06
Report date: 2026-06-30

Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion and analysis of our business, financial condition, results of operations and quantitative and qualitative disclosures should be read in conjunction with our unaudited interim consolidated financial statements ("Consolidated Financial Statements") and related notes included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. This discussion and analysis also contains forward-looking statements and should be read in conjunction with the disclosures and information contained in "Note About Forward-Looking Statements" in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. The financial information discussed below and included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q may not necessarily reflect what our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows may be in the future.

References in this discussion and analysis to "we," "us," "our" and similar terms refer to Cars.com Inc. and its subsidiaries, collectively, unless the context indicates otherwise.

Business Overview. Cars.com Inc. is a trusted audience-powered and data-driven technology platform that simplifies buying and selling cars. The flagship Cars.com marketplace connects millions of consumers to dealerships across the U.S., powering the car buying experience with artificial intelligence shopping tools and comprehensive vehicle reviews and content. Our interconnected ecosystem of products enables dealers and OEMs to sell more cars by efficiently leveraging our marketplace, dealer websites, trade and appraisal tools and proprietary in-market media solutions.

Overview of Results

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","Three Months Ended June 30,","","","Six Months Ended June 30,"],["(in thousands)","2026","","","2025","","","2026","","","2025"],["Revenue","$","179,934","","","$","178,739","","","$","360,157","","","$","357,763"],["Net income (1)","","14,263","","","","7,009","","","","19,241","","","","4,996"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

(1)
During the three months ended March 31, 2026, we recorded $8.5 million of expense associated with a plan to reduce our operating expenses and realign our resources via an 11% reduction in workforce. These costs are comprised of one-time termination benefits, substantially all of which is related to employee severance and substantially all of which was paid during the three months ended June 30, 2026.

Key Operating Metrics

We regularly review a number of key metrics to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate financial projections and make operating and strategic decisions. Key Operating Metrics are as follows (Traffic and Average Monthly Unique Visitors in thousands):

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","Three Months Ended June 30,","","","","","","Six Months Ended June 30,"],["","2026","","","2025","","","% Change","","","2026","","","2025","","","% Change"],["Traffic","","142,990","","","","162,036","","","","(12",")%","","","302,552","","","","332,123","","","","(9",")%"],["Average Monthly Unique Visitors","","22,807","","","","26,649","","","","(14",")%","","","24,300","","","","27,848","","","","(13",")%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","June 30, 2026","","","June 30, 2025","","","% Change","","","March 31, 2026","","","% Change"],["Dealer Customers","","19,343","","","","19,412","","","","(0",")%","","","19,390","","","","(0",")%"],["Monthly Average Revenue Per Dealer","$","2,500","","","$","2,435","","","","3","%","","$","2,473","","","","1","%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

Average Monthly Unique Visitors ("UVs") and Traffic. UVs and Traffic are fundamental to our business. They are indicative of our consumer reach and the level of engagement consumers have with our platform. Although our consumer engagement does not directly result in revenue, we believe our ability to reach in-market car shoppers is attractive to our dealers, OEMs and national customers and a primary reason they do business with us. We believe we have achieved audience scale as measured by UVs and Traffic. Traffic is driven by a combination of UVs visiting our properties, repeat visitation and engagement. We monetize impressions, clicks and other connections that result from traffic to our site via our products and services.

We define UVs in a given month as the number of distinct visitors that engage with our 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 our mobile apps on an individual device. If a visitor accesses more than one of our 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

16

visits to Cars.com desktop and mobile properties (responsive sites and mobile apps). We measure UVs and Traffic via RudderStack. These metrics do not include traffic to Dealer Inspire, D2C Media or DealerClub websites.

UVs decreased 14% and 13% for the three and six months ended June 30, 2026, respectively, and Traffic decreased 12% and 9% for the three and six months ended June 30, 2026, respectively, which primarily reflects intentional marketing shifts towards effectively capturing high-intent consumer demand.

Dealer Customers. Dealer Customers represent dealerships using our 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.

For the three months ended June 30, 2026, Dealer Customers remained flat compared to each of the three months ended June 30, 2025 and March 31, 2026, as an increase in marketplace customers was offset by a decrease in digital solutions customers.

Monthly Average Revenue Per Dealer ("ARPD"). We believe that our ability to grow ARPD is an indicator of the value proposition of our platform. We define 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.

For the three months ended June 30, 2026, ARPD increased 3% compared to the three months ended June 30, 2025, primarily reflecting the adoption of new marketplace packages and ongoing improvements in value delivery, partially offset by declines in dealer media.

For the three months ended June 30, 2026, ARPD increased 1% compared to the three months ended March 31, 2026, primarily reflecting the continued benefits of adoption of new marketplace packages and ongoing improvements in value delivery.

Factors Affecting Our Performance. Our business is impacted by changes in the larger automotive ecosystem, including supply and demand for new and used vehicle inventory, geopolitical incidents, global supply chain and information systems disruptions, semiconductor and raw material shortages, vehicle acquisition cost, vehicle retail prices, the rate of electric vehicle adoption, employee retention and changes related to automotive advertising, among other macroeconomic factors including the political environment, inflationary and affordability pressures, tariffs and prevailing interest rates. Changes in vehicle sales volumes in the United States and Canada also influence OEMs’ and dealerships’ willingness to increase investments in marketing spend and technology solutions and could impact our pricing strategies and/or revenue mix.

Our long-term success depends in part on our ability to attract and engage an in-market audience, to grow inventory supply and our dealer customers, to expand our relationship with dealers through greater adoption of our product offering, to transform our OEM relationships and to create operating leverage. We believe our core strategic strengths, including our Cars.com brand, our growing high-quality audience and suite of digital solutions for dealers and OEMs, including AI-based tools, position us to navigate a rapidly changing automotive environment.

17

Results of Operations

Three Months Ended June 30, 2026 Compared to Three Months Ended June 30, 2025

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","Three Months Ended June 30,"],["(In thousands, except percentages)","2026","","","2025","","","$ Change","","","% Change"],["Revenue:"],["Dealer","$","163,348","","","$","158,477","","","$","4,871","","","","3","%"],["OEM and National","","13,641","","","","16,637","","","","(2,996",")","","","(18",")%"],["Other","","2,945","","","","3,625","","","","(680",")","","","(19",")%"],["Total revenue","","179,934","","","","178,739","","","","1,195","","","","1","%"],["Operating expenses:"],["Cost of revenue and operations","","30,285","","","","30,605","","","","(320",")","","","(1",")%"],["Product and technology","","26,687","","","","29,417","","","","(2,730",")","","","(9",")%"],["Marketing and sales","","60,737","","","","58,067","","","","2,670","","","","5","%"],["General and administrative","","17,006","","","","20,531","","","","(3,525",")","","","(17",")%"],["Depreciation and amortization","","17,343","","","","24,873","","","","(7,530",")","","","(30",")%"],["Total operating expenses","","152,058","","","","163,493","","","","(11,435",")","","","(7",")%"],["Operating income","","27,876","","","","15,246","","","","12,630","","","","83","%"],["Nonoperating expense:"],["Interest expense, net","","(7,397",")","","","(7,644",")","","","247","","","","(3",")%"],["Other (expense) income, net","","(953",")","","","2,366","","","","(3,319",")","","***%"],["Total nonoperating expense, net","","(8,350",")","","","(5,278",")","","","(3,072",")","","","58","%"],["Income before income taxes","","19,526","","","","9,968","","","","9,558","","","","96","%"],["Income tax expense","","5,263","","","","2,959","","","","2,304","","","","78","%"],["Net income","$","14,263","","","$","7,009","","","$","7,254","","","***%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

*** Not meaningful

Dealer revenue. Dealer revenue is typically subscription-oriented and consists of marketplace, digital experience, including website solutions, trade and appraisal and media products sold to dealer customers. Dealer revenue is our largest revenue stream, representing 91% and 89% of total revenue for the three months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025, respectively. Dealer revenue increased $4.9 million or 3%, primarily due to growth in marketplace customers, partially offset by a decline in our media products.

OEM and National revenue. OEM and National revenue largely consists of media solutions products, including display advertising and other solutions to OEMs, advertising agencies, automotive dealer associations and auto adjacent businesses, including insurance companies. OEM and National revenue represented 7% and 9% of total revenue for the three months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025, respectively. OEM and National revenue decreased $3.0 million or 18%, primarily due to shifts in spending by OEM partners.

Other revenue. Other revenue primarily consists of revenue related to vehicle listing data sold to third parties. Other revenue represented 2% of total revenue for each of the three months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025. Other revenue decreased $0.7 million or 19%.

Cost of revenue and operations. Cost of revenue and operations expense primarily consists of costs related to processing dealer vehicle inventory, product fulfillment and compensation and severance costs for the product fulfillment and customer service teams. Cost of revenue and operations expense represented 17% of total revenue for each of the three months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025. Cost of revenue and operations decreased $0.3 million or 1%, primarily due to lower compensation, partially offset by higher third

[Excerpt truncated for page length; source filing is linked above.]

## Latest 10-K MD&A (excerpt)

Latest 10-K Item 7 source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1683606/000119312526076546/cars-20251231.htm
Complete FY 2025 MD&A: /company/CARS/mda/fy2025/

Extracted structurally from real Item 7 body heading to real Item 7A/8 boundary.
Confidence: high
Filing date: 2026-02-26
Report date: 2025-12-31

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion and analysis of our business, financial condition, results of operations and quantitative and qualitative disclosures should be read in conjunction with our Consolidated Financial Statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. This discussion and analysis also contains forward-looking statements and should be read in conjunction with the disclosures and information contained in "Note About Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors" in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The financial information discussed below and included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K may not necessarily reflect what our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows may be in the future.

References in this discussion and analysis to "we," "us," "our" and similar terms refer to Cars.com Inc. and its subsidiaries, collectively, unless the context indicates otherwise.

Business Overview. Cars.com Inc. is a trusted audience-powered and data-driven technology platform that simplifies buying and selling cars. The flagship Cars.com marketplace connects millions of consumers to dealerships across the U.S., powering the car buying experience with artificial intelligence ("AI") shopping tools and comprehensive vehicle reviews and content. Our interconnected ecosystem of products enables dealers and OEMs to sell more cars by efficiently leveraging our marketplace, dealer websites, trade and appraisal tools and proprietary in-market media solutions.

Overview of Results

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","","Year Ended December 31,"],["(In thousands)","","2025","","","2024","","","2023"],["Revenue","","$","723,239","","","$","719,152","","","$","689,183"],["Net income (1)","","","20,052","","","","48,188","","","","118,442"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

(1)
Net income for the year ended December 31, 2023 is primarily related to the release of a significant portion of our valuation allowance for deferred tax assets that had been recorded as a result of the 2020 goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible asset impairments. For more information, see Note 12 (Income Taxes) to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8. "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data" of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Key Operating Metrics

We regularly review a number of key metrics to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate financial projections and make operating and strategic decisions. Key Operating Metrics are as follows (Traffic and Average Monthly Unique Visitors in thousands):

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","Year Ended December 31,"],["","2025","","","2024","","","% Change"],["Average Monthly Unique Visitors","","25,708","","","","25,517","","","","1","%"],["Traffic","","627,141","","","","627,556","","","","(0",")%"],["Monthly Average Revenue Per Dealer - Annual","$","2,460","","","$","2,483","","","","(1",")%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","December 31, 2025","","","December 31, 2024","","","YoY % Change","","","September 30, 2025","","","QoQ % Change"],["Dealer Customers","","19,544","","","","19,206","","","","2","%","","","19,526","","","","0","%"],["Monthly Average Revenue Per Dealer - Quarterly","$","2,472","","","$","2,475","","","","(0",")%","","$","2,460","","","","0","%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

Average Monthly Unique Visitors ("UVs") and Traffic. UVs and Traffic are fundamental to our business. They are indicative of our consumer reach and the level of engagement consumers have with our platform. Although our consumer engagement does not directly result in revenue, we believe our ability to reach in-market car shoppers is attractive to our dealers, OEMs and national customers and a primary reason they do business with us. We believe we have achieved audience scale as measured by UVs and Traffic. Traffic is driven by a combination of UVs visiting our properties, repeat visitation and engagement. We monetize impressions, clicks and other connections that result from traffic to our site via our products and services.

We define UVs in a given month as the number of distinct visitors that engage with our 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 our mobile apps on an individual device. If a visitor accesses more than one of our 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

23

visits to Cars.com desktop and mobile properties (responsive sites and mobile apps). We measure UVs and Traffic via RudderStack. These metrics do not include traffic to Dealer Inspire, D2C Media or DealerClub websites.

UVs increased 1% year-over-year and Traffic remained flat year-over-year for the year ended December 31, 2025, reflecting the impacts of tariff-motivated consumer demand at the beginning of the year and tactical improvements in the marketing mix throughout the year, partially offset by depressed consumer demand due to the federal government shutdown at the end of the year.

Dealer Customers. Dealer Customers represent dealerships using our 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.

Dealer Customers increased 2% from December 31, 2024, primarily due to an increase in marketplace customers. Dealer Customers remained flat from September 30, 2025.

Monthly Average Revenue Per Dealer ("ARPD"). We believe that our ability to grow ARPD is an indicator of the value proposition of our platform. We define 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.

For the annual period of 2025, ARPD decreased 1% compared to the annual period 2024, primarily due to changes in our customer and product mix.

For the three months ended December 31, 2025, ARPD remained flat compared to the three months ended December 31, 2024, primarily due to marketplace repackaging, offset by changes in our customer and product mix.

For the three months ended December 31, 2025, ARPD remained flat compared to the three months ended September 30, 2025, primarily due to changes in our customer and product mix.

Factors Affecting Our Performance. Our business is impacted by changes in the larger automotive ecosystem, including supply and demand for new and used vehicle inventory, global supply chain and information systems disruptions, semiconductor and raw material shortages, vehicle acquisition cost, vehicle retail prices, the rate of electric vehicle adoption, employee retention and changes related to automotive advertising, among other macroeconomic factors including the political environment, inflationary and affordability pressures, tariffs and prevailing interest rates. Changes in vehicle sales volumes in the United States and Canada also influence OEMs’ and dealerships’ willingness to increase investments in marketing spend and technology solutions and could impact our pricing strategies and/or revenue mix.

Our long-term success will depend in part on our ability to attract and engage an in-market audience, to grow inventory supply and our dealer customers, to expand our relationship with dealers through greater adoption of our product offering, to transform our OEM relationships and to create operating leverage. We believe our core strategic strengths, including our Cars.com brand, growing high-quality audience and suite of digital solutions for dealers and OEMs, including AI-based tools, will assist us as we navigate a rapidly changing automotive environment.

24

Results of Operations

Year Ended December 31, 2025 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2024

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["(In thousands, except percentages)","2025","","","2024","","","$ Change","","","% Change"],["Revenue:"],["Dealer","$","644,053","","","$","640,722","","","$","3,331","","","","1","%"],["OEM and National","","65,305","","","","65,894","","","","(589",")","","","(1",")%"],["Other","","13,881","","","","12,536","","","","1,345","","","","11","%"],["Total revenue","","723,239","","","","719,152","","","","4,087","","","","1","%"],["Operating expenses:"],["Cost of revenue and operations","","123,328","","","","124,332","","","","(1,004",")","","","(1",")%"],["Product and technology","","117,330","","","","117,875","","","","(545",")","","","(0",")%"],["Marketing and sales","","239,365","","","","232,280","","","","7,085","","","","3","%"],["General and administrative","","91,124","","","","83,985","","","","7,139","","","","9","%"],["Depreciation and amortization","","91,842","","","","107,182","","","","(15,340",")","","","(14",")%"],["Total operating expenses","","662,989","","","","665,654","","","","(2,665",")","","","(0",")%"],["Operating income","","60,250","","","","53,498","","","","6,752","","","","13","%"],["Nonoperating expense:"],["Interest expense, net","","(30,382",")","","","(32,197",")","","","1,815","","","","(6",")%"],["Other income, net","","4,438","","","","40,562","","","","(36,124",")","","","(89",")%"],["Total nonoperating (expense) income, net","","(25,944",")","","","8,365","","","","(34,309",")","","***"],["Income before income taxes","","34,306","","","","61,863","","","","(27,557",")","","","(45",")%"],["Income tax expense","","14,254","","","","13,675","","","","579","","","","4","%"],["Net income","$","20,052","","","$","48,188","","","$","(28,136",")","","","(58",")%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

*** Not meaningful

Dealer revenue. Dealer revenue is typically subscription-oriented and consists of marketplace, digital experience, including website solutions, trade and appraisal and media products sold to dealer customers. Dealer revenue is our largest revenue stream, representing 89% of total revenue for both the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024. Dealer revenue increased $3.3 million or 1%, primarily due to continued growth in solutions, partially offset by declines in marketplace and media, as a result of lower average dealer count during the first half of 2025 and changes in our customer mix.

OEM and National revenue. OEM and National revenue largely consists of media solutions products, including display advertising and other solutions sold to OEMs, advertising agencies, automotive dealer associations and auto adjacent businesses, including insurance companies. OEM and National revenue represented 9% of total revenue for both the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024. OEM and National revenue decreased $0.6 million or 1%, which we believe is primarily due to shifts in spending by OEM partners.

Other revenue. Other revenue primarily consists of revenue related to vehicle listing data sold to third parties. Other revenue represented 2% of total revenue for both the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024. Other revenue increased $1.3 million or 11%.

Cost of revenue and operations. Cost of revenue and operations expense primarily consists of costs related to processing dealer vehicle inventory, product fulfillment and compensation and severance costs for the product fulfillment and customer service teams. Cost of revenue and operations expense represented 17% of total revenue for both the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024. Cost of revenue and operations decreased $1.0 million or 1%, primarily due to lower compensation expense, partially offset by higher third-party costs associated with certain p

[Excerpt truncated for page length; the complete text is on the linked full-MD&A page.]

Read the full FY 2025 MD&A: /company/CARS/mda/fy2025/
All MD&A years: /company/CARS/mda/


## MD&A history

Prior-year 10-K MD&A spans are extracted from SEC filings with the same bounded parser used for the latest filing. Each year's full verbatim text is on its own sub-page.

- FY 2024: filed 2025-02-27; accession 0000950170-25-029023 (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1683606/000095017025029023/cars-20241231.htm); MD&A text quarantined because Item 7 boundaries were low-confidence; no filing narrative is published for this year.
- FY 2023: filed 2024-02-22; accession 0000950170-24-018824 (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1683606/000095017024018824/cars-20231231.htm); MD&A text quarantined because Item 7 boundaries were low-confidence; no filing narrative is published for this year.
- FY 2022: filed 2023-02-23; accession 0000950170-23-004093 (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1683606/000095017023004093/cars-20221231.htm); MD&A text quarantined because Item 7 boundaries were low-confidence; no filing narrative is published for this year.
- FY 2021: filed 2022-02-25; accession 0000950170-22-002101 (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1683606/000095017022002101/cars-20211231.htm); MD&A text quarantined because Item 7 boundaries were low-confidence; no filing narrative is published for this year.




## Macro cross-references

Indicators mapped to this company's SIC classification (industry 7374 Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation) by grepcent's deterministic macro-sector crosswalk. A navigational mapping, not a statistical or causal claim.

- [PAYEMS](/indicator/PAYEMS/): All Employees, Total Nonfarm
- [CES0500000003](/indicator/CES0500000003/): Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees, Total Private
- [DGS10](/indicator/DGS10/): Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 10-Year Constant Maturity

Macro-to-micro threads including this sector: [US labor market](/thread/us-labor-market/), [Growth & output](/thread/growth-output/), [Government finances](/thread/government-finances/), [Sector employment](/thread/sector-employment/).

All macro indicators: /indicators/


## For LLMs & downloads

Markdown twin: /company/CARS.md · JSON record: /company/CARS.json · verified financials: /company/CARS/financials.json / /company/CARS/financials.csv · machine TOC for the whole site: /llms.txt