Cars.com (CARS) Stock Forecast & Price Target

Cars.com Inc. has demonstrated a positive financial trajectory with a 5% year-over-year increase in OEM and National revenues, indicating strengthening demand in its core segments. The company's Accu-Trade platform has shown remarkable growth, with a 44.8% increase in appraisals year-over-year, reaching 925,000, and a sequential growth of 13.6%, highlighting its expanding influence in the automotive appraisal market. Additionally, the continuous monthly growth in total marketplace customers since January further underscores the company's robust performance, with the marketplace being the primary driver for dealer count improvements in the recent quarter.

Cars.com Inc. has reported a significant decline in net cash provided by operating activities, dropping to $26.2 million from $35.3 million, while free cash flow decreased by 37% to $18.2 million. The company's revenue for Q2/25 remained flat year-over-year at $178.7 million, largely due to sluggish growth in marketplace and media segments, attributed to customer hesitancy in committing discretionary advertising expenditures. Additionally, the anticipated increase in earnout payments related to their D2C media acquisition further contributed to the deterioration in cash flow and free cash metrics, raising concerns about the company's financial stability going forward.