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Are Investors Undervaluing Cars.com (CARS) Right Now?

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Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore strong picks.

Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. Value investors rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.

Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today.

Cars.com (CARS - Free Report) is a stock many investors are watching right now. CARS is currently sporting a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is CARS's P/B ratio of 1.76. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This company's current P/B looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/B of 5.08. CARS's P/B has been as high as 2.64 and as low as 1.30, with a median of 1.74, over the past year.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is calculated as price divided by sales. This is a popular metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement, so they are often considered a better performance indicator. CARS has a P/S ratio of 0.96. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.22.

Finally, our model also underscores that CARS has a P/CF ratio of 5.80. This figure highlights a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find firms that are undervalued when considering their impressive cash outlook. This company's current P/CF looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 15.10. Within the past 12 months, CARS's P/CF has been as high as 9.20 and as low as 4.20, with a median of 5.76.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in Cars.com's great Value grade. Still, they help show that the stock is likely being undervalued at the moment. Add this to the strength of its earnings outlook, and we can clearly see that CARS is an impressive value stock right now.


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