On this page of StockholderLetter.com we present the latest annual shareholder letter from Cars.com Inc. — ticker symbol CARS. Reading current and past CARS letters to shareholders can bring important insights into the investment thesis.
2024 ANNUAL REPORT
2024 AT A GLANCE .H\ )LQDQFLDO 0HDVXUHV Revenue $719MM +4% YoY Revenue grew year-over-year each quarter, yielding record annual revenue Adjusted EBITDA1 $210MM 29% Adjusted EBITDA margin 1HW &DVK 3URYLGHG E\ 2SHUDWLQJ $FWLYLWLHV $153MM Robust cash generation enabled Cars Commerce to make growth investments and repurchase 2.8MM shares while also reducing leverage .H\ 2SHUDWLQJ 0HWULFV Average Monthly Unique Visitors Cars.com consistently generates a high-quality, in-market audience 7UDIILF 25.5MM 627.6MM Cars.com s strong brand enable_ it to generate 61% of traffic through +2% YoY organic channels 'HDOHU &XVWRPHUV 19,206 $53' B[op Bljj`o^` mh[qaloj [k_ plhrqelkp molse_`_ ol]rpq s[hr` alo ^rpqlj`op 1 A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to the relevant GAAP measures can be found in the Q4 202 Earnings Presentation available at www.investor.cars.com $2,483
To Our Fellow Shareholders, 2024 marked a year of solid commercial and nancial progress for Cars Commerce. Our relentless focus on simplifying car buying and selling drove both revenue and pro tability growth as we continued to lead the digital transformation of the retail experience and dealership operations in a rapidly evolving automotive landscape. Over 19,000 dealerships in the US and Canada relied on our uni ed platform for advanced enterprise software and subscription solutions across marketing, advertising, digital experience, appraisal, and now wholesale capabilities. For consumers, we remained the #1 most recognized automotive marketplace, a testament to the enduring 25-year-plus strength of Cars.com and our unparalleled brand equity for millions of car shoppers and enthusiasts alike. Based on this performance, we extended our track record to seventeen consecutive quarters of year-overyear top-line growth through the end of 2024, displaying both consistent execution and industry leadership. When combined with our asset-light and free cash ow generative operating model, our growth supported investments that furthered our innovation roadmap while also enabling us to efficiently return nearly $50 million to shareholders in the form of share repurchases. Looking ahead, we see compelling opportunities to accelerate growth through our unique combination of software-led B2B enablement coupled with our leading B2C automotive marketplace, in service of creating sustainable long-term value for all stakeholders. $719MM 19,200+ 628MM 2024 Revenue Dealer Customers2 Visits in 2024 Year in Review Our technology sits at a critical intersection between dealers, consumers, and OEMs, fueling digital connectivity that is foundational to the future growth of the $800 billion1 US and Canadian automotive market. While shifting market conditions throughout the year required us to execute with exibility and agility, we nonetheless produced our best year yet of revenue as well as strong operating leverage. Full year 2024 revenue of $719 million was up 4.3% year-over-year and set a new record. Double digit growth in higher margin OEM and National business was particularly robust, demonstrating automakers strong affinity for our marketplace and our ability to outperform in a normalizing vehicle inventory environment. Our Dealer business, representing approximately 90% of total revenue, also grew a healthy 3.1% year-over-year from improved product adoption across the breadth of our marketplace and media, websites, and appraisal portfolio. Average monthly revenue per dealer of $2,483 re ected resilient value delivery even as our customers lower per-vehicle pro tability temporarily constrained their budgets and our customer count growth for the year. We took swift action to address this near-term volume softness, delivering evergreen
sales and marketing efficiencies that boosted Adjusted EBITDA to $210 million, representing Adjusted EBITDA margin of 29.2%, or a 90 basis point improvement versus a year ago. Resulting free cash ow of $128 million reached its highest level since 2018, further underscoring our disciplined execution and the nancial durability of our business. We operate with a long-term perspective, positioning ourselves to capitalize on secular growth trends driving automotive digitization. Relentless innovation is a hallmark of our product and engineering teams, who develop, test, and launch best-in-class solutions that increasingly embed us into dealership operations as an essential and trusted technology and data partner. Important product highlights in the past year include: VIN Performance Media, our omnichannel VIN-based solution that improves advertising ROI by amplifying visibility of aged vehicle inventory to increase turn rates, has grown its customer base by more than 4x since launching in early 2024. D2C became the #1 franchise dealer website provider in Canada during Q3, surpassing the competition with superior technical infrastructure, enhanced website performance and an industry-leading service model. AccuTrade, our differentiated valuation and appraisal solution, is now deployed in over 1,000 dealerships, leveraging our real-time data insights and market intelligence to delight consumers, increase trade-in volume, and unlock incremental pro tability. AccuTrade won more than ten new OEM endorsements in 2024 and early 2025, solidifying a long runway for future subscription growth. These accomplishments re ect operational excellence and strong product-market t, giving us con dence in further wins in the year ahead. Accelerating Our Growth Strategy The acquisition of AccuTrade in 2022 began our multiyear journey to build a full suite of appraisal, valuation, and wholesale technology, which recently culminated with the addition of DealerClub to the Cars Commerce platform in January 2025. DealerClub s value is manifold: it opens a $10 billion dealer-to-dealer wholesale market opportunity, it is highly complementary to our internally developed AccuTrade Inventory Intelligence Platform (IIP), and it strategically enhances our value proposition in the critical used car market. We are a rst mover in fully integrating marketing, inventory management, and wholesale on a single platform, thereby maximizing pro tability for every car. Coupling AccuTrade IIP with DealerClub and Cars.com synthesizes AI- and ML-powered pricing and market insights to create customized vehicle acquisition and exit strategies spanning both retail and wholesale channels. Ultimately, we will empower dealers to manage the complete vehicle lifecycle within our single ecosystem, cutting complexity while driving improved customer outcomes.
Looking Ahead with Confidence We are proud of our accomplishments in 2024 and invigorated by the tremendous opportunities ahead in 2025. Returning our core scaled marketplace business to steady growth is a key priority, by adding functionalities like lead intelligence and AI-guided shopping, and then bringing these enhancements to market under newly appointed commercial leadership. Additionally, improving customer attach rates for multiple products will help us demonstrate platform synergies and drive further customer spending and retention. Continuing to build a fundamentally stronger business also means more capacity to pursue thoughtful capital allocation, such as through opportunistic share repurchases. Our goal, as always, is to lead a race to the top for our customers, focused on product differentiation and exceptional value delivery. The investments we have made to date have yielded multiple levers to drive consistent, pro table long-term growth, fortifying our ability to navigate and adapt to broad economic trends such as tariffs and supply chain shifts. The automotive industry s proven resilience through multiple decades and cycles gives us con dence that we and our partners will once again rise to meet any new challenges. We are especially grateful for the hard work of our employees, whose talent and tireless commitment to our mission is the ultimate basis for our success. On behalf of Cars Commerce, thank you for your support as we push the boundaries of the automotive industry and build a stronger company for the bene t of all stakeholders. T. Alex Vetter Chief Executive Officer 1 Scott E. Forbes Chairman of the Board Cars.com internal estimates; U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Motor vehicle output: Personal consumption expenditures, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/AB61RC1Q027SBEA); Statistics Canada, Table 20-10-0001-01 New motor vehicle sales (https://doi.org/10.25318/2010000101-eng) 2 As of December 31, 2024
 • shareholder letter icon 4/25/2025 Letter Continued (Full PDF)
 • stockholder letter icon 4/28/2023 CARS Stockholder Letter
 • stockholder letter icon 4/19/2024 CARS Stockholder Letter
 • stockholder letter icon More "Information Technology Services" Category Stockholder Letters
 • Benford's Law Stocks icon CARS Benford's Law Stock Score = 83


CARS Shareholder/Stockholder Letter Transcript:

2024 ANNUAL REPORT

2024 AT A GLANCE
.H\ )LQDQFLDO 0HDVXUHV
Revenue
$719MM
+4% YoY
Revenue grew year-over-year each quarter, yielding record annual revenue
Adjusted EBITDA1
$210MM
29%
Adjusted EBITDA margin
1HW &DVK 3URYLGHG E\ 2SHUDWLQJ $FWLYLWLHV
$153MM
Robust cash generation enabled Cars Commerce to make growth
investments and repurchase 2.8MM shares while also reducing leverage
.H\ 2SHUDWLQJ 0HWULFV
Average Monthly Unique Visitors
Cars.com consistently generates a high-quality, in-market audience
7UDIILF
25.5MM
627.6MM
Cars.com   s strong brand enable_ it to generate 61% of traffic through
+2% YoY
organic channels
'HDOHU &XVWRPHUV
19,206
$53'
B[op Bljj`o^` mh[qaloj [k_ plhrqelkp molse_`_ ol]rpq s[hr` alo ^rpqlj`op
1
A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to the relevant GAAP measures can be found in the Q4 202  Earnings
Presentation available at www.investor.cars.com
$2,483

To Our Fellow Shareholders,
2024 marked a year of solid commercial and    nancial progress for Cars Commerce. Our relentless
focus on simplifying car buying and selling drove both revenue and pro   tability growth as we
continued to lead the digital transformation of the retail experience and dealership operations in
a rapidly evolving automotive landscape.
Over 19,000 dealerships in the US and Canada relied on our uni   ed platform for advanced
enterprise software and subscription solutions across marketing, advertising, digital experience,
appraisal, and now wholesale capabilities. For consumers, we remained the #1 most recognized
automotive marketplace, a testament to the enduring 25-year-plus strength of Cars.com and
our unparalleled brand equity for millions of car shoppers and enthusiasts alike. Based on this
performance, we extended our track record to seventeen consecutive quarters of year-overyear top-line growth through the end of 2024, displaying both consistent execution and industry
leadership. When combined with our asset-light and free cash    ow generative operating model,
our growth supported investments that furthered our innovation roadmap while also enabling us
to efficiently return nearly $50 million to shareholders in the form of share repurchases.
Looking ahead, we see compelling opportunities to accelerate growth through our unique
combination of software-led B2B enablement coupled with our leading B2C automotive
marketplace, in service of creating sustainable long-term value for all stakeholders.
$719MM
19,200+
628MM
2024 Revenue
Dealer Customers2
Visits in 2024
Year in Review
Our technology sits at a critical intersection between dealers, consumers, and OEMs, fueling
digital connectivity that is foundational to the future growth of the $800 billion1 US and Canadian
automotive market. While shifting market conditions throughout the year required us to execute
with    exibility and agility, we nonetheless produced our best year yet of revenue as well as strong
operating leverage.
Full year 2024 revenue of $719 million was up 4.3% year-over-year and set a new record. Double
digit growth in higher margin OEM and National business was particularly robust, demonstrating
automakers    strong affinity for our marketplace and our ability to outperform in a normalizing
vehicle inventory environment. Our Dealer business, representing approximately 90% of total
revenue, also grew a healthy 3.1% year-over-year from improved product adoption across the
breadth of our marketplace and media, websites, and appraisal portfolio. Average monthly
revenue per dealer of $2,483 re   ected resilient value delivery even as our customers    lower
per-vehicle pro   tability temporarily constrained their budgets and our customer count growth
for the year. We took swift action to address this near-term volume softness, delivering evergreen

sales and marketing efficiencies that boosted Adjusted EBITDA to $210 million, representing
Adjusted EBITDA margin of 29.2%, or a 90 basis point improvement versus a year ago. Resulting
free cash    ow of $128 million reached its highest level since 2018, further underscoring our
disciplined execution and the    nancial durability of our business.
We operate with a long-term perspective, positioning ourselves to capitalize on secular growth
trends driving automotive digitization. Relentless innovation is a hallmark of our product and
engineering teams, who develop, test, and launch best-in-class solutions that increasingly embed
us into dealership operations as an essential and trusted technology and data partner. Important
product highlights in the past year include:
    VIN Performance Media, our omnichannel VIN-based solution that improves advertising ROI
by amplifying visibility of aged vehicle inventory to increase turn rates, has grown its customer
base by more than 4x since launching in early 2024.
    D2C became the #1 franchise dealer website provider in Canada during Q3, surpassing
the competition with superior technical infrastructure, enhanced website performance and
an industry-leading service model.
    AccuTrade, our differentiated valuation and appraisal solution, is now deployed in over
1,000 dealerships, leveraging our real-time data insights and market intelligence to delight
consumers, increase trade-in volume, and unlock incremental pro   tability. AccuTrade won
more than ten new OEM endorsements in 2024 and early 2025, solidifying a long runway
for future subscription growth.
These accomplishments re   ect operational excellence and strong product-market    t, giving
us con   dence in further wins in the year ahead.
Accelerating Our Growth Strategy
The acquisition of AccuTrade in 2022 began our multiyear journey to build a full suite of appraisal,
valuation, and wholesale technology, which recently culminated with the addition of DealerClub
to the Cars Commerce platform in January 2025. DealerClub   s value is manifold: it opens a $10
billion dealer-to-dealer wholesale market opportunity, it is highly complementary to our internally
developed AccuTrade Inventory Intelligence Platform (IIP), and it strategically enhances our value
proposition in the critical used car market.
We are a    rst mover in fully integrating marketing, inventory management, and wholesale on
a single platform, thereby maximizing pro   tability for every car. Coupling AccuTrade IIP with
DealerClub and Cars.com synthesizes AI- and ML-powered pricing and market insights to create
customized vehicle acquisition and exit strategies spanning both retail and wholesale channels.
Ultimately, we will empower dealers to manage the complete vehicle lifecycle within our single
ecosystem, cutting complexity while driving improved customer outcomes.

Looking Ahead with Confidence
We are proud of our accomplishments in 2024 and invigorated by the tremendous opportunities
ahead in 2025. Returning our core scaled marketplace business to steady growth is a key priority,
by adding functionalities like lead intelligence and AI-guided shopping, and then bringing these
enhancements to market under newly appointed commercial leadership. Additionally, improving
customer attach rates for multiple products will help us demonstrate platform synergies and drive
further customer spending and retention. Continuing to build a fundamentally stronger business
also means more capacity to pursue thoughtful capital allocation, such as through opportunistic
share repurchases.
Our goal, as always, is to lead a race to the top for our customers, focused on product
differentiation and exceptional value delivery. The investments we have made to date have
yielded multiple levers to drive consistent, pro   table long-term growth, fortifying our ability
to navigate and adapt to broad economic trends such as tariffs and supply chain shifts. The
automotive industry   s proven resilience through multiple decades and cycles gives us con   dence
that we and our partners will once again rise to meet any new challenges. We are especially
grateful for the hard work of our employees, whose talent and tireless commitment to our mission
is the ultimate basis for our success.
On behalf of Cars Commerce, thank you for your support as we push the boundaries of the
automotive industry and build a stronger company for the bene   t of all stakeholders.
T. Alex Vetter
Chief Executive Officer
1
Scott E. Forbes
Chairman of the Board
Cars.com internal estimates; U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Motor vehicle output: Personal consumption expenditures, Federal Reserve
Bank of St. Louis (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/AB61RC1Q027SBEA); Statistics Canada, Table 20-10-0001-01 New motor vehicle sales
(https://doi.org/10.25318/2010000101-eng)
2
As of December 31, 2024



shareholder letter icon 4/25/2025 Letter Continued (Full PDF)
 

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