CARS Cars.com Inc.
Last updated: Mar 16, 2026
Execution Consistency
Did the company actually spend money buying back stock in 3+ of the last 4 quarters?
Bought back stock in 4/4 quarters. Q3 2025: $21M, Q2 2025: $5M, Q1 2025: $9M, Q3 2024: $6M
Execution Acceleration
Is the most recent quarter's buyback spend more than 15% above the trailing average?
Latest quarter $21M vs trailing avg $7M (+212%)
Buyback vs FCF
What percentage of free cash flow is going to buybacks? Bull: 30-80%. Bear: <10% or >80%.
Buyback $42M / FCF $29M = 146% of FCF
Buyback Intensity
How fast are they shrinking the float? Bull: 2%+ annually. Bear: under 0.5%.
Repurchased 18,309,000 shares = 113.7% of 64,391,000 outstanding (annualized)
Insider Buying
Are officers and directors buying stock with their own money on the open market?
2 open-market purchases by 1 insiders
- Vetter Thomas Alex (CEO) bought 27,239 shares at $10.75 on 2025-05-09
- Vetter Thomas Alex (CEO) bought 631 shares at $10.68 on 2025-05-09
Insider-Buyback Convergence
Are insider purchases happening during the same quarters the company is actively buying back stock?
Insider buying coincided with company buybacks in 0 of 4 quarters
Insider Net Direction
Looking at all open-market transactions, are insiders net buyers or net sellers?
Insiders bought $0M, sold $0M (net buying)
Red Flag
Active buyback + insiders net selling 3x+ more than buying. Company cash may be supporting price while insiders exit.
No buyback-insider divergence detected