Is CARS a high-quality business?

AlphaMadera's AlphaQuality grade scores Cars.com Inc. on six pillars — profitability, capital efficiency, balance-sheet strength, growth durability, cash generation, and shareholder yield. The composite letter grade reflects how CARS compares to a Buffett-style quality bar.

What is Cars.com Inc.'s AlphaQuality grade?

AlphaQuality assigns a letter grade (A through F) to CARS based on a six-pillar quantitative model. The live page shows the composite grade plus each pillar's individual score with the underlying metrics.

What makes CARS a quality stock?

AlphaQuality looks at return on capital, free-cash-flow margins, debt-to-equity, revenue stability, dividend and buyback policy, and operating-margin trend. Stocks scoring well across all six pillars earn higher grades — the methodology favors compounders over cyclicals.

CARS - Cars.com Inc.

Price: -- -- | CONSENSUS: Buy DETAILS | PRICE TARGET: $13.00 DETAILS

AlphaQuality

Quantitative six-pillar business-quality grade

Platform & Compounding FCF

AlphaQuality — archetype-weighted quantitative grade

C+ 60.6 / 100 composite

Composite Grade

Composite of six pillars weighted for platform & compounding fcf businesses. Purely quantitative — no stock price or analyst input.

Profitability

Weight: 25%

D 36.2

5yr Avg ROIC 4.4% 32/100
Operating Margin Trend -0.15 pp/yr 46/100

Capital Efficiency

Weight: 15%

B 69.8

5yr Avg ROE 9.1% 55/100
5yr Share-Count CAGR -3.6% 96/100

Growth Quality

Weight: 25%

B+ 76.4

5yr Revenue CAGR 3.8% 51/100
5yr EPS CAGR 20.9% 96/100
Revenue-Growth Years (5) 5/5 100/100

Cash Generation

Weight: 20%

B+ 77.6

5yr FCF Margin 18.7% 88/100
5yr FCF/NI Conversion 5.75x 65/100

Balance Sheet

Weight: 10%

D 37.3

Net Debt / EBITDA 2.20x 66/100
Interest Coverage (EBIT/Int) 1.56x 21/100
Altman Z-Score 0.34 5/100

Stability

Weight: 5%

C 54.0

EPS Volatility (σ/μ) 0.87 5/100
Piotroski F-Score 8 89/100
Negative-Revenue Years (5) 0/5 100/100

3 of 3 gurus held; 1 new buy; 2 trimmed.

Holders: 3 +1
Avg Δ position: -33.0%
New buys: 1
Full exits: 0

Wood new
Greenblatt decreased -59%
Cooperman decreased -7%

How this is calculated

AlphaQuality grades six pillars from 0-100 and weights each by archetype:

Profitability (25%) — 5yr Avg ROIC, Operating Margin Trend
Capital Efficiency (15%) — 5yr Avg ROE, 5yr Share-Count CAGR
Growth Quality (25%) — 5yr Revenue CAGR, 5yr EPS CAGR, Revenue-Growth Years (5)
Cash Generation (20%) — 5yr FCF Margin, 5yr FCF/NI Conversion
Balance Sheet (10%) — Net Debt / EBITDA, Interest Coverage (EBIT/Int), Altman Z-Score
Stability (5%) — EPS Volatility (σ/μ), Piotroski F-Score, Negative-Revenue Years (5)

We deliberately ignore stock price, analyst targets, and consensus ratings so the grade is suitable for backtesting forward returns. A minimum of 5 fiscal years of audited statements is required; distressed and highly leveraged infrastructure businesses are declared ungradable rather than forced into a numeric score.