Cars.com Clocks 3% Revenue Growth In Q4; Plans $200M Buyback

Automotive marketplace platform Cars.com Inc CARS reported fourth-quarter FY21 revenue growth of 3% year-on-year to $158.30 million, marginally missing the consensus of $158.37 million.
Average Monthly Unique Visitors improved 6% Y/Y to 23.6 million. Traffic (Visits) of 134.0 million dropped 3% Y/Y.
Monthly Average Revenue Per Dealer of $2,333 was up 3% Y/Y, driven by continued growth in FUEL and digital solutions.
Dealer revenue grew 8% Y/Y, driven by dealer customers and ARPD. OEM and national revenue were 23% lower Y/Y.
The adjusted EBITDA margin contracted 200 bps to 30%.
The company reported EPS loss of $(0.09) versus $0.10 prior year.
Cars.com held $39.1 million in cash and equivalents and generated $21.8 million in operating cash flow.
Share Buyback: Cars.com announced a $200 million share repurchase program.
"We achieved double-digit Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA growth this year, by driving continued adoption of our superior digital solutions across the industry," said Alex Vetter, CEO.
Outlook: Cars.com sees Q1 FY22 revenue of $156.5 million - $158.5 million, below the consensus of $160.8 million, reflecting the impact of industry-wide inventory shortages on advertising budgets, particularly for OEMs.
The company forecasts FY22 revenue growth of 6% - 8%, with double-digit revenue growth in Q4, assuming inventory shortages have recovered in the second half.
The company expects Q1 Adjusted EBITDA margin to be 26% - 28% and to approach 30% in Q4.
Price Action: CARS shares traded lower by 1.80% at $14.15 on the last check Thursday.

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