CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) Issues Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.06 EPS

CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) posted its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.06), Zacks reports. CarGurus had a negative net margin of 5.47% and a positive return on equity of 13.96%.

CarGurus Stock Performance

NASDAQ CARG traded down $0.55 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $37.59. The stock had a trading volume of 1,468,952 shares, compared to its average volume of 758,986. CarGurus has a 52-week low of $21.18 and a 52-week high of $41.33. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $37.94 and a 200 day moving average of $33.58. The stock has a market cap of $3.90 billion, a P/E ratio of -81.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.59.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Zachary Emerson Hallowell sold 2,203 shares of CarGurus stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.12, for a total transaction of $83,978.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,421,271.96. This trade represents a 1.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Samuel Zales sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.36, for a total value of $767,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 400,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,344,959. The trade was a 4.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 59,388 shares of company stock valued at $2,204,338. 17.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CARG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of CarGurus from $32.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on CarGurus from $30.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Citigroup upgraded CarGurus from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on CarGurus from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of CarGurus in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CarGurus currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.41.

CarGurus Company Profile

CarGurus, Inc operates an online automotive platform for buying and selling vehicles in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, U.S. Marketplace and Digital Wholesale. The company provides an online automotive marketplace where customers can search for new and used car listings from its dealers and sell their car to dealers and other consumers; and paid listings subscriptions for enhanced access to its marketplace that connects dealers to a large audience of informed and engaged consumers.