CarGurus, Inc. (CARG) · Nov 5, 2026 · Earnings
Beat — Non-GAAP EPS $0.70 vs ~$0.66 consensus; revenue $258.4M vs ~$256.5M
CarGurus earnings beat Q3 revenue and adjusted EPS expectations while margins slipped. A new $250 million buyback adds a meaningful capital-return signal.
CarGurus is a high-margin automotive marketplace extending beyond listings into AI-enabled dealer workflow products, while building new inventory tools such as StockVantage after exiting the CarOffer experiment. That broader product expansion was already the standing story before this release; the new information is that the core marketplace is still executing while the company returns more cash to shareholders. CarGurus previously described its AI products as part of expanding data and predictive intelligence across dealer workflows.
The quarter cleared the market’s bar, but not by a wide margin. Revenue of $258.4 million was about 0.8% above the published consensus of roughly $256.5 million, while non-GAAP diluted EPS of $0.70 exceeded the roughly $0.66 consensus. The company also landed at the high end of its own revenue and EBITDA guidance.
| Metric | Q3 2026 | Q3 2025 | Consensus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue (Financial Highlights) | $258.4M (+11.5%) | $231.7M | ~$256.5M |
| Non-GAAP diluted EPS (EPS reconciliation) | $0.70 (+16.7%) | $0.60 | ~$0.66 |
| Adjusted EBITDA (EBITDA reconciliation) | $89.7M (+8.7%) | $82.4M | |
| Adjusted EBITDA margin (EBITDA reconciliation) | 35% (-89 bps) | 36% | |
| Paying dealers (Key Performance Indicators) | 34,701 (+3%) | 33,? | |
| Free cash flow (Free Cash Flow reconciliation) | $73.9M (+15.4%) | $64.0M |
Growth remains healthy, but profitability is not expanding with it. Revenue grew 12%, paying dealers rose 3%, and QARSD increased 7%, suggesting monetization and product expansion—not just customer additions—are supporting growth. But operating expenses rose 12% in the quarter, GAAP net income increased only 2%, and adjusted EBITDA margin fell 89 basis points. The nine-month picture is less clean because CarGurus recorded $20.2 million of impairments, including $19.7 million in operating expenses.
The $250 million buyback is the filing’s most consequential new capital-allocation signal. It is backed by strong cash generation—$245.3 million of operating cash flow and $224.7 million of free cash flow through nine months—and follows $225.1 million of repurchases already completed this year. That supports per-share results, but it also explains why cash fell to $164.9 million from $190.5 million at year-end.
Full-year guidance keeps the growth story intact but concedes modest margin dilution. The company now points to $1.0115 billion-$1.0165 billion of revenue and $347.5 million-$355.5 million of adjusted EBITDA, implying 11.5%-12.1% revenue growth but a 20-80 basis-point year-over-year decline in adjusted EBITDA margin. The outlook does not suggest a business losing traction; it suggests CarGurus is spending to build its AI and dealer-product platform while protecting double-digit top-line growth.
Bottom line: This is a modest earnings beat with strong cash generation and a meaningful buyback, but not a clean acceleration story because margins are still slipping. It strengthens CarGurus’ execution narrative without materially rewriting the broader AI-transition story.
Note: the filing provides no prior-year paying-dealer count in the table, so that comparison is omitted rather than estimated.
Q4 2026 results
A buy-side analyst on every ticker — it reads every public company's filing the instant it drops and decodes it into plain English.
A buy-side analyst on every ticker — the whole market decoded the second it moves, before it's a headline. Free gives you a taste. Pro takes the cap off and opens the full read on every company.
by Signing in NOW, claim your FREE 14-day Pro trial!