Cars.com (CARS) Return on Capital Employed [ROCE] (2017 - 2026)
Cars.com (CARS) reported Return on Capital Employed [ROCE] of 8.88% for Q2 2026, up 3.45 percentage points from 5.43% a year earlier and up 1.40 percentage points from the prior quarter.
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Analysis
Cars.com (CARS) Return on Capital Employed [ROCE] (2017 - 2026) Analysis & Trends
For FY2025, Cars.com posted Return on Capital Employed [ROCE] of 6.19%, up 0.97 percentage points from FY2024.
- Return on Capital Employed [ROCE] has a five-year change of +66.90 percentage points (FY2020 to FY2025).
- By year, Return on Capital Employed [ROCE] came in at 5.22% in FY2024 (-0.46 pp), 5.68% in FY2023 (-1.58 pp), 7.26% in FY2022 (+2.15 pp) and 5.10% in FY2021 (+65.82 pp).
- The Q2 2026 figure ranks as the highest quarterly Return on Capital Employed [ROCE] in data going back to Q1 2017.
- Year over year, Return on Capital Employed [ROCE] has now increased in each of the last five quarters, with an average year-over-year change of +0.87 percentage points over the last eight quarters.
- The high point for year-over-year Return on Capital Employed [ROCE] in five years was Q4 2021 (a gain of 95.71 percentage points); the low point was Q2 2022 (a drop of 2.85 percentage points).
- Per Business Quant data, the three quarters before Q2 2026 came in at 7.48% (Q1 2026), 6.32% (Q4 2025) and 6.13% (Q3 2025).
Peer Set
Peer Comparison
| # | Company | Market Cap | Enterprise Value | Gross Profit (Qtr) | ROCE (Qtr) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alphabet | 3,522.13 Bn | 3,257.03 Bn | 76.16 Bn | 18.96% |
| 2 | Meta Platforms | 1,639.39 Bn | 1,303.91 Bn | 51.23 Bn | 19.78% |
| 3 | Netflix | 259.77 Bn | 221.06 Bn | 6.80 Bn | 33.64% |
| 4 | Alibaba Group Holding | 238.46 Bn | 60.53 Bn | 15.16 Bn | 2.15% |
| 5 | Shopify | 188.67 Bn | 173.82 Bn | 1.78 Bn | 15.96% |
| 6 | Uber Technologies | 142.87 Bn | 114.08 Bn | 6.42 Bn | 13.04% |
| 7 | AppLovin | 131.04 Bn | 119.57 Bn | 1.94 Bn | 85.44% |
| 8 | Spotify Technology | 124.73 Bn | 81.65 Bn | 1.89 Bn | 20.03% |
| 9 | Booking Holdings | 119.44 Bn | 53.19 Bn | - | 96.01% |
| 10 | Cars.com | 703.28 Mn | 484.61 Mn | 150.14 Mn | 10.47% |
Historic Data
Download Data
Historic Data
| Date | Value |
|---|---|
| Sep 30, 2026 | 10.47% |
| Jun 30, 2026 | 8.88% |
| Mar 31, 2026 | 7.48% |
| Dec 31, 2025 | 6.32% |
| Sep 30, 2025 | 6.13% |
| Jun 30, 2025 | 5.43% |
| Mar 31, 2025 | 4.78% |
| Dec 31, 2024 | 5.36% |
| Sep 30, 2024 | 4.83% |
| Jun 30, 2024 | 5.07% |
| Mar 31, 2024 | 5.18% |
| Dec 31, 2023 | 5.45% |
| Sep 30, 2023 | 6.12% |
| Jun 30, 2023 | 6.99% |
| Mar 31, 2023 | 7.46% |
| Dec 31, 2022 | 7.09% |
| Sep 30, 2022 | 5.32% |
| Jun 30, 2022 | 4.35% |
| Mar 31, 2022 | 4.53% |
| Dec 31, 2021 | 5.32% |
API Access
Cars.com Return on Capital Employed [ROCE] API
Pull this series into your own models, spreadsheets and apps with the Business Quant
Historical Metrics API. The request below matches the chart above — change the
frequency, period or values and it follows. Swap YOUR_API_KEY for your own key.
https://data.businessquant.com/historic?slug=return-on-capital-employed-%5Broce%5D&ticker=CARS&period=max&api_key=YOUR_API_KEYimport requests
url = "https://data.businessquant.com/historic"
params = {"slug": "return-on-capital-employed-[roce]", "ticker": "CARS", "period": "max", "api_key": "YOUR_API_KEY"}
data = requests.get(url, params=params).json()const res = await fetch("https://data.businessquant.com/historic?slug=return-on-capital-employed-%5Broce%5D&ticker=CARS&period=max&api_key=YOUR_API_KEY");
const data = await res.json();