Cars.com Inc (CARS)

Return on total capital

		Dec 31, 2023	Sep 30, 2023	Jun 30, 2023	Mar 31, 2023	Dec 31, 2022	Sep 30, 2022	Jun 30, 2022	Mar 31, 2022	Dec 31, 2021	Sep 30, 2021	Jun 30, 2021	Mar 31, 2021	Dec 31, 2020	Sep 30, 2020	Jun 30, 2020	Mar 31, 2020	Dec 31, 2019	Sep 30, 2019	Jun 30, 2019	Mar 31, 2019
Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) (ttm)	US$ in thousands	54,116	58,992	64,573	67,624	66,036	50,287	42,462	42,732	48,338	60,173	67,162	34,283	-887,327	-898,518	-1,365,297	-1,347,069	-446,060	-426,896	49,151	72,704
Long-term debt	US$ in thousands	460,119	429,679	434,210	438,739	458,249	482,740	495,968	499,182	457,383	470,520	502,357	524,260	576,143	558,720	609,066	763,361	611,277	630,913	644,046	652,178
Total stockholders’ equity	US$ in thousands	492,108	483,010	477,457	384,987	384,430	376,527	391,388	396,087	398,020	394,574	385,456	374,016	368,190	322,373	328,781	347,890	1,141,070	1,141,480	1,569,150	1,592,670
Return on total capital		5.68%	6.46%	7.08%	8.21%	7.84%	5.85%	4.79%	4.77%	5.65%	6.96%	7.56%	3.82%	-93.96%	-101.98%	-145.58%	-121.22%	-25.46%	-24.09%	2.22%	3.24%

December 31, 2023 calculation

Return on total capital = EBIT (ttm) ÷ (Long-term debt + Total stockholders’ equity)
= $54,116K ÷ ($460,119K + $492,108K)
= 5.68%

Cars.com's return on total capital has shown improvement over the past two quarters, increasing from 5.77% in Q3 2022 to 6.96% in Q2 2023 and further to 8.06% in Q1 2023. This indicates that the company's ability to generate profits from its total capital invested has been strengthening. However, it is important to note that in Q4 2023, the return on total capital decreased to 5.55%, which may indicate a slight dip in profitability compared to the previous quarters. Overall, the trend suggests that Cars.com has been effectively utilizing its capital to generate returns, with some fluctuations in performance over the analyzed period.