Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

I also will tell you that word of mouth in some of our digital solutions is also gaining steam. And I think that is a tailwind, particularly for AccuTrade because the dealers that have moved fully to buying cars from the public as opposed to the auction, are the ones that are acquiring other stores and consolidating dealerships. And so they are doing something that gives them a lot more confidence in their ability to generate leverage or synergy from acquisitions. And as you know, our bread and butter are those large dealer groups and regional chains.

Gary Prestopino: And then just lastly…

Alex Vetter: Those are the top trends, I would say those are the big differences, I would say from the periods that you talked about to what I see today.

Gary Prestopino: Okay. And then just lastly, with this endorsement by Ford for AccuTrade, what do you have to do to – do you have to do anything to prepare to sell more into Ford with AccuTrade, or does that endorsement just really help with dealer uptake of the product?

Alex Vetter: Well, it really helps dealers who say, I can’t spend any more in this environment because I am trying to cut back. It allows us to point to the co-op funds that are available for the dealer to use from Ford. And I think – so that it removes price I think. Gary, as an objection, it’s not going to change the rate of sales in the sense that we are not going to have huge volumes coming at us, but I do think it gives us a lot of reason to go to Ford dealers above all else because we take price as an objection off the table.

Gary Prestopino: So, when Ford gives this co-op incentive, what percentage of AccuTrade do they end up paying for? Can you make that public or is that not something you can share?

Alex Vetter: No, we don’t disclose Ford’s allocations to their dealers, but this is nominal, I mean nominal.

Gary Prestopino: Okay. Thank you.

Alex Vetter: Thank you, Gary.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] And your next question comes from the line of Marvin Fong from BTIG. Please proceed.

Marvin Fong: Good morning. Thanks for squeezing me in here. So apologies, I missed the prepared remarks, but I did have a follow-up on the FordDirect endorsement and just curious how should we think about that adoption curve, now that you are part of the shop platform, should we think about it as sort of a burst of adoption in the next quarter or two quarters, or should it be more of a gradual build in addition to your normal client wins? And then second question, just noting the full year guide calling for 2028, the 30% adjusted EBITDA margin. So, I guess that’s the similar margin that we have seen in the past few years and it’s a very strong margin. But just curious, do you guys ever foresee breaking above 30% or do you sort of think that this is the margin that’s appropriate for the firm and one of the drives that continued top line growth? Thanks.

Alex Vetter: So, a couple of comments there, and thanks for the questions. I think you should look at the FordDirect selection of AccuTrade as more affirmation to a product that’s in its nascent stages of market entry, right. I think a lot of people have not fully understood the power of AccuTrade, and the Ford team did tons of due diligence and homework to the various offerings and selected us. And so I think it’s first and foremost just validation of what they believe will help their dealers the most. And I also think that this shouldn’t be the last OEM endorsement that we achieve because many more OEMs are now being asked to help their dealers do more digitally. And as you have seen with our Dealer Inspire business, we were able to secure endorsements from all OEMs, and that does help dealers narrow the field of vendors that they would be willing to consider.

And so I do think it mostly is about affirmation. Yes, I hope it will accelerate sales rates for Ford dealers in the summer months of this year as we get the education out there, because we still have to educate dealers as to what this is and why it will benefit them. But I would look at it more as affirmation than a windfall of customers. I think the second thing on the guide, I certainly know that we have tons of opportunity to invest and grow. I mean I think our hardest job as stewards of capital is picking the right things that will generate the most growth, but there is a ton of opportunity to invest in areas that we currently don’t have that would add to our platform and add to our value. And so could the business get over 30%, sure.

But we always want to keep positioning the business for sustained growth over the mid to long-term. And so it’s a balance between harvest or continuing to set the business up for sustained growth. I don’t know, Sonia if you would add anything to that?