Why fund managers say CAR Group's AI sell-off misreads its moat

Online automotive marketplace CAR Group has been swept up in an AI disruption sell-off that several fund managers argue misreads the business entirely. Yarra Capital Management's June 2026 Article described CAR as its preferred name in online classifieds, noting online classifieds businesses broadly are down about a third, even though it views CAR as more of an AI beneficiary than a business being disrupted, since AI offers the potential to drive more traffic to its websites globally.

A monopoly audience, not just better technology

Auscap Asset Management's March 2026 Presentation made the moat argument most directly: numerous competitors including Gumtree run equivalent technology trying to do the same thing as CAR, but what stops them from monetising is that the audience sits inside CAR's business, giving vendors trying to sell a vehicle a far higher probability of generating leads on CAR than anywhere else. Auscap noted the recent share price decline had nothing to do with the company's last result, which showed strong earnings growth over five years, meaning the decline was entirely a multiple de-rating rather than a change in the underlying business.

Selector Funds Management's August 2025 Quarterly Report detailed the company's international diversification, spanning Trader Interactive in the US, Encar in South Korea, a 70% interest in webmotors in Brazil and 83% of chileautos, with global operations now contributing more than half of group profitability. The report also detailed a smooth internal succession from long-serving CEO Cameron McIntyre to former CFO William Elliott, continuing a pattern of internal leadership transitions the manager credited to strong board governance.

What managers are watching next

Vertium Asset Management's July 2026 Article argued the sell-off has left CAR trading on close to 20 times earnings against underlying growth of around 13% plus a 4% yield, a combination it believes delivers a roughly 20% return even without any multiple re-rating, pointing to the fast-growing South American business, which grew 30% in its last result, and continued expansion of the US Trader Interactive and media businesses as additional growth levers beyond the mature Australian base. With Yarra Capital Management noting the stock's 14 times FY27 EBITDA multiple as more than pricing in any realistic AI disruption risk, the key question for managers is how quickly sentiment recovers as quarterly results continue to show no evidence of disruption to the platform's lead generation.