What happened

Shares of online auto sales marketplace CarGurus, Inc. (CARG -1.71%) were sharply higher on Wednesday following a second-quarter earnings result that exceeded Wall Street's expectations. 

As of 12:00 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, CarGurus' stock was trading around $54.40, up 19.3% from Tuesday's close.

A hand holding a car key in the foreground, a row of vehicles at an auto dealership in the background.

Image source: Getty Images.

So what

Massachusetts-based CarGurus, which went public last October, said that its net income excluding special items (or what it calls "non-GAAP net income") rose 60%, to $6.9 million in the second quarter of 2018. Revenue increased 45% to $110.3 million. The story is simple and good: Business boomed. CarGurus' total number of paying dealer partners rose 20% from the year-ago quarter, and its website traffic was up 56%. 

On a per-share basis, excluding special items, CarGurus earned $0.06 per share. That was up 50% from a year ago, and it soundly beat Wall Street's consensus $0.04 per-share estimate. 

Now what

CarGurus also boosted its full-year guidance. It now expects:

  • Revenue between $436 million and $438 million (prior guidance: $415 million to $418 million)
  • Non-GAAP operating income between $28.5 million to $30.5 million (prior guidance: $25 million to $28 million)
  • Non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.22 to $0.23 (prior guidance: $0.19 to $0.21)