# CoStar Group (CSGP.US)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/CSGP

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:27:47.324Z. Financial observations: FY1997–FY2025.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: pass; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: $32.00 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

Estimated value: low $20.80 per share, central $23.26 per share, high $26.54 per share. Buy at or below the central value $23.26 per share. Valuation as of 2026-10-16T07:27:47.324Z; scenarios are not confidence intervals.

Expected annual return: 7.8% at the stated quote. About 7.8% a year at today's price (required return 10.0%). required return 10.0% a year (10% floor; US 10-year bond 5.1% + 4 points).

## Checklist

### understandable: fail

- 0 revenue declines in the last 10 years (informational)

- operating margin variation exceeds 0.35

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 0

- Years with a net loss: 0

- Operating margin variation: 0.59×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: 0.17×

- FY2017: 0.18×

- FY2018: 0.23×

- FY2019: 0.26×

- FY2020: 0.17×

- FY2021: 0.22×

- FY2022: 0.21×

- FY2023: 0.11×

- FY2024: 0.00×

- FY2025: -0.02×

### moat: fail

- ROIC worst years below threshold (more than 1 bad year allowed)

- Recent gross margin fell 4.2pp below the typical margin (limit 4pp)

- ROIC, median of available years: 47.4%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: 0.2%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: 4.2 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 79.5%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 75.2%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 2.8%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: 11.5%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: 55.3%

- FY2017: 75.2%

- FY2018: 73.1%

- FY2019: 48.6%

- FY2020: 42.5%

- FY2021: 46.2%

- FY2022: 49.4%

- FY2023: 24.9%

- FY2024: 0.2%

- FY2025: -1.7%

### economics: fail

- incremental invested capital return below threshold

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: 0.84×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: $992M

- Net income, five-year total: $1.2B

- Return on incremental invested capital: -16.7%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: 0.0 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: -0.2 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 5.4%

Chart: Annual owner cash / profit; fiscal year observations.

- FY2021: 1.25×

- FY2022: 1.21×

- FY2023: 1.22×

- FY2024: -2.07×

- FY2025: 1.00×

### management: fail

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2016 to 2025 (9 years)

- potential debt-funded buybacks (informational)

- buybacks leaned toward cheaper years (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: 73.1% vs 0.2%

- Per-share earnings: 0.26 to 0.34 (three-year endpoint medians)

- five-year and ten-year diluted share growth both above threshold

- acquired goodwill and intangibles (proxy) exceeds half of ten-year net income with low and deteriorating ROIC

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: 2.8%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 1.9%

- Market cap gain: $22B

- Cumulative retained earnings: $2.2B

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: 2.8%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 1.9%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2016

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2025

- Per-share value growth: 3.3%

- Per-share value change: $0.08

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: $0.26

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: $0.34

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): 0.13

- Average buyback yield: 0.3%

- Buyback history: 10 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: Yes

- Acquisition spending: $5.4B

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: $2.2B

- ROIC, first three-year median: 73.1%

- ROIC, last three-year median: 0.2%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: $0.26

- FY2017: $0.37

- FY2018: $0.65

- FY2019: $0.86

- FY2020: $0.59

- FY2021: $0.74

- FY2022: $0.93

- FY2023: $0.92

- FY2024: $0.34

- FY2025: $0.02

### accounting: pass

- stock compensation exceeds 15% of operating cash flow

- Sloan accruals: -4.0%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 1.16×

- Restructuring years, last five: 0

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 45.1%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Operating cash / earnings: 61.43×

- Accounting red flags: 1

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.81×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -5.3%

- FY2017: -3.9%

- FY2018: -2.9%

- FY2019: -3.7%

- FY2020: -3.7%

- FY2021: -2.4%

- FY2022: -1.3%

- FY2023: -1.3%

- FY2024: -2.7%

- FY2025: -4.0%

## Holders

- [Chuck Akre](https://gigainvestors.com/AC): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

- [Mark Hillman](https://gigainvestors.com/HCM): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

- [Wallace Weitz](https://gigainvestors.com/WIM): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

- [Dan Davidowitz](https://gigainvestors.com/pcm): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

## Price story

Down 67% since Mar 2024 · "CoStar Stock Slumps After Earnings Beat on Lower Revenue Expectations" (finance.yahoo.com, Jul 2026) · sales +18.7%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:58:35.043Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

Price needs cash profits to grow 5.4% a year for ten years

- 2025-04-17: CoStar Q1 Bookings Expected to Fall Sharply Amid Homes.com Weakness, RBC Says ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/costar-q1-bookings-expected-fall-184737234.html))

- 2025-07-22: CoStar raises annual revenue forecast as net bookings climb ([ca.finance.yahoo.com](https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/costar-raises-annual-revenue-forecast-210626856.html))

- 2026-05-07: Apartments.com and CoStar Raise U.S. Multifamily Vacancy Forecast ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/articles/apartments-com-costar-raise-u-130000921.html))

- 2026-07-28: CoStar Stock Slumps After Earnings Beat on Lower Revenue Expectations ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/m/e641daa3-c754-36ba-9de3-c5a07659be27/costar-stock-slumps-after.html))

- 2026-08-08: CoStar Group (CSGP) Sees US Industrial Demand Outpacing Supply By Late 2027 ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/articles/costar-group-csgp-sees-us-181049395.html))

### Sales · FY2024–2025

sales +18.7%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1057352/000105735226000020/csgp-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-26.

- FY2016: $838M 

- FY2017: $965M 

- FY2018: $1.2B 

- FY2019: $1.4B 

- FY2020: $1.7B 

- FY2021: $1.9B 

- FY2022: $2.2B 

- FY2023: $2.5B 

- FY2024: $2.7B 

- FY2025: $3.2B 

### Gross margin · FY2025

gross margin 75.2%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1057352/000105735226000020/csgp-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-26.

- FY2016: 79.2% 

- FY2017: 77.2% 

- FY2018: 77.4% 

- FY2019: 79.3% 

- FY2020: 81.4% 

- FY2021: 81.6% 

- FY2022: 81.0% 

- FY2023: 80.0% 

- FY2024: 79.6% 

- FY2025: 75.2% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in real estate services; annual sales are USD 3.2 billion.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1057352/000105735226000020/csgp-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-26); FY2025: revenue 3247000000; grossProfit 2443000000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); CSGP.US: CoStar Group, Inc. provides information, analytics, and online marketplace services to real estate and related business communities in the United States, Australia, Canada, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. It offers CoStar Property that provides inventory of office, industrial, retail, multifamily, hospitality, and student housing, and land properties; CoStar Leasing, a data on lease transactions and tools to manage user-entered lease data; CoStar Sales, a database of commercial real estate sales transactions; CoStar Owners provides detailed portfolio information; CoStar Markets to view and report on market and submarket trends; and CoStar Tenant that provides tenant information. The company also provides hospitality benchmarking that allows hotels to measure performance against competitors; Debt Solutions, a tool for lenders to manage loan portfolios and risk; and real estate and lease management technology solutions, such as lease administration, lease accounting, and transaction management services. In addition, it offers Apartamentos.com, an apartment marketing sites; LoopNet.com, a commercial property marketing sites; Homes.com, a home for sale listings site; Ten-X, an online auction platform for commercial real estate; Land.com, a marketplace for rural land sales; and BizBuySell.com, a marketplace for operating businesses and franchises for sale. It serves sales, leasing, and mortgage brokers; property, real estate investment trust, insurance companies, and asset managers; and government agencies, property owners, mortgage-backed security issuers, appraisers, design and construction professionals, pension fund managers, real estate developers, reporters tenant vendors, bankers, building services vendors, mortgage bankers, communications providers, retailers, institutional advisors, hospitality owners, investors, and real estate agents. The company was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 75.2% to 80% during 2023–25; it earns 47.4% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 80%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 79.6%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1057352/000105735226000020/csgp-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-26); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 75.2%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); 10-year return on capital observations [[2016,0.5525436605011058],[2017,0.752282161036175],[2018,0.7311163053980766],[2019,0.48598630000090604],[2020,0.42520555074297434],[2021,0.46248613203952776],[2022,0.49439848867660374],[2023,0.24909337952465133],[2024,0.0022379981175671853],[2025,-0.01670831845769368]]; median 0.4742362160202169. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Can it raise prices

Kept about a 81% gross margin through 2022 cost inflation.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1057352/000105735226000020/csgp-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-26); Gross margin observations: [[2021,0.8162499003412829],[2022,0.8103009577991925],[2023,0.79979633401222]]; range within 2 percentage points.

### Where the cash goes

Paid dividends in 3 of 10 years; bought back USD 575 million of shares.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); FY2016: growth capex 0; upkeep 18766000; owner earnings 136470000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); FY2017: growth capex 0; upkeep 24499000; owner earnings 161839000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); FY2018: growth capex 0; upkeep 29632000; owner earnings 286445000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); FY2019: growth capex 0; upkeep 46197000; owner earnings 349931000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); FY2020: growth capex 0; upkeep 48347000; owner earnings 295725000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); FY2021: growth capex 0; upkeep 65220000; owner earnings 366938000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); FY2022: growth capex 0; upkeep 58574000; owner earnings 448826000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); FY2023: growth capex 0; upkeep 25300000; owner earnings 456900000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1057352/000105735226000020/csgp-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-26); FY2025: growth capex 126000000; upkeep 263000000; owner earnings 7000000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 18.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); Dividend observations: [[2016,0],[2017,9888000],[2018,0],[2019,0],[2020,1774490000],[2021,0],[2022,23108000],[2023,0],[2024,0],[2025,0]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1057352/000105735226000020/csgp-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-26); FY2025: cash repurchases 575000000 USD.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 0.8% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); CSGP.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 0.755 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What the price says

The price assumes cash profits grow 5.4% yearly over ten years; actual decline was 18.3%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); Ten-year compound average after fade. Initial solved rate 0.06411194174230514. Price 32; FX 1; discount 0.1; same standard ten-year fade to terminal 0.03. FY2015 owner earnings/share 0.12521439749608765 → FY2025 0.016638935108153077. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (USD per share)

- 2016-10: $18.71 per share

- 2016-11: $19.11 per share

- 2016-12: $18.85 per share

- 2017-01: $20.21 per share

- 2017-02: $20.32 per share

- 2017-03: $20.72 per share

- 2017-04: $24.09 per share

- 2017-05: $26.16 per share

- 2017-06: $26.36 per share

- 2017-07: $27.56 per share

- 2017-08: $28.66 per share

- 2017-09: $26.83 per share

- 2017-10: $29.58 per share

- 2017-11: $30.50 per share

- 2017-12: $29.70 per share

- 2018-01: $34.61 per share

- 2018-02: $34.21 per share

- 2018-03: $36.27 per share

- 2018-04: $36.67 per share

- 2018-05: $38.12 per share

- 2018-06: $41.26 per share

- 2018-07: $41.59 per share

- 2018-08: $44.22 per share

- 2018-09: $42.08 per share

- 2018-10: $36.14 per share

- 2018-11: $36.94 per share

- 2018-12: $33.73 per share

- 2019-01: $39.07 per share

- 2019-02: $45.75 per share

- 2019-03: $46.64 per share

- 2019-04: $49.63 per share

- 2019-05: $50.96 per share

- 2019-06: $55.41 per share

- 2019-07: $61.54 per share

- 2019-08: $61.49 per share

- 2019-09: $59.32 per share

- 2019-10: $54.95 per share

- 2019-11: $61.29 per share

- 2019-12: $59.83 per share

- 2020-01: $65.30 per share

- 2020-02: $66.76 per share

- 2020-03: $58.72 per share

- 2020-04: $64.83 per share

- 2020-05: $65.68 per share

- 2020-06: $71.07 per share

- 2020-07: $84.98 per share

- 2020-08: $84.86 per share

- 2020-09: $84.85 per share

- 2020-10: $82.36 per share

- 2020-11: $91.06 per share

- 2020-12: $92.43 per share

- 2021-01: $89.97 per share

- 2021-02: $82.38 per share

- 2021-03: $82.19 per share

- 2021-04: $85.44 per share

- 2021-05: $85.40 per share

- 2021-06: $82.82 per share

- 2021-07: $88.85 per share

- 2021-08: $84.74 per share

- 2021-09: $86.06 per share

- 2021-10: $86.05 per share

- 2021-11: $77.76 per share

- 2021-12: $79.03 per share

- 2022-01: $70.16 per share

- 2022-02: $61.01 per share

- 2022-03: $66.61 per share

- 2022-04: $63.62 per share

- 2022-05: $60.94 per share

- 2022-06: $60.41 per share

- 2022-07: $72.59 per share

- 2022-08: $69.64 per share

- 2022-09: $69.65 per share

- 2022-10: $82.72 per share

- 2022-11: $81.04 per share

- 2022-12: $77.28 per share

- 2023-01: $77.90 per share

- 2023-02: $70.66 per share

- 2023-03: $68.85 per share

- 2023-04: $76.95 per share

- 2023-05: $79.40 per share

- 2023-06: $89.00 per share

- 2023-07: $83.97 per share

- 2023-08: $81.99 per share

- 2023-09: $76.89 per share

- 2023-10: $73.41 per share

- 2023-11: $83.04 per share

- 2023-12: $87.39 per share

- 2024-01: $83.48 per share

- 2024-02: $87.03 per share

- 2024-03: $96.60 per share

- 2024-04: $91.53 per share

- 2024-05: $78.17 per share

- 2024-06: $74.14 per share

- 2024-07: $78.02 per share

- 2024-08: $77.30 per share

- 2024-09: $75.44 per share

- 2024-10: $72.79 per share

- 2024-11: $81.34 per share

- 2024-12: $71.59 per share

- 2025-01: $76.60 per share

- 2025-02: $76.25 per share

- 2025-03: $79.23 per share

- 2025-04: $74.17 per share

- 2025-05: $73.56 per share

- 2025-06: $80.40 per share

- 2025-07: $95.19 per share

- 2025-08: $89.49 per share

- 2025-09: $84.37 per share

- 2025-10: $68.81 per share

- 2025-11: $68.80 per share

- 2025-12: $67.24 per share

- 2026-01: $61.50 per share

- 2026-02: $44.63 per share

- 2026-03: $40.34 per share

- 2026-04: $34.61 per share

- 2026-05: $32.20 per share

- 2026-06: $28.32 per share

- 2026-07: $28.76 per share

- 2026-08: $32.07 per share

- 2026-09: $27.40 per share

- 2026-10: $32.00 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

- FY2016: low $4.95 per share, central $5.39 per share, high $5.99 per share

- FY2017: low $8.34 per share, central $9.01 per share, high $9.89 per share

- FY2018: low $8.78 per share, central $9.58 per share, high $10.65 per share

- FY2019: low $9.85 per share, central $10.82 per share, high $12.10 per share

- FY2020: low $17.98 per share, central $19.15 per share, high $20.70 per share

- FY2021: low $19.78 per share, central $21.19 per share, high $23.05 per share

- FY2022: low $24.71 per share, central $26.41 per share, high $28.68 per share

- FY2023: low $25.14 per share, central $26.86 per share, high $29.15 per share

- FY2024: low $24.99 per share, central $26.88 per share, high $29.38 per share

- FY2025: low $19.67 per share, central $21.83 per share, high $24.71 per share

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1057352/000105735226000020/csgp-20251231.htm); period 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-26.

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.