America's Car-Mart Reports Big Q4, Year


America's Car-Mart Reports Big Q4, Year
Jeff Williams, CEO and president of America’s Car-Mart Inc. of Rogers (Beth Hall)

America's Car-Mart Inc. of Rogers reported Monday fourth-quarter 2021 income of $43.5 million, up nearly 378% from $9.3 million in the same quarter a year ago.

Revenue for the quarter was $279.1 million, up 43% from $195.7 million in the same quarter last year. Earnings per share was $6.19, up from $1.35.

For fiscal 2021, revenue was $918.6 million, up 23% from $744.6 million in fiscal 2020. Income for the year was $104.1 million, up 103% from $51.3 million. Fiscal earnings per share was $14.95, up from $7.39.

"We are pleased with our results and are optimistic about our ability to continue to grow the Company as we move forward," America's Car-Mart President and CEO Jeff Williams said. "We are clearly seeing the benefits and the power and potential of the various investments we have been making to the model. It has been a very difficult year with the pandemic and social unrest in our country, but our team has stayed focused on taking care of each other and our customers and we have become stronger as a result of these challenges."

Williams said the company averaged 36.5 vehicles sold per month per location, a company record and an increase from 30.2 vehicles per monthly location in the same quarter of 2020. America's Car-Mart operated 151 stores during the quarter.

For the quarter, America's Car-Mart reported selling 16,555 vehicles, up from 13,314. The average sales price was $14,387, up from $12,408.

For the fiscal year, the company sold 56,806 vehicles at an average price of $13,621, an increase from 52,914 vehicles sold for an average price of $11,793 in 2020.

Same-store revenue growth was 37.65% in the fourth quarter of 2021, an increase from 8.6% a year ago. For the fiscal year, same-store revenue growth was 18.7%, up from 9.3%.

"We are transitioning from a collections company to a sales company that is very good at collections," Williams said. "We are completing the rollout of our new service contracts, and the reaction from our customers has been very positive. As we have previously stated, we believe that most of our existing dealerships could support 1,000 or more customers over time and that we have significant long-term growth potential from this existing dealership base. In addition, we will continue to open new locations and look for acquisition opportunities into the future."

Williams said the company had about 88,000 customers.