America’s Car-Mart Inc. of Rogers (Nasdaq: CRMT) on Wednesday reported its eighth straight quarter of falling profits.
The buy-here, pay-here auto dealer posted a fiscal first-quarter loss of $964,000, down from a profit of $4.2 million a year ago. Per share, earnings came to a loss of 15 cents, down from a positive 63 cents.
The results missed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 57 cents per share.
First-quarter revenue was $347.8 million, down 5.2% from $366.8 million. The company reported that revenue from sales dropped 7.4% for the quarter, while interest income rose 7.2%.
America’s Car-Mart reported that it sold 14,391 vehicles in the quarter, down from 15,912 a year ago. The average sales price was $19,250, up from $18,799.
Same-store revenue growth dropped 8.6%, down from a positive 8.2%. America’s Car-Mart reported it had 102,231 active customers, down from 104,734.
“I’m encouraged with our rebound in sales volume from two quarters ago, despite the ongoing economic challenges facing the customer today,” America’s Car-Mart CEO Doug Campbell said in a statement. “Affordability remains Car-Mart’s number one focus in putting and keeping customers on the road. We believe that our strategic priorities, including acquisitions like Texas Auto Center completed in June, will strengthen our competitive position and along with cost control initiatives, can drive better results for the remainder of the fiscal year.”
Shares of the company fell about 9% Wednesday to $54. Year to date, shares were down nearly 22%.
Sign up for Daily E-news
