Car-Mart beats estimates, earns $8 million in quarter

Coming off its best year ever, recession-proof America’s Car-Mart Inc. easily beat Wall Street profit expectations on Thursday.

For the period ended July 31, the Bentonville-based car dealer reported net income of $8 million, or 70 cents per share, on revenue of $83.8 million. That compares with net income of $7 million, or 60 cents per share, on sales of $83.7 million a year ago.

"Once again, our financial performance was solid for the quarter and we certainly expect these positive trends to continue," said William H. ("Hank") Henderson, president and CEO of America’s Car-Mart.

Overall, Wall Street expected the Bentonville company to report fourth quarter net income of 59 cents per share on revenue of $88.1 million, according to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

America’s Car-Mart is coming off the best year in its 29-year history, posting record earnings of $26.8 million, or $2.27 per share, and growing revenue more than 13% for fiscal 2010. Just last week, Car-Mart officials announced the opening of its 99th dealership in Farmington, Mo.

The new Missouri dealership represented the company’s second new store opening in fiscal 2011, which began on May 1. The Arkansas company plans to open between six and eight new dealerships during the remainder of the year, company officials said, and continue expansion plans at an approximate 10% annual rate thereafter.

"It goes without saying that our growth will continue. Our current plans are to add 6 to 8 new locations during the remainder of this fiscal year, and then open new dealerships at an approximate rate of 10% for the next several years," added Henderson. "Additionally, we are very excited that we will be opening our 100th dealership very soon and will be making that announcement within the next few weeks."

At Thursday’s closing bell, America Car-Mart shares (NASDAQ: CRMT) were trading at $22.93. During the past 52 weeks, the share price has ranged from a $27.32 high to a $18.84 low.