Car-Mart shares surge on strong earnings

Thursday (Nov. 20) was the best one day action for investors of America’s Car-Mart in years. The buy here, pay here used-car dealer shares (NASDAQ: CRMT) surged 14.20% to close at $50.25, a gain of $6.25.

In heavy trading the stock price came close to its 52-week high of $51.89 with an intraday high trade at $51.65. Shares blew past the target prices set by two analysts because of solid financials amid a 43% gross margin and $12 million in added revenue from better-than-expected sales in the company’s 136 dealerships.

“At this point, we’re attributing the top line improvements to overall solid execution and are focused on lot-by-lot productivity results and also we maybe seeing some indirect benefits of lower gasoline prices. Competition is still very intense and we’ll continue to focus all of our efforts on customer retention, earning repeat business and offering good quality vehicles that are affordable under rational terms,” said Jeff Williams, chief financial officer for Car-Mart.

Williams said lower gasoline prices most likely had a positive effect on customer’s ability to make timely payments as 81% of its customer base was current at the end of the quarter.