America’s Car-Mart Earnings Up 37%

America’s Car-Mart posted strong growth in revenue and profits for the quarter ended October 31, 2011.

The Bentonville-based “buy here, pay here” used car dealer reported revenue of $110.8 million, up from $91.8 million one year ago. Same-store sales rose a solid 13.7%.

Profits topped $7.8 million, a 37% increase over last year’s comparable quarter of $6.2 million.

“We are very proud of our results for the quarter and the hard work and dedication of our associates,” said William H. (“Hank”) Henderson, President and CEO of America’s Car-Mart.

“Once again, our financial performance was solid for the quarter,” CFO Jeff Williams. “We saw an improvement in credit losses and impressive leveraging at the Selling, General and Administrative line as lot level productivity improved resulting from our 20.7% increase in revenues.”

The company says it will open 5 more dealerships between now and the end of its fiscal year in April 2012.

Car-Mart has repurchased 515,642 shares, or 5.1%, of its common stock during its second quarter. Since February 1, 2010 it has repurchased 2,184,908 shares, or 18.6% of its common stock. Car-Mart shares (NASDAQ: CRMT) closed trading on Thursday at $32.50 per share.