Rogers-based America’s Car-Mart reported a first quarter loss and lower sales Thursday morning, significantly missing analysts predictions but management said the buy-here, pay-here used car dealer’s efforts to improve its operations are paying off.
Car-Mart shares tumbled on the news, falling as much as 22%.
“Within the current market environment, we are prudently managing sales to balance affordability, profit margins, and portfolio quality,” Car-Mart’s president and CEO Doug Campbell said in a statement. “During the quarter wholesale prices rose resulting in each unit of inventory consuming more of our borrowing capacity, which places some limits on how much inventory we can carry. We are actively working to improve these capacity constraints to better serve the customer demand we are experiencing.”
Car-Mart reported a loss of $5.7 million or 69 cents per share for the quarter ended July 31, compared to a loss of $974,000 or 15 cents per share for the same quarter a year ago. A consensus estimate of three analysts predicted earnings per share of 83 cents for its first quarter of fiscal year 2026, according to Yahoo Finance.
Revenue for the company’s first quarter of fiscal year 2026 was $341.3 million, down 1.9% from $347.8 million a year ago. Same store sales were down 4.1%. The analyst’s consensus estimate for the quarter was $359.2 million or about a 4% gain year over year.
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John Magsam is the Northwest Arkansas bureau chief. He works on the business desk and covers the state’s casino, brewery and firearms industries. John also has some editing duties. He started his newspaper career at the Chillicothe Constitution Tribune in Chillicothe, Mo. in 1993 and has worked at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette since 1999. John is a graduate of Arkansas Tech University in Russellville.
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