The gain is believed to be in response to the company’s outstanding performance in the first quarter. The stock reached its 52-week high, supported by the company's strong fundamental composition and the extraordinary results.
The Arizona-based publicly held automotive retailer has reported a net income of $5.3 million ($.45 per diluted share) compared to $2.1 million ($.18 per diluted share) for prior year quarter.
This reported earnings of 45 cents per share, were ahead of analyst estimates of 38 cents per share. Analysts are bullish on Car-Mart, with the next-year estimate jumping to $1.70 per share from $1.67 per share week days ago.
The company’s revenue increased 28.9% with same store revenue growth of 28.5%.
For the three months ended July 31, 2008, revenues increased 28.9% to $75.7 million, compared with $58.7 million in the same period of the prior year. Retail unit sales increased 25.8%, with 7,353 vehicles sold in the current quarter compared to 5,847 in the same period last year. Same store revenue increased 28.5% for the quarter.
Gross profit on vehicle sales was 43.6% for the quarter compared to 40.3% for the prior year quarter.
William Henderson, President and Chief Executive Officer of America's Car-Mart, said: "The solid results we have experienced for the first quarter of Fiscal 2009 are further confirmation of the positive effects of the numerous significant improvements we have made at Car-Mart over the last year and a half."
CarMax Group (KMX) is on the top of the list of gainers so far today and is now at $16.41, up $1.01 (6.56%) on volume of 2,480,554 shares traded. Over the last 52 weeks the stock has ranged from a low of $10.53 in July to a high of $25.38 in September. Technical indicators for the stock are bullish and S&P does not currently have a STARS rating for KMX.
