America's Car Mart (NASDAQ: CRMT) reported Q4 EPS of $1.43, $0.45 better than the analyst estimate of $0.98. Revenue for the quarter came in at $169 million versus the consensus estimate of $158.73 million.

"We are pleased to report another good, solid quarter and we are excited about the opportunities we have to continue to improve the business as we move forward. Our focus on improvements with inventory management is showing up in our results as we work to find good cars for good prices and to efficiently move these vehicles through our system. Better inventory processes have also led to improvements with our lot-level sales volume productivity which was up 6.9% for the quarter. At the same time, we saw an increase in the down-payment percentage for the quarter which is a very positive indication that we are doing some good things at our dealerships. We are committed to continuing to get better with inventory management which is critically important to our success,” said Jeff Williams, Chief Executive Officer. “We believe that our continued investments in attracting, training and retaining quality people, especially at the General Manager position, are beginning to show up in our results, and we will continue to push for excellence in this area. We cannot have a great business without great people who have been trained and supported at the highest levels. Additionally, we are pleased with the progress we have made in our collections practices. We know that we have more room to improve in this area with better customer service, but we did see a 120-basis point decrease in charge-offs and a 20-basis point increase in collections for the quarter. Most importantly, more of our valued customers were successful during the quarter and we will work hard to earn their repeat business.”

“We have four new lot openings that are in process, all under experienced top performing General Managers. These dealerships will be in Bixby, Oklahoma, Pryor, Oklahoma, Montgomery, Alabama and Fayetteville, Arkansas. We are excited about the opportunities to leverage the talents of proven leaders in these markets,” said Mr. Williams. “We began the closure of one underperforming dealership during the quarter, Forrest City Arkansas, as we believe our capital will be better deployed elsewhere. We are optimistic about our future and will continue to work hard to make America’s Car-Mart the best it can be. We have a great team of dedicated associates who live our Mission, Vision and Values on a daily basis and we are proud of our Company and the real purpose we have in our work.”

“We experienced some pressure on the gross margin percentage primarily because of the increase in the average retail selling price; as selling prices increase, the gross margin percentage shrinks. However, the gross profit dollars per sale did increase slightly for the quarter. We were pleased to see some leveraging on our selling, general, and administrative (“SG&A”) expenses as a percentage of sales based on the increased sales and productivity in the quarter. As Jeff mentioned, we will continue to build an infrastructure to support a growing business, especially in the areas of General Manager Recruitment, Training and Advancement, and Collections Support,” said Vickie Judy, Chief Financial Officer.

“We repurchased 327,550 shares of common stock (4.6%) during the quarter at an average price of approximately $48.86 for a total of $16 million. Since February 2010 we have repurchased 5.8 million shares (50%) at an average price of approximately $34. We plan to continue to repurchase shares opportunistically as we move forward. In the last twelve months, we have added nearly $35 million in receivables, repurchased $42 million of our common stock, funded $2.3 million in net capital expenditures, and increased inventory by $3.5 million to support higher sales levels with only a $34 million increase in debt. Our balance sheet is still very strong with debt to finance receivables ratio of 30.4% compared to 25.3% at this time last year,” added Ms. Judy. “We will continue to focus on strong cash-on-cash returns while being mindful of the continuing infrastructure investment needs in the key areas of the business.”

For earnings history and earnings-related data on America's Car Mart (CRMT) click here.