America's Car-Mart (CRMT) Q2 Earnings: What's In The Cards?

America’s Car-Mart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRMT) is set to report second-quarter fiscal 2018 results, after the market closes on Nov 15.

The company beat estimates in three out of the four trailing quarters and met estimates once. Average surprise was 21% in the trailing four quarters.

Long-term earnings per share growth (three-five years) for the company are pegged at 19.5%.

In the last three months, shares of America’s Car-Mart gained 14.3% against 11.8% decline recorded by the industry it belongs to.

Let’s see, how things have shaped up for the upcoming announcement.

Factors Influencing This Quarter

America’s Car-Mart is a big automotive retailer in the United States, operating in the used-car market. The company aims to add dealerships selectively in good communities. Presently, the company operates 143 automotive dealerships in eleven 11 states.

In August 2018, America’s Car-Mart announced that it was opening a dealership in Fayetteville, AR, marking the second dealership opening for fiscal 2019. A few other dealership openings are under process. Further, the company continues to invest hugely in infrastructure in order to raise sales and receivable volume.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not conclusively show that America’s Car-Mart is likely to beat on earnings this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a favorable Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. But that is not the case here as you will see below.

Earnings ESP: America’s Car-Mart has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% as both the Zacks Consensus Estimate and the Most Accurate Estimate are currently pegged at $1.10. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: America’s Car-Mart currently carries a Zacks Rank #3.

Note that we caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is witnessing negative estimate revisions.

Stocks to Consider

Here are a few stocks worth considering from the same space, comprising the right combination of elements to come up with an earnings beat this time around:

Meritor, Inc. (NYSE:MTOR) has an Earnings ESP of +13.30% and is a Zacks #3 Ranked player.

AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) has an Earnings ESP of +0.08% and a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Navistar International Corporation (NYSE:NAV) has an Earnings ESP of +0.20% and a Zacks Rank #3.

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