Cash America Rings Up Sales: Fool by Numbers

On Oct. 26, pawnshop and payday lender Cash America (NYSE: CSH  ) released third-quarter earnings for the period ended Sept. 30.

• A 20% increase in cash advance fees helped fuel a 15% increase in consolidated net revenue.
• GAAP net income increased 35% to $12.9 million, because of higher pawn loans and merchandise sales.
• Cash America carries a two-star rating in Motley Fool CAPS.

(Figures in millions, except per-share data)

Income Statement Highlights

	Avg. Est.	Q3 2006	Q3 2005	Change
Sales	$160	$166	$145	14.4%
Net Profit	--	$13	$10	35.4%
EPS	$0.41	$0.42	$0.32	31.3%
Diluted Shares	--	31	30	1.4%

Get back to basics with a look at the income statement.

Margin Checkup

	Q3 2006	Q3 2005	Change*
Gross Margin**	72.04%	71.75%	0.29
Operating Margin	14.10%	11.85%	2.25
Net Margin	7.81%	6.60%	1.21

*Expressed in percentage points.
**Revenue less cost of disposed merchandise as a percent of sales.

Margins are the earnings engine. See how they work.

Balance Sheet Highlights

Assets	Q3 2006	Q3 2005	Change
Cash + ST Invest.	$30	$19	55.2%
Accounts Rec.	$24	$21	11.9%
Merch. Held for Sale	$83	$74	12.7%

Liabilities	Q3 2006	Q3 2005	Change
Accounts Payable	$51	$32	60.6%
Long-Term Debt	$201	$177	13.2%

Learn the ways of the balance sheet.

Cash Flow Highlights
This information wasn't available in the press release.

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Related Companies:

• Advance America (NYSE: AEA  )
• Dollar Financial (Nasdaq: DLLR  )
• EZCORP (Nasdaq: EZPW  )
• First Cash Financial (Nasdaq: FCFS  )
• QC Holdings (Nasdaq: QCCO  )

Related Foolishness:

• Cash America Clicks with Payday Loans
• New Advances for Advance America
• Easy-Peasy EZCORP

Advance America is a recommendation of Motley Fool Inside Value .

Fool by Numbers is designed to give you the raw earnings information in a timely fashion, putting all the numbers you need in one easy-to-read place. But at The Motley Fool, we believe numbers tell only part of the story, so check Fool.com for more of our in-depth discussion on what the numbers mean. For a fun new way to do research on stocks, check out CAPS, the Fool's new investment community.

At the time of publication, Fool contributor Rich Duprey did not own shares in any of these companies. Fool rules are here.