Cash America Rings Up the Cash: Fool by Numbers

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On Jan. 25, payday lender Cash America (NYSE: CSH) released Q4 2006 earnings for the period ended Dec. 31.

• Revenues increased 26% to $215.4 million.
• Profits rose 32% to $21.7 million or $0.71 per share, compared with $16.6 million or $0.60 per share a year ago.
• Short-term cash advances fees rose 80% year over year to $71.9 million.
• Cash America has a three-star rating at Motley Fool CAPS.

(Figures in thousands, except per-share data)

Income Statement Highlights

	Avg. Est.	Q4 2005	Q4 2004	Change
Sales	$192,700	$215,393	$171,015	25.9%
Net Profit	--	$21,698	$16,653	30.3%
EPS	$0.73	$0.71	$0.60	18.3%
Diluted Shares	--	30,561	30,169	1.3%

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

Margin Checkup

	Q4 2005	Q4 2004	Change*
Gross Margin	70.74%	60.81%	9.93
Operating Margin	17.31%	16.61%	0.70
Net Margin	10.07%	9.74%	0.33

*Expressed in percentage points.

Margins are the earnings engine. See how they work.

Balance Sheet Highlights

Assets	Q4 2005	Q4 2004	Change
Cash + ST Invest.	$25,723	$18,852	36.4%
Accounts Rec.	$25,373	$22,048	15.1%
Inventory	$87,060	$72,683	19.8%

Liabilities	Q4 2005	Q4 2004	Change
Accounts Payable*	$92,368	$37,217	148.2%
Long-Term Debt	$202,963	$149,208	36.0%

*Includes accrued expenses.

Learn the ways of the balance sheet.

Cash Flow Highlights
Bad news: No cash flow statement was provided with the press release.

Find out why Fools always follow the money.

Related Companies:

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

Related Foolishness:

• Foolish Forecast: Cash America's Still Gold
• Cash America Clicks With Payday Loans
• Previewing 2007: Cash America
• 2006 in Review: Cash America

Advance America is a recommendation of Motley Fool Inside Value. Take 30-day guest pass to view all of the market-beating picks in the service, and see why Advance America is a four-star stock in the new Motley Fool CAPS investor-intelligence community.

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 of what the numbers mean.

At the time of publication, Fool contributor Rich Duprey had no positions in any of the companies mentioned in the article. Fool rules are here.