America's Car-Mart (CRMT 7.80%) stock got itself in a one-car pile-up this morning, falling 21.6% through 10:05 a.m. ET after reporting a big fiscal first-quarter 2026 loss -- where Wall Street had expected a profit.
Analyst forecasts had the used-car dealer earning $0.83 per share on $359.2 million in Q1, which ended July 31, but the company had to admit it lost $0.69 per share instead. Revenue also came up short at $341.3 million.
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America's Car-Mart Q1 "earnings"
Not all the news was horrible. Sales by units moved declined 5.7%, but revenue declined only 1.9% -- so pricing was strong on the cars America's Car-Mart did manage to sell in the quarter. Indeed, the average price per car sold grew 1.4% year over year. Gross profit margin also expanded 160 basis points to 36.6%, and allowances for future credit losses (i.e., bad loans) as a percentage of sales declined modestly.
Is America's Car-Mart stock a sell?
So why did America's Car-Mart end up losing money? Reviewing the income statement, it appears higher selling, general, and administrative expenses exacerbated the shortfall in sales, and provisions for credit losses in the quarter rose as well. On the bottom line, losses per share more than quadrupled year over year, which explains why investors were upset. (Well, that, plus the fact that Wall Street had promised them a profit this quarter, and Car-Mart failed to deliver).
Ultimately, what we're looking at here is a used-car dealer that, while nominally "profitable," has burned cash for five years straight and now looks likely to burn cash again for a sixth year. And it's hard to call America's Car-Mart stock a buy with a record like that.
