Advance America, Cash Advance Centers Outruns Estimates Again

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Advance America, Cash Advance Centers (NYS: AEA) reported earnings on Feb. 22. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended Dec. 31 (Q4), Advance America, Cash Advance Centers beat expectations on revenues and crushed expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue expanded and GAAP earnings per share expanded significantly.

Margins increased across the board.

Revenue details
Advance America, Cash Advance Centers notched revenue of $182.2 million. The three analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ expected sales of $175.0 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 14% higher than the prior-year quarter's $160.3 million.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
Non-GAAP EPS came in at $0.52. The three earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ forecast $0.28 per share on the same basis. GAAP EPS of $0.43 for Q4 were 65% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.26 per share.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 73.3%, 100 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 21.8%, 310 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 14.5%, 470 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $166.4 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.34.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $696.4 million. The average EPS estimate is $1.17.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a three-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 352 members out of 395 rating the stock outperform, and 43 members rating it underperform. Among 129 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 120 give Advance America, Cash Advance Centers a green thumbs-up, and nine give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Advance America, Cash Advance Centers is hold, with an average price target of $10.50.

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At the time thisarticle was published Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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