America’s Car-Mart (NASDAQ: CRMT) and KAR Auction Services (NYSE:KAR) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitabiliy, earnings and valuation.
Dividends
KAR Auction Services pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. America’s Car-Mart does not pay a dividend. KAR Auction Services pays out 77.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. America’s Car-Mart has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years.
Volatility and Risk
America’s Car-Mart has a beta of 0.95, suggesting that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, KAR Auction Services has a beta of 1.12, suggesting that its share price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
83.9% of America’s Car-Mart shares are held by institutional investors. 11.7% of America’s Car-Mart shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of KAR Auction Services shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for America’s Car-Mart and KAR Auction Services, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| America’s Car-Mart | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2.33 |
| KAR Auction Services | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3.00 |
America’s Car-Mart currently has a consensus price target of $41.00, indicating a potential upside of 6.63%. KAR Auction Services has a consensus price target of $54.00, indicating a potential upside of 28.60%. Given KAR Auction Services’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe KAR Auction Services is more favorable than America’s Car-Mart.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares America’s Car-Mart and KAR Auction Services’ revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | EBITDA | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| America’s Car-Mart | $587.75 million | 0.49 | $41.79 million | $2.50 | 15.38 |
| KAR Auction Services | $3.26 billion | 1.77 | $762.40 million | $1.66 | 25.30 |
KAR Auction Services has higher revenue and earnings than America’s Car-Mart. America’s Car-Mart is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than KAR Auction Services, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares America’s Car-Mart and KAR Auction Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| America’s Car-Mart | 3.43% | 8.82% | 4.80% |
| KAR Auction Services | 7.16% | 20.54% | 4.50% |
Summary
KAR Auction Services beats America’s Car-Mart on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About America’s Car-Mart
America’s Car-Mart, Inc. is an automotive retailer focused on the integrated auto sales and finance segment of the used car market. The Company conducts its operations through its two operating subsidiaries, America’s Car Mart, Inc. (Car-Mart of Arkansas) and Colonial Auto Finance, Inc. (Colonial) (Collectively, Car-Mart of Arkansas and Colonial are referred to as Car-Mart). It primarily sells older model used vehicles and provides financing for all of its customers. As of April 30, 2016, the Company operated 143 dealerships located primarily in small cities throughout the South-Central United States. Dealerships are operated on a decentralized basis. Each dealership is responsible for buying (with the assistance of a corporate office buyer) and selling vehicles, making credit decisions, and servicing and collecting the installment contracts it originates. Dealerships also maintain their own records and make daily deposits. The Company has both regular and satellite dealerships.
About KAR Auction Services
KAR Auction Services, Inc. is a provider of whole car auction services in North America, and salvage auction services in North America and the United Kingdom. The Company operates through three segments: ADESA, Inc. (ADESA Auctions or ADESA), Insurance Auto Auctions, Inc. (IAA) and Automotive Finance Corporation (AFC). The ADESA segment is a provider of whole car auctions and related services to the vehicle remarketing industry in North America. It serves its customer base through online auctions and auction facilities that are developed and located to draw professional sellers and buyers together, and allow the buyers to inspect and compare vehicles remotely or in person. As a provider of salvage vehicle auctions and related services, it operates as IAA in the United States and Impact Auto Auctions in Canada, and serves customer base through salvage auction locations throughout North America. The AFC segment provides floorplan financing to independent used vehicle dealers.
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