Car-Mart to report its 2Q income today
Bentonville-based America's Car-Mart Inc. will announce its second-quarter earnings today after market close and will hold a conference call at 10 a.m. Friday.
The average estimate of six analysts predicts earnings of 70 cents per share for the quarter that ended Oct. 31, with the average of three analysts' predictions on revenue for the quarter coming in at $151.77 million.
In August, the company reported first-quarter profit for fiscal 2016 at $4.6 million, or 52 cents per share, compared with $7.3 million, or 79 cents per share, for the first quarter of fiscal 2015. The average estimate of six analysts projected earnings of 86 cents per share for the quarter.
The buy-here, pay-here used-car dealer runs 146 dealerships in 11 states.
The conference call may be heard at 10 a.m. Friday by dialing (877) 776-4031. Callers should dial in 10 minutes before the call starts. A replay will begin two hours after the call is completed. It will be available for the next 30 days at (855) 859-2056 and can be accessed with the conference ID number 76319041.
-- John Magsam
Bank of Ozarks stock sale nets $3M for 2
George Gleason, chairman and chief executive officer of Bank of the Ozarks, and his wife, Linda, a bank director, exercised options on 84,000 shares of the bank's stock last week, according to a filing with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.
The couple made a profit of $3,065,160 on the transaction.
The Gleasons acquired the shares Friday for about $15.93 each, or $1,338,120 total. They sold the stock Friday for an average of $52.42 a share, or a total of $4,403,280.
The Gleasons own more than 5.8 million shares of the bank valued at more than $310 million.
-- David Smith
Index picks up 4.72; Dillard's gains 3.2%
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, climbed 4.72 to 332.33 Wednesday.
"U.S. stocks surged to session highs after the release of Federal Reserve minutes revealed that a majority of policymakers were open to a rate hike in December," said John Blackwell, senior vice president and managing director of equity trading at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock.
Dillard's shares rose 3.2 percent in heavy trading.
Murphy Oil rose 2.8 percent on light volume.
Total volume of the index was 28.4 million shares.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 11/19/2015