America's CAR-MART Inc (CRMT) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to America's Car-Mart's third quarter fiscal 2025 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to hand the call over to Vickie Judy, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

感謝您的支持，歡迎參加美國汽車市場 2025 財年第三季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）現在我想將電話交給財務長 Vickie Judy。請繼續。

Good morning. I'm Vickie Judy, the company's Chief Financial Officer. Welcome to America's Car-Mart's third quarter fiscal year 2025 earnings call for the period ending January 31, 2025.

早安.我是 Vickie Judy，公司的財務長。歡迎參加美國汽車市場 2025 財年第三季財報電話會議，該期間截至 2025 年 1 月 31 日。

Joining me on the call today is Doug Campbell, our company's President and CEO; and Jamie Fischer, our COO.

今天與我一起參加電話會議的還有我們公司的總裁兼執行長 Doug Campbell；以及我們的營運長 Jamie Fischer。

We issued our earnings release earlier this morning, and it is available on our website along with supplemental slides detailing our cash-on-cash returns and our loan origination system performance improvements. We will post a transcript of our prepared remarks following this call, and the Q&A session will be available through the webcast.

我們今天早上發布了收益報告，您可以在我們的網站上查看，同時還可以查看補充幻燈片，其中詳細介紹了我們的現金回報率和貸款發放系統績效改進情況。我們將在本次電話會議結束後發布我們準備好的發言記錄，問答環節將透過網路直播進行。

During today's call, certain statements make may be considered forward-looking and inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from management's present view. These statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The company cannot guarantee the accuracy of any forecast or estimate, nor does it undertake any obligation to update such forward-looking statements. For more information, including important cautionary notes, please see part one of the company's annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2024, and our current and quarterly reports furnished to or filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Forms 8-K and 10-Q.

在今天的電話會議中，某些聲明可能被視為前瞻性的，並且本質上涉及風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與管理層目前的觀點之間存在重大差異。這些聲明是根據 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》的安全港條款作出的。本公司不能保證任何預測或估計的準確性，也不承擔任何更新此類前瞻性陳述的義務。欲了解更多信息，包括重要的警示說明，請參閱公司截至 2024 年 4 月 30 日的財政年度的 10-K 表年度報告第一部分，以及我們向美國證券交易委員會提交或備案的 8-K 表和 10-Q 表當前報告和季度報告。

As a note, the comparisons that we will cover will be the third quarter of fiscal 2025 versus the third quarter of fiscal 2024, unless otherwise stated.

需要注意的是，除非另有說明，我們將比較 2025 財年第三季與 2024 財年第三季。

Doug will start off with highlights of the quarter and share updates on our progress towards our strategic goals. Doug, I'll turn it over to you now.

道格將從本季的亮點開始，並分享我們實現策略目標的最新進展。道格，現在我將把它交給你。

Thank you, Vickie. Over the past 18 months, we've been hard at work improving our operations and strengthening our foundation, and this only happens when you have the right talent, and we've continued to invest in this area.

謝謝你，薇琪。在過去的 18 個月裡，我們一直在努力改善我們的營運並加強我們的基礎，而這只有當你擁有合適的人才時才會發生，我們一直在這個領域持續投資。

Speaking of talent, I'm joined by Jamie for the first time here on the call. The environment for our customers is challenging, highlighted by persistent inflationary trends, higher used car prices and elevated interest rates. Throughout this period, we have maintained our position on the importance of originating better quality credit while never losing focus of the core values we provide our employees, customers and communities.

說到才華，這是我第一次和傑米一起參加電話會議。我們的客戶所面臨的環境充滿挑戰，突顯持續的通貨膨脹趨勢、二手車價格上漲和利率上升。在此期間，我們始終堅持提供更優質信貸的重要性，同時從未忽視我們為員工、客戶和社區提供的核心價值。

As mentioned on the last call, our recent focus has been to improve and diversify our balance sheet by adding new capital and lenders as well as improving our highly successful securitization program. Our ABL facility has been a core source of funding for over four decades, and I'm pleased to report that on February 28, 2025, we completed an extension and upsizing of the facility to $350 million, which now matures in March of 2027. This transaction represents an important milestone for the company, and we deeply appreciate the support of our existing and new relationships with our ABL partners.

正如上次電話會議中所提到的，我們最近的重點是透過增加新資本和貸款人以及改進我們非常成功的證券化計劃來改善和多樣化我們的資產負債表。我們的 ABL 融資機制四十多年來一直是我們的核心資金來源，我很高興地報告，2025 年 2 月 28 日，我們完成了該機制的擴建和擴大，金額達到 3.5 億美元，將於 2027 年 3 月到期。這項交易對公司來說是一個重要的里程碑，我們非常感謝 ABL 合作夥伴對我們現有和新關係的支持。

We also completed our sixth ABS transaction in January. This transaction was $200 million in size and was more than 10 times oversubscribed. We believe the capital markets are recognizing the success of the contracts underwritten by our enhanced LOS. This enabled us to have the tightest spreads that we've had to date and resulted in an overall weighted average life adjusted coupon of 6.49%, a 95 basis point improvement from our October transaction.

我們還在一月完成了第六筆 ABS 交易。此次交易規模達2億美元，超額認購10倍以上。我們相信，資本市場正在認可我們增強的 LOS 承保的合約的成功。這使我們獲得了迄今為止最小的利差，並導致整體加權平均壽命調整票面利率為 6.49%，比我們 10 月的交易提高了 95 個基點。

The ABS market is an important source for us given its material improvement in the advance rate relative to the ABL and access to additional capital. Combined, our new ABL facility and recently closed ABS transaction have further improved our capital position, allowing us to turn our attention to other capital sources that will make our capital structure more competitive and efficient. We are focused on the next steps of our funding toolkit and eager to pass on these savings to our customers and shareholders.

ABS 市場對我們來說是一個重要的來源，因為其相對於 ABL 的預付率有實質的提高，並且可以獲得額外資本。綜合起來，我們的新 ABL 工具和最近完成的 ABS 交易進一步改善了我們的資本狀況，使我們能夠將注意力轉向其他資本來源，從而使我們的資本結構更具競爭力和效率。我們專注於融資工具包的下一步，並渴望將這些節省的資金轉嫁給我們的客戶和股東。

In January, we hired Sam Smith as our Vice President of Capital Markets and Treasury to help support our growing ABS platform and capital market strategy. Sam is a proven leader with over 20 years of experience in investment banking and the securitization markets. Additionally, during the quarter, Josh Smith joined our team as Chief Technology Officer, and brings a wealth of knowledge and technical skills to our leadership team, having served in various technology-focused leadership roles over the last 27 years. I've continually talked about the importance of developing and attracting proven leaders to Car-Mart, and I'm pleased with the progress that we're making.

一月份，我們聘請了 Sam Smith 擔任資本市場和財務副總裁，以幫助支援我們不斷發展的 ABS 平台和資本市場策略。Sam 是一位經驗豐富的領導者，在投資銀行和證券化市場擁有 20 多年的經驗。此外，在本季度，喬許史密斯（Josh Smith）加入我們的團隊擔任首席技術官，並為我們的領導團隊帶來了豐富的知識和技術技能，他在過去 27 年中曾擔任過各種以技術為中心的領導職務。我一直在談論培養和吸引經驗豐富的領導者加入 Car-Mart 的重要性，我對我們的進展感到滿意。

With this overview, let's turn to the third quarter operating results. Jamie?

有了這個概述，讓我們來看看第三季的經營業績。傑米？

Thanks, Doug, and good morning, everyone. I am pleased to report on the progress we are making, including the successful actions we have taken to strengthen our operations. Before I begin, I just want to take a moment to express my gratitude. I joined the team approximately five months ago, and I'm incredibly thankful to work alongside such an amazing leadership team and dedicated associates. I'm thrilled to be part of the Car-Mart family, not only because there are great people here, but also because there is so much potential to better help a customer base that needs it most. I look forward to all that we will accomplish together. Now let's dive into the details of this quarter's operational results.

謝謝，道格，大家早安。我很高興地報告我們取得的進展，包括我們為加強營運而採取的成功行動。在開始之前，我只想花一點時間來表達我的感激之情。我大約五個月前加入了這個團隊，我非常感謝能夠與如此出色的領導團隊和敬業的同事一起工作。我很高興成為 Car-Mart 大家庭的一員，不僅因為這裡有優秀的人才，還因為我們有很大潛力可以更好地幫助最需要幫助的客戶群。我期待我們共同完成一切。現在讓我們深入了解本季的營運業績細節。

I will start off with revenue. Total revenue increased by 8.7% despite average selling prices declining by 90 basis points. The primary driver was higher sales volume, which I will cover in more detail in a moment. Secondly, a 5.1% increase in interest income was driven by overall receivables growth of $31 million year-over-year and the portfolio's weighted average interest rate was approximately 50 basis points higher.

我先從收入開始。儘管平均售價下降了 90 個基點，但總收入仍成長了 8.7%。主要驅動因素是更高的銷售量，稍後我將詳細介紹。其次，利息收入成長 5.1% 是由於整體應收帳款年增 3,100 萬美元，且投資組合的加權平均利率高出約 50 個基點。

Finally, we made a price increase to our service contract product suite during the quarter. Our intention is to better cover the rising cost of both parts and labor repair rates seen throughout our industry. These price increases have had no meaningful change in the product's penetration rate to date.

最後，我們在本季提高了服務合約產品套件的價格。我們的目的是更好地彌補整個行業不斷上漲的零件成本和人工維修費用。到目前為止，這些價格上漲對該產品的普及率沒有任何顯著變化。

Switching over to sales. Sales volumes were up 13.2% for the quarter. The operations team did an incredible job executing on the plan this quarter. This plan included an acceleration of the launch of our annual tax season promotion in December rather than January, which led to a 3.6% increase in prequalified leads, coupled with stronger conversion year-over-year. This was due in part to utilization of our new customer relationship management tool that rolled out late summer of last year and helped improve lead management.

轉行做銷售。本季銷售量成長了13.2%。本季度營運團隊在執行計劃方面表現出色。該計劃包括將我們的年度稅收季節促銷活動的推出時間從 1 月提前到 12 月，這導致預審合格線索增加了 3.6%，同時轉換率也比去年同期更高。這在一定程度上歸功於我們利用了去年夏末推出的新客戶關係管理工具，有助於改善潛在客戶管理。

We also proactively increased the volume of inventory as we expanded our front lines much earlier than last year, putting us in a better inventory position as we head into our spring selling and tax season. Additionally, the underperformance in the prior year quarter was driven by intentionally tightened lending policies established during the rollout and implementation of the company's LOS that appropriately reduce risk, but negatively impacted volumes. Vickie will speak more in a little bit about how those lending policies have continually contributed to improved portfolio performance.

我們還主動增加了庫存量，因為我們比去年更早擴大了前線，這使我們在進入春季銷售和稅收季節時處於更好的庫存狀況。此外，去年同期業績表現不佳的原因是，公司在推出和實施貸款政策期間有意收緊了貸款政策，雖然適當降低了風險，但對貸款量產生了負面影響。維姬稍後會詳細介紹這些貸款政策如何持續促進投資組合績效的改善。

Looking at gross margin. Gross margin was 35.7% compared to 34.2%. The initiatives around vehicle procurement and vehicle disposal continue to drive improvements in affordability, wholesale retention and the resulting gross margin percentage. These improvements were partially offset by increased accident protection plan claims primarily related to recent weather events. We are pleased with the continuing progress in improving the gross margin percentage, and we'll continue to be focused on driving to the 37% to 38% annualized gross margin that we've mentioned in prior quarters.

看看毛利率。毛利率為 35.7%，去年同期為 34.2%。圍繞車輛採購和車輛處置的舉措繼續推動可負擔性、批發保留率和由此產生的毛利率的提高。這些改進被主要與近期天氣事件有關的事故保護計劃索賠的增加部分抵消。我們對毛利率不斷提高感到高興，我們將繼續致力於實現前幾季提到的 37% 至 38% 的年化毛利率。

I'll now turn it over to Vickie to cover our financial results.

現在我將把時間交給 Vickie 來介紹我們的財務表現。

Thanks, Jamie. As mentioned in the press release, we had improved net charge-offs as a percentage of average finance receivables for the quarter at 6.1% compared to 6.8% in the prior year quarter and 6.6% sequentially. On a relative basis, we saw overall improvement in the frequency of losses as well as a slight improvement in severity. In the finance receivable pools originated in fiscal years 2022 and 2023, we continue to experience increases in the frequency of losses as can be seen in the cash-on-cash return table included in the release. The fiscal year 2024 pool performance, while improved over the fiscal 2022 and 2023 pools, also experienced a higher frequency of losses, particularly related to contracts originated prior to the rollout of the LOS system and the tightened underwriting.

謝謝，傑米。如新聞稿中所提到的，本季淨沖銷額佔平均財務應收款的百分比已提高至 6.1%，而去年同期為 6.8%，上一季為 6.6%。相對而言，我們看到損失發生頻率整體上有所改善，嚴重程度也略有改善。在 2022 財年和 2023 財年產生的應收融資款池中，我們持續經歷損失頻率的增加，如新聞稿中所包含的現金回報率表所示。2024 財年的保險池業績雖然比 2022 財年和 2023 財年的保險池有所改善，但損失頻率也更高，特別是與 LOS 系統推出和承保收緊之前簽訂的合約有關的損失。

Receivables originated in fiscal 2023 and prior account for approximately 21% of the total portfolio at January 31, 2025.

截至 2025 年 1 月 31 日，2023 財政年度及之前的應收帳款約佔總投資組合的 21%。

The allowance for credit losses as a percentage of finance receivables, net of deferred revenue and accident protection plan claims, was 24.31% at quarter end, improved from 24.72% at October 31, 2024, and 25.74% at January 31, 2024. This reduction in the allowance is primarily a result of the continued performance of the receivables originated under the LOS, which now accounts for 58% of the total portfolio balance, excluding acquisition receivables.

信貸損失準備金佔應收財務款項（扣除遞延收入和意外傷害保障計劃索賠）的百分比在季度末為 24.31%，高於 2024 年 10 月 31 日的 24.72% 和 2024 年 1 月 31 日的 25.74%。撥備減少主要是由於 LOS 項下產生的應收帳款持續表現良好，目前佔總投資組合餘額（不包括收購應收帳款）的 58%。

Our average originating term was 44.6 months, up from 43.3 compared to the prior year quarter and up slightly from 44.2 sequentially. We continue to optimize the distribution of the term by customer score, shortening term for our highest credit risk customers and allowing additional term for our best credit scoring customers.

我們的平均發起期限為 44.6 個月，比去年同期的 43.3 個月有所上升，比上一季的 44.2 個月略有上升。我們繼續根據客戶評分優化期限分配，縮短信用風險最高的客戶的期限，並為信用評分最高的客戶提供額外期限。

At the end of the quarter, the weighted average total contract term for the portfolio was 48.3 months, the weighted average age was 12.6 months, a 7% improvement over the prior year quarter. We continue to make progress on boosting overall collections, which are up 5.2% over last year. This was also a sequential improvement from the second quarter. The monthly average total collected per active customer was $568 compared to $540 at the same period last fiscal year.

本季末，該投資組合的加權平均總合約期限為 48.3 個月，加權平均年齡為 12.6 個月，比去年同期提高了 7%。我們在提高整體收藏量方面繼續取得進展，比去年增長了 5.2%。這也是較第二季度有所改善。每位活躍客戶每月平均總收入為 568 美元，而上一財年同期為 540 美元。

Delinquencies or accounts over 30 days past due increased 40 basis points to 3.7% at quarter end and were 20 basis points higher than the second quarter of fiscal 2025. Winter weather late in the month of January contributed to the delinquencies as our customers' work was impacted. However, delinquencies have improved since quarter end. Recency was 81.3% for the quarter, compared to 80.4% for the same period last fiscal year.

截至本季末，拖欠或逾期 30 天以上的帳戶增加了 40 個基點，達到 3.7%，比 2025 財年第二季高出 20 個基點。一月下旬的冬季天氣影響了我們客戶的工作，從而導致了拖欠款項。然而，自本季末以來，拖欠情況有所改善。本季的新近率為 81.3%，而上財年同期的新近率為 80.4%。

SG&A expense was up $2.9 million, an increase of 6.7%. This was primarily driven by a $1.8 million increase related to the two acquisitions completed since last year and higher stock compensation. In the short term, these two acquisitions create headwinds in our ability to leverage SG&A on a per customer basis while they build out a portfolio of customers. These acquisitions are expected to add 5,000 or more accounts over the next 18 to 24 months. Sequentially, SG&A decreased $947,000.

銷售、一般及行政費用增加了 290 萬美元，增幅為 6.7%。這主要是由於自去年以來完成的兩次收購帶來的 180 萬美元的增長以及股票薪酬的增加。短期內，這兩次收購會阻礙我們在建立客戶組合的同時利用每位客戶的銷售、一般和行政費用的能力。預計這些收購將在未來 18 至 24 個月內增加 5,000 個或更多帳戶。銷售、一般及行政費用連續減少 947,000 美元。

We continue to stay focused on the efficiencies we can find in the business while continuing to build a foundation of people and technology to support a growing customer base.

我們將繼續專注於提高業務效率，同時繼續建立人才和技術基礎，以支援不斷增長的客戶群。

Interest expense increased by $192,000 or 1.1%. Sequentially, we had a decrease of $1.1 million in interest expense as we begin to benefit from the improvement in benchmark rates as well as the positive impacts from our recent improvements in securitization rates.

利息支出增加了192,000美元，即1.1%。由於我們開始受益於基準利率的提高以及近期證券化利率提高帶來的正面影響，我們的利息支出減少了 110 萬美元。

At January 31, 2025, we had $8.5 million in unrestricted cash and approximately $75 million drawn on the ABL facility. With the amended and extended ABL facility now in place, our priority will be to continue to further diversify our capital structure.

截至 2025 年 1 月 31 日，我們擁有 850 萬美元的非限制現金和約 7,500 萬美元的 ABL 貸款。隨著修訂和延長的 ABL 工具的實施，我們的首要任務是繼續進一步實現資本結構多樣化。

Now I'll turn the call back to Doug.

現在我將把電話轉回給 Doug。

Thanks, Vickie. Before moving on to Q&A, I want to provide more color on the health of our consumer, our perspective on macro factors impacting our industry and how Car-Mart is uniquely positioned to serve customers in this type of environment. Used car affordability is a major concern for both our customers and our industry and has been for some time.

謝謝，薇琪。在進入問答環節之前，我想進一步了解我們消費者的健康狀況、我們對影響我們行業的宏觀因素的看法，以及 Car-Mart 如何在這種環境下為客戶提供獨特的服務。二手車的可負擔性一直是我們的客戶和行業關注的主要問題。

In addition, recent developments out of Washington related to tariffs and other potential impacts has created further uncertainties for how consumers might navigate a new environment. Our business is focused on taking care of working people, who find themselves in financial hardship, by providing them with basic quality transportation. The work that we've done as a company by centralizing certain functions, finding new sources of inventory and tightening underwriting standards will help us navigate the environment more effectively should some of these changes come to fruition.

此外，華盛頓最近有關關稅和其他潛在影響的進展也為消費者如何應對新環境帶來了進一步的不確定性。我們的業務重點是照顧陷入經濟困難的勞工，為他們提供基本的優質交通服務。作為一家公司，我們透過集中某些職能、尋找新的庫存來源和收緊承保標準所做的工作將幫助我們在這些變化得以實現時更有效地駕馭環境。

We've been focused on improved deal structures that add a margin of safety into our customers' households with the LOS. In addition, we would expect to have a larger addressable market as consumers that could get credit easily in the past will now be at the top of our sales funnel.

我們一直致力於改進交易結構，透過 LOS 為客戶的家庭增加安全邊際。此外，我們期望擁有更大的目標市場，因為過去可以輕鬆獲得信貸的消費者現在將處於我們的銷售管道的頂端。

Our company has weathered many cycles over our 43 year history, which gives us confidence we can help customers navigate this uncertainty. We are laser focused on what we can control, which is providing affordable financial solutions for vehicle ownership and exceptional service to customers who typically feel the greatest pressure in difficult and uncertain economic environments. This is especially true as we enter the seasonally strong fourth quarter and spring selling season.

我們公司在 43 年的發展歷程中經歷了許多周期，這使我們有信心幫助客戶應對這種不確定性。我們專注於我們能夠控制的事情，即為車輛擁有者提供可負擔的金融解決方案，並為那些在困難和不確定的經濟環境中通常感受到最大壓力的客戶提供卓越的服務。當我們進入季節性強勁的第四季和春季銷售季節時，情況尤其如此。

We've added inventory, fine-tuned our marketing strategy and feel good about our position heading into this important time of the year. We continue to pursue opportunities to improve deal structures with risk-based pricing, and now have 34 stores who are actively utilizing our new scorecard and testing price elasticity on both ends of our customer ranks. We'll share more in detail what we're learning and the opportunities it's creating for the company after the tax season.

我們增加了庫存，調整了行銷策略，並對我們在這一年中的重要時刻所處的地位感到滿意。我們繼續尋求機會透過基於風險的定價來改善交易結構，現在有 34 家商店正在積極使用我們的新記分卡並測試客戶隊伍兩端的價格彈性。我們將更詳細地分享我們所了解的情況以及納稅季節後它為公司創造的機會。

One of the items that we can control are continued investments in our platform. This includes ongoing investments we're making to improve our collections infrastructure to make the process easier for our customers and associates. Achieving this critical operational improvement this year sets us up to scale the business, enhance funding and improve earnings with less risk as we move forward.

我們可以控制的事情之一是對我們平台的持續投資。這包括我們正在進行的持續投資，以改善我們的收款基礎設施，使我們的客戶和同事能夠更輕鬆地完成收款流程。今年實現這項關鍵的營運改善將使我們能夠在未來擴大業務規模、增加資金並以更低的風險提高收益。

While we're pleased with the progress that we've made during the third quarter, we remain cautious about the macro environment. By focusing on the fundamentals of our business, we are positioning ourselves for continued success and future growth. Rest assured that these challenges have made and will make your company better and will serve us in good stead going forward. So with this overview, we'll move on to the Q&A session now. Operator, please provide instructions to ask questions.

雖然我們對第三季的進展感到滿意，但我們對宏觀環境仍持謹慎態度。透過專注於業務基礎，我們為持續成功和未來成長做好了準備。請放心，這些挑戰已經並使貴公司變得更好，並將為我們未來的發展提供良好的服務。有了這個概述，我們現在將進入問答環節。接線員，請提供提問的指示。

(Operator Instructions) Kyle Joseph, Stephens.

（操作員指示）凱爾·約瑟夫，史蒂芬斯。

A couple here, but just wanted to dive into the unit recovery. I know you guys mentioned there were some impacts from underwriting last year and then kind of a new program moving up kind of tax refund and sales. But just in terms of underwriting, can you tell us where you guys are year-over-year? I know you guys mentioned risk-based pricing and everything, but in terms of tightening versus loosening, I know you guys highlighted that you're still cautious overall, but give us a sense of where underwriting has trended over the past year?

這裡有一對夫婦，但只是想深入了解單位恢復情況。我知道你們提到過，去年核保產生了一些影響，然後新的計畫又提高了退稅和銷售額。但就承保而言，您能告訴我們你們的承保情況與去年同期相比如何嗎？我知道你們提到了基於風險的定價等等，但就收緊還是放鬆而言，我知道你們強調總體上仍然保持謹慎，但請讓我們了解一下過去一年承保的趨勢如何？

Kyle, thanks for the question. Yeah, if you remember last year, we had just rolled out the LOS, and we were down 19.9% in the third quarter. And admittedly, we had said, "Hey, we probably are too tight. And so we're going to work on releasing or relaxing some of that over time and trying to be really thoughtful and smart about that." The run rate that we currently have sort of implies that relative to the fiscal year '23 volumes, which is the comp in that period of time, that would probably be down 6% to 8% versus fiscal year '23, which is the high watermark that we've had over time. So we've certainly done a lot to grab and go back and get some of that volume. And I think there's more that we can still do around that, but we've really been focused on risk-based pricing and how maybe we can do that in a differentiated way versus an overall relaxing of some of our core controls.

凱爾，謝謝你的提問。是的，如果您還記得去年，我們剛剛推出了 LOS，第三季我們的營收下降了 19.9%。而且不可否認的是，我們曾說過，「嘿，我們可能太緊張了。因此，我們將逐步解除或放寬其中的一些限制，並嘗試對此進行深思熟慮和明智思考。 」我們目前的運行率意味著，相對於 23 財年的銷量（即該時期的比較），這可能會比 23 財年的銷量下降 6% 到 8%，這是我們長期以來的最高水位。因此，我們確實做了很多工作來獲取並恢復部分數量。我認為我們還可以在這方面做更多的事情，但我們真正關注的是風險定價，以及如何以差異化的方式做到這一點，而不是整體放鬆一些核心控制。

Got it. Very helpful. And then, Vickie, I know you talked about the impact of weather on delinquencies. I know it's probably tough to isolate or quantify exactly what that was, but can you give us a sense if there's any way to isolate the impact of the weather, what DQs would have done or what they've done kind of in -- or what they did in February, I guess?

知道了。非常有幫助。然後，維姬，我知道你談到了天氣對拖欠的影響。我知道可能很難確切地隔離或量化那是什麼，但你能否告訴我們是否有辦法隔離天氣的影響，DQ 會做什麼或他們在 2 月做了什麼？

Yeah. I mean, like you said, it's hard to isolate that in particular, but we did see them trend back down pretty quickly and in line with our expectations.

是的。我的意思是，就像你說的，很難具體地將其孤立出來，但我們確實看到它們趨勢很快回落並且符合我們的預期。

Got it. Okay. And then last one for me, Vickie, on the acquisitions. Can you just remind us of the timing of when those close? And how quickly you expect them to ramp towards, I think you talked about 5,000 new accounts, just to help us with modeling on the G&A side?

知道了。好的。最後我想問維姬，關於收購的問題。您能提醒我們這些關閉的時間嗎？您預計他們能多快實現這一目標，我記得您說過要開設 5,000 個新帳戶，只是為了幫助我們在 G&A 方面進行建模？

Sure. We closed on the one dealership in Hot Springs, Arkansas, last December. So there would have been -- half of the prior year quarter had some impact from that acquisition. The more impactful one is the Texas Auto Center dealerships, two large dealerships that we closed on in June of this year. And those are the ones that we've talked about that are large dealerships selling higher volumes than our stores -- our legacy stores are, and that's where most of the impact is coming from. And there was no SG&A, obviously, from those two locations in the prior year quarter.

當然。去年 12 月，我們關閉了位於阿肯色州溫泉城的一家經銷店。因此，去年同期的一半業績受到了此次收購的影響。影響更大的是德州汽車中心經銷店，這是我們今年 6 月關閉的兩家大型經銷店。我們已經討論過那些大型經銷商，它們的銷售量比我們的商店（我們的傳統商店）要高，而這些商店受到的影響最大。顯然，去年同期這兩個地點沒有銷售、一般及行政費用。

John Murphy, Bank of America.

美國銀行的約翰‧墨菲。

Just a first question on provisioning. Obviously, that was a big benefit in the quarter, and it seems to be due to a lot of your micro efforts on LOS. I'm just curious if you can parse out sort of the stress that your core consumer is under versus the benefits of the LOS. And it's really kind of a complicated question. I'm just trying to understand how negative the base case would have been, and how much benefit you're getting from the good efforts on LOS?

這是關於配置的第一個問題。顯然，這是本季度的一大收益，而且這似乎歸功於您在 LOS 上所做的大量微觀努力。我只是好奇您是否可以分析出您的核心消費者所承受的壓力與 LOS 帶來的好處。這確實是一個複雜的問題。我只是想知道基本情況會有多麼糟糕，以及你從 LOS 方面的努力中獲得了多少好處？

Yeah. I would say it's difficult to parse that out as well. But I think most of the benefits, we believe, are coming from how we're originating the paper. We're really dialed into looking at our different customer cohorts, what we're doing in terms of downs term and amount financed. And then when we add this risk-based pricing aspect on top of all of that, we believe that most of it is coming from the underwriting versus the consumer just being in a much better place because we don't believe that's the case.

是的。我想說，這也很難分析出來。但我認為，我們認為大部分好處都來自於我們創作論文的方式。我們真正關注的是不同的客戶群，以及我們在首付期限和融資金額方面所做的工作。然後，當我們在所有這些之上添加基於風險的定價因素時，我們認為大部分風險來自於承保，而消費者的處境則要好得多，因為我們不相信事實如此。

Yeah. I'd add additionally too, John. It's sort of a difficult question to answer, but the back book that we referred to, which was the paper we underwrote in fiscal year '21 through '23, that only represents a little over 20% of our portfolio at this point. Almost 60% of the portfolio is this new LOS, and that's under these new controls. I'd say that now we're sort of substantially more than half of the accounts are really under this. That's really sort of our focal point and the piece of the portfolio that like we've really been focused on trying to cure.

是的。我還要補充一點，約翰。這個問題有點難以回答，但我們提到的帳簿，也就是我們在 21 財年至 23 財年承銷的票據，目前僅占我們投資組合的 20% 多一點。幾乎 60% 的投資組合都是這個新的 LOS，並且受到這些新控制。我想說的是，現在我們有超過一半的帳戶確實處於這種狀態。這確實是我們的焦點，也是我們一直致力於解決的投資組合的一部分。

If you go back a year ago, we were worried about higher for longer, and we felt like we needed to build in that margin of safety. And we've been very, very reluctant to relax that just given the uncertainty looking forward. And now it looks like a great call that we've sort of put in place, but that gives our consumers a little bit of flexibility and helps us navigate them and less susceptible to what's going on in the broader macro, right?

如果回顧一年前，我們擔心價格會持續走高，並且我們覺得我們需要建立安全邊際。考慮到未來的不確定性，我們非常非常不願意放鬆這一點。現在看來，我們已經做出了一個很好的決定，但這也為我們的消費者提供了一點靈活性，並幫助我們引導他們，使他們不那麼容易受到宏觀經濟形勢的影響，對嗎？

They're not immune to it, but it certainly helps them sort of not be as susceptible as they would have been.

他們對此並非免疫，但這確實可以幫助他們不再像以前那麼容易受到感染。

That's helpful. And maybe just a follow-up for Jamie. It's great to hear you on the call, and welcome to the team. I'm just curious, and you were making the shift from one good company to another good company. Obviously, Doug and Vickie and the team are leading a really good company here. I'm just curious what your take is, though? Why you made the switch? What drew you to America's Car-Mart? And what sort of opportunities you see as the COO in your early days?

這很有幫助。也許只是對 Jamie 的後續行動。很高興在電話中聽到您的聲音，歡迎加入團隊。我只是好奇，你從一家好公司轉到了另一家好公司。顯然，Doug、Vickie 和團隊正在領導一家非常優秀的公司。我只是好奇你的看法是什麼？為什麼要做出這樣的改變？什麼吸引您來到美國汽車市場？您早期擔任營運長時看到了什麼樣的機會？

Yeah. Great. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Very happy to be here. And thank you for the question. We -- I've been here about five months or so. And I mentioned earlier, just super impressed and excited about the people of this organization. But I'd say a main driver -- the company that I came from is much bigger -- same segment of the subprime part of the industry, but much bigger, I'd say, call it, probably twice the size. And so at a company that big, it's really difficult to sort of move the needle. And so you heard Doug alluded to earlier some investments and our ability to change how we collect. And so it's really interesting projects like that for me that I think will give us the opportunity to really put my thumbprint on the success story of the organization. And I think that there's a lot of opportunities like that out there. So I'm really excited to be a part of that.

是的。偉大的。太感謝了。非常感謝。很高興來到這裡。感謝您的提問。我們──我來這裡大約有五個月了。我之前提到過，我對這個組織的人印象深刻，非常興奮。但我想說一個主要的驅動因素——我所在的公司要大得多——與次級抵押貸款行業屬於同一領域，但規模要大得多，我想說，可能是兩倍。因此，在這麼大的公司裡，要取得進展確實非常困難。所以你聽到道格之前提到的一些投資以及我們改變收集方式的能力。所以對我來說，這樣的專案真的很有趣，我認為這將給我們機會真正在組織的成功故事上留下我的印記。我認為還有很多這樣的機會。所以我很高興能成為其中的一員。

(Operator Instructions) Vincent Caintic, BTIG.

（操作員指示）Vincent Caintic，BTIG。

First, just wanted to get an update on what you're seeing so far in terms of the application pool? You talked about tax refund season, tax season. So maybe if you could give us an update if you're seeing anything so far in terms of both customers coming in as well as credit performance from tax refunds?

首先，您只是想了解一下目前應用程式集區方面的最新情況？您談到了退稅季節、報稅季節。那麼，如果您能向我們提供最新消息，請問您目前在客戶流入以及退稅信用表現方面有何進展？

And then you also highlighted in your prepared remarks about more customers coming into the funnel -- or the opportunity of more customers coming in, especially as maybe other lenders are tightening up on credit. Just wondering what you're seeing so far and if the application funnel is seeing some increase in volume and if that volume is higher quality customers?

然後，您還在準備好的演講中強調了更多客戶進入管道 - 或更多客戶進入的機會，特別是在其他貸方可能收緊信貸的情況下。只是想知道您目前看到了什麼，以及應用程式漏斗的數量是否增加，以及這些數量是否是更高品質的客戶？

Vincent, good to hear you, man. So tax season started off a little bit slower start. I think we all saw that. Our cumulative overall refunds now are sort of flat to last year, still down materially from like 2019 or sort of pre-COVID times. So we're still waiting on I feel like a good chunk of that money. And so we should hope to realize those sales here in the month of March here.

文森特，很高興聽到你的消息，老兄。因此，納稅季節開始時有點慢。我想我們都看到了這一點。我們現在的累計總退款額與去年基本持平，但仍比 2019 年或新冠疫情之前大幅下降。所以我們仍在等待，我覺得這筆錢還很大一部分。因此，我們希望在三月實現這些銷售。

Refunds were up on a per customer basis just slightly. We saw stronger demand than we saw last year from consumers. I think that's part and parcel with our advertising campaign. So last quarter, I mentioned that we were going to go to market earlier from our consumers, but we're also seeing that from some of the tax preparers that we work with that there's more demand from the consumers.

每位顧客的退款金額略有增加。我們發現消費者的需求比去年更強勁。我認為這是我們廣告活動不可或缺的一部分。因此，上個季度，我提到我們將更早地向消費者推出產品，但我們也從與我們合作的一些稅務準備人員那裡看到，消費者的需求越來越大。

And so when consumers are coming to you with their last paycheck in December instead of waiting on their 1099, that's usually a good indication that there's strong demand from the consumer side, that they need to get a hold of that money, and we're trying to make sure that we capitalize on that if there's a sales opportunity. And then also, obviously, we schedule a bunch of seasonal tax payments. And so what we've seen there is really great execution and sort of outperforming year-over-year. So we're really liking what we're seeing in and around there.

因此，當消費者在 12 月拿著他們的最後一張工資單來找你而不是等著 1099 表格時，這通常是一個很好的跡象，表明消費者方面有強勁的需求，他們需要獲得這筆錢，如果有銷售機會，我們會努力確保我們能夠利用這一點。而且，顯然，我們還會安排一系列季節性納稅。因此，我們看到的是執行效果確實非常出色，表現逐年優於預期。所以我們真的很喜歡那裡及其周圍所看到的一切。

For us -- it's also an opportunity for us to elongate the tax season, and we have thought about that historically as these really are sort of consumers that really need this money. But for the broader market, the tax season is generally longer. And so if we're focusing on going up funnel and serving to these broader 5- and 6- and 7-rated customers of better credit, it means we need to be prepared to stay in the market longer. And so we're going to test that as well this season. And so those sort of things are exciting.

對我們來說，這也是延長納稅季節的機會，我們從歷史上就考慮過這一點，因為這些消費者確實非常需要這筆錢。但對於更廣泛的市場而言，納稅季節通常更長。因此，如果我們專注於提升管道並為這些信用更好的 5 級、6 級和 7 級客戶提供服務，則意味著我們需要準備好在市場上停留更長時間。因此本賽季我們也將對此進行測試。所以這些事情是令人興奮的。

The overall application volume, as Jamie mentioned in her preprepared remarks, was up a little over 3.5%. And so that was good. I think more importantly there to note was the overall application volume sequentially that we're seeing was improved month-over-month. And we were coming out of January and what was like the strongest application volume in January that we've seen in a really long time. So all positive signs.

正如 Jamie 在她事先準備好的發言中提到的那樣，整體申請人數增加了 3.5% 多一點。這很好。我認為更重要的是，我們看到整體申請量逐月增加。一月份的申請量是我們很長一段時間以來最高的。所以全是正面的跡象。

The second question you had was around the opportunity in the sales funnel, I think, Vincent, which that, to me, sort of speaks to these broader trends. And our business was built for this sort of environment. And it's sort of counterintuitive maybe to most that like in this sort of environment where there's a lot of uncertainty that maybe we could thrive. But historically, if you go back and look over time, we've seen a lot of positivity in these sort of environments. It doesn't mean we're immune to the effects, but certainly, this is one of the value propositions of the company. And so we're seeing strong volume, strong website visits even through February. The consumers there are really focused on deploying money that they need to get through the winter season and upgrade their vehicles, et cetera. And I'm not sure that we're going to see any sort of immediate reaction here through to tax season. It would be interesting to see post tax season sort of what that really means.

文森特，我認為，你的第二個問題是關於銷售管道中的機會，對我來說，這在某種程度上反映了更廣泛的趨勢。我們的業務就是為這種環境而建立的。對大多數人來說，這也許有點違反直覺，因為在這種充滿不確定性的環境中，我們或許可以蓬勃發展。但從歷史上看，如果回顧過去，我們會發現在這樣的環境中存在著許多正面因素。這並不意味著我們不會受到影響，但毫無疑問，這是公司的價值主張之一。因此，即使在二月份，我們也看到網站流量仍然很高。那裡的消費者真正關注的是部署度過冬季和升級車輛等所需的資金。我不確定在納稅季節我們是否會看到任何形式的立即反應。看看稅後季節的真正意義將會很有趣。

Okay. Perfect. That's very helpful detail. And then my second follow-up question, just it seems like the process improvements you've had, the operational changes and then the loan origination system and all the other things you've done have had a meaningful impact. And I'm just wondering how much more we can go -- Car-Mart can go in terms of the benefits that we should continue to see from the loan origination system as well as some of the centralization and process improvements that you made?

好的。完美的。這是非常有用的細節。然後是我的第二個後續問題，看起來你們所做的流程改進、營運變革以及貸款發放系統和你們所做的所有其他事情都產生了有意義的影響。我只是想知道我們還能走多遠——就我們應該繼續從貸款發放系統以及您所做的一些集中化和流程改進中看到的好處而言，Car-Mart 還能走多遠？

Yeah. There's more to get from the process improvements. It was -- if you can believe it or not, it was only nine months ago we kicked off this Cox partnership, and we're still sort of in our first phase. There's a lot more that we can do there. And so I would expect us to continue to get the benefit and exploit some of the benefits from that partnership over time.

是的。流程改善可以帶來更多益處。不管你信不信，我們與考克斯的合作才剛開始九個月，目前仍處於第一階段。我們還可以做很多事。因此，我希望我們能夠繼續從這種合作關係中獲益，並隨著時間的推移利用其中的一些好處。

On the underwriting piece, I think there's an opportunity to go back, obviously, to maybe more relaxed standards. But more importantly, in this environment, we're looking at risk-based pricing and the opportunity that it might present for us. I think last time we spoke, we might have had 10 stores live. We're up to 34 stores live. We didn't want to sort of interrupt the tax season, but the learnings that we're getting there from over 1/5 of the organization on the platform now with this new scorecard are really promising.

在承保方面，我認為顯然有機會回到更寬鬆的標準。但更重要的是，在這種環境下，我們正在考慮基於風險的定價以及它可能為我們帶來的機會。我想我們上次談話時，我們可能有 10 家商店上線了。我們目前有 34 家商店。我們不想打擾納稅季，但是透過這個新的記分卡，我們從平台上超過 1/5 的組織獲得的經驗確實很有希望。

And so we'll have to see what that really means. I said I would bite my tongue and hold some more remarks around that until after the tax season, and I have more to share about the strategy that we'll employ. But certainly, given the broader macro factors, we're accelerating our learnings there and the efforts and how we might anchor our strategy for the balance of the calendar year.

所以我們必須看看這到底意味著什麼。我說過，我會保持沉默，等到納稅季節結束再發表更多評論，關於我們將採取的策略，我還有更多要分享的。但可以肯定的是，考慮到更廣泛的宏觀因素，我們正在加快學習和努力，以及如何在日曆年的平衡中鞏固我們的策略。

I would now like to turn the conference back to Doug Campbell for closing remarks. Sir?

現在我想請道格·坎貝爾 (Doug Campbell) 致閉幕詞。先生？

Thank you. It's an interesting time in automotive. I mentioned earlier that times like this, we've learned a lot. The company is in a different position and the whole marketplace, there's a lot of uncertainty around that. But our business is built in this season. We help our customers navigate environments like this every day. And so we are being more mindful, more diligent about some of the moves that we're making here, and we expect those to pay dividends for both our consumers and our shareholders. We look forward to the next update. Thank you very much for joining the call.

謝謝。這是汽車產業一個有趣的時期。我之前提到過，在這樣的時刻，我們學到了很多。公司處於不同的地位，整個市場也存在著許多不確定性。但我們的業務是在這個季節建立起來的。我們每天都會幫助客戶應對這樣的環境。因此，我們對我們正在採取的一些措施更加謹慎、更加勤勉，我們希望這些措施能為我們的消費者和股東帶來紅利。我們期待下一次更新。非常感謝您參加此次電話會議。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。