A sign is posted in front of a CarMax dealership on April 10, 2025 in Santa Rosa, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images
DETROIT — Shares of CarMax were down by more than 20% in trading Thursday after the used auto retailer missed Wall Street’s quarterly earnings and revenue expectations.
CarMax shares earlier in the day were trading under $45 — the stock’s lowest price since March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic closed down U.S. auto production and many retailers. The stock is down around 46% this year, with a less than $6.7 billion market cap.
The company’s results included revenue of roughly $6.6 billion, down 6% from a year earlier, and adjusted earnings per share of 99 cents. excluding some special factors, according to LSEG. Analysts surveyed by the financial markets data firm had expected earnings per share of $1.05 and revenue of $7.01 billion.
Other key results, such as sales and net income, were also down compared with a year earlier. The company’s overall vehicle sales fell 4.1% compared with the same period a year earlier, assisting in a roughly 28% decline in net income to $95.4 million.
CarMax CEO Bill Nash described the fiscal second quarter that ended Aug. 31 as “challenging” in the company’s quarterly release. He cited changing market conditions, a pull-ahead in sales earlier in the year due to tariff fear-buying and depreciation in its inventory fleet as some reasons for the company’s lackluster performance.
“For the quarter, each month was down year over year, and each month got a little weaker throughout the quarter,” Nash told investors on the company’s quarterly call on Thursday. “But certainly, we put ourselves in a better position with the start of this quarter, both on an inventory position as well as from a pricing standpoint.”
Shares of other car retailers were also down after CarMax’s results, as many investors and Wall Street analysts watch the company’s performance as an early barometer ahead of other quarterly reporting.
Shares of other vehicle retailers such as Group 1 Automotive, AutoNation, Sonic Automotive, Carvana and Lithia Motors were all down by roughly 5% or less during intraday trading midday Thursday.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that earnings per share for the quarter were adjusted.