CarMax, Inc. (NYSE:KMX) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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Enrique Mayor-Mora: The only piece I’d add to that from an inventory mix standpoint is like for customers over 25% of our cars are less than $20,000. And last year, in the first quarter, that was closer to 20%, right? So now we’re up over 25%. So in terms of customers, we are mixing the right inventory to make sure we’re being as affordable as we can.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question will come from Scot Ciccarelli with Truist. Your line is open.

Scot Ciccarelli: Good morning, guys.

Bill Nash: Hey, Scot.

Scot Ciccarelli: Good morning. Can you help us understand what the exit comp rate was in the quarter? And then related to that, your 95% credit approval rate. Is that actually higher on a year-over-year basis? In other words, did traffic drop more than what you saw in — or what we saw in the comp results?

Bill Nash: I’ll take the comps and I’ll pass it over to Jon to talk about the other questions. So the way I think about the kind of the comp cadence, it was pretty steady throughout the whole quarter. I mean there wasn’t any remarkable difference month-to-month. If you look at the quarter as a whole, that’s kind of how each month basically performed. And then Jon I’ll toss it to you on the credit.

Jon Daniels: Yeah, on the 95% credit approval, right, again, that’s anybody that’s applying for credit, whether it be online or directly in the store where they start. That’s similar to what we’ve stated before. And I think, frankly, in this environment with the tightening that we’ve seen from the partner lenders and CAF. I think it just speaks to the robustness of our platform to maintain that level. So we feel real good about that number.

Scot Ciccarelli: Right. Can I have a follow-up question on that?

Bill Nash: Sure.

Scot Ciccarelli: If everyone’s tightening credit, how does the approval rates stay flat? Is it just fewer and fewer people and it’s better qualified people coming in? Like, is that the way to interpret that?

Jon Daniels: Sure. Yeah, fair question. And that speaks to the uniqueness of the platform. So let’s say, perhaps the approval still there, but it’s at a higher interest rate where you’re asking for a little more money down or get moved from lender A to lender B further down the platform. But again, that’s the benefit of having those multiple lenders and those multiple tiers is. We’re at least still able to provide some level of credit to the consumer to at least contemplate purchasing the car.

Scot Ciccarelli: So the approval includes changes in what those terms are. So like you know we’ll still preview.

Jon Daniels: That’s correct. It does. So it might not be as strong of an approval, and that’s sort of the tightening as opposed to maybe a single lender platform where it’s just, look, I can’t approve view period. We’ve got other lenders to provide alternatives.

Scot Ciccarelli: Got it. Super helpful. Thank you.

Bill Nash: Thanks, Scot.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question will come from Michael Montani with Evercore. Your line is open.

Michael Montani: Hey, thanks for taking the question. Just first off, I was wondering, if you could discuss at all, comp trends quarter-to-date. And then also what you’re seeing in terms of inventory levels. We had seen, I think, an increase now year-over-year to start the quarter. So I just wanted to understand that. And then I had a follow-up.

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