Cash America Q4 Profit From Cont. Ops. Rises - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Cash America International, Inc. (CSH) reported fourth-quarter net income from continuing operations of $7.49 million or $0.26 per share, compared to $7.31 million or $0.24 per share, prior year. Adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations was $0.31, for the quarter.

On average, seven analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report profit per share of $0.44 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Total revenue increased to $289.44 million from $271.05 million last year. Analysts expected revenue of $299.81 million for the quarter. Net revenue decreased slightly to $151.7 million from $152.4 million in the same period of 2013, as growth in pawn-related net revenue was offset by lower net fees from unsecured consumer loans.

The company estimates first-quarter net income from continuing operations per share to be between 20 cents and 30 cents. Analysts expect the company to report first-quarter earnings per share of $0.34.

The company expects fiscal 2015 earnings between 80 cents and $1.10 per share from continuing operations. Analysts expect the company to report fiscal year earnings per share of $1.23.

Cash America International, Inc. also announced that its board, at its regularly scheduled meeting, authorized the repurchase of up to 4.0 million shares of the company's outstanding common stock, par value $0.10 per share. The share repurchase authorization does not have an expiration date. The new authorization cancels and replaces a previous authorization to purchase up to 2.5 million shares of common stock, under which approximately 41% of the authorized shares had been repurchased as of December 31, 2014.

The company also announced that its board increased the quarterly cash dividend to 5 cents per share from 3.5 cents per share. The dividend will be payable on February 25, 2015 to shareholders of record on February 11, 2015.