First Cash Financial Q2 Profit Up, Beats Estimates; Backs FY14 EPS Outlook

(RTTNews) - First Cash Financial Services Inc. (FCFS) Thursday reported that its second-quarter net income rose to $16.0 million or $ 0.55 per share from $15.7 million or $0.53 per share last year.

On average, 10 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report profit per share of $0.53 for the quarter. Analysts'estimates typically exclude special items.

Second quarter earnings per share included the impact of nearly $0.07 of incremental interest expense related to the company's strategic long-term senior unsecured note offering in March 2014.

Revenue for the period rose 19 percent to $165 million, from $142.35 million in the year-ago period and beat consensus estimate of $162.53 million.

In addition, the firm backed its annual earnings guidance and said it continues to expect full-year earnings per share to be in the range of $3.00 -$3.15 . The EPS guidance range implies second half EBITDA growth in a range of 17 percent to 20 percent, the majority of which will occur in the fourth quarter. Analysts expect the company to report fiscal 2014 earnings per share of $3.01.

Further, the group said it expects third-quarter earnings per share to be lower than the prior-year quarter.