ARLINGTON, Texas -- First Cash Financial Services, Inc. today announced that the Company expects its 2001 fourth quarter's income from continuing operations to meet or exceed the Company's previously announced earnings estimates of $0.23 to $0.28 per share. Management's estimated earnings per share for fiscal 2002 are estimated to range between $1.01 and $1.11. Rick Powell, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of First Cash Financial Services commented, "The third quarter was one of our best quarters in the history of the company and the fourth quarter through the first week of December indicates an extremely strong fourth quarter. Retail sales and margins are on track to meet or exceed management's expectations. The new units added during 2001 are ramping up to help propel the Company into an even better year in 2002. On behalf of the directors, officers and employees, we at First Cash wish everyone health, happiness, and prosperity during the holidays and the New Year."
Business Description
First Cash Financial Services, Inc. is engaged in the operation of pawn stores which lend money on the collateral of pledged personal property, and which retail previously-owned merchandise acquired through loan forfeitures. The Company also operates check cashing stores and provides software to third-party operators in the check cashing industry. The Company currently owns 158 pawn and check cashing stores in 11 states and Mexico. First Cash Financial Services is also an equal partner in Cash & Go, Ltd., a joint venture, which currently owns and operates 59 financial services kiosks located inside convenience stores. Its common stock is traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker symbol "FCFS".
Forward-Looking Statements
Factors impacting the last quarter of fiscal 2001, as well as 2002, will include the continued success of the Company's short-term cash advance product, known as payday loans, and the continued growth in pawn loan demand. Management will continue to pursue marketing and development activities to enhance loan balances and promote payday loans in fiscal 2001, as well as 2002. The continued impact in 2001, as well as 2002, of still higher loan balances, improved bad debt collection efforts, improved margins on retail sales, lower interest rates on outstanding debt, new store openings and the further maturation of those already in place should lead to continued growth in the Company's earnings per share. Management currently believes the Company will produce between 83 cents and 88 cents per share from continuing operations in fiscal 2001, with the variables discussed above influencing whether results will be at the low or high end of this range. In the near term, management currently anticipates earnings per share from continuing operations in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2001 to be between 23 cents and 28 cents per share.
Overall, expectations for fiscal 2002's net income from continuing operations should be positively impacted by the new accounting pronouncement dealing with the Company's treatment of the amortization of goodwill and intangibles; however, the effect of the Company's initial adoption, which will be as of January 1, 2002, of this new accounting pronouncement is not known at this time. Other factors that will determine the level of earnings in 2002 include the direction of loan balances, bad debt collections, retail sales, margins on retail sales, interest rates on the Company's outstanding debt and the number of new store openings. These factors lead management to an estimated range for earnings per share for fisca
