LITTLE ROCK — Shares of Bentonvillebased America’s Car-Mart fell Tuesday as investors were disappointed in the company’s second-quarter results, released Monday after the stock markets closed.

Car-Mart’s stock closed Tuesday at $37.20, down $4.71 or 11.2 percent in trading on the Nasdaq. The stock has traded between $33.04 and $49.20 in the past year.

Also unhappy was Hank Henderson, president of the buy-here, pay-here chain of 117 car lots, the largest publicly traded auto retailer in the nation.

“We are disappointed with our overall sales performance,” Henderson said Tuesday in a conference call with analysts. “We were expecting better results.”

Instead, the company sold fewer units at lower prices. At Car-Mart lots open more than a year, sales were down 4.8 percent, Jeff Williams, chief financial officer, said on the conference call. Average sale price was down by $49, he said.

Car-Mart reported net income for the period of $7.3 million, down from $7.8 million for the same period a year ago. Earnings per share dropped to 76 cents, from 77 cents.

Revenue totaled $110 million, down from $111 million.

A key factor, Henderson said, is that the subprime financing market has become more competitive. Car-Mart and other buy-here, pay-here chains serve many customers who do not have access to traditional vehicle financing because of poor credit or no credit records.

Nevertheless, he said, “we are confident in our ability to outperform the competition.”

Customer down payments, Williams said, are averaging $650, close to the company’s all-time high of $660 in the first quarter. Typically at buy-here, pay-here auto retailers, customers pay cash at the car lot on dates tied to the customers’ paydays.

Williams said the company currently has about 55,000 active accounts. Interest income rose 12.6 percent for the period, he said. The average financing rate was 14.9 percent.

He said inventory remains tight, adding, “we do expect this condition to continue.” The number of accounts that have become delinquent more than 30 days rose.

“We are working hard with our customers in these challenging times,” Williams said.

In the question-and-answer session with analysts, Henderson was asked if longer payoff periods at the company were a test.

“We feel like we’ve got some room to go,” Henderson said. “We know there’s a point out there where it’s not good for us or our customer.”

During the second quarter, the company repurchased 119,308 shares of its stock, a 1.3 percent stake in the company, for $5.25 million.

Car-Mart sold 9,814 vehicles during the second quarter, down 1.1 percent from 9,919 in the same period a year ago.

Accounts more than 30 days past due at the end of the quarter stood at 4.3 percent, up from 3.9 percent for the same period a year earlier.

Business, Pages 25 on 11/21/2012