Business Analysis: Bentonville, Arkansas

In the state of Arkansas, the population is approximately 48.8% male and 51.2% female. The population density of Arkansas is 51.3 persons per square mile. As of 2010, there were approximately 2.9 million people living in the state of Arkansas. The unemployment rate in Arkansas was 3.6% in the year 2017 (United States of Department of Labor, 2017-2018). This percentage value is slightly less than the national average of 4.1% in 2017 (National Conference of State Legislature , 2017). The top 5 largest industries in Arkansas are as follows: advanced food manufacturing and production, aerospace and aviation, biosciences, data centers, and lastly, distribution and logistics centers (Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism , 2017). In 2012, the

America's Car-Mart has many different locations spread around 11 different states. With their headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas they have expanded from one small shop to now owning 140 operating stores as of April 30, 2017. Arkansas currently has 36 operating locations scattered around the state making it the state with the most America's Car-Marts. The state with the least amount of stores is a tie between Iowa and Indiana currently with 1 store in each. The amount of locations has also decreased in the last 2 years from 143 stores to 140 which was tallied in April (America's CAR-Mart, 2017).
They are a business that prides themselves on their mission statement which states, "We strive to earn the repeat business of our customers by providing quality vehicles, affordable payment terms and excellent service (America's CAR-MART, 2018)." They believe this sets them apart from other dealerships for many reasons. In April of 2017 when the last report was taken, America's Car-Mart was found to have employed around 1460 full time associates (America's CAR-Mart, 2017). They are known for selling used and pre-owned automobiles with flexible financing options available (America's CAR-Mart,

This was done by decreasing their cash and the amount of property and equipment the company had and complemented this with increasing accrued interest (America's CAR-Mart, 2017). Between liabilities and equity, the company matched the increase of $18,000 by raising the notes payable and simply by earning more (See Appendix Page 8). Revenues and expenses have increased yearly since 2015, however net income was considerably down in 2016 however rebounded about 50% in 2017 (See Appendix Page 9). There has been a decrease in net cash from operating activities since 2016 and a considerable decrease in investing activities as well. Financing activities compose the bulk of spending yearly. Cash has decreased consecutively at the end of each period for the past 3 years (See Appendix Page 10). The price for common stock in America's Car Mart has increased by 2$ each year the past 2 years, valued at 129$. Paid-in-capital, retained earnings, and total equity have all increased yearly (See Appendix Page