TAL Education Group American De reported adjusted EPS income of $0.11 per share. By that measure, the company beat the mean analyst estimate of $0.1o. It beat the average revenue estimate of $59.35 million.

Sonic Automotive Inc. (NYSE:SAH) delivered a profit and met Wall Street’s expectations, AND beat the revenue expectation. Adjusted Earnings Per Share increased 24.24% to $0.41 in the quarter versus EPS of $0.33 in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue rose 4.79% to $2.08 billion from the year-earlier quarter.

Sonic Automotive Inc. reported adjusted EPS income of $0.41 per share. By that measure, the company missed the mean analyst estimate of $0.41. It beat the average revenue estimate of $2.07 billion.

Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE:RAI) delivered a profit and beat Wall Street’s expectations, BUT came up short on beating the revenue expectation.  Adjusted Earnings Per Share increased 14.29% to $0.72 in the quarter versus EPS of $0.63 in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue decreased 2.59% to $1.88 billion from the year-earlier quarter.

Reynolds American Inc. reported adjusted EPS income of $0.72 per share. By that measure, the company beat the mean analyst estimate of $0.69. It missed the average revenue estimate of $1.92 billion.

RadioShack Corp. (NYSE:RSH) had a loss and missed Wall Street’s expectations, AND came up short on beating the revenue expectation. Adjusted Earnings Per Share decreased to $-0.35 in the quarter versus EPS of $-0.08 in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue Decreased 15.8% to $849 million from the year-earlier quarter.

RadioShack Corp. reported adjusted EPS loss of $0.35 per share. By that measure, the company missed the mean analyst estimate of $-0.11. It missed the average revenue estimate of $963.97 million.

Polaris Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PII) delivered a profit and beat Wall Street’s expectations, BUT came up short on beating the revenue expectation. Adjusted Earnings Per Share increased 25.88% to $1.07 in the quarter versus EPS of $0.85 in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue Rose 10.71% to $745.9 million from the year-earlier quarter.

Polaris Industries, Inc. reported adjusted EPS income of $1.07 per share. By that measure, the company beat the mean analyst estimate of $1.01. It missed the average revenue estimate of $751.46 million.

Stocks with improving earnings metrics are worthy of your extra attention. In fact, “E = Earnings Are Increasing Quarter-Over-Quarter” is a core component of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework for this very reason. Don’t waste another minute – click here and get our CHEAT SHEET stock picks now.

Toll Brothers Inc. reported adjusted EPS income of $0.03 per share. By that measure, the company missed the mean analyst estimate of $0.14. It missed the average revenue estimate of $569.98 million.

Sonic Automotive Inc. (NYSE:SAH) delivered a profit and beat Wall Street’s expectations, AND beat the revenue expectation. Adjusted Earnings Per Share increased 57.58% to $0.52 in the quarter versus EPS of $0.33 in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue rose 5.69% to $2.19 billion from the year-earlier quarter.

Sonic Automotive Inc. reported adjusted EPS income of $0.52 per share. By that measure, the company beat the mean analyst estimate of $0.42. It beat the average revenue estimate of $2.09 billion.

SodaStream International Ltd. (NASDAQ:SODA) delivered a profit and missed Wall Street’s expectations, BUT beat the revenue expectation. Adjusted Earnings Per Share decreased 6.25% to $0.45 in the quarter versus EPS of $0.48 in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue rose 75.14% to $132.9 million from the year-earlier quarter.

SodaStream International Ltd. reported adjusted EPS income of $0.45 per share. By that measure, the company missed the mean analyst estimate of $0.63. It beat the average revenue estimate of $110.8 million.

Lumber Liquidators Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LL) delivered a profit and beat Wall Street’s expectations, BUT came up short on beating the revenue expectation. Adjusted Earnings Per Share increased 72.41% to $0.5 in the quarter versus EPS of $0.29 in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue rose 20.75% to $210.65 million from the year-earlier quarter.

Lumber Liquidators Holdings, Inc. reported adjusted EPS income of $0.5 per share. By that measure, the company beat the mean analyst estimate of $0.42. It missed the average revenue estimate of $215.4 million.

Lithia Motors Inc. (NYSE:LAD) delivered a profit and beat Wall Street’s expectations, AND beat the revenue expectation. Adjusted Earnings Per Share increased 23.33% to $0.74 in the quarter versus EPS of $0.60 in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue rose 27.92% to $877.4 million from the year-earlier quarter.

Lithia Motors Inc. reported adjusted EPS income of $0.74 per share. By that measure, the company beat the mean analyst estimate of $0.7. It beat the average revenue estimate of $849.7 million.

Stocks with improving earnings metrics are worthy of your extra attention. In fact, “E = Earnings Are Increasing Quarter-Over-Quarter” is a core component of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework for this very reason. Don’t waste another minute – click here and get our CHEAT SHEET stock picks now.

Sonic Automotive Inc. Earnings Cheat Sheet

Results: Adjusted Earnings Per Share increased 20.93% to $0.52 in the quarter versus EPS of $0.43 in the year-earlier quarter.

Revenue: Rose 5.69% to $2.19 billion from the year-earlier quarter.

Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: Sonic Automotive Inc. reported adjusted EPS income of $0.52 per share. By that measure, the company beat the mean analyst estimate of $0.5. It missed the average revenue estimate of $2.33 billion.

Quoting Management: The Company’s EVP of Operations, Jeff Dyke, commented, “We are very pleased with our performance in the fourth quarter. Our continued execution of our playbook processes enabled us to achieve record breaking full year total vehicle unit sales of 231,192 units. The new vehicle retail unit sales increase of 14.5% in the fourth quarter 2012 over the prior year quarter outpaced the industry growth of 11.1%. Coupled with growth in all other areas of our business, we generated over $20 million more gross profit in Q4 2012 than in Q4 2011. As a result of this increase and cost reductions in other areas, we were able to increase our net income from continuing operations 13.2% from the prior year quarter adjusted total. We would like to thank our customers, our manufacturer partners, and our associates for working together to help us achieve this performance.”

Key Stats (on next page)…

Revenue increased 1.69% from $2.15 billion in the previous quarter. EPS increased 30% from $0.40 in the previous quarter.

Looking Forward: Analysts have a neutral outlook for the company’s next-quarter performance. Over the past three months, the average estimate for next quarter’s earnings is a profit of $0.42 and has not changed. For the current year, the average estimate has moved up from a profit of $1.67 to a profit of $1.68 over the last ninety days.

Stocks with improving earnings metrics are worthy of your extra attention. In fact, “E = Earnings Are Increasing Quarter-Over-Quarter” is a core component of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework for this very reason. Don’t waste another minute – click here and get our CHEAT SHEET stock picks now.

(Company fundamentals provided by Xignite Financials. Email any earnings discrepancies to earnings [at] wallstcheatsheet.com)

SAAR Number

John Murphy – Bank of America Merrill Lynch: Your first question is you guys have been talking about your guidance based on the 13.5 million unit SAAR in the U.S, And I’m just curios if that still stands or if maybe that number has crept up given what we saw in the first quarter, and if it hasn’t, what gives you a sort of that pause for caution to keep that number that low?

Jeff Dyke – EVP, Operations: It’s Jeff Dyke. Obviously fleet played a big role in that number in January and February, pushing the SAAR number. I need another couple of months before I would tell you that we’re going to push too far north. Our guidance right now is somewhere between 13.5 and 14. If it pops up above that that’s fantastic. Our numbers will get better and as Scott told you, we’re now sort of indicating the upper end of our guidance that we gave at the beginning of the year and that’s reflective in the better business environment that we’re seeing. We’re not just seeing it in new. We’re seeing it in preowned. Our fixed operations customer paid business up 9% was fantastic. So we’re seeing it across the board, so the opportunity is there for it to grow. We expect things to get stronger as we move forward.

Investing Insights: What are the Key Themes in Gold?>>

John Murphy – Bank of America Merrill Lynch: And if we were to think of each of those three categories that you just mentioned, on new vehicles just curious what you’re seeing in showroom traffic and interest levels through the quarter and maybe into April, and the same thing on the used vehicle side because you sound like they’re running very strong for you as well. I’m just curious on those two businesses. What was the cadence through the quarter and maybe what you’re seeing maybe a little bit more recently in April?

Jeff Dyke – EVP, Operations: I mean the quarter built it got stronger every month and April was strong too. I mean there’s no question that showroom traffic is great and it’s not just one or two brands that’s driving it. It’s across the board and so that’s been fantastic. Our preowned business just continues to grow. We’ve been projecting that we’re going to get to this 100 car per store average. It’s coming. We are very excited. It was our biggest quarter yet and March we did over 90 cars per store, which is just great. We’re going to hopefully get that 100 number this year and we’re having a great April with preowned. So it feels good.

John Murphy – Bank of America Merrill Lynch: And then if we just think about the parts and service business also, what was the cadence there? Are you seeing more break jobs, more transmission jobs, are you still seeing a lot of maintenance work? Just curious what kind of tickets and what kind of cadence you’re seeing in parts and service, just trying understand the mix of business through the quarter once again in April, and if there’s anything there in that parts and service – in those parts and service (lines) that leads you to believe that people might stop fixing their cars and actually just buy a new used car or new, new car. Just trying to understand what’s going on in parts and service tickets?

David Cosper – VC and CFO: No, our parts and service business just continues to get better and better and those numbers are great. I mean increased 9% is just a fantastic number. That’s our best yet and we had our biggest quarter yet. The cadence got better as the quarter went along and it’s good again in April, so the business is good. The more new cars you sell, the more preowned cars we’re selling, internal grosses are up in fixed operations. Customers are coming back through the service drive. I mean it’s coming across all brands, there’s nobody who is lagging behind other than warranty, but we’re getting used to that. Warranty is dropping off, and it’s a much smaller percentage of our mix. We don’t rely on it as much anymore. We’ve been able to change the game and execute better on our services. Our playbooks really kicking in. Our iPads we’ll have installed between now and the end of the year. On the service drive are really helping the process. It sort of forces our service provider to execute 100% of our game plan 100% of the time. The customers seem to like it, so we’re very excited. It’s arguably one of our best performing areas in the Company.

John Murphy – Bank of America Merrill Lynch: That 9% increase was that because of a greater number of customers or larger tickets or a combination thereof?

David Cosper – VC and CFO: It’s a combination thereof and a higher effective labor rate as well. So we’re doing a better job with the mix of business that we have. We’re doing a better job attracting customers into the service drive, and we’re doing a better job selling preowned which is driving higher internal grosses. So it’s across the board.

B. Scott Smith – President, CSO and Director: John, it’s right on our budget. We projected that we would be up at that level. So, it’s not a surprise. It’s exactly where we projected we would be.

B. Scott Smith – President, CSO and Director: And we’re seeing the closing ratios on our supplemental repair request going after as well.

Jeff Dyke – EVP, Operations: Yeah, we are.

B. Scott Smith – President, CSO and Director: On the (ASRs).

SG&A

N. Richard nelson, Jr. – Stephens: I want to ask you about the SG&A. As a percent of gross looked like it narrowed down year-over-year, but ticked up a bit from the fourth quarter to the first quarter? What was the driver of that? Is that the technology and (indiscernible) investments that you talked about, and where…?

David Cosper – VC and CFO: You’re right, Rick. We did see some improvement year-to-year. We’re expecting more improvement or a better rate of improvement as we progressed through the year on a year-to-year context. First is fourth quarter is a tough one because Q4 is so big for us. I mean it’s a gross issue as much as anything else and then there is some unique cost that hit you, payroll taxes and things like that in January, February that you don’t have in December. So, I don’t think it’s so much of an incremental spend issue, as it is just seasonality of our business and some unique things that hit our cost in Q1.

N. Richard nelson, Jr. – Stephens: But those ratios should come down in Q2 and Q3 because the…?

David Cosper – VC and CFO: I would expect that they would, yes.

N. Richard nelson, Jr. – Stephens: Yeah.

David Cosper – VC and CFO: Yeah, we’re projecting that 78…

N. Richard nelson, Jr. – Stephens: …that issue that we’re reading more about, what are you hearing from the OEMs on the supply front?

David Cosper – VC and CFO: Yeah, most of the things we’ve seen are saying no issue; that it’s very short-lived, that there is other bits of supply, and nobody is really – we haven’t heard of any manufacturer cutting back on production. But it always make you a little nervous, right, until all the facts are in. So, we’re sort of wait-and-see mode on that.

Jeff Dyke – EVP, Operations: Rick, this is Jeff. Our days supply is growing from Q4; you can see that, and our manufacturer partners are getting us inventory. There is one brand that’s out there, it’s a little bit short of inventory, it’s Lexus. We could always use some of the hot moving items from all the brands, but we’re steadily getting better to start to put inventory on the ground. So, it’s really helping and make for a great summer.

N. Richard nelson, Jr. – Stephens: I wanted to just ask about the debt outstanding at the end of the quarter and did you make any progress taking up to convert what…?

David Cosper – VC and CFO: Yeah, we took out $17 million of the convert last year. We didn’t take out anything in the first quarter. We were working with our banks to – our liquidity ratio was scheduled to have a step-up on March 31, so we were holding back on that. It was going from 1.05 to 1.1. Together with our banks, we’ve made an adjustment, so we’re holding at 1.05. That freeze up some liquidity for us to be more active in reducing our debt, and we’ve actually so far this quarter picked up $4 million, $5 million for the reduction of our debt. So, we’re going to be back opportunistically picking that off.

N. Richard nelson, Jr. – Stephens: It looks like wholesale losses are going away. You’re doing a much better job on the wholesale front the last of couple of quarters. What is timing now do you think?

David Cosper – VC and CFO: The prices continue to get better inventory is at short supply and we’re being more aggressive on the retail front than probably we’ve ever been. We’re selling more at wholesale as a percentage of our total number and shrinking, and we just continue to do a better job on preowned. So actually we’ve had wholesale profits here as of late which to be honest with you, I really don’t like – I like to have a little bit of loss for being as progressive is we can be, but overall I feel real good about the job that the team has done in managing our wholesale inventory and they’re doing a great job.