RICHMOND, Va. -

CarMax posted a 25-percent lift in net earnings during the first quarter, and with a spike in store traffic, the retailer also enjoyed comparable used sales that climbed 6 percent.

More specifically, CarMax’s net earnings came in at $126.3 million ($0.55 per diluted share) for the fiscal first quarter, which ended May 31. This sum is up from $101.1 million ($0.44 per diluted share) from the year-ago period. Officials explained that both periods benefited from a $0.03 per share from the CarMax Auto Finance provision for loan losses versus expectations.

CarMax generated $2.68 billion in net sales and operating revenue, a gain of 18 percent year-over-year.

Used sales were at $2.07 billion, up from $1.83 billion. New sales were at $61.9 million, compared to $50.9 million in the year-ago period.

Wholesale sales totaled $477.8 million, up from $316.5 million.

Comparable used-unit sales jumped 6 percent, while comparable new-unit sales climbed 14 percent.

There was an 8-percent hike in total used sales, with total new sales up 14 percent.

CarMax’s total wholesale sales showed a 32-percent year-over-year increase.

“We are pleased to report another quarter of strong results,” said Tom Folliard, CarMax’s president and chief executive officer.

CarMax Auto Finance

The company also shared results from its CarMax Auto Finance unit. Income for CAF came in at $69.7 million, up from $57.5 in the prior-year period.

Officials noted that CAF saw a year-over-year increase in the interest margin.

“The interest margin has gradually widened as loan originations in the last two years have become an increasingly large percentage of total managed receivables,” they explained.

CAF’s provision for loan losses was a $1.0 million credit, versus the expense of $0.9 million in the year-ago period.

CAF also saw its net charge-offs during the first quarter of this year and last year come in lower than expected and lower than prior trends, it said.

“The lower-than-expected losses and the resulting adjustments to the allowance for loan losses related to future periods favorably affected net income per share by $0.03 in both the first quarter of the current year and the first quarter of the prior year,” executives shared.

There was a 33-percent spike in net loans originated, which corresponds with the retail vehicle sales hike and the company choosing to keep more of the loans that it had been selling to third-party providers since CAF made its lending standards stricter in 2009.