CarMax shares fall 10% after used car retailer reports earnings beats, CEO details turnaround plan

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Shares of CarMax fell 9% Wednesday after the company beat Wall Street's quarterly earnings expectations and its new CEO detailed a high-level turnaround strategy for the company.

Here's how the company performed in its first fiscal quarter, compared with average estimates compiled by LSEG:

Earnings per share: $1.31 vs. 95 cents expected

Revenue: $8.01 billion vs. $7.42 billion expected

Despite the beats, questions remain about the company's ability to grow and cut costs under the plan as it faces tougher market conditions. The used-vehicle retailer reported margin pressure and declining gross profit per retail used vehicle.

CarMax's total gross profit was $854.4 million, down 4.4% compared with last year's first fiscal quarter. Retail used vehicle gross profit decreased 9.5% and retail gross profit per used unit was $2,177, down $230 from last year's all-time record, the company said. Its net revenue was up 6.2% compared with nearly $7.6 billion a year earlier.

CarMax reported net earnings of $185.6 million, down 11.8% from $210.4 million in the same period last year.

Shares of CarMax are still up roughly 25% this year, including a roughly 16% increase since Keith Barr, a former CEO of InterContinental Hotels Group, began leading the company on March 16.

Barr said he will release more details of his plan — which is expected to take multiple years to execute — in late fall, but he noted that leadership is "super confident about it."

"Our new strategy is focused on great offerings, easy experience, adding value, running lean, all of which, again, will drive sustainable long-term growth, which will create value for our shareholders," he told CNBC during an interview.

Barr said he has spent his first three months at CarMax better learning the car business, understanding the company's operations and determining potential growth and cost-cutting areas, while aiming to streamline the car-buying processes for customers.

"There's definitely significant opportunity for growth here by having a really integrated, growth-oriented strategy that leverages technology, that leverages our scale, that leverages our stores, that will provide sustainable growth, too," he said.

His initial quick changes have included making tweaks to CarMax's website, such as showing monthly payments; implementing an artificial intelligence call agent service; and trying to better streamline a customer's experience from online to in-store.

Barr was brought in following massive share declines that led to pressure for former CEO Bill Nash to step down in November.

Shares of CarMax's largest competitor, Carvana, also were more than 7% lower during midday trading Wednesday, which coincided with the online vehicle retailer disclosing plans for its new franchised Stellantis stores. Carvana's plan includes using the franchise stores to service vehicles and offer test drives, but it will still exclusively sell its vehicles online, even if customers are at the stores.

Barr declined to comment on Carvana's plans, but said CarMax has found the vast majority of its used-vehicle customers still like to visit stores and see the vehicle they're planning to purchase before doing so.