Conveyorized car wash service company Mister Car Wash (NYSE: MCW) reported revenue ahead of Wall Street’s expectations in Q1 CY2025, with sales up 9.4% year on year to $261.7 million. The company expects the full year’s revenue to be around $1.06 billion, close to analysts’ estimates. Its non-GAAP profit of $0.11 per share was in line with analysts’ consensus estimates.

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Company Overview

Formerly known as Hotshine Holdings, Mister Car Wash (NYSE: MCW) offers car washes across the United States through its conveyorized service.

Sales Growth

A company’s long-term performance is an indicator of its overall quality. Even a bad business can shine for one or two quarters, but a top-tier one grows for years. Over the last five years, Mister Car Wash grew its sales at a tepid 9.9% compounded annual growth rate. This was below our standard for the consumer discretionary sector and is a poor baseline for our analysis.

Long-term growth is the most important, but within consumer discretionary, product cycles are short and revenue can be hit-driven due to rapidly changing trends and consumer preferences. Mister Car Wash’s recent performance shows its demand has slowed as its annualized revenue growth of 7.3% over the last two years was below its five-year trend.

Mister Car Wash also reports same-store sales, which show how much revenue its established locations generate. Over the last two years, Mister Car Wash’s same-store sales averaged 2.6% year-on-year growth. Because this number is lower than its revenue growth, we can see the opening of new locations is boosting the company’s top-line performance.

This quarter, Mister Car Wash reported year-on-year revenue growth of 9.4%, and its $261.7 million of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 1.6%.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 5.6% over the next 12 months, a slight deceleration versus the last two years. This projection doesn't excite us and implies its products and services will see some demand headwinds.

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Operating Margin

Mister Car Wash’s operating margin might fluctuated slightly over the last 12 months but has remained more or less the same, averaging 18.6% over the last two years. This profitability was top-notch for a consumer discretionary business, showing it’s an well-run company with an efficient cost structure.

This quarter, Mister Car Wash generated an operating profit margin of 20.2%, up 2.5 percentage points year on year. This increase was a welcome development and shows it was more efficient.

Earnings Per Share

We track the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) for the same reason as long-term revenue growth. Compared to revenue, however, EPS highlights whether a company’s growth is profitable.

Mister Car Wash’s EPS grew at a remarkable 20.2% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years, higher than its 9.9% annualized revenue growth. This tells us the company became more profitable on a per-share basis as it expanded.

In Q1, Mister Car Wash reported EPS at $0.11, up from $0.08 in the same quarter last year. This print beat analysts’ estimates by 8.3%. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects Mister Car Wash to perform poorly. Analysts forecast its full-year EPS of $0.40 will hit $0.45.

Key Takeaways from Mister Car Wash’s Q1 Results

We enjoyed seeing Mister Car Wash beat analysts’ same-store sales expectations this quarter. We were also happy its EPS outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. On the other hand, its full-year revenue guidance was in line. Overall, this quarter had some key positives. The stock traded up 3.4% to $7.09 immediately after reporting.

Is Mister Car Wash an attractive investment opportunity at the current price? If you’re making that decision, you should consider the bigger picture of valuation, business qualities, as well as the latest earnings. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here, it’s free.