NEW YORK — Based on several positive financial developments, SmarTrend investment analysts recently gave upbeat assessment on the potential return for several consumer finance companies, including subprime auto lenders Credit Acceptance and Nicholas Financial.

SmarTrend went with Credit Acceptance because it found the company has an operating margin of 50.8 percent on trailing 12-month sales of $415.4 million. Credit Acceptance also is boasting sales growth of 21 percent.

Analysts highlighted Nicholas Financial because they discovered the lender has an operating margin of 37.2 percent on trailing 12-month sales of $57.7 million. Nicholas Financial is enjoying sales growth of 9.2 percent.

SmarTrend elaborated about its previous assessment of Nicholas Financial.

"SmarTrend is bullish on shares of Nicholas Financial and our subscribers were alerted to buy on March 26, 2009 at $2.64," analysts noted. "The stock has risen 209.1 percent since the alert was issued."

SmarTrend reiterated that its analysts stipulate a healthy operating margin is required for a company to pay for its fixed costs and generate cash.

The firm mentioned three other companies within the consumer finance industry as healthy investment prospects. They included:

—Nelnet: operating margin of 31.5 percent on trailing 12-month sales of $1 billion and sales growth of 12.5 percent.

—SLM: operating margin of 29.8 percent on trailing 12-month sales of $6.8 billion and sales growth of 48 percent.

—Cash America: operating margin of 28.8 percent on trailing 12-month sales of $1.2 billion and sales growth of 15.7 percent.