AutoZone Q3 Earnings Fall Short of Expectations, Sales Beat

AutoZone Inc. AZO reported earnings of $35.36 per share for the third quarter of fiscal 2025 (ended May 10, 2025), which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $36.78. The company had reported earnings of $36.69 per share in the corresponding quarter of fiscal 2024. Net sales grew 5.4% year over year to $4.46 billion and marginally topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4.4 billion.AZO currently carries a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 (Strong Buy) Rank stocks here.AutoZone, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise AutoZone, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | AutoZone, Inc. QuoteKey TidbitsIn the reported quarter, domestic commercial sales totaled $1.27 billion, up from $1.14 billion recorded in the year-ago period. Domestic same-store sales (sales at stores open at least for a year) were up 5%. Gross profit increased to $2.35 billion from the prior-year quarter’s $2.26 billion. Operating profit decreased 3.7% year over year to $866.2 million.During the quarter, AutoZone opened 54 new stores in the United States. It opened 25 new stores in Mexico and five in Brazil. It exited the quarter with 6,537 stores in the United States, 838 in Mexico and 141 in Brazil. The total store count was 7,516 as of May 10, 2025.Its inventory increased 10.8% year over year in the reported quarter amid new store growth and same store sales growth initiatives. At quarter-end, net inventory per store was negative $142,000 compared with negative $168,000 a year ago.As of May 10, 2025, AutoZone had cash and cash equivalents of $268.6 million, down from $298.2 million as of Aug. 31, 2024. Its total debt amounted to $8.85 billion as of May 10, 2025, compared with $9.02 billion as of Aug. 31, 2024.The company repurchased 70,000 shares of its common stock for $250.3 million during the fiscal third quarter at an average price of $3,571 per share. At quarter-end, it had $1.1 billion remaining under its current share repurchase authorization.Peer ReleasesAdvance Auto Parts AAP reported first-quarter 2025 results on May 22. It posted an adjusted loss of 22 cents per share, which was narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 81 cents. The company reported adjusted earnings of 67 cents per share in the year-ago quarter. Advance Auto generated net revenues of $2.58 billion, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.50 billion. Comparable store sales decreased 0.6% year over year. We projected a decline of 2% for the same. The top line decreased from $2.77 billion generated in the year-ago quarter.O’Reilly Automotive ORLY reported first-quarter 2025 results on April 23. It posted adjusted EPS of $9.35, which lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $9.83. The bottom line, however, increased from $9.20 reported in the prior-year quarter. The automotive parts retailer registered quarterly revenues of $4.14 billion, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4.17 billion. The top line, however, increased 4% year over year. During the quarter, comparable store sales grew 3.6%. Zacks Names #1 Semiconductor StockIt's only 1/9,000th the size of NVIDIA which skyrocketed more than +800% since we recommended it. NVIDIA is still strong, but our new top chip stock has much more room to boom.With strong earnings growth and an expanding customer base, it's positioned to feed the rampant demand for Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Internet of Things. Global semiconductor manufacturing is projected to explode from $452 billion in 2021 to $803 billion by 2028.See This Stock Now for Free >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report O'Reilly Automotive, Inc. (ORLY): Free Stock Analysis Report Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (AAP): Free Stock Analysis Report AutoZone, Inc. (AZO): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks