AutoZone Inc. (NYSE: AZO) released its fiscal third-quarter earnings report before the markets opened on Tuesday. The company posted $10.77 in earnings per share (EPS) on $2.59 billion in revenue, compared to Thomson Reuters consensus estimates of $10.92 in EPS on $2.65 billion in revenue. The same period from last year had $9.57 in EPS on $2.49 billion in revenue.
Under its share repurchase program, AutoZone repurchased 687,000 shares of common stock for $533 million during this quarter, at an average price of $775 per share. At the end of the quarter, the company had $765 million remaining under its current share repurchase authorization.
During the quarter, the company opened 33 new stores in the United States and seven new stores in Mexico. At this time, AutoZone had 5,226 stores in the United States, Columbia and Puerto Rico, as well as 458 stores in Mexico.
Bill Rhodes, chairman, president and CEO of AutoZone, commented:
During the quarter, we continued implementation of our inventory availability initiatives. At the end of the quarter, we have expanded our increased frequency of distribution center deliveries initiative to 1,600 domestic AutoZone stores and expect by the end of the fiscal year to be servicing approximately 2,000 of our over 5,000 domestic AutoZone stores. We also plan to open approximately four additional Mega Hubs by the end of the fiscal year to finish with a total of 11. The results of our initiatives continue to meet or exceed our expectations, further confirming our new inventory deployment strategy. Regarding the third quarter’s results, sales were below our expectations as weather negatively impacted sales primarily in Midwestern, Middle Atlantic, and Northeastern states. Additionally, the quarter was impacted by a legal charge along with a discrete tax benefit, which netted to a reduction to earnings per share of $0.11 per share. As we continue to strategically invest in our business in order to support our long term growth, remaining committed to our disciplined approach to growing operating earnings and utilizing our capital effectively, we are excited by our opportunities this summer.
On the books, AutoZone’s cash and cash equivalents totaled $213.38 million at the end of the quarter, compared to $153.29 million in the same period from last year.
Shares of AutoZone traded up more than 3% to $765.12 Tuesday morning, with a consensus analyst price target of $853.00 and a 52-week trading range of $662.70 to $810.00.
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