AutoZone Q4 Earnings Miss Expectations, Sales Increase Y/Y

AutoZone Inc. AZO reported earnings of $48.71 per share for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 (ended Aug. 30, 2025), which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $50.52. The company had reported earnings of $48.11 per share in the corresponding quarter of fiscal 2024. Net sales grew 0.6% year over year to $6.24 billion and topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $6.22 billion.

AutoZone, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

AutoZone, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | AutoZone, Inc. Quote

Key Tidbits

In the reported quarter, domestic commercial sales totaled $1.76 billion, up from $1.66 billion recorded in the year-ago period. Domestic same-store sales (sales at stores open at least for a year) were up 4.8%. Gross profit decreased to $3.22 billion from the prior-year quarter’s $3.26 billion. Operating profit decreased 7.8% year over year to $1.2 billion.

During the quarter, AutoZone opened 91 new stores in the United States. It opened 45 new stores in Mexico and six in Brazil. It exited the year with 6,627 stores in the United States, 883 in Mexico and 147 in Brazil. The total store count was 7,657 as of Aug. 30, 2025.

Its inventory increased 14.1% year over year in the reported quarter amid growth initiatives. At quarter-end, net inventory per store was negative $131,000 compared with negative $163,000 a year ago.

As of Aug. 30, 2025, AutoZone had cash and cash equivalents of $271.8 million, down from $298.2 million as of Aug. 31, 2024. Its total debt amounted to $8.8 billion as of Aug. 30, 2025, compared with $9.02 billion as of Aug. 31, 2024.

The company repurchased 117,000 shares of its common stock for $446.7 million during the fiscal fourth quarter at an average price of $3,821 per share. At year-end, it had $632.3 million remaining under its current share repurchase authorization.

Peer Releases

Advance Auto Parts AAP reported second-quarter 2025 results on Aug. 14. It reported adjusted earnings of 69 cents per share for the second quarter of 2025, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 59 cents. The company reported adjusted earnings of 75 cents per share in the year-ago quarter. Advance Auto generated net revenues of $2.01 billion, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.98 billion. Comparable store sales increased 0.1% year over year. We expected a rise of 0.2% for the same. The top line decreased from $2.68 billion generated in the year-ago quarter.

O’Reilly Automotive ORLY reported second-quarter 2025 results on July 23. It reported second-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of 78 cents, which marginally beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 77 cents. The bottom line also increased from 70 cents in the prior-year quarter. The automotive parts retailer registered quarterly revenues of $4,525 million, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4,532 million. The top line, however, increased 6% year over year. During the quarter, comparable store sales grew 4.1%.

7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days

Just released: Experts distill 7 elite stocks from the current list of 220 Zacks Rank #1 Strong Buys. They deem these tickers "Most Likely for Early Price Pops."

Since 1988, the full list has beaten the market more than 2X over with an average gain of +23.5% per year. So be sure to give these hand picked 7 your immediate attention. 

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

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research

Source Zacks-com