AutoZone Q4 Profit Tops View, Sales Miss; To Buy Back $750 Mln Shares

(RTTNews) - Automotive parts retailer AutoZone, Inc. (AZO) reported Thursday that its fourth-quarter net income increased 6.4% to $426.77 million from last year's $401.14 million. Earnings per share increased 12.2% to $14.30 from $12.75 in the year-ago quarter.

On average, 22 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $14.25 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net sales of $3.40 billion for its fourth quarter grew 3.3% from last year's $3.29 billion. Analysts were looking for sales of $3.43 billion for the quarter.

Domestic same store sales, or sales for stores open at least one year, increased 1.0% for the quarter.

For the quarter, gross profit, as a percentage of sales, was 52.8%, versus 52.5% for the same period last year.

For the fiscal year 2016, net income increased 7% to $1.2 billion or $40.70 per share and sales were $10.6 billion, an increase of 4.4%. Domestic same store sales were up 2.4%.

Separately, AutoZone announced its Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of an additional $750 million of its common stock in connection with its ongoing share repurchase program. Since the inception of the repurchase program in 1998, and including the latest amount, AutoZone's Board of Directors has authorized $17.9 billion.