JP Morgan Says Mild Winter to Blame for Below Expected Results from AutoZone and O'Reilly

JP Morgan has published a research report on auto parts retailers AutoZone

and O'Reilly Automotive

commenting on company guidance and comps after market close on Tuesday. In the report, JP Morgan writes, "ORLY lowered 2Q comp guidance after the market close on Tuesday, June 26th to 2.0-2.5% from 3.0-5.0% previously. ORLY expects 2Q EPS to be at the low end of the previously announced range of $1.13 to $1.17. The lowered comp guidance reflects a slow start to April due to a pullforward in demand from the early Spring weather and below expectation comps in June following an improvement in May. ORLY's 2Q results will be released on Wednesday, July 25th. We believe the mild winter, recently improved new car sales trends, and less tailwinds around vehicle age are responsible for the below plan results. Regionally, the East Coast appears to be having the slowest trends due to the mild winter, where ORLY has little exposure (vs. AAP's high exposure). This is likely to raise questions on heritage ORLY comps and whether or not the lift from CSK has peaked." O'Reilly Automotive is currently trading down 17.16% from yesterday's $96.44 closing price while AutoZone is trading down 3.95% from yesterday's $376.49 closing price.