AutoZone Falls on Q2 Results

Shares of AutoZone

are lower on Tuesday after the company released its fiscal second-quarter earnings results. In mid-day trade, the stock was down a little more than 1.30 percent and last traded at $373.35. The company reported net income of $176.25 million or $4.78 per share, compared to $166.93 million or $4.15 per share, in last year's corresponding quarter. This beat analysts' consensus EPS estimates by two cents. Sales at the company were up 2.8 percent to $1.86 billion from $1.8 billion last year. This compared to Wall Street consensus revenue estimates of $1.88 billion. Gross margin in the quarter was up to 51.9 percent from 51.3 percent last year. Same store sales, however, registered a disappointing 1.8 percent decline. AutoZone's CEO Bill Rhodes said in a statement, "While we are pleased to report our twenty-sixth consecutive quarter of double digit earnings per share growth, we were not pleased with our same store sales results for the quarter." Throughout 2010 and 2011, AutoZone was a terrific growth stock which went from $155 to well over $300 in the course of a couple of years. In 2012, however, AZO spent most of the year in a consolidation pattern and the shares have continued to hold under $400 in 2013.