On Tuesday, Automotive retailer AutoZone, Inc (NYSE:AZO) reported fiscal first-quarter earnings per share of $32.52, missing the Street view of $33.76.

Quarterly revenues of $4.28 billion (+2.1% year over year) missed the analyst consensus of $4.30 billion.

AutoZone said the company’s same-store sales increased 0.4% (or 1.8% in constant currency), while domestic sales grew 0.3%.

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The quarter’s gross profit margin was 53.0%, up 16 basis points, driven by higher merchandise margins. Operating profit decreased 0.9% to $841.1 million. 

Under its share repurchase program, AutoZone repurchased 160 thousand shares of its common stock at an average price per share of $3,156, for a total investment of $505.2 million.

Since the inception of the share repurchase program, the company has repurchased 155 million shares of its common stock at an average price of $241, for a total investment of $37.5 billion. At the end of the first quarter, the company had $1.7 billion remaining under its current share repurchase authorization.

During the quarter, AutoZone opened 23 new stores in the U.S., 6 in Mexico, and 5 in Brazil, for a total of 34 net new stores. 

AutoZone’s sales per average store reached $0.57 million, down from $0.58 million Y/Y. The sales per average square foot was $85, down from $86 Y/Y. Total auto parts sales reached $4.2 billion, up from $4.12 billion Y/Y.

The domestic commercial sales for the quarter reached $1.13 billion, up from $1.09 billion Y/Y.

The company had 6,455 stores in the U.S., 800 in Mexico, and 132 in Brazil, for a total store count of 7,387.

Autozone stock surged over 29% year-to-date. Investors can gain exposure to the stock through VanEck Retail ETF (NASDAQ:RTH) and Hennessy Stance ESG ETF (NYSE:STNC).

Price Action: AZO stock closed at $3,324.01 on Monday.

Photo via Shutterstock.

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