Autozone Sales Heat Up During Second Quarter 2014
By Megan Zielinski, contributing writer
Winter weather contributes to parts sales, company acquires e-commerce channel AutoAlways
While much of the country faced a harsh winter during the beginning of the year, Autozone serviced customers with more repair parts — one factor that contributed to a successful a second quarter, ended Feb. 15. AutoZone CEO Bill Rhodes explains winter weather helped sales of certain failure-related hard part categories.
Read: Understanding The Impact Of Weather On Retail Sales
Autozone, a leading retailer and distributor of auto repair parts and accessories, reportedly experienced all-around yearly and quarterly growth. The company earned $2.0 billion in net sales, an increase of 7.3 percent compared to $1.97 billion of Q2 of last year.
Net income for Q2 increased by $16.6 million — a 9.4 percent increase when compared to the same time period last year, totaling $192.8 million. Earnings per share reached $5.53, a large 17.8 percent increase from $4.78 per share in Q2 of last year. This quarter marks the thirtieth quarter of double digit earnings per share growth for the company.
Operating expenses were up slightly by 35.2 percent versus 34.7 percent of Q2 last year, due to advertising costs. Although partially offset by the expenses of acquiring e-commerce channel, AutoAlways — gross profit increased at 52.1 percent compared to 51.9 percent of last year’s quarter as a result of lower shrink expenses and higher merchandise margins.
New store openings and increased product placement raised inventory from $566 thousand from last quarter to $589 thousand in Q2 and by 12 percent compared to $544 thousand of Q2 last year.
Store sales for stores open over a year experienced a jump in sales by 4.3 percent in the quarterly results. Sales to fellow businesses increased by 12.2 percent compared to Q2 of the previous year, totaling $325.2 million for Q2.
Autozone opened 28 new stores in the U.S and four new stores in Mexico during Q2. With 4,871 stores in the U.S, District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, 367 stores in Mexico and four in Brazil — Autozone currently operates 5,242 stores.