AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) stock rose 1.95% (As on Sep 22, 11:35:43 AM UTC-4, Source: Google Finance) after the company’s earnings came in at $785.77 million for the fourth quarter of FY 21 compared to $740.46 million, in last year’s fourth quarter. The domestic same-store sales were an impressive 4.3% this quarter on top of last year’s historic 21.8% growth. For the fourth quarter the domestic DIFM sales rose 21% to $1.2 billion and were up 31% on a two year stack basis. Sales to the DIFM customers represented 24% of the total sales and the weekly sales per program were $14,400, up 18% as the company averaged $74 million in total weekly commercial sales. The company now has the commercial program in over 86% of our domestic stores and the company is focused on building the business with national, regional and local accounts. This quarter, the company opened 72 net new programs, ending with 5,179 total programs. The company continues to leverage the DIY infrastructure and increased the share of wallet with existing customers.

AZO in the fourth quarter of FY 21 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of $35.72, beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of $29.87. The company had reported the adjusted revenue growth of 7.9 percent to $4.91 billion in the fourth quarter of FY 21, beating the analysts’ estimates for revenue of $4.56 billion. For the quarter, the gross margin was down 82 basis points, driven mainly by the accelerated growth in the commercial business, where the shift in mix coupled with the investment in the initiatives drove margin pressure, but increased the gross profit dollars by 6.4%. EBIT for the quarter was just over $1 billion, up 2.6% versus prior year’s quarter, driven by strong topline growth. Interest expense for the quarter was just over $58 million, down 11.5% from Q4 a year ago as the debt outstanding at the end of the quarter was just under $5.3 billion versus just over $5.5 billion last year. The company now has about $1.2 billion in cash on the balance sheet. Total inventory increased 3.7% over the same period last year, driven by new stores.
The company expects interest to be in the $46 million to $48 million range for the first quarter of fiscal 2022 versus $46 million in last year’s first quarter.