AutoZone Inc. posted adjusted EPS for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019 on Sept. 24 that fell short of Street estimates even as the car parts retailer boosted sales over the previous year.
Adjusted diluted EPS for the 17 weeks ended Aug. 31 came in at $20.95, up from $18.54 in the year-ago period but falling short of the S&P Global Market Intelligence estimate of $21.79 per share. The adjustments excluded an extra week of the fiscal quarter for the current year, while Autozone recorded further adjustments in the year-ago period of $93.7 million in pension termination charges and a net tax benefit of $36.6 million.
Adjusted net income climbed to $524.3 million, compared to $494 million a year ago.
Net sales stood at $3.99 billion, marking a 12.1% rise from $3.56 billion a year ago. It exceeded the mean consensus estimate for $3.93 billion, according to data compiled by Market Intelligence. Excluding the extra week of the fiscal quarter, sales rose 5.4%, AutoZone said.
Sales at stores open at least one year, increased 3% for the quarter.
During the quarter, AutoZone opened 86 new stores in the U.S., 28 stores in Mexico and 10 stores in Brazil, the release noted.
For the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, sales were $11.86 billion, up 5.7% from $11.22 billion the prior year, while domestic same store sales were up 3.0% for the year. Diluted EPS for the year rose to $63.43 from $48.77 in fiscal 2018.
