AutoZone (AZO) closed the most recent trading day at $3,148.60, up 0.91% from the previous trading session. The Dow saw a decline of 0.36%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.21%.
The auto parts retailer’s shares gained 6.83 percent month-on-month, outperforming the retail and wholesale sector’s 6.2 percent loss and the S&P 500’s 4.22 percent loss.
Investors will be eagerly awaiting AutoZone’s performance in the upcoming earnings release. The company’s upcoming earnings per share are estimated at $53.61, representing an increase of 15.39% from the year-ago quarter. In addition, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $6.2 billion, representing an increase of 9.03% from the year-ago quarter.
The Zacks Consensus Estimates for the full year are calling for earnings of $151.37 per share and revenue of $18.5 billion, which would represent year-over-year changes of +14.36% and +5.97%, respectively.
In addition, it would be beneficial for investors to monitor the recent changes in analyst forecasts for AutoZone. Such recent changes usually indicate a changing landscape in near-term business trends. Therefore, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company’s business outlook.
Research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock price momentum. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and provides a clear, actionable rating model.
The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell) and has a proven, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.13% lower. AutoZone currently carries a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that AutoZone currently has a P/E ratio of 20.61, which represents a discount to the industry’s average P/E ratio of 22.96.
It is also worth noting that AZO currently has a PEG ratio of 1.57. This popular metric is similar to the widely known P/E ratio, with the difference that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company’s expected earnings growth rate. As of the close of yesterday’s trading day, the Automotive Retail and Wholesale Trade – Parts industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.56.
The Automotive Retail and Wholesale Trade – Parts industry is part of the Retail Wholesale Trade sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 102, putting it in the top 41% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank evaluates the vitality of our specific industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks included in the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% of industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Be sure to use Zacks.com to track all of these and other stock-moving metrics in the coming trading sessions.
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AutoZone, Inc. (AZO): Free Stock Analysis Report
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