Shares of AutoZone Inc. AZO, -2.11% rose 1.1% in premarket trading Monday, auto parts retailer reported fiscal fourth-quarter profit and sales that rose above expectations, helped by continued strength in its commercial business. Net income for the quarter to Aug. 27 rose to $810.0 million, or $40.51 a share, from $785.8 million, or $35.72 a share, in the year-ago period. The FactSet consensus for earnings per share was $38.51. Sales grew 8.9% to $5.35 billion, topping the FactSet consensus of $5.16 billion, with the commercial business growing sales 22%. Same-store sales rose 6.2%, beating the FactSet consensus of 3.4% growth. Inventory increased 21.5%, driven by growth initiatives and inflation, while gross profit as a percentage of sales fell by 0.73 percentage points to 51.5%. The company said it repurchased $1 billion worth of its shares during the latest quarter, which represents about 2.4% of AutoZone’s market capitalization of $42.20 billion. The stock has rallied 8.7% over the past three months through Friday, while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.31% has gained 5.4%.
