領先汽車配件 (AAP) 2022 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the Advance Auto Parts third quarter conference call. Before we begin, Elisabeth Eisleben, Senior Vice President, Communications and Investor Relations, will make a brief statement concerning forward-looking statements that will be discussed on this call.

歡迎參加 Advance Auto Parts 第三季度電話會議。在我們開始之前，傳播和投資者關係高級副總裁伊麗莎白·艾斯萊本 (Elisabeth Eisleben) 將就將在本次電話會議上討論的前瞻性陳述發表簡短聲明。

Good morning, and thank you for joining us to discuss our Q3 results. I'm joined by Tom Greco, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Jeff Shepherd, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Following their prepared remarks, we will turn our attention to answering your questions.

早上好，感謝您加入我們討論我們第三季度的結果。總裁兼首席執行官 Tom Greco 也加入了我的行列；執行副總裁兼首席財務官 Jeff Shepherd。在他們準備好的發言之後，我們將把注意力轉向回答您的問題。

Before we begin, please be advised that remarks today will contain forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements regarding our initiatives, plans, projections and future performance. Actual results could differ materially from those projected or implied by the forward-looking statements. Additional information about factors that could cause actual results to differ can be found under the caption forward-looking statements and risk factors in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings made with the commission.

在我們開始之前，請注意今天的評論將包含前瞻性陳述。除歷史事實陳述外，所有陳述均為前瞻性陳述，包括但不限於有關我們的舉措、計劃、預測和未來業績的陳述。實際結果可能與前瞻性陳述所預測或暗示的結果存在重大差異。有關可能導致實際結果不同的因素的更多信息，請參見我們關於 10-K 表格的最新年度報告以及向委員會提交的後續文件中的前瞻性陳述和風險因素標題。

Now let me turn the call over to Tom Greco.

現在讓我把電話轉給 Tom Greco。

Thanks, Elisabeth, and good morning, everyone. Before we begin, I'd like to thank our entire Advance team and Carquest Independent Partners for their dedication throughout Q3. In particular, our teams throughout the Southeast who are still working diligently to get their communities back to normal after the damage caused by recent hurricanes. Our team always rises to the occasion in situations like this, and I could not be prouder of how we've helped others in a time of great need. We simply could not do what we do without our team's unwavering focus on the customer.

謝謝，伊麗莎白，大家早上好。在我們開始之前，我要感謝我們整個 Advance 團隊和 Carquest 獨立合作夥伴在整個第三季度的奉獻精神。特別是，我們在整個東南部的團隊仍在努力工作，以使他們的社區在最近的颶風造成破壞後恢復正常。我們的團隊總是在這種情況下挺身而出，我為我們在最需要幫助的時候幫助他人感到無比自豪。如果沒有我們團隊對客戶的堅定關注，我們根本無法做我們所做的事情。

I'll begin my remarks today with an overview of our Q3 performance and how we're thinking about the balance of 2022. This includes the factors that led us to reiterate our full year guidance on net sales growth, comparable store sales and adjusted operating income margin while revising adjusted diluted earnings per share and free cash flow. Based on the updated full year guidance we provided in our press release last night, 2022 will be our second consecutive year of sales growth and adjusted operating margin expansion on the back of our strong performance in 2021.

今天，我將首先概述我們第三季度的業績以及我們如何考慮 2022 年的平衡。這包括導致我們重申我們對淨銷售額增長、可比商店銷售額和調整後運營的全年指導的因素利潤率，同時修改調整後的攤薄每股收益和自由現金流。根據我們昨晚在新聞稿中提供的最新全年指引，2022 年將是我們在 2021 年強勁表現的支持下連續第二年實現銷售額增長和調整後的營業利潤率增長。

We believe we'll be one of very few retailers delivering back-to-back years of sales growth and adjusted operating income margin expansion.

我們相信，我們將成為為數不多的連續多年實現銷售增長和調整後的營業收入利潤率增長的零售商之一。

Secondly, I'll briefly discuss some of the actions we're taking in the fourth quarter. These actions reflect our analysis of year-to-date performance and were informed by our early thinking surrounding 2023. Finally, I'll conclude with a review of the progress we're making on primary strategic initiatives before turning the call over to Jeff.

其次，我將簡要討論我們在第四季度採取的一些行動。這些行動反映了我們對年初至今業績的分析，並參考了我們對 2023 年的早期想法。最後，在將電話轉交給 Jeff 之前，我將回顧一下我們在主要戰略計劃方面取得的進展。

Starting with the third quarter. Net sales were up 0.8% and comparable store sales declined by 0.7%, in line with previous expectations. As we're expanding our footprint, new stores are providing incremental net sales growth. Increasing own brand penetration is an important part of our margin expansion plans. However, own brands have a lower price point, reducing net sales growth by 78 basis points and comp sales by 88 basis points in the quarter.

從第三季開始。淨銷售額增長 0.8%，可比店面銷售額下降 0.7%，符合此前預期。隨著我們擴大我們的足跡，新店正在提供增量淨銷售額增長。提高自有品牌滲透率是我們利潤擴張計劃的重要組成部分。然而，自有品牌的價格點較低，該季度的淨銷售額增長減少了 78 個基點，同類產品銷售額減少了 88 個基點。

In terms of category growth, batteries, fluids and chemicals as well as brakes were the top performers in Q3. Regional sales performance was led by the West, Mid-Atlantic and Florida. Both pro and DIY omnichannel comp sales were in line with overall comp performance.

在類別增長方面，電池、液體和化學品以及製動器是第三季度表現最好的。區域銷售業績由西部、大西洋中部和佛羅里達領銜。專業版和 DIY 全渠道版的銷量都與整體版的表現一致。

Moving to profitability. We're pleased that we were able to deliver a 98-basis point increase in our adjusted gross profit margin rate in Q3. This was primarily driven by our focus on category management, which is our largest initiative to drive profitable growth. Strategic pricing initiatives and higher margin rates associated with owned brands were key enablers to adjusted gross profit margin expansion. In Q3, owned brands as a percent of total net sales were up nearly 230 basis points. SG&A costs were up 5.4% year-over-year, and given limited net sales growth, more than offset adjusted gross margin expansion in the quarter. Higher SG&A was primarily driven by inflationary costs.

轉向盈利。我們很高興能夠在第三季度將調整後的毛利率提高 98 個基點。這主要是由於我們專注於品類管理，這是我們推動盈利增長的最大舉措。戰略性定價舉措和與自有品牌相關的更高利潤率是調整後毛利率擴張的關鍵推動因素。在第三季度，自有品牌佔總淨銷售額的百分比上升了近 230 個基點。 SG&A 成本同比增長 5.4%，考慮到淨銷售額增長有限，抵消了本季度調整後的毛利率增長。更高的 SG&A 主要是由通貨膨脹成本驅動的。

Overall, in Q3, adjusted operating income margin was 9.8%, which was down 68 basis points versus Q3 2021. As we lapped strong net income growth in Q3 2021, adjusted diluted earnings per share of $2.84 was down 11.5% versus the prior year quarter. Both GAAP and adjusted diluted earnings per share included a headwind of approximately $0.20 per share from foreign currency impacts in Q3. Importantly, we continued to invest in the business while maintaining our strong commitment to capital stewardship by returning approximately $860 million in cash to shareholders through share buybacks and dividends during the first 3 quarters of 2022.

總體而言，在第三季度，調整後的營業利潤率為 9.8%，與 2021 年第三季度相比下降了 68 個基點。由於我們在 2021 年第三季度實現了強勁的淨收入增長，調整後的攤薄每股收益為 2.84 美元，與去年同期相比下降了 11.5% . GAAP 和調整後的攤薄每股收益都包含了第三季度外匯影響帶來的每股約 0.20 美元的逆風。重要的是，我們在 2022 年前 3 季度通過股票回購和派息向股東返還約 8.6 億美元現金，同時保持對資本管理的堅定承諾，同時繼續投資該業務。

Turning to guidance. There are a couple of factors which led to our updates in the press release yesterday. First, we reiterated full year guidance on net sales growth, comparable store sales and adjusted operating income margin rate. We revised full year adjusted diluted earnings per share to reflect both the foreign currency headwind in Q3, along with the estimated impact in Q4. Our full year guidance reflects an expansion of adjusted operating income margin and a range on adjusted diluted earnings per share growth of 5% to 6%. This is on top of a 48% increase in 2021 versus 2020 on a comparative 52-week basis.

轉向指導。有幾個因素導致我們在昨天的新聞稿中進行了更新。首先，我們重申了對淨銷售額增長、可比店面銷售額和調整後的營業利潤率的全年指導。我們修訂了全年調整後的稀釋每股收益，以反映第三季度的外匯逆風以及第四季度的估計影響。我們的全年指引反映了調整後營業收入利潤率的擴大以及調整後攤薄每股收益增長 5% 至 6% 的範圍。相比 52 週，2021 年與 2020 年相比增長了 48%。

Secondly, we revised our free cash flow outlook for the year to a minimum of $300 million due to updates in our working capital assumptions primarily related to inventory. Jeff will further outline the drivers of these changes to our free cash flow guidance later. While our full year 2022 guidance affirms that we believe we will expand margins, we're lagging the market in top line growth in 2022. We're not at all satisfied with this outcome as it's inconsistent with our target of growing at or above the market over the long term.

其次，由於我們更新了主要與庫存相關的營運資金假設，我們將今年的自由現金流量展望修改為至少 3 億美元。傑夫稍後將進一步概述這些變化對我們的自由現金流量指導的驅動因素。雖然我們的 2022 年全年指引確認我們相信我們將擴大利潤率，但我們在 2022 年的收入增長方面落後於市場。我們對這一結果一點也不滿意，因為它與我們達到或超過增長的目標不一致市場長期來看。

As we develop plans for 2023 and beyond, we've done a deep dive on the competitive environment and the actions necessary to accelerate growth. From our analysis, 2 opportunities came to the forefront, particularly in the professional sales channel. First, we have opportunities on availability in certain categories, which require inventory investment to enable us to get more SKUs closer to the customer. Secondarily, while our research has consistently indicated that price is not the most important driver of choice for professional customers, we've tested and will make surgical pricing actions in certain categories to enable us to better address changes in competitive pricing dynamics.

在製定 2023 年及以後的計劃時，我們深入研究了競爭環境和加速增長所需的行動。根據我們的分析，有 2 個機會出現在最前沿，特別是在專業銷售渠道中。首先，我們有機會獲得某些類別的可用性，這需要庫存投資才能使我們能夠讓更多的 SKU 更接近客戶。其次，雖然我們的研究一直表明價格並不是專業客戶選擇的最重要驅動因素，但我們已經測試並將在某些類別中採取手術定價行動，使我們能夠更好地應對競爭性定價動態的變化。

We believe that these 2, the targeted inventory investment is by far the most important step needing to set us up for improved top line performance and share gains in 2023. As you know, 2023 will be the final year of a 3-year strategic plan we outlined in April '21 that focused on growing at or above market, expanding margins and returning excess cash to shareholders. We established 3-year performance ranges for several financial metrics and an overarching goal of delivering top quartile total shareholder return. We achieved that TSR goal for 2021 and continue to believe that we will achieve the majority of the 3-year goals outlined.

我們認為，這 2 個目標庫存投資是迄今為止最重要的一步，需要讓我們在 2023 年提高頂線業績和份額收益。如您所知，2023 年將是 3 年戰略計劃的最後一年我們在 21 年 4 月概述了專注於在市場上或高於市場的增長，擴大利潤率並將多餘現金返還給股東。我們為多項財務指標確定了 3 年的績效範圍，並製定了實現最高四分之一股東總回報的總體目標。我們實現了 2021 年的 TSR 目標，並繼續相信我們將實現所概述的大部分 3 年目標。

In terms of adjusted operating income margin rate, we've delivered significant margin expansion since the start of 2021. We're also executing strategic initiatives to enable further margin expansion. However, we now expect that reaching the targeted 3-year range for margin by the end of 2023 will be very challenging. We're not satisfied that we've lagged industry growth in 2022, and we're taking actions to accelerate growth.

就調整後的營業收入利潤率而言，自 2021 年初以來，我們的利潤率實現了顯著增長。我們還在執行戰略舉措，以進一步擴大利潤率。但是，我們現在預計到 2023 年底達到 3 年利潤率目標範圍將非常具有挑戰性。我們對我們在 2022 年落後於行業增長感到不滿意，我們正在採取行動加速增長。

If the current competitive environment in the professional sales channel extends into 2023, it will make achieving the targeted margin and earnings per share thresholds shared at the start of 2021 even more difficult. All that said, we remain optimistic about the fundamentals of our industry. We also believe we'll deliver against the majority of the 3-year goals outlined in 2021. And importantly, we're building plans to accelerate growth in 2023. It's also critical to reinforce that margin expansion remains an integral part of our TSR strategy, and we believe that we still have significant opportunity to drive profitable growth over the long term.

如果專業銷售渠道中當前的競爭環境延續到 2023 年，這將使實現 2021 年初共享的目標利潤率和每股收益門檻變得更加困難。儘管如此，我們仍然對我們行業的基本面持樂觀態度。我們還相信，我們將實現 2021 年概述的大部分 3 年目標。重要的是，我們正在製定計劃以在 2023 年加速增長。強調利潤率擴張仍然是我們 TSR 戰略不可或缺的一部分也很重要，而且我們相信，從長遠來看，我們仍然有很大的機會推動盈利增長。

Shifting back to 2022 and specific to our professional business in Q3. Strategic accounts in TechNet led our growth. As discussed in August, we are carefully monitoring how and where we're investing within pro, which includes deploying resources to our fastest growing and most profitable categories and customers. Overall, we remain highly focused on what customers value most: extensive parts availability, excellent customer service both online and in their shops as well as consistent and reliable delivery.

回到 2022 年，具體到我們第三季度的專業業務。 TechNet 中的戰略客戶引領了我們的發展。正如 8 月份所討論的那樣，我們正在仔細監控我們在 pro 中的投資方式和位置，其中包括將資源部署到我們增長最快、利潤最高的類別和客戶。總的來說，我們仍然高度關注客戶最看重的東西：廣泛的零件可用性、卓越的在線和實體店客戶服務以及始終如一和可靠的交付。

As we strive to improve customer service and delivery reliability, we recognize our professional customers' weekend car counts are growing as a percent of their overall business. During the quarter, we deployed new delivery software to leverage the gig economy as well as our extensive vehicle fleet. This enables us to improve delivery speed and consistency on the weekend when our pro customers are relying on us while reducing fixed costs over time.

在我們努力改善客戶服務和交付可靠性的同時，我們認識到我們專業客戶的周末汽車數量佔其整體業務的百分比正在增長。在本季度，我們部署了新的交付軟件以利用零工經濟以及我們龐大的車隊。這使我們能夠在周末提高交付速度和一致性，因為我們的專業客戶依賴我們，同時隨著時間的推移降低固定成本。

As we build additional capabilities in our Advance and Carquest Professional B2B platforms, our online penetration has reached record levels. Strategic partnerships are also enabling us to drive our connected shop initiative, which enables customers to access tools and data resources, generate faster repair order approvals, deliver higher conversion rates and improve shop efficiency. With our connected shop, Advance Pro and Carquest Pro are directly integrated into Tekmetric, our exclusive partner and industry-leading shop management system. This powerful workflow combination allows our Pro shops to purchase parts and drop them directly into repair shop work orders quickly and easily.

隨著我們在 Advance 和 Carquest Professional B2B 平台中構建更多功能，我們的在線滲透率達到了創紀錄的水平。戰略合作夥伴關係也使我們能夠推動我們的互聯商店計劃，使客戶能夠訪問工具和數據資源，生成更快的維修訂單批准，提供更高的轉化率並提高商店效率。通過我們的互聯商店，Advance Pro 和 Carquest Pro 直接集成到我們的獨家合作夥伴和行業領先的商店管理系統 Tekmetric 中。這種強大的工作流程組合使我們的專業商店能夠快速輕鬆地購買零件並將其直接放入維修車間的工作訂單中。

With the integration of our diagnostic and service information, MotoLogic, we have a powerful operating platform for our customers that helps drive shop efficiencies and increases work order conversion rates.

通過集成我們的診斷和服務信息 MotoLogic，我們為客戶提供了一個強大的操作平台，有助於提高車間效率並提高工作訂單轉換率。

For DIY omnichannel in Q3, our highly regarded owned brands are a differentiator for Advance. Specific to DieHard, we continue to build this brand and delivered another quarter of double-digit sales growth. This ongoing strength is due in part to the combination of strong consumer regard and our commitment to building brand equity with innovation. Our latest product innovation launched earlier this year is the exclusive first-to-market DieHard xEV battery, optimized for the growing number of hybrid and electric vehicles on the road. The combination of trust, reliability and innovation for DieHard sets us apart.

對於第三季度的 DIY 全渠道，我們備受推崇的自有品牌是 Advance 的差異化因素。具體到 DieHard，我們繼續打造這個品牌，並實現了另一個四分之一的兩位數銷售額增長。這種持續的優勢部分歸功於消費者的強烈關注和我們通過創新建立品牌資產的承諾。我們今年早些時候推出的最新產品創新是獨家率先上市的 DieHard xEV 電池，針對道路上越來越多的混合動力和電動汽車進行了優化。 DieHard 的信任、可靠性和創新的結合使我們與眾不同。

In addition, the enhancement of Speed Perks through the launch of Gas Rewards has been a highlight for DIY this year and is helping drive increased loyalty. Year-to-date, Active Speed Perks members have increased to over 13 million. In Q3, Speed Perks as a percent of both sales and transactions significantly increased compared with the prior year quarter. In addition to the double-digit growth in new members, we're also delivering double-digit growth in graduations to our VIP and Elite tiers.

此外，通過推出 Gas Rewards 提高 Speed Perks 是今年 DIY 的一大亮點，有助於提高忠誠度。年初至今，Active Speed Perks 會員已增加到超過 1300 萬。在第三季度，與去年同期相比，Speed Perks 在銷售額和交易中所佔的百分比顯著增加。除了新會員的兩位數增長外，我們的 VIP 和 Elite 等級的畢業人數也實現了兩位數的增長。

Finally, we're making meaningful progress on expanding our footprint. Altogether, we opened 37 new locations this quarter, bringing our total to 115 new locations year-to-date. We expect that we will be within our guidance range of 125 to 150 new stores and branches for 2022. This will be the largest number of new locations we've opened in 8 years.

最後，我們在擴大足跡方面取得了有意義的進展。本季度我們總共開設了 37 個新地點，使我們年初至今的新地點總數達到 115 個。我們預計 2022 年我們將在 125 至 150 家新店和分店的指導範圍內。這將是我們 8 年來開設的新店數量最多的一次。

I'll now shift to the progress we're making to capitalize on our margin expansion opportunity. We continue to execute our category management strategy, which includes having the right brands, quality products and the optimal mix of good, better and best options. In addition, growing own brands and implementing strategic pricing actions to cover cost increases are key enablers of margin expansion.

我現在將轉向我們為利用我們的利潤擴張機會而取得的進展。我們繼續執行我們的品類管理戰略，包括擁有正確的品牌、優質的產品以及優質、更好和最佳選擇的最佳組合。此外，發展自有品牌和實施戰略性定價行動以彌補成本增加是利潤擴張的關鍵推動因素。

Our new strategic pricing capabilities also enable us to respond with targeted and precise actions. This means we can both eliminate unprofitable discounts to improve gross margin rate and, at the same time, make calculated investments elsewhere to drive sales. Within supply chain, we're ramping up the new San Bernardino DC to increase capacity to support our West Coast expansion. This DC will be a critical consolidation point for supplier shipments and enhance our e-commerce capabilities.

我們新的戰略定價能力還使我們能夠以有針對性和精確的行動做出回應。這意味著我們既可以取消無利可圖的折扣以提高毛利率，同時在其他地方進行有計劃的投資以推動銷售。在供應鏈中，我們正在擴建新的 San Bernardino DC 以增加產能以支持我們在西海岸的擴張。該 DC 將成為供應商發貨的關鍵整合點，並增強我們的電子商務能力。

Our new Toronto DC went live shipping in late October and is now fully operational. In this DC, we have both Worldpac and Carquest parts, which consolidates 2 buildings in Toronto and the surrounding Southern Ontario area to 1 large DC. We've also completed a major expansion of the DC in Thomson, Georgia, increasing the size by 40% and optimizing the building layout to significantly improve productivity.

我們的新多倫多配送中心於 10 月下旬開始發貨，現已全面投入運營。在這個 DC 中，我們同時擁有 Worldpac 和 Carquest 部分，它們將多倫多和周圍安大略省南部地區的 2 座建築物合併為 1 個大型 DC。我們還完成了喬治亞州湯姆森配送中心的大規模擴建，將規模擴大了 40%，並優化了建築佈局，從而顯著提高了生產力。

While these investments drive growth and productivity, we're also exiting 4 DCs as planned.

在這些投資推動增長和生產力的同時，我們還按計劃退出了 4 個 DC。

In summary, while this was a difficult quarter for Advance, comp sales and adjusted operating income margins were generally in line with our expectations. And based on our updated guidance, we'll deliver the second consecutive year of net sales growth and adjusted operating margin expansion. However, we're not satisfied with relative top line performance versus the industry this year and are taking measured deliberate actions to accelerate growth in 2023. It's important to reinforce that we still see significant opportunity to drive total shareholder return over the long term through sales growth, margin expansion and returning excess cash to shareholders.

總而言之，雖然這對 Advance 來說是一個艱難的季度，但 comp 銷售額和調整後的營業利潤率總體上符合我們的預期。根據我們更新後的指引，我們將連續第二年實現淨銷售額增長和調整後的營業利潤率增長。然而，我們對今年與行業的相對營收表現並不滿意，正在採取慎重的行動來加速 2023 年的增長。重要的是要強調，我們仍然看到通過銷售推動股東總回報的重大機會增長、利潤率擴張和向股東返還多餘現金。

I'll now turn the call over to Jeff to review Q3 financials and updated outlook for the balance of the year. Jeff?

我現在將電話轉給 Jeff，以審查第三季度的財務狀況和更新的年度餘額展望。傑夫？

Thanks, Tom, and good morning. I would also like to start by thanking our team members for their hard work while navigating this challenging environment. In Q3, net sales of $2.6 billion increased 0.8% compared with Q3 2021, driven by strategic pricing and new store openings. Comparable store sales declined 0.7%. Adjusted gross profit margin expanded 98 basis points to 47.2%.

謝謝，湯姆，早上好。我還想首先感謝我們的團隊成員在這個充滿挑戰的環境中所做的辛勤工作。在戰略定價和新店開業的推動下，第三季度淨銷售額為 26 億美元，與 2021 年第三季度相比增長 0.8%。可比店面銷售額下降 0.7%。調整後毛利率擴大 98 個基點至 47.2%。

In the quarter, same-SKU inflation was approximately 7.9%, and we expect this to continue through the balance of the year.

本季度，相同 SKU 的通脹率約為 7.9%，我們預計這一趨勢將持續到今年餘下時間。

Q3 adjusted SG&A of $989 million grew 5.4% and was 37.5% of net sales. This compares to $938 million or 35.8% of net sales in Q3 2021. The largest SG&A headwinds in the quarter were higher inflation in store payroll, medical and fuel, and this, coupled with softer top line performance resulted in deleverage. It's important to note that we did not see significant headwinds from our California expansion in Q3 and expect this will contribute to SG&A leverage in Q4.

第三季度調整後的 SG&A 為 9.89 億美元，增長 5.4%，占淨銷售額的 37.5%。相比之下，2021 年第三季度為 9.38 億美元，占淨銷售額的 35.8%。本季度最大的 SG&A 不利因素是商店工資、醫療和燃料的通貨膨脹率較高，再加上收入表現疲軟導致去槓桿化。值得注意的是，我們沒有看到第三季度加州擴張帶來的重大阻力，預計這將有助於第四季度的 SG&A 槓桿率。

Our Q3 adjusted operating income was $258 million, a decrease of 5.8% compared with Q3 2021. Our Q3 adjusted OI margin rate was 9.8%, a decrease of 68 basis points compared with Q3 2021. Our adjusted diluted earnings per share of $2.84 decreased 11.5% compared with our Q3 2021. Our diluted EPS on both a GAAP and adjusted basis was negatively impacted by approximately $0.20 from foreign currency.

我們第三季度調整後的營業收入為 2.58 億美元，與 2021 年第三季度相比下降了 5.8%。我們第三季度調整後的 OI 利潤率為 9.8%，與 2021 年第三季度相比下降了 68 個基點。我們調整後的攤薄每股收益為 2.84 美元，下降了 11.5 % 與我們的 2021 年第三季度相比。我們在公認會計原則和調整後基礎上的稀釋每股收益受到約 0.20 美元的外幣負面影響。

Free cash flow year-to-date was $149 million compared with $734 million in the same period of 2021. As Tom mentioned, we are making strategic inventory investments to improve availability in the back half of 2022, which are important to accelerate growth in 2023. In addition, through process and technology improvements, we are now processing age and disputed payables more efficiently. These changes to our working capital expectations have led to a reduction of our 2022 free cash flow guidance with inventory being the primary factor.

年初至今的自由現金流為 1.49 億美元，而 2021 年同期為 7.34 億美元。正如湯姆所說，我們正在進行戰略庫存投資，以提高 2022 年下半年的可用性，這對於加速 2023 年的增長非常重要. 此外，通過流程和技術改進，我們現在可以更有效地處理年齡和有爭議的應付賬款。我們對營運資本預期的這些改變導致我們下調了 2022 年自由現金流指引，其中庫存是主要因素。

In addition, we continue to invest in the business, and Q3 capital expenditures were $122 million, bringing year-to-date capital expenditures to $334 million. As stated in our press release, we're increasing expectations for CapEx this year which is primarily due to higher inflation impacting construction costs related to new store openings. While expectations for free cash flow have changed, our capital allocation priorities remain the same, and we are delivering on them.

此外，我們繼續投資該業務，第三季度資本支出為 1.22 億美元，使年初至今的資本支出達到 3.34 億美元。正如我們在新聞稿中所述，我們提高了對今年資本支出的預期，這主要是由於較高的通貨膨脹影響了與新店開業相關的建築成本。儘管對自由現金流的預期發生了變化，但我們的資本配置優先事項保持不變，並且我們正在兌現它們。

We continue to return cash to shareholders through a combination of share repurchases and our quarterly cash dividend. In Q3, we returned $75 million to shareholders through the repurchase of approximately 444,000 shares at an average price of $168.93 and approximately $91 million through our quarterly cash dividend. Our Board also recently approved our quarterly cash dividend of $1.50. Year-to-date, we've returned approximately $860 million to shareholders, in line with our capital allocation priorities.

我們繼續通過股票回購和季度現金股息的組合向股東返還現金。在第三季度，我們通過以平均 168.93 美元的價格回購約 444,000 股股票向股東返還了 7500 萬美元，並通過季度現金股息回購了約 9100 萬美元。我們的董事會最近還批准了 1.50 美元的季度現金股息。今年迄今，我們已根據我們的資本分配優先事項向股東返還了約 8.6 億美元。

Moving to guidance. We anticipate slight gross margin deleverage in Q4, driven by higher product costs coming off the balance sheet as expected, which will be offset by significant SG&A leverage. This will enable full year adjusted operating income margin expansion between 20 to 40 basis points as guided in August. We believe that we will be one of the few companies in all of retail to deliver adjusted operating income margin expansion in 2022.

轉向指導。我們預計第四季度毛利率將略有去槓桿化，這是由於較高的產品成本如預期從資產負債表中消失，這將被顯著的 SG&A 槓桿所抵消。這將使全年調整後的營業收入利潤率按照 8 月份的指引擴大 20 至 40 個基點。我們相信，我們將成為所有零售業中為數不多的在 2022 年實現調整後營業利潤率擴張的公司之一。

In summary, we're reiterating the following elements of our August guidance. Net sales of $11 billion to $11.2 billion, comparable store sales of negative 1% to flat, adjusted operating income margin rate of 9.8% to 10%, income tax rate of 24% to 26% and 125 to 150 new stores and branch openings. However, we're making the following updates to adjusted diluted earnings per share of $12.60 to $12.80, which is entirely attributable to the estimated full year impact of foreign currency. Minimum CapEx of $350 million, minimum free cash flow of $300 million, and share repurchases of up to $600 million.

總而言之，我們重申了 8 月指南中的以下要素。淨銷售額為 110 億美元至 112 億美元，可比店面銷售額為負 1% 至持平，調整後營業利潤率為 9.8% 至 10%，所得稅率為 24% 至 26%，新店和分店數量為 125 至 150 家。但是，我們對 12.60 美元至 12.80 美元的調整後攤薄每股收益進行了以下更新，這完全歸因於估計的全年外匯影響。資本支出最低 3.5 億美元，自由現金流最低 3 億美元，股票回購最高 6 億美元。

With that, let's open the phone lines to questions. Operator?

有了這個，讓我們打開電話線來提問。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Your first question is from the line of Christopher Horvers with JPMorgan.

（操作員說明）你的第一個問題來自摩根大通的克里斯托弗霍弗斯。

It's Christian Carlino on for Chris. Just trying to better understand the decision to build inventory. Are there particular regions or categories where you were previously starved? And how should we think about the margin implications putting those extra units to work?

克里斯蒂安·卡里諾接替克里斯。只是想更好地理解建立庫存的決定。是否有您以前挨餓的特定區域或類別？我們應該如何考慮讓這些額外的單位發揮作用對利潤率的影響？

Well, first of all, our goal is to grow at or above the market and we didn't achieve that in Q3. So we did a pretty deep dive on the underperformance, and it was really concentrated in a couple of professional categories. And the analysis that we did, identified 2 primary drivers. First of all, getting more inventory closer to the customer was a key opportunity, and we also talked about relative price. But the much larger opportunity is inventory availability and getting parts closer to the customers.

好吧，首先，我們的目標是達到或超過市場水平，而我們在第三季度沒有實現這一目標。因此，我們對錶現不佳的情況進行了深入研究，它實際上集中在幾個專業類別中。我們所做的分析確定了 2 個主要驅動因素。首先，讓更多庫存更接近客戶是一個關鍵機會，我們還談到了相對價格。但更大的機會是庫存可用性和讓零件更接近客戶。

So the focus is really on a couple of areas. First of all, the categories that we transitioned over the last couple of years to own brand, these are big categories, that's where a lot of the underperformance was in professional. We're making sure that we've improve our on-hand position on those categories. We're still not exactly where we want them to be. We spend a lot of time with our suppliers and our team on this. And we're focused on making sure that we're in a really strong position on these categories we've transitioned. We benefited from the own brand margin expansion. Now we need to get the top line going in some of those categories.

因此，重點實際上集中在幾個領域。首先，我們在過去幾年過渡到自有品牌的類別，這些是大類別，這是專業領域表現不佳的地方。我們正在確保我們已經改善了我們在這些類別上的手頭位置。我們仍然不完全是我們希望他們成為的地方。我們在這方面與我們的供應商和我們的團隊花了很多時間。我們專注於確保我們在我們已經過渡的這些類別中處於非常有利的地位。我們受益於自有品牌利潤率的擴張。現在我們需要在其中一些類別中獲得最高收入。

We're also adding some depth to high-velocity SKUs and also some breadth to certain applications and getting them closer to the market. So we feel the inventory investment is really important for us to accelerate our growth, which is the #1 priority we have right now.

我們還為高速 SKU 增加了一些深度，並為某些應用程序增加了一些廣度，並使它們更接近市場。因此，我們認為庫存投資對我們加速增長非常重要，這是我們目前的第一要務。

Got it. That's really helpful. And then I guess on the capitalized inventory costs, could you speak to your level of visibility going into the first half of next year? And should the headwinds abate in the first half?

知道了。這真的很有幫助。然後我想關於資本化的庫存成本，你能談談你對明年上半年的可見度嗎？上半年的逆風應該減弱嗎？

Yes. So as it relates to our LIFO costs, you'll see it later on, but we had about $67 million of LIFO costs in the third quarter. We expect that to continue into the fourth quarter. Fourth quarter will largely look like it did last year, so that's going to put us on track to have capitalized costs in sort of the $275 million to $300 million range. Under the assumption that costs are going to come down over the back half of the year, we would largely recognize these over the first half of 2023. So that's the way we're looking at it right now. Obviously, it's a very dynamic situation, having a good understanding in terms of what these products or input costs are going to do and how they're going to shape up over the balance of '23.

是的。因此，由於它與我們的後進先出成本有關，您稍後會看到，但我們在第三季度的後進先出成本約為 6700 萬美元。我們預計這種情況將持續到第四季度。第四季度將與去年基本持平，因此這將使我們走上正軌，將資本化成本控制在 2.75 億美元至 3 億美元之間。假設成本將在今年下半年下降，我們將在 2023 年上半年基本上認識到這些。所以這就是我們現在看待它的方式。顯然，這是一個非常動態的情況，對這些產品或投入成本將要做什麼以及它們將如何在 23 年的平衡中形成有很好的了解。

Your next question is from the line of Simeon Gutman with Morgan Stanley.

你的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Simeon Gutman。

I wanted to ask about pricing. You made the business healthier over the last few years because you've taken out these price match overrides. And I think it sounds like you've been more disciplined in general. So can you talk about pricing? Your peers have obviously engaged in some discounting. You haven't used that lever. And I know you're, I guess, attacking the problem with inventory. But curious how you think about price versus assortment or depth of inventory.

我想問一下定價。在過去的幾年中，您使業務更加健康，因為您已經取消了這些價格匹配覆蓋。而且我認為聽起來您總體上更加自律。那你能談談定價嗎？您的同行顯然進行了一些折扣。你沒有用過那個槓桿。我知道你在解決庫存問題。但好奇您如何看待價格與分類或庫存深度。

Simeon, so our analysis suggests that the majority of the underperformance in pro is driven by availability and inventory positioning. So you're right on interpreting that. Its availability is the #1 driver of choice for the professional installers, and as we said many times, price is much lower down the list. So in general, we are continuing to execute our category management strategy and much of that remains the same. So we are going to remain very disciplined in how we price in the marketplace. We have so much more in terms of sophisticated tools to manage pricing than we did when all of us arrived here a few years ago. So I feel really good about where we're positioned there.

Simeon，所以我們的分析表明，pro 的大部分錶現不佳是由可用性和庫存定位驅動的。所以你的解釋是對的。它的可用性是專業安裝人員首選的第一驅動程序，而且正如我們多次說過的那樣，價格要低得多。因此，總的來說，我們將繼續執行我們的品類管理戰略，其中大部分保持不變。因此，我們將在市場定價方面保持非常嚴格的紀律。與幾年前我們所有人來到這裡時相比，我們在管理定價方面擁有的複雜工具要多得多。所以我對我們在那裡的位置感覺很好。

The new capabilities allow us to price by region, by market, by channel, by store. So we're still focused on removing unprofitable discounts in really in all channels. So that doesn't change. I think what is new is we successfully tested some surgical pricing actions in some of the more challenged categories, and we're going to essentially continue to do that and expand that more broadly. Our goal overall is to price the cover cost increases. However, we're going to make some investments in key categories where we expect to drive incremental top line growth.

新功能使我們能夠按地區、市場、渠道、商店定價。所以我們仍然專注於在所有渠道中真正消除無利可圖的折扣。所以這不會改變。我認為新的是我們在一些更具挑戰性的類別中成功地測試了一些手術定價行動，我們將基本上繼續這樣做並更廣泛地擴展它。我們的總體目標是為保障成本的增加定價。但是，我們將對我們希望推動增量收入增長的關鍵類別進行一些投資。

Okay. And then my follow-up is a little bit of clarification on the prior question. If you're buying more inventory, wouldn't that -- that would lower capitalized costs, at least for the first part in theory, I think that's right, that would help your gross margins earlier on. And may be too early for this, but can you give us any type of preview for gross margin broadly next year, balancing the capitalized cost against, I don't know if it's LIFO or other factors along with your initiatives, the direction for growth. I think you've said it should still be up in that direction next year. Just curious if you can comment on that.

好的。然後我的後續行動是對先前的問題進行一些澄清。如果你購買更多的存貨，那不是會降低資本化成本，至少在理論上是這樣，我認為這是正確的，這將有助於你更早的毛利率。這可能還為時過早，但你能給我們明年大致的毛利率任何類型的預覽，平衡資本化成本，我不知道這是後進先出法還是其他因素以及你的舉措，增長方向.我想你已經說過明年它應該仍然朝那個方向發展。只是好奇您是否可以對此發表評論。

Yes. I mean, certainly, those costs are going to come off the balance sheet over the balance of next year. We think this is going to be a challenging headwind for us as we go into '23 and try to continue to grow our margins, both the product cost as well as the capitalized costs, whether its freight costs being capitalized, whether it's supply chain costs being capitalized. That will land on the balance sheet with the inventory as we acquire it and will come off over the balance of next year. Again, we think most of this will roll off in the first half of the year. We will give an update on 2023 in terms of how we're thinking about our margins, but we know that this is going to be a significant headwind as we go into next year.

是的。我的意思是，當然，這些成本將在明年的餘額中從資產負債表上消失。我們認為這對我們來說將是一個具有挑戰性的逆風，因為我們進入 23 年並試圖繼續增加我們的利潤率，包括產品成本和資本化成本，無論是運費成本，還是供應鏈成本被資本化。這將在我們獲得庫存時與庫存一起落在資產負債表上，並將在明年的餘額中消失。同樣，我們認為其中大部分將在今年上半年結束。我們將在 2023 年更新我們對利潤率的看法，但我們知道這將是我們進入明年時的一個重大逆風。

Your next question is from the line of Kate McShane with Goldman Sachs.

你的下一個問題來自高盛的凱特麥克肖恩。

This is Mark Jordan on for Kate. Just wondering if you can talk about your category management initiative and specifically the removal of these unprofitable discounts. How far along you are moving those discounts? And how much of a headwind might have been to comps in the quarter?

這是凱特的馬克喬丹。只是想知道您是否可以談談您的類別管理計劃，特別是取消這些無利可圖的折扣。您將這些折扣移動多遠？本季度的補償可能有多大的逆風？

Well, we're really pleased with the progress we've made on category management over the last couple of years. It's the single biggest driver of gross margin. It's been a huge contributor to the fact that right up until Q3, we had expanded margins overall for 9 straight quarters. So the execution of that plan continues. There's a couple of elements. There's strategic sourcing. There's the own brand penetration, which improved in the quarter. We were up a couple of hundred basis points in terms of our own brand penetration.

好吧，我們對過去幾年在類別管理方面取得的進展感到非常滿意。這是毛利率的最大單一驅動因素。這是一個巨大的貢獻，直到第三季度，我們已經連續 9 個季度擴大了整體利潤率。因此，該計劃的執行仍在繼續。有幾個要素。有戰略採購。自有品牌滲透率在本季度有所提高。就我們自己的品牌滲透率而言，我們提高了幾百個基點。

And then on the pricing front, as I mentioned on the previous question, we're being very surgical in how we act. So we're able to remove unprofitable discounts where it doesn't make sense, and we're able to invest where we need to in order to drive profitable top line growth. So it's really leveraging all the tools that we put in place over the past couple of years. This was the single biggest driver of the margin expansion plan that we laid out over the last couple of years, and we're continuing to execute against it.

然後在定價方面，正如我在上一個問題中提到的那樣，我們在我們的行為方式上非常謹慎。因此，我們能夠在沒有意義的地方取消無利可圖的折扣，並且我們能夠在需要的地方進行投資，以推動盈利性的頂線增長。所以它真的利用了我們在過去幾年中使用的所有工具。這是我們過去幾年制定的利潤率擴張計劃的最大推動力，我們將繼續執行它。

Your next question is from the line of Elizabeth Suzuki with Bank of America.

你的下一個問題來自美國銀行的伊麗莎白鈴木。

We will move on to the next question that comes from the line of Steven Zaccone with Citigroup.

我們將繼續討論來自花旗集團的 Steven Zaccone 的下一個問題。

Question on the owned brand impact to same-store sales. How do you expect that to trend in the fourth quarter? And should that continue to be a drag into next year? At what point is that kind of in the baseline?

關於自有品牌對同店銷售影響的問題。您預計第四季度的趨勢如何？這是否會繼續成為明年的拖累？在什麼時候基線是這樣的？

Sure. Well, we've been expanding for several quarters now, as you know. We called out roughly 80 basis points of net sales and 90 of comp sales. And the big categories that are contributing are the ones that we've been transitioning, which is engine management and under car. So we still have a ways to go yet in terms of our reaching our goals there. So we would expect that to continue on. But it's a comp sales headwind, but it's a good thing and that we are driving significant improvement in gross margin. And that's the opportunity for us. I mean, margin expansion remains very, very important to us, and this is a key part of that.

當然。好吧，如您所知，我們現在已經擴張了幾個季度。我們提出了大約 80 個基點的淨銷售額和 90 個比較銷售額。做出貢獻的大類別是我們一直在轉型的類別，即引擎管理和汽車。因此，就我們在那裡實現目標而言，我們還有很長的路要走。所以我們希望這種情況會繼續下去。但這是一個銷售逆風，但這是一件好事，我們正在推動毛利率的顯著提高。這就是我們的機會。我的意思是，利潤率擴張對我們來說仍然非常非常重要，這是其中的關鍵部分。

The good thing here is our customers love this product. I mean, we're building strong brands. DieHard is a terrific brand. It had another great quarter. We're at the #1 highly regard -- most highly regarded battery in the country. We've extended that into other categories such as tools. And then the Carquest brand is very popular with professional installers. The quality that we put in place for our Carquest product is very much respected by our customers. We have a much lower return rates, so it's a very positive story. And we'll take the comp sales headwind along with obviously, the margin expansion that we're getting from it.

這裡的好處是我們的客戶喜歡這個產品。我的意思是，我們正在打造強大的品牌。 DieHard 是一個了不起的品牌。它有另一個偉大的季度。我們在該國最受推崇的電池中排名第一。我們已將其擴展到其他類別，例如工具。然後 Carquest 品牌非常受專業安裝人員的歡迎。我們為 Carquest 產品製定的質量受到客戶的高度尊重。我們的退貨率要低得多，所以這是一個非常積極的故事。我們將應對競爭銷售逆風，以及我們從中獲得的利潤率擴張。

Okay. Then second question, more of a strategic question. So you plan on accelerating growth in 2023 because of the potential share loss you've seen. What does that mean for the strategic importance of margin expansion next year? I know you're not providing guidance but given your commentary about difficulty in achieving that margin rate that you previously talked about for 2023. Should we be thinking a pause in margin expansion is the right way to think about the model for '23?

好的。然後是第二個問題，更多的是一個戰略問題。所以你計劃在 2023 年加速增長，因為你已經看到了潛在的份額損失。這對明年擴大利潤率的戰略重要性意味著什麼？我知道你沒有提供指導，但考慮到你對實現你之前談到的 2023 年保證金率的困難的評論。我們是否應該認為暫停利潤率擴張是考慮 23 年模型的正確方法？

Sure. Well, let me speak to the targets we talked about. It's about 18 months ago, if you recall, in April of 2021. And what we did at that point was we outlined 3 overarching goals to drive total shareholder return. Comp sales growth, expand margins and returning excess cash to shareholders. And we also established 6 financial metrics associated with that TSR drivers. In 2021, we performed really well against the TSR drivers and all 6 of those metrics we achieved. We ended up in the top quartile in terms of TSR performance relative to the S&P. We're now -- up until now, we had 9 straight quarters of sales growth and margin expansion. As we got into 2022, the macroeconomic and competitive environment changed, and it really impacted us in the third quarter. While we expect to expand margins full year this year and we've already returned about $900 million in cash to shareholders, our 2022 sales are below our expectations.

當然。好吧，讓我談談我們談到的目標。如果你還記得的話，那是大約 18 個月前，也就是 2021 年 4 月。當時我們所做的是概述了 3 個總體目標，以推動股東總回報。比較銷售增長，擴大利潤並將多餘的現金返還給股東。我們還建立了 6 個與 TSR 驅動因素相關的財務指標。在 2021 年，我們在 TSR 驅動程序和我們實現的所有 6 個指標方面表現非常出色。就股東總回報率相對於標準普爾指數的表現而言，我們最終名列前四分之一。我們現在 - 到目前為止，我們已經連續 9 個季度實現銷售增長和利潤率擴張。隨著我們進入 2022 年，宏觀經濟和競爭環境發生了變化，它在第三季度真正影響了我們。雖然我們預計今年全年的利潤率將擴大，並且我們已經向股東返還了約 9 億美元現金，但我們 2022 年的銷售額低於我們的預期。

And we are taking the actions now to address that underperformance. So as we look forward to 2023, to your direct question, we believe we can get inside the '23 ranges on most of the metrics that we outlined. However, the margin rate and EPS ranges are really dependent on the competitive environment that we'll see in 2023, which is hard to predict right now. And if the competitive environment in professional, particularly, looks like it does in 2022, achieving the low end of the range of those 2 areas, margin rate and earnings per share is unlikely.

我們現在正在採取行動來解決這種表現不佳的問題。因此，當我們期待 2023 年時，對於您的直接問題，我們相信我們可以在我們概述的大多數指標上進入 23 年的範圍。然而，保證金率和每股收益範圍實際上取決於我們將在 2023 年看到的競爭環境，目前很難預測。如果專業領域的競爭環境特別像 2022 年那樣，則不太可能達到這兩個領域、利潤率和每股收益範圍的低端。

Now if we look beyond 2023, we're building a plan that will include all the key elements of the current TSR agenda, and we're going to continue to target top quartile TSR growth including all of those elements. So we still have plenty of upside to drive TSR going forward. We're just being cautious about 2023 given the competitive environment that we're in right now.

現在，如果我們展望 2023 年以後，我們正在製定一個計劃，其中將包括當前 TSR 議程的所有關鍵要素，我們將繼續以包括所有這些要素在內的前四分之一 TSR 增長為目標。因此，我們仍有很大的上漲空間來推動 TSR 向前發展。鑑於我們目前所處的競爭環境，我們只是對 2023 年持謹慎態度。

Your next question is from the line of Michael Lasser with UBS.

你的下一個問題來自瑞銀的 Michael Lasser。

This is Atul Maheswari on for Michael Lasser. Advance has taken a lot of steps over the years to improve its business, yet it seems like the pace of market share losses are now accelerating. Why do you think that is the case? And are some of the factors that are causing the underperformance simply structural in the nature and cannot be fixed?

我是 Michael Lasser 的 Atul Maheswari。多年來，Advance 採取了很多措施來改善其業務，但市場份額流失的速度似乎正在加快。你認為為什麼會這樣？導致業績不佳的一些因素是否只是本質上的結構性因素而無法解決？

Well, as we said earlier, we've done a pretty deep dive on what drove the underperformance. We performed well right up until the third quarter in terms of our agenda. Our strategy is unique. Our goal is to drive total shareholder return through comp sales and margin expansion and returning excess cash to shareholders, which has worked well for us up until the third quarter.

好吧，正如我們之前所說，我們已經深入研究了導致業績不佳的原因。就我們的議程而言，直到第三季度我們都表現良好。我們的策略是獨一無二的。我們的目標是通過銷售和利潤擴張以及向股東返還多餘現金來推動股東總回報，這在第三季度之前一直對我們有效。

We're not happy that we didn't expand margins in the third quarter, but I am very pleased that the team has worked very hard at accelerating growth going forward. And that's where we're focused in 2023. The underperformance, we've identified a couple of key areas, and that is to get more targeted inventory investment closer to the customer and take some surgical pricing actions. And that will help us get our top line where it needs to be.

我們對第三季度沒有擴大利潤率感到不高興，但我很高興團隊在加速未來增長方面非常努力。這就是我們在 2023 年關注的重點。表現不佳，我們已經確定了幾個關鍵領域，那就是讓更有針對性的庫存投資更接近客戶，並採取一些手術定價行動。這將幫助我們獲得需要的收入。

Got it. That's very helpful. And as a follow-up question, I had one on your inventory investments. So we're -- you're looking for inventory investments going forward. At the same time, the inventory growth has outpaced sales growth for a while now. So does that mean that there are certain categories where you have the inventory but simply not the right inventory? And if you could provide color on what categories those are.

知道了。這很有幫助。作為後續問題，我有一個關於您的庫存投資的問題。所以我們 - 你正在尋找未來的庫存投資。與此同時，庫存增長已經超過銷售增長一段時間了。那麼，這是否意味著您在某些類別中擁有庫存，但根本沒有正確的庫存？如果你能提供這些類別的顏色。

Sure. The focus is in a couple of areas, as I mentioned earlier. We want to make sure that we get these large categories that we've transitioned to own brand over the past couple of years to an on-hand rate that we're comfortable with. And while we've improved over the last year, we're still not where we need to be in these big categories. So that's job one.

當然。正如我之前提到的，重點在幾個方面。我們希望確保在過去幾年中我們已經過渡到自有品牌的這些大類別達到我們滿意的現有率。儘管我們在過去一年中有所進步，但我們在這些大類別中仍未達到我們需要達到的水平。這就是工作。

We're also improving the depth of high-velocity SKUs and getting those closer to the customer and then, in some cases, adding breadth that's closer to the customer. So it's really through our analysis of the professional channel, how we're positioned in the market, what's our assortment rate, how -- what's our close rate. We've done a very deep dive on where we are, and we're confident that the plans we're building are going to help us accelerate growth in 2023.

我們還在改進高速 SKU 的深度，使它們更貼近客戶，然後在某些情況下，增加更貼近客戶的廣度。所以這真的是通過我們對專業渠道的分析，我們在市場中的定位，我們的分類率是多少，我們的成交率是多少。我們已經對我們所處的位置進行了非常深入的研究，我們相信我們正在製定的計劃將幫助我們在 2023 年加速增長。

Your next question is from the line of Zach Fadem with Wells Fargo.

你的下一個問題來自富國銀行的 Zach Fadem。

Can you walk through the mechanics around the FX hit in a little more detail? And considering this is primarily a domestic business in terms of your sales, maybe talk through transaction versus translation impact. And how should we think about the Q4 impact and anything lingering into 2023?

你能更詳細地介紹一下 FX hit 的機制嗎？考慮到就您的銷售而言，這主要是國內業務，也許可以通過交易與翻譯的影響來討論。我們應該如何考慮第四季度的影響以及任何持續到 2023 年的事情？

Yes, sure. So first of all, the impact is completely transaction versus translation, and it really comes from 2 sources. The first and more significant is our -- we have a Taiwanese purchasing entity that's domiciled in Taiwan. And so what it does is essentially purchases inventory and gets it over to us so we can sell it here in the U.S. And what that does is it creates sort of a one side of the exposure because there aren't any receivables to naturally offset that. So it's a Taiwanese dollar entity purchasing inventory in currencies including the U.S. dollar. The Taiwanese dollar has weakened substantially in the quarter against the U.S. dollar, and that's what's created this exposure which, quite frankly, is not something we've seen in the past.

是的，當然。所以首先，影響完全是交易與翻譯，它實際上來自兩個來源。第一個也是更重要的是我們——我們有一個在台灣註冊的台灣採購實體。因此，它所做的基本上是購買庫存並將其交給我們，以便我們可以在美國這裡出售它所做的是它創造了一種風險敞口，因為沒有任何應收賬款可以自然抵消.所以它是一個台幣實體以包括美元在內的貨幣購買庫存。新台幣兌美元匯率在本季度大幅走弱，這就是造成這種敞口的原因，坦率地說，這是我們過去從未見過的情況。

We've known we've had this exposure forever, but we haven't seen this level of change between either the Taiwanese dollar or the other impact, which was the Canadian dollar.

我們知道我們一直都有這種敞口，但我們還沒有看到新台幣或其他影響（即加元）之間的這種程度的變化。

On the Canadian dollar side, it's really a similar story. We do purchase in Canada, which is a Canadian dollar functional entity, and it's buying certain inventory in U.S. dollars. The Canadian dollar also weakened against the U.S. dollar. But a similar story, while we do have receivables in Canada, those are all in Canadian dollars, you don't get that natural hedge. We don't do any hedging here as an organization, quite frankly, because we haven't needed to. And so we didn't anticipate this level of change between the U.S. dollar and those 2 foreign currencies. That's what drove to the $0.20 decrease in our EPS in the third quarter. The easy way to think about the fourth quarter is you can look at the midpoint of EPS between our Q -- our August guidance and our current guidance. You'll see we're estimating another $0.10 of EPS in the fourth quarter.

在加元方面，這確實是一個類似的故事。我們確實在加拿大採購，這是一個加元功能實體，它正在以美元購買某些庫存。加元兌美元也走軟。但類似的情況是，雖然我們在加拿大確實有應收賬款，但這些都是以加元計價的，你沒有得到那種自然的對沖。作為一個組織，我們不在這裡做任何對沖，坦率地說，因為我們不需要這樣做。所以我們沒有預料到美元和這兩種外幣之間會出現這種程度的變化。這就是導致我們第三季度每股收益下降 0.20 美元的原因。考慮第四季度的簡單方法是您可以查看我們的 Q 之間的每股收益中點——我們的 8 月指導和我們當前的指導。您會看到我們估計第四季度的每股收益將再增加 0.10 美元。

Got it. That's helpful. And then with your Q4 operating margin outlook implying about 130 basis points of expansion, can you walk through the SG&A levers here in a little bit more detail that give you confidence in the sharp year-over-year improvement from here? And then how should we think about SG&A leverage as we move our way through 2023?

知道了。這很有幫助。然後，您的第四季度營業利潤率前景暗示約 130 個基點的擴張，您能否在這裡更詳細地介紹 SG&A 槓桿，讓您對從這裡開始的同比大幅改善充滿信心？那麼，在我們邁向 2023 年的過程中，我們應該如何考慮 SG&A 的槓桿作用？

Yes. So the fourth quarter, there's a couple of things that are going to drive this significantly. The first is the start-up costs associated with our footprint expansion, namely in California. We're going to be lapping that. We've opened 37 stores here in the third quarter. We've got a robust agenda to open stores in the fourth quarter and get well within our range of about 125 to 150 stores. And that will help give us the leverage on the SG&A related to new stores. The other is really just we're starting to lap the wage inflation that we saw in the fourth quarter. So on a year-over-year basis, that starts to even out and help us out on a year-over-year basis. So those are going to be the 2 primary drivers.

是的。所以第四季度，有幾件事會顯著推動這一點。首先是與我們的足跡擴張相關的啟動成本，即在加利福尼亞州。我們將對此進行研磨。第三季度我們在這裡開了 37 家店。我們有一個強有力的議程，在第四季度開設商店，並在我們大約 125 到 150 家商店的範圍內。這將有助於我們利用與新店相關的 SG&A。另一個是我們真的開始超越我們在第四季度看到的工資通脹。因此，與去年同期相比，這開始趨於平衡並幫助我們實現同比增長。所以這些將成為兩個主要驅動因素。

Now keep in mind, fourth quarter is incredibly volatile. And so we're going to be managing our costs very, very closely, certainly our store labor costs, in addition to that, looking very closely at travel and any other discretionary costs that we really don't think we need going into the last 12 weeks of the year here. So it's going to be a combination of those that really give us the confidence that we're going to leverage SG&A in the fourth quarter. Looking to 2023, we'll give you more guidance as we work through our AOP in February, but we will be lapping a number of these costs and we're going to take that into consideration as we put together our plan for next year.

現在請記住，第四季度非常不穩定。因此，我們將非常、非常密切地管理我們的成本，當然是我們的商店人工成本，除此之外，我們會非常密切地關注差旅和任何其他我們認為不需要進入最後的可自由支配成本一年中有 12 週在這裡。因此，這將是真正讓我們相信我們將在第四季度利用 SG&A 的那些組合。展望 2023 年，我們將在 2 月份完成 AOP 時為您提供更多指導，但我們將計算其中的一些成本，我們將在製定明年的計劃時將其考慮在內。

Your next question is from the line of David Bellinger with MKM Partners.

您的下一個問題來自 MKM Partners 的 David Bellinger。

Just following up on that last one. So on the annual guidance, you lowered the EPS range by about $0.30 at the midpoint. Based on your comments just now, so that the FX headwind was $0.20 in Q3, expected another $0.10 in Q4. So just absent the FX factor, is there anything else really changing in your fundamental view? Or should we just think about this guide down being all FX-driven and the underlying fundamentals Q3 to Q4 not really seeing any change?

只是跟進最後一個。因此，在年度指導中，您將 EPS 範圍的中點降低了約 0.30 美元。根據您剛才的評論，第三季度的外匯逆風為 0.20 美元，預計第四季度為 0.10 美元。因此，如果沒有外匯因素，您的基本觀點是否還有其他真正改變的地方？或者我們是否應該只考慮本指南完全由外匯驅動，而第 3 季度至第 4 季度的基本面並沒有真正看到任何變化？

Look, the short answer is yes. I mean, it's entirely driven by the FX, and that's the $0.30 that you've called out, $0.20 in Q3 and $0.10 in Q4. Everything else is in line with the expectations and the guide that we put out in August, which is why we haven't changed the rest of the P&L guide, if you will, for the -- for Q4.

看，簡短的回答是肯定的。我的意思是，它完全由 FX 驅動，這就是你所說的 0.30 美元，第三季度為 0.20 美元，第四季度為 0.10 美元。其他一切都符合我們在 8 月份發布的預期和指南，這就是為什麼我們沒有更改 P&L 指南的其餘部分，如果你願意的話，第四季度。

Got it. And then just my follow-up here. Any comment on sales trends through the quarter? And then implied in that Q4 guide, I think there's a pretty wide range of outcomes there. You'd be slightly positive all the way down to negative 4% on the comps. So can you give us some indication of where trends are through mid-November? I know we're hearing some overall softening in retail sales in recent weeks. Are you seeing any of that show up in your business?

知道了。然後就是我的後續行動。對整個季度的銷售趨勢有何評論？然後在第四季度指南中暗示，我認為那裡有相當廣泛的結果。你會一直略微積極，直到 4% 的補償。那麼，您能給我們一些指示，說明到 11 月中旬的趨勢在哪裡嗎？我知道最近幾週我們聽到零售銷售整體疲軟。您是否在您的業務中看到任何這些？

David, well, first of all, just to round out Q3, our strongest period of the quarter was the last period. So we saw improvement in the summer. We talked about making sure that we are removing these unprofitable discounts that was going to have a bigger impact and would dissipate over time. So we expect that will happen. As we get into the fourth quarter, this is a highly volatile quarter. That's really the origin of the guide. This is a very resilient industry. You've heard that from us before. We expect that the category will continue to grow at the rates that it has been growing. It's been a robust year for the industry. We just need to be growing faster in advance.

大衛，首先，為了結束第三季度，我們本季度最強勁的時期是最後一個時期。所以我們在夏天看到了進步。我們談到要確保我們正在取消這些無利可圖的折扣，這些折扣會產生更大的影響，並會隨著時間的推移而消失。所以我們預計這會發生。當我們進入第四季度時，這是一個高度波動的季度。這確實是指南的起源。這是一個非常有彈性的行業。你以前從我們這裡聽說過。我們預計該類別將繼續以其一直增長的速度增長。對於該行業來說，這是強勁的一年。我們只需要提前更快地成長。

That's why we're taking the actions that we're taking. So relative to what you're hearing about in total retail, we're not seeing that. I think that you'll continue to see strength in the Automotive Aftermarket. The DIY segment performed well at the end of the quarter for us. So we feel like the industry performance will continue to be strong, with the caveat that the fourth quarter is our smallest of the year and it has the most volatility.

這就是我們採取我們正在採取的行動的原因。因此，相對於您在整個零售業中聽到的情況，我們沒有看到這一點。我認為您會繼續看到汽車售後市場的實力。 DIY 部分在本季度末對我們來說表現良好。因此，我們認為行業表現將繼續強勁，但需要注意的是，第四季度是我們今年最小的季度，而且波動最大。

Your next question is from the line of Mike Montani with Evercore ISI.

您的下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Mike Montani。

It's Mike on for Greg Melich. Just wanted to ask if I could, first off, just for some additional color, if you could share it in terms of the comp trend for DIY versus pro as well as ticket versus transaction count. And then I had a follow-up question.

邁克代替格雷格·梅利奇上場。只是想問我是否可以，首先，只是為了一些額外的顏色，如果你可以就 DIY 與 pro 的比較趨勢以及門票與交易數量分享它。然後我有一個後續問題。

Sure. I'll start with the channels. We basically said DIY, pro were in line with each other, which would imply actually an acceleration of DIY for us in the quarter. And we're actually pretty happy with what's going on in DIY. We're strengthening. Our expansion in the West has helped us there. We are gaining a lot of market share in our West market. We're going to continue to focus on DIY. It's a very important part of our business. DieHard continues to do well. So overall, we saw strength in DIY. Where we saw weakness relative to the second quarter was in professional. And that's why we're taking the actions that we're taking, targeted inventory investment, surgical pricing actions. So really DIY is getting -- got stronger for us, pro got weaker overall.

當然。我將從頻道開始。我們基本上說 DIY 和 pro 是一致的，這實際上意味著我們在本季度加快了 DIY 的步伐。我們實際上對 DIY 中發生的事情非常滿意。我們正在加強。我們在西方的擴張幫助了我們。我們在西部市場獲得了大量的市場份額。我們將繼續專注於 DIY。這是我們業務中非常重要的一部分。 DieHard 繼續表現出色。所以總的來說，我們看到了 DIY 的力量。與第二季度相比，我們看到的弱點是專業領域。這就是為什麼我們正在採取我們正在採取的行動，有針對性的庫存投資，手術定價行動。所以真正的 DIY 正在變得——對我們來說變得更強大，而專業人士整體上變得更弱了。

Ticket versus transaction, more of the same versus the second quarter, Mike. Our tickets were down in both pro and DIY. And obviously, transactions continue to grow in terms of average ticket. So that's the tail to take there.

門票與交易，與第二季度相比更多，邁克。我們的門票在專業版和 DIY 版中都有所下降。顯然，就平均票價而言，交易量繼續增長。所以這就是尾巴。

Got you. And then just on the market share front, just wanted to hit on, number one, if you can give some updates to the progress that you've been seeing for the Pep Boys converted stores. And then number two was you had mentioned increasing inventory availability, so I was wondering if there was anything you could share in terms of industry benchmark fill rates versus yourselves to help us kind of gauge what kind of improvement we could anticipate from the additional coverage.

明白了然後就市場份額而言，我只想說，第一，如果你能對 Pep Boys 改造商店所看到的進展進行一些更新。然後第二個是你提到了增加庫存可用性，所以我想知道你是否可以分享與你自己相比的行業基準填充率，以幫助我們衡量我們可以從額外的覆蓋範圍中獲得什麼樣的改進。

Sure. A couple of things in your question there. So on the Pep Boys conversion, Jeff called out, this is going to be the largest number of new store opens Advance has had in many, many years. So we've got that grooved much more so. We've got a new Head of our Field Operations, Junior Word, he's a terrific leader. He started out in stores 20 years ago. He's done all the key jobs inside of Advance. He's distinguished himself. He's done this before. So we're very excited to have Junior take on the role of leading the field organization including those stores that we're converting in the West. So each period, our market share grows. In those West stores, we still got lots of room for growth out there. So more to come there.

當然。你的問題中有幾件事。因此，關於 Pep Boys 的轉換，Jeff 大聲疾呼，這將是 Advance 多年來開設的新店數量最多的一次。所以我們已經有了更多的溝槽。我們有一位新的現場運營主管，Junior Word，他是一位了不起的領導者。 20 年前，他開始經營商店。他完成了 Advance 內部的所有關鍵工作。他出類拔萃。他以前做過這個。因此，我們很高興讓 Junior 擔任領導現場組織的角色，包括我們正在西方轉型的那些商店。所以每個時期，我們的市場份額都會增長。在那些西部商店，我們仍然有很大的增長空間。所以更多的人來到那裡。

Second question was, Mike, again, remind me?

第二個問題是，邁克，再次提醒我？

Sorry, just on the fill rates, I guess, on shelf availability.

抱歉，我想只是關於貨架可用性的填充率。

Yes. So what we've seen there, we really expected the on-hand rate, which is the ultimate measure, right? In the stores themselves. Do you have it when the customer calls to get better in those categories that we converted. And it just hasn't. So I mean, we obviously have targets for each category. We also have targets by velocity bands. So A SKUs, B SKUs, C SKUs, et cetera. So what I can tell you is we've worked very collaboratively with our suppliers on this topic. And they've been extremely helpful.

是的。所以我們在那裡看到的是，我們真的期望手頭率，這是最終的衡量標準，對吧？在商店裡。當客戶打電話要求在我們轉換的那些類別中變得更好時，你有嗎？它只是沒有。所以我的意思是，我們顯然對每個類別都有目標。我們也有按速度帶劃分的目標。所以 A SKU、B SKU、C SKU 等等。所以我可以告訴你的是，我們在這個主題上與我們的供應商進行了非常密切的合作。他們非常有幫助。

We stood up a number of new suppliers literally all over the globe to enable this expansion. And as we said earlier, we're very pleased with the margin expansion and the quality of the products. We're still not happy with where we are in terms of our on-hand rates. So all I can tell you is we're below where we need to be, and that is the focus, is to get to better on-hand rates in these key categories. And as I said earlier, there are some other things we're doing with inventory as well. But the biggest one is to get our on-hand rate up in these converted categories of own brand.

我們在全球範圍內建立了許多新的供應商，以實現這一擴張。正如我們之前所說，我們對利潤增長和產品質量感到非常滿意。就現有率而言，我們仍然不滿意我們所處的位置。所以我只能告訴你的是，我們低於我們需要的水平，重點是在這些關鍵類別中獲得更好的現有率。正如我之前所說，我們也在處理庫存方面的一些其他事情。但最大的一個是提高我們在這些轉換後的自有品牌類別中的庫存率。

Your next question is from the line of Seth Basham with Wedbush Securities.

你的下一個問題來自 Wedbush Securities 的 Seth Basham。

Tom, maybe you could just provide a little bit more perspective on what changed in terms of the competitive environment to drive these inventory and price investment decisions here. Was there a significant change in the third quarter? And then relatedly, do you expect the competitive reaction to these moves?

湯姆，也許你可以就競爭環境的變化提供更多的視角來推動這些庫存和價格投資決策。第三季度是否有重大變化？然後與此相關的是，您是否期待對這些舉措的競爭反應？

Well, first of all, we were executing our strategy, as you know, Seth, and -- which is a different strategy than our peers. I think, obviously, the inventory investments that have been made inside the industry and the widely documented pricing investments were out there. And as it started to have a greater impact on us, I think that's when we had to respond. And we're responding with primarily targeted inventory investments. That's the biggest one. That's where we really are focused here because we believe that's the most important thing, getting the right part in the right place at the right time. So we will take those actions, and we think that's going to have a big impact on improving our growth in 2023.

好吧，首先，我們正在執行我們的戰略，正如你所知，Seth，而且 - 這與我們的同行不同。我認為，很明顯，行業內部的庫存投資和廣泛記錄的定價投資都在那裡。當它開始對我們產生更大的影響時，我認為那是我們必須做出回應的時候。我們的回應主要是有針對性的庫存投資。那是最大的一個。這就是我們真正關注的地方，因為我們相信這是最重要的事情，即在正確的時間將正確的零件放在正確的位置。因此，我們將採取這些行動，我們認為這將對改善我們 2023 年的增長產生重大影響。

The pricing piece, because of our tools, we're able to respond surgically. It's not as important to our customers as the availability is. So we're going to be very thoughtful and disciplined about that pricing piece. But we are going to take some actions to respond to that. In terms of competitive response, we'll see what happens there. But we're optimistic that the inventory investment that we're making will accelerate our performance in these key categories, which has really been a drag on us over the course of the year.

定價部分，由於我們的工具，我們能夠通過外科手術做出反應。對於我們的客戶而言，可用性不如可用性重要。因此，我們將對該定價部分進行深思熟慮和紀律處分。但我們將採取一些行動來對此做出回應。在競爭性反應方面，我們將拭目以待。但我們樂觀地認為，我們正在進行的庫存投資將加速我們在這些關鍵類別中的表現，這在過去一年中確實拖累了我們。

Got it. And as a follow-up, can you talk about the investments in these key categories being ones that you had been focused on migrating more to private label. Does that mean that you need to be more aggressive in bringing national brand inventory back in these categories?

知道了。作為後續行動，您能否談談對這些關鍵類別的投資是您一直專注於更多地遷移到自有品牌的投資。這是否意味著您需要更積極地將民族品牌庫存帶回這些類別？

Generally speaking, we are very pleased with where our assortment is in the categories. Where we're focused is getting the on-hand rates where they need to be. So it's not that we are -- we have a brand issue necessarily. It's really more about getting the right part in the right place at the right time.

一般來說，我們對我們的分類在類別中的位置感到非常滿意。我們關注的重點是在需要的地方獲得現有率。所以這不是我們 - 我們必然有品牌問題。更重要的是在正確的時間將正確的部分放在正確的位置。

Your next question is from the line of Bret Jordan with Jefferies.

你的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Bret Jordan。

Do you have any data to support the commercial customers' enthusiasm for the private label products? I mean, maybe sort of a turnover in A SKUs, assuming that's a category you probably have in stock, the velocity of that product versus your prior strategy. Would you add a bit more national branded product in that mix?

您是否有任何數據可以支持商業客戶對自有品牌產品的熱情？我的意思是，也許是 A SKU 的營業額，假設這是您可能有庫存的類別，該產品的速度與您之前的策略相比。您會在該組合中添加更多的國家品牌產品嗎？

We do. I mean, we have the -- essentially, when we have it, Bret, we -- the close rates are very strong. The return rates are much lower. So we do have a positive reaction from our customers on this. So it really is more about on-hand rate.

我們的確是。我的意思是，我們有 - 基本上，當我們擁有它時，布雷特，我們 - 收盤價非常強勁。退貨率要低得多。因此，我們的客戶對此確實有積極的反應。所以它實際上更多地是關於在手率。

Okay. And then a question, I guess, as far as what inning in the inventory growth you're at. I mean, a lot of your suppliers were saying you were really appearing to manage your inventories down until recently. So I guess when we think about going into '23, where do you see the inventory build being or how out of stock are you, I guess, is the question?

好的。然後是一個問題，我想，就你所處的庫存增長而言。我的意思是，您的許多供應商都說您直到最近才真正開始管理您的庫存。所以我想當我們考慮進入 23 年時，你在哪裡看到庫存增加或者你的庫存有多少，我想，這是個問題？

Yes. As we look at it right now, and our analysis would suggest that we need to make investments that -- we've made some in Q3, and we need to make some more in Q4. Obviously, that's dynamic and then we'll continue to assess that, but that's the way we're looking at it right now is it's really a back half investment to get that availability as close to the customer as possible.

是的。正如我們現在所看到的那樣，我們的分析表明我們需要進行投資——我們已經在第三季度進行了一些投資，我們需要在第四季度進行更多投資。顯然，這是動態的，然後我們將繼續對其進行評估，但這就是我們現在看待它的方式，它實際上是一種後半投資，以使可用性盡可能接近客戶。

Yes. I'll add one thing to that, Bret. I mean, as we looked at this earlier in the year, we obviously knew we were consolidating suppliers, we were reducing some redundancy in our SKU base. So there was a belief that, that inventory could come down in the back half. And through the analysis we've done, we just -- we've got to refine that and adjust that assumption.

是的。我要補充一件事，布雷特。我的意思是，正如我們在今年早些時候看到的那樣，我們顯然知道我們正在整合供應商，我們正在減少 SKU 庫中的一些冗餘。因此，人們相信庫存可能會在下半年下降。通過我們所做的分析，我們只是 - 我們必須完善它並調整該假設。

But Q4 will likely be the inventory growth period in which one we're not going to be growing too much, not going to be a use of cash in '23 as much?

但是第四季度可能是庫存增長期，我們不會增長太多，不會像 23 年那樣大量使用現金？

Well, yes. We're investing in the inventory here in the back half. Obviously, depending on the terms, you'll get some carryover into Q4, and we will take that into consideration as we're generating our free cash flow assumptions for next year.

嗯，是。我們在後半部分投資於庫存。顯然，根據條款，你會得到一些結轉到第四季度，我們會在生成明年的自由現金流假設時考慮到這一點。

Your next question is from the line of Mitch Ingles with Raymond James.

你的下一個問題來自 Mitch Ingles 和 Raymond James。

This is Mitch Ingles on for Bobby Griffin. I hope you're all well. So to start, could you give us an update on your Canadian operations? How do you see the Carquest and Worldpac Canadian operations fit into your long-term plans? With the recent ForEx impact, is this business overall dilutive today to your performance? And how should we think about ForEx exposure going into 2023?

這是鮑比格里芬的米奇英格爾斯。我希望你一切都好。那麼首先，您能否向我們介紹一下您在加拿大的業務的最新情況？您如何看待 Carquest 和 Worldpac Canadian 業務與您的長期計劃相適應？由於最近的 ForEx 影響，這項業務今天是否會整體稀釋您的業績？我們應該如何考慮進入 2023 年的 ForEx 敞口？

We see a lot of opportunity with our Canadian business. We made a big investment up there in a distribution center that is now carrying the Worldpac and Carquest parts. It is not dilutive to our overall business. It is a strong performing business. And we believe that we're going to be able to grow that business significantly as we've made a pretty big change up there in Ontario, which is the largest market.

我們在加拿大業務中看到了很多機會。我們在那裡的一個配送中心進行了大量投資，該中心現在運送 Worldpac 和 Carquest 零件。它不會稀釋我們的整體業務。這是一個表現強勁的企業。我們相信，隨著我們在最大的市場安大略省做出了相當大的改變，我們將能夠顯著發展該業務。

You mentioned the ForEx, I mean, obviously, it dropped to a level that we haven't seen in a while. But over time, there's a lot of room for growth for us up in Canada, and we're going to continue to drive that growth. And we expect 2023 to be a very strong year up there. We've got the largest assortment of parts in Southern Ontario in that building. So a combination of OE parts from Worldpac, our own brand portfolio of DieHard and Carquest, it's a great national brand. So optimistic about Canada for 2023.

你提到了 ForEx，我的意思是，很明顯，它跌到了我們有一段時間沒見過的水平。但隨著時間的推移，我們在加拿大有很大的增長空間，我們將繼續推動這種增長。我們預計 2023 年將是非常強勁的一年。我們在那棟大樓裡擁有安大略省南部最大的零件種類。因此，結合了 Worldpac 的 OE 零件、我們自己的 DieHard 和 Carquest 品牌組合，這是一個偉大的民族品牌。對加拿大 2023 年如此樂觀。

Got it. And then as a follow-up, as you now expand your store footprint again this year, fastest growth in 8 years, how should we think about the comp sales benefit as these new stores grow into your comp base? And should we expect similar opening cadence next year?

知道了。然後作為後續行動，隨著您今年再次擴大商店足跡，這是 8 年來最快的增長，隨著這些新商店成長為您的競爭基礎，我們應該如何考慮競爭銷售收益？我們應該期待明年類似的開場節奏嗎？

Yes. I mean, we're working through our store count for next year, but our plan is to expand our footprint. We think we have a number of opportunities, both in terms of infill where we have a lot of density in areas where we have a lot of opportunity, namely out West. So we're going to work through that. In terms of comp, we absolutely expect that to give us a lift next year. It does take time. These stores generally reach their maturity over a 3- to 4-year time frame. So we expect that to be an ongoing benefit, as we continue to open stores, it will continue to build on to our comp store base.

是的。我的意思是，我們正在研究明年的門店數量，但我們的計劃是擴大我們的足跡。我們認為我們有很多機會，無論是在填充方面，還是在我們有很多機會的地區，即西部，我們有很多密度。所以我們要解決這個問題。就補償而言，我們絕對希望明年能給我們帶來提振。這確實需要時間。這些商店通常在 3 到 4 年的時間範圍內達到成熟。因此，我們預計這將是一個持續的好處，隨著我們繼續開設商店，它將繼續建立在我們的商店基礎上。

Your next question comes from the line of Christopher Bottiglieri with BNP Paribas.

你的下一個問題來自法國巴黎銀行的 Christopher Bottiglieri。

So first one is like just given the competitive dynamics in pro and you are unhappy with market share dynamics, I wonder if you could consider the idea that focusing on margin expansion could be a distraction that is offsetting a lot of your hard work and significant accomplishments. Have you considered adjusting the TSR algorithm to focus on EBIT dollar growth rather than rate?

所以第一個就像只是考慮到專業的競爭動態，而你對市場份額動態不滿意，我想知道你是否可以考慮這樣一個想法，即專注於利潤擴張可能會分散你的注意力，從而抵消你的許多辛勤工作和重大成就.您是否考慮過調整 TSR 算法以關注 EBIT 美元增長而不是利率？

Well, we've always had a balanced approach, Chris, to this topic. I mean there are 3 levers to our TSR equation. Finishing in the top quartile in 2021 was driven by sales growth, margin expansion and returning excess cash. This year, we clearly have not performed at the sales level that we would have liked, particularly over the last 2 quarters. So as we look ahead, we're factoring that into the equation. But over time, we still have a very significant opportunity to expand margins. Margins remains very, very important. And we're not adjusting how we're looking at building long-term shareholder value, which remains significant for Advance. And that's a combination of driving sales growth, making sure that our margins continue to expand over time and returning excess cash. So the equation will remain the same, and we will continue to target top quartile TSR growth.

好吧，克里斯，對於這個話題，我們一直採用平衡的方法。我的意思是我們的 TSR 等式有 3 個槓桿。 2021 年排名前四分之一的原因是銷售增長、利潤率擴張和返還多餘現金。今年，我們顯然沒有達到我們希望的銷售水平，尤其是在過去兩個季度。因此，當我們展望未來時，我們將其考慮在內。但隨著時間的推移，我們仍然有一個非常重要的機會來擴大利潤率。利潤率仍然非常非常重要。而且我們沒有調整我們看待建立長期股東價值的方式，這對 Advance 來說仍然很重要。這是推動銷售增長、確保我們的利潤率隨著時間的推移繼續擴大和返還多餘現金的組合。因此，等式將保持不變，我們將繼續以前四分之一的 TSR 增長為目標。

Got you. And then a follow-up question on kind of price investments. It seems like your peers have taken price investments. I think both have lower pro mix than you do. And it seems like the gross margin headwinds, at least for one of them, seem to be somewhere in the 75 to 100 basis point headwind rate. How do you think about the level of price investment and margin reinvestment you need to make comparable price investments? Are there certain categories where you feel like you're further behind and you don't need quite as much of a price investment? Like how do you just frame the size of this investment?

明白了然後是關於價格投資類型的後續問題。您的同行似乎已經進行了價格投資。我認為兩者的專業組合都比你低。毛利率逆風似乎在 75 到 100 個基點的逆風率之間，至少對其中之一而言是這樣。您如何看待進行可比價格投資所需的價格投資水平和保證金再投資水平？在某些類別中，您是否覺得自己落後得更遠並且不需要那麼多的價格投資？比如你如何確定這項投資的規模？

Good question, Chris. I mean, we use the word surgical for a reason. The tools that we've built and the team that we have to manage pricing is at the highest level we've ever had in this company. And we are very confident that we can make decisions here that are right for the business. And that includes removing unnecessary discounts where it makes sense, redeploying resources to our highest growth and largest strategic customers and then, at the same time, making surgical price investments in very specific categories and even in the case of stores.

問得好，克里斯。我的意思是，我們使用手術這個詞是有原因的。我們構建的工具和我們必須管理定價的團隊處於我們公司有史以來的最高水平。我們非常有信心可以在這裡做出適合業務的決策。這包括在合理的情況下取消不必要的折扣，將資源重新部署給我們增長最快和最大的戰略客戶，然後同時對非常特定的類別甚至商店進行外科手術式價格投資。

So the analysis we've done has been very granular, and we know where we need to make those price investments. Our overall goal continues to be price to cover margin rate. That is the goal. Obviously, the competitive environment plays a role in how that will unfold next year, and we intend to be very thoughtful about how we price relatively speaking. But it remains -- our goal remains price to cover rate, and we'll see how that unfolds.

因此，我們所做的分析非常細緻，我們知道我們需要在哪裡進行這些價格投資。我們的總體目標仍然是價格以彌補保證金率。這就是目標。顯然，競爭環境在明年將如何展開方面發揮了作用，我們打算對相對而言如何定價進行深思熟慮。但它仍然存在 - 我們的目標仍然是價格覆蓋率，我們將看到它如何展開。

Well, thanks for joining us today. As we've discussed, Q3 did not meet our expectations in terms of top line growth, and we're not satisfied with where we're positioned at the moment. However, we continue to believe we have significant opportunity to drive long-term TSR growth. As we build our plans for 2023, we're taking measured steps to accelerate growth while pursuing our margin expansion initiatives. We look forward to sharing our expectations for 2023 in February.

好吧，感謝您今天加入我們。正如我們所討論的，第三季度在收入增長方面沒有達到我們的預期，我們對目前的定位不滿意。然而，我們仍然相信我們有很大的機會來推動長期股東總回報的增長。在我們制定 2023 年計劃時，我們正在採取慎重的措施來加速增長，同時推行我們的利潤擴張計劃。我們期待在 2 月分享我們對 2023 年的期望。

In addition, we have a lot to be grateful for during this season of giving thanks, including celebrating Veterans Day last week. And I'd like to take a moment to recognize and thank all of the nation's military heroes for their service, including the thousands of Advance team members who currently or have previously served. We're grateful for your ongoing support, and I want to wish you and your families a happy Thanksgiving holiday. We look forward to sharing our 2022 results and 2023 guidance in February. Thank you.

此外，在這個感恩的季節，我們有很多值得感激的事情，包括上周慶祝退伍軍人節。我想花點時間表彰並感謝全國所有的軍事英雄，包括目前或以前服役的數千名先遣隊成員。我們感謝您一直以來的支持，祝您和您的家人度過一個愉快的感恩節假期。我們期待在 2 月分享我們 2022 年的結果和 2023 年的指導意見。謝謝你。

This does conclude the Advanced Auto Parts third quarter conference call. We thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

這確實結束了 Advanced Auto Parts 第三季度電話會議。我們感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。