領先汽車配件 (AAP) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Hello, and welcome to the Advance Auto Parts Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 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. You may now begin.

您好，歡迎來到 Advance Auto Parts 第四季度和 2022 年全年電話會議。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。你現在可以開始了。

Good morning, and thank you for joining us to discuss our Q4 and full year 2022 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的第四季度和 2022 年全年業績。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 captions, 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，請參見我們最近的 10-K 表格年度報告以及向委員會提交的後續文件中的標題、前瞻性陳述和風險因素。

Now let me turn the call over to Tom Greco.

現在讓我把電話轉給 Tom Greco。

Thanks, Elizabeth, and good morning, everyone. Before getting into the details of the fourth quarter and full year 2022 results, I'd like to begin by addressing our CEO succession news announced this morning. After months of deliberation, I've informed the Board that I plan to retire at the end of the year. I believe that now is the right time to begin transitioning leadership for Advance's next chapter, not only for my family and me, but for the business for 2 important reasons.

謝謝，伊麗莎白，大家早上好。在詳細介紹第四季度和 2022 年全年業績之前，我想先談談今天上午宣布的 CEO 繼任消息。經過數月的深思熟慮，我已通知董事會我計劃在年底退休。我相信現在是為 Advance 的下一章開始領導層交接的合適時機，這不僅是為了我和我的家人，也是為了公司，這有兩個重要原因。

First, we're in the final year of our 3-year strategic plan and are in the process of updating our next multiyear strategy. The timing will help enable my successor to play a role as we undertake this work to ensure the long-term success of Advance. Second, the timing of this leadership transition will allow ample time for me to work with the Board's succession committee to identify my successor. The committee will be conducting a thorough and comprehensive search that considers both internal and external candidates and facilitate a smooth transition. We are focused on finding a candidate who can ensure that we continue to deliver for customers and drive long-term shareholder value. In the meantime, I'm committed to the execution of our '23 plan to ensure Advance will continue our trajectory and capitalize on the significant opportunity ahead.

首先，我們正處於 3 年戰略計劃的最後一年，並且正在更新我們的下一個多年戰略。時機將有助於讓我的繼任者在我們開展這項工作時發揮作用，以確保 Advance 的長期成功。其次，此次領導層交接的時機將使我有充足的時間與董事會的繼任委員會合作，以確定我的繼任者。該委員會將進行徹底和全面的搜索，同時考慮內部和外部候選人，並促進平穩過渡。我們專注於尋找能夠確保我們繼續為客戶提供服務並推動長期股東價值的候選人。與此同時，我致力於執行我們的 23 計劃，以確保 Advance 繼續我們的發展軌跡並利用未來的重大機遇。

With this in mind, we have a lot to cover on our call today, so let me provide the key themes you'll hear from us. First, while we're not happy with our overall results in 2022, the decisive actions we took in the latter half of the year led to improved performance in Q4, and we expect that to continue into 2023. Second, after several years of significant investments in complex transformation initiatives and with the majority of the integration behind us, we're now able to focus more time and resources on improving execution. Third, we remain focused on our plan to drive long-term shareholder value behind our 4 TSR drivers. This includes leveraging our differentiated professional assets to accelerate sales and profitable growth in our largest sales channel.

考慮到這一點，我們今天的電話會議上有很多內容要討論，所以讓我提供您將從我們這裡聽到的關鍵主題。首先，雖然我們對 2022 年的總體業績不滿意，但我們在下半年採取的果斷行動導致第四季度業績有所改善，我們預計這種情況將持續到 2023 年。其次，經過幾年的重大對複雜轉型計劃的投資以及我們背後的大部分整合，我們現在能夠將更多的時間和資源集中在提高執行力上。第三，我們仍然專注於推動 4 個 TSR 驅動因素背後的長期股東價值的計劃。這包括利用我們差異化的專業資產來加速我們最大銷售渠道的銷售和利潤增長。

So let's get started. Well, 2022 was a challenging year for AAP and our overall results did not meet expectations. The hard work and dedication of our team members helped us end the year on a more positive note. We delivered improved top line results in the fourth quarter as we expanded our footprint, increase customer loyalty and leverage the DieHard brand to gain DIY market share. We continue to execute the disciplined inventory and pricing actions we discussed last quarter. These actions contributed to stronger results, and we expect to improve parts availability throughout 2023, which we believe is the single most important driver to accelerate top line growth. We also finished the year with expanded adjusted operating margins and returned more than $930 million in cash back to our shareholders in the form of share buybacks and dividends.

讓我們開始吧。嗯，2022 年對 AAP 來說是充滿挑戰的一年，我們的整體業績沒有達到預期。我們團隊成員的辛勤工作和奉獻精神幫助我們以更加積極的姿態結束了這一年。隨著我們擴大業務範圍、提高客戶忠誠度並利用 DieHard 品牌獲得 DIY 市場份額，我們在第四季度實現了更好的收入業績。我們繼續執行我們上個季度討論過的有紀律的庫存和定價行動。這些行動促成了更強勁的業績，我們預計將在整個 2023 年提高零件可用性，我們認為這是加速收入增長的最重要的單一驅動力。我們還以擴大的調整後營業利潤率結束了這一年，並以股票回購和股息的形式向股東返還了超過 9.3 億美元的現金。

Looking at our Q4 performance. Net sales increased 3.2%, and comparable store sales increased 2.1%. Q4 was led by mid-single-digit comp sales growth in DIY omnichannel. Our professional business was slightly positive for the quarter. As we continue to expand our footprint, our new locations are providing incremental revenue growth. In 2022, we opened 144 new stores and branches, including most of our planned California locations.

看看我們第四季度的表現。淨銷售額增長 3.2%，可比店面銷售額增長 2.1%。第 4 季度由 DIY 全渠道中個位數的中等個位數銷售額增長帶動。我們的專業業務在本季度略有增長。隨著我們繼續擴大我們的足跡，我們的新地點正在提供增量收入增長。 2022 年，我們開設了 144 家新店和分店，其中包括我們計劃在加州開設的大部分門店。

Looking at our sales performance in Q4 from a category perspective, growth was led by continued strength in batteries behind DieHard with a double-digit increase compared to Q4 last year. We also saw strength in fluids and motor oil. Regionally, the West, Florida and mid-Atlantic outperformed our other regions. It's important to note we gained DIY omnichannel share in the quarter based on syndicated data. In Q4, we expanded adjusted operating income margin 146 basis points. Adjusted diluted earnings per share increased by 39.1%, primarily driven by the increase in operating income margin and inclusive of a benefit from the functional currency change of one of our subsidiaries outlined in our press release. For the full year, net and comp sales results increased 1.4% and 0.3%, respectively.

從類別的角度來看我們在第四季度的銷售業績，增長是由 DieHard 背後的電池持續強勁帶動的，與去年第四季度相比實現了兩位數的增長。我們還看到了液體和機油的強勢。從地區來看，西部、佛羅里達和大西洋中部的表現優於我們的其他地區。重要的是要注意，根據聯合數據，我們在本季度獲得了 DIY 全渠道份額。在第四季度，我們將調整後的營業收入利潤率擴大了 146 個基點。調整後的攤薄每股收益增長了 39.1%，這主要是由於營業利潤率的增加以及新聞稿中概述的我們的一家子公司的功能貨幣變化帶來的好處。全年淨銷售額和可比銷售額分別增長 1.4% 和 0.3%。

Turning to margins and profitability. Adjusted operating income margin expanded 24 basis points and adjusted diluted earnings per share grew 8.5%. As we discussed throughout 2022, one of the most significant SG&A headwinds we faced was related to our California expansion. Our start-up costs for these new stores were significantly above our initial expectations for the year, which Jeff will discuss further.

轉向利潤率和盈利能力。調整後營業收入利潤率擴大 24 個基點，調整後攤薄每股收益增長 8.5%。正如我們在整個 2022 年所討論的那樣，我們面臨的最重要的 SG&A 逆風之一與我們在加州的擴張有關。我們對這些新店的啟動成本大大高於我們對這一年的最初預期，Jeff 將進一步討論這一點。

As you know, we've gone through a complex transformation spending several years of significant investment. With the majority of this effort behind us, we're now able to focus more resources on driving execution and operating performance, including the opportunities discussed last quarter.

如您所知，我們經歷了複雜的轉型，花費了數年的大量投資。在我們完成大部分工作後，我們現在能夠將更多資源集中在推動執行和運營績效上，包括上個季度討論的機會。

First, we made targeted investments to get more SKUs closer to the customer. It's important to note that in-stock rates for front room categories were strong in the quarter, as evidenced by sales growth and DIY share gains within DieHard batteries and motor oil. Inventory investments were concentrated in backroom hard parts categories. As expected, we saw modest improvements in our in-stock levels and performance in Q4 across these categories. We're continuing to work in close collaboration with supplier partners to ensure our in-stock levels within these categories continue to build in Q1 and throughout the balance of the year.

首先，我們進行了有針對性的投資，讓更多的 SKU 更貼近客戶。值得注意的是，本季度前廳類別的庫存率很高，DieHard 電池和機油的銷售增長和 DIY 份額增長就是明證。庫存投資集中在後台硬零件類別。正如預期的那樣，我們在第四季度看到這些類別的庫存水平和業績略有改善。我們將繼續與供應商合作夥伴密切合作，以確保我們在這些類別中的庫存水平在第一季度和全年餘下時間繼續增加。

Second, we continue to execute our category management strategy, an important driver of gross margin expansion for us. This strategy focuses on own brand penetration, strategic pricing and strategic sourcing. In terms of own brand penetration, we ended the year at 50.5% of mix, which increased 210 basis points compared with the prior year behind the strength of DieHard and Carquest. Owned brands continue to be an important differentiator for us and provide a mix of good, better and best options.

其次，我們繼續執行我們的品類管理策略，這是我們毛利率擴張的重要驅動力。該戰略側重於自有品牌滲透、戰略定價和戰略採購。在自主品牌滲透方面，我們以 50.5% 的混合比例結束了這一年，與去年相比增加了 210 個基點，落後於 DieHard 和 Carquest 的實力。自有品牌仍然是我們的重要差異化因素，並提供優質、更好和最佳選擇的組合。

Last quarter, we also talked about plans to leverage new capabilities to make surgical price investments. Through detailed reviews of our performance, we've made targeted investments, and we'll closely monitor and adjust pricing as needed given industry dynamics. Beyond these initiatives, I want to mention a couple of other action items we believe will add value and help drive growth in 2023.

上個季度，我們還討論了利用新功能進行手術價格投資的計劃。通過對我們業績的詳細審查，我們進行了有針對性的投資，我們將根據行業動態密切監控和調整定價。除了這些舉措之外，我還想提一提我們認為將增加價值並有助於推動 2023 年增長的其他一些行動項目。

First, we remain focused on building our brands to drive distinction and pricing power. We recently launched our Diehards Choose DieHard, a 60-second documentary-style video campaign featuring Kirstie Ennis, a former Marine Sergeant and world-renowned climber, who is the embodiment of DieHards attributes of reliability, durability and power. Titled The Climber, this campaign is appearing on Advance's social media pages and debuted in theaters. We're confident this campaign will continue to help build awareness of both DieHard and Advance.

首先，我們仍然專注於打造我們的品牌以推動差異化和定價能力。我們最近推出了我們的 Diehards Choose DieHard，這是一個 60 秒的紀錄片式視頻活動，由 Kirstie Ennis 主演，他是前海軍陸戰隊中士和世界知名的登山者，他是 DieHards 可靠性、耐用性和力量屬性的化身。這場名為“攀登者”的活動出現在 Advance 的社交媒體頁面上，並在影院上映。我們相信此活動將繼續幫助提高對 DieHard 和 Advance 的認識。

Second, we continue to expand our customer loyalty program, Speed Perks, to increase share of wallet with DIYers. In 2022, we increased membership by nearly 1 million members, and our percent of transactions grew by 100 basis points year-over-year. We finished 2022 with 13.6 million active members, contributing to our strong DIY performance in the quarter and view this as a continued growth driver for our company in 2023.

其次，我們繼續擴大我們的客戶忠誠度計劃 Speed Perks，以增加 DIY 者的錢包份額。 2022 年，我們的會員人數增加了近 100 萬，我們的交易百分比同比增長了 100 個基點。到 2022 年，我們擁有 1360 萬活躍會員，為本季度我們強勁的 DIY 業績做出了貢獻，並將其視為我們公司 2023 年持續增長的動力。

Third, we continue to invest in digital capabilities in both DIY and Pro. On our B2C website, we improved shopability to drive higher conversion and growth. We also continue to invest in our mobile app, including homepage design with a better user dashboard for Speed Perks members and optimize placement for featured products and promotions. Within professional, we integrated the Advance Pro platform into new shop management and procurement systems. This drives efficiency and ease of doing business by providing more professional customers with delivery estimates. In addition, we improved our B2B online experience, which resulted in a significant increase in digital penetration.

第三，我們繼續在 DIY 和 Pro 兩個方面對數字能力進行投資。在我們的 B2C 網站上，我們提高了可購物性以推動更高的轉化率和增長。我們還繼續投資於我們的移動應用程序，包括主頁設計，為 Speed Perks 會員提供更好的用戶儀表板，並優化特色產品和促銷活動的位置。在專業領域，我們將 Advance Pro 平台集成到新的商店管理和採購系統中。通過為更專業的客戶提供交貨估算，這可以提高效率和開展業務的便利性。此外，我們改進了 B2B 在線體驗，從而顯著提高了數字滲透率。

Now let me speak to our longer-term strategy to grow our professional business, where we start from a position of strength. As we said previously, we're the only major company with a pure play professional model behind Worldpac. Now that Autopart International has been fully integrated into Worldpac, we have 316 existing locations that are dedicated to serving the professional customer with significantly more hard part SKUs than a traditional retail store. We also have nearly 330 Advance hubs and super hubs, which offer a broad range of parts. These assets allow us to better serve the needs of our professional customers with a comprehensive lineup of national brands, owned brands and OE parts, focused on what the Pro customers need.

現在讓我談談我們發展專業業務的長期戰略，我們從優勢地位開始。正如我們之前所說，我們是唯一一家在 Worldpac 之後擁有純專業模式的大公司。現在 Autopart International 已完全整合到 Worldpac 中，我們現有 316 個地點致力於為專業客戶提供比傳統零售店更多的硬零件 SKU。我們還有近 330 個 Advance 花鼓和超級花鼓，它們提供範圍廣泛的零件。這些資產使我們能夠通過全面的民族品牌、自有品牌和 OE 零件陣容更好地滿足專業客戶的需求，專注於專業客戶的需求。

We're now well positioned to execute the next generation of our strategy to profitably grow our professional business by getting the right part in the right place at the right time. Ultimately, this will involve positioning our enterprise-wide assortment as close to the customer as possible, ideally under one roof to provide consistent and reliable delivery of the entire job. As an example, in Toronto, we recently combined 2 distribution centers into 1 with our enterprise assortment located in a single building. We're pleased with the early results we are seeing in Toronto and believe a similar approach to this has the potential to provide a superior customer experience in other markets across North America.

我們現在已準備好執行我們的下一代戰略，通過在正確的時間在正確的地點獲得正確的零件來盈利地發展我們的專業業務。最終，這將涉及將我們的企業範圍內的產品分類定位為盡可能靠近客戶，最好是在一個屋簷下，以提供一致和可靠的整個工作交付。例如，在多倫多，我們最近將 2 個配送中心合併為 1 個，我們的企業分類位於一棟建築中。我們對在多倫多看到的早期結果感到滿意，並相信類似的方法有可能在北美其他市場提供卓越的客戶體驗。

For years, Worldpac has leveraged online ordering from its customers to determine assortment and to ensure we have the right part, utilized a singular demand signal to position inventory in the right place and provided a clear window for delivery, so the installer consistently gets the part at the right time.

多年來，Worldpac 一直利用其客戶的在線訂購來確定分類並確保我們擁有正確的零件，利用單一的需求信號將庫存定位在正確的位置並提供清晰的交貨窗口，因此安裝人員始終如一地獲得零件在正確的時間。

Five years ago, we had 4 disparate supply chain and technology platforms. However, today, our systems are much better connected and enable us to take learnings from Worldpac and apply them across all of our Pro business. Our vision here is to leverage the entirety of our enterprise assets to provide a superior customer experience within Pro as we accelerate growth and profitability. We look forward to sharing more on the next evolution of our strategy.

五年前，我們有 4 個不同的供應鍊和技術平台。然而，今天，我們的系統連接得更好，使我們能夠從 Worldpac 中吸取經驗教訓，並將其應用到我們所有的專業業務中。我們的願景是在加速增長和盈利的同時，利用我們的全部企業資產在 Pro 內提供卓越的客戶體驗。我們期待就我們戰略的下一步發展分享更多信息。

Before I turn the call over to Jeff, let me speak briefly about how we're thinking about 2023. As the final integration and amortization costs wind down, we've made the decision to shift to GAAP results as our guidance metric. Jeff will provide further rationale for this, but we're excited to see our broader integration costs coming to an end culminating in the exhaustion of GPI amortization costs in 2025. As we begin the year, we remain cautious surrounding the macroeconomic backdrop, including the potential for ongoing pressure on low-to-middle income consumers. However, our 2023 guidance is underpinned by continued industry strength with the drivers of demand remaining positive.

在我將電話轉給 Jeff 之前，讓我簡要談談我們對 2023 年的看法。隨著最終整合和攤銷成本的減少，我們決定將 GAAP 結果作為我們的指導指標。 Jeff 將為此提供進一步的理由，但我們很高興看到我們更廣泛的整合成本即將結束，最終導致 GPI 攤銷成本在 2025 年耗盡。年初之際，我們對宏觀經濟背景保持謹慎，包括可能對中低收入消費者造成持續壓力。然而，我們的 2023 年指引得到了持續的行業實力和需求驅動力保持積極的支撐。

Further, we expect the strategic inventory investments we began in the second half of 2022 will help drive growth in 2023. In terms of our expectations for the year, we're guiding to growth in net and comp sales as well as GAAP operating income margin expansion.

此外，我們預計我們在 2022 年下半年開始的戰略庫存投資將有助於推動 2023 年的增長。就我們今年的預期而言，我們正在引導淨銷售額和復合銷售額以及 GAAP 營業收入利潤率的增長擴張。

I'll now turn the call over to Jeff to review our Q4 and full year financials in more detail and provide our outlook for 2023. Jeff?

我現在將電話轉給傑夫，讓他更詳細地審查我們的第四季度和全年財務狀況，並提供我們對 2023 年的展望。傑夫？

Thanks, Tom, and good morning. I would also like to start by thanking our team members for their commitment to Advance this past year. While the year was not without challenges, our team members continue to put our customers first.

謝謝，湯姆，早上好。首先，我還要感謝我們的團隊成員在過去一年中對 Advance 的承諾。雖然這一年並非沒有挑戰，但我們的團隊成員繼續將客戶放在首位。

In Q4, net sales of $2.5 billion, increased 3.2% compared with Q4 2021, driven by strategic pricing and new store openings. Comparable store sales increased 2.1%. Adjusted gross profit margin expanded slightly to 46.9% compared with 46.8%. This was driven by strategic pricing, channel mix favorability and own brand expansion. In the quarter, same-SKU cost inflation was approximately 6.9%. Q4 adjusted SG&A of $943 million was flat compared with the prior year. As a percent of net sales, adjusted SG&A improved 136 basis points. This was primarily driven by a year-over-year decrease in incentive compensation and marketing expenses.

在戰略定價和新店開業的推動下，第四季度淨銷售額為 25 億美元，比 2021 年第四季度增長 3.2%。可比店面銷售額增長 2.1%。調整後的毛利率從 46.8% 微升至 46.9%。這是由戰略定價、渠道組合偏好和自有品牌擴張推動的。本季度，相同 SKU 的成本通脹約為 6.9%。第 4 季度調整後的 SG&A 為 9.43 億美元，與上年持平。作為淨銷售額的百分比，調整後的 SG&A 提高了 136 個基點。這主要是由於激勵薪酬和營銷費用同比下降所致。

In terms of marketing, we improved efficiencies in the quarter by shifting to higher return investments within the marketing mix. We also incurred lower start-up costs versus the prior year as a result of the ramp-up of our new store openings in California. These benefits were partially offset by inflation in store labor and higher medical costs.

在營銷方面，我們通過在營銷組合中轉向更高回報的投資，提高了本季度的效率。由於我們在加利福尼亞開設新店的速度加快，我們的啟動成本也低於上一年。這些好處被商店勞動力的通貨膨脹和更高的醫療費用部分抵消了。

Our Q4 adjusted operating income was $219 million, an increase of 23.6%. Our Q4 adjusted OI margin rate was 8.8%, an increase of 146 basis points, and our adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 39.1% to $2.88. The EPS improvement was driven by stronger operational results and a Q4 benefit of approximately $0.16 due to a change in the functional currency of our subsidiary in Taiwan.

我們第四季度調整後的營業收入為 2.19 億美元，增長 23.6%。我們第四季度調整後的 OI 保證金率為 8.8%，增加了 146 個基點，我們調整後的攤薄每股收益增加了 39.1%，達到 2.88 美元。每股收益的改善是由更強勁的運營業績和我們台灣子公司的功能貨幣變化導致的第四季度收益約 0.16 美元推動的。

For the full year 2022, net sales of $11.2 billion increased 1.4% compared with the prior year. Our adjusted gross profit increased 4.4% and adjusted gross profit margin expanded 135 basis points to 47.3%. Adjusted SG&A expenses for the full year 2022 increased 4.5% compared with 2021. On a rate basis, adjusted SG&A as a percent of net sales increased 111 basis points to 37.5%.

2022 年全年淨銷售額為 112 億美元，比上年增長 1.4%。我們調整後的毛利增長 4.4%，調整後的毛利率擴大 135 個基點至 47.3%。與 2021 年相比，2022 年全年調整後的 SG&A 費用增加了 4.5%。按比率計算，調整後的 SG&A 占淨銷售額的百分比增加了 111 個基點，達到 37.5%。

As we discussed throughout 2022, our expansion in California weighed on SG&A throughout the year. Delays in permitting and construction resulted in significantly fewer sales weeks than we planned for our California-based stores. As you'll recall, we made a decision early on to hire the existing Pep Boys team members in the stores prior to opening, given the tight labor market. This helped ensure we have the customer relationships and geographic knowledge needed for long-term success. In short, we are paying rent and store payroll without sales well in excess of our original plan. We called out these costs each quarter last year, but for perspective, it represented approximately $60 million in start-up costs in 2022.

正如我們在整個 2022 年討論的那樣，我們在加利福尼亞州的擴張全年對 SG&A 造成了壓力。許可和施工的延遲導致銷售週數大大少於我們為加利福尼亞商店計劃的銷售週數。您可能還記得，鑑於勞動力市場緊張，我們很早就決定在開業前聘用現有的 Pep Boys 團隊成員。這有助於確保我們擁有長期成功所需的客戶關係和地理知識。簡而言之，我們在沒有銷售的情況下支付的租金和商店工資遠遠超過了我們原定的計劃。去年我們每個季度都會公佈這些成本，但從長遠來看，它代表了 2022 年大約 6000 萬美元的啟動成本。

The good news is we now have nearly 90 stores open, and the start-up costs are largely behind us with less than 20 stores left to open. The stores are gaining more share in DIY every period, and we're building the professional business week by week. We're now able to service our large and vitally important national Pro customers in California, which will continue to build over time.

好消息是，我們現在有將近 90 家門店開業，開辦成本基本上已經過去，只剩下不到 20 家門店可供開業。商店在每個時期都在 DIY 中獲得更多份額，我們每週都在建立專業業務。我們現在能夠為我們在加利福尼亞州的大型且極其重要的全國專業客戶提供服務，這些客戶將隨著時間的推移繼續建立。

Our full year 2022 adjusted operating income increased 4% to $1.1 billion. On a rate basis, our adjusted OI margin expanded 24 basis points to 9.8%. Our adjusted diluted earnings per share of $13.04 increased 8.5%. Our 2022 capital expenditures were $424 million compared with $290 million the previous year. This was driven by our continued investment in the business, primarily related to our new store openings, IT and supply chain.

我們 2022 年全年調整後營業收入增長 4% 至 11 億美元。按利率計算，我們調整後的 OI 利潤率擴大 24 個基點至 9.8%。我們調整後的稀釋後每股收益為 13.04 美元，增長了 8.5%。我們 2022 年的資本支出為 4.24 億美元，而上一年為 2.9 億美元。這是由我們對業務的持續投資推動的，主要與我們的新店開業、IT 和供應鏈有關。

As we continue to execute on our strategic objectives for 2023, our overall capital allocation priorities remain unchanged, and we plan to continue to deliver for customers and shareholders alike. Free cash flow for the full year was $298 million. As Tom mentioned, we're making strategic inventory investments to improve availability in 2023, which are important to accelerate growth this year. In addition, through process and technology improvements, we were able to process disputed payables more efficiently. In 2022, we returned approximately $934 million through a combination of share repurchases and our quarterly cash dividend. Our Board also recently approved our quarterly cash dividend of $1.50.

在我們繼續執行 2023 年戰略目標的過程中，我們的總體資本配置重點保持不變，我們計劃繼續為客戶和股東提供服務。全年自由現金流為 2.98 億美元。正如湯姆所提到的，我們正在進行戰略性庫存投資以提高 2023 年的可用性，這對於今年加速增長非常重要。此外，通過改進流程和技術，我們能夠更有效地處理有爭議的應付賬款。 2022 年，我們通過股票回購和季度現金股息的組合返還了約 9.34 億美元。我們的董事會最近還批准了 1.50 美元的季度現金股息。

Turning to 2023 guidance. As Tom mentioned, we're shifting to GAAP measures for the purposes of guidance and will no longer be reporting non-GAAP results beginning in 2023. There are 3 primary drivers pertaining to the timing of this decision. First, our transformation costs are getting less impactful, reducing the need for non-GAAP adjustments. Our largest integration initiatives are largely completed, and our amortization cost will be exhausted in 2025. Second, [no longer] reporting on a non-GAAP basis will improve comparability with our peers, including similar treatment of LIFO moving forward.

轉向 2023 年指導。正如 Tom 所提到的，出於指導目的，我們正在轉向 GAAP 衡量標準，並且從 2023 年開始將不再報告非 GAAP 結果。與此決定的時間安排有關的主要驅動因素有 3 個。首先，我們的轉型成本影響越來越小，減少了非 GAAP 調整的需要。我們最大的整合計劃已基本完成，我們的攤銷成本將在 2025 年耗盡。其次，[不再] 以非 GAAP 為基礎進行報告將提高與同行的可比性，包括未來對後進先出法的類似處理。

And lastly, many investors and analysts have requested that we prioritize GAAP metrics. Ultimately, our intention with this change is to help enhance the transparency and simplify our financial reporting going forward consistent with feedback we received.

最後，許多投資者和分析師要求我們優先考慮 GAAP 指標。最終，我們進行此更改的目的是幫助提高透明度並簡化我們的財務報告，以便與我們收到的反饋保持一致。

With that said, this year, we will continue to highlight activities and related costs that were previously excluded from GAAP results, including, but not limited to, impact associated with LIFO, our transformation-related costs and amortization associated with the GPI acquisition. Our 2023 guidance is highlighted by modest growth in both our net and comp sales and GAAP margin expansion. Our 2023 guide is underpinned by a cautious macroeconomic outlook given the pressure on low and middle-income consumers, balanced with the continued industry strength as the primary driver's demand remain positive.

話雖如此，今年我們將繼續強調以前被排除在 GAAP 結果之外的活動和相關成本，包括但不限於與後進先出法相關的影響、我們與 GPI 收購相關的轉型相關成本和攤銷。我們的 2023 年指引突出體現在我們的淨銷售額和 comp 銷售額以及 GAAP 利潤率擴張的適度增長。考慮到中低收入消費者面臨的壓力，我們的 2023 年指南得到了謹慎的宏觀經濟前景的支持，同時由於主要驅動因素的需求仍然積極，行業持續走強。

In 2023, we expect product cost inflation of mid-single digits overall with moderation throughout the year. From a phasing standpoint, we expect Q1 2023 to be the most challenging quarter of the year for 3 reasons. First, based on GAAP accounting, we expect higher product costs year-over-year in Q1 than in subsequent quarters. Second, we expect to build sales momentum throughout the year as we improve availability. Third, we expect higher transformation costs within SG&A in Q1.

到 2023 年，我們預計全年產品成本總體上將出現中等個位數的增長，並且會有所放緩。從分階段的角度來看，我們預計 2023 年第一季度將成為一年中最具挑戰性的季度，原因有 3 個。首先，根據 GAAP 會計準則，我們預計第一季度的產品成本將高於隨後幾個季度。其次，隨著可用性的提高，我們希望在全年建立銷售勢頭。第三，我們預計第一季度 SG&A 的轉型成本會更高。

Given these factors, we expect to experience stronger growth and margin expansion post Q1. Considering these factors, our guidance includes net sales of $11.4 billion to $11.6 billion, comparable store sales of 1% to 3%, GAAP operating income margin of 7.8% to 8.2%, income tax rate of 24% to 25%, diluted earnings per share of $10.20 to $11.20, capital expenditures of $300 million to $350 million, a minimum of $400 million in free cash flow and 60 to 80 new store branch openings.

鑑於這些因素，我們預計第一季度後將經歷更強勁的增長和利潤率擴張。考慮到這些因素，我們的指引包括 114 億美元至 116 億美元的淨銷售額，1% 至 3% 的可比店面銷售額，7.8% 至 8.2% 的 GAAP 營業利潤率，24% 至 25% 的所得稅率，每股攤薄收益份額為 10.20 美元至 11.20 美元，資本支出為 3 億美元至 3.5 億美元，至少 4 億美元的自由現金流和 60 至 80 家新店分店開業。

With last year's investment in inventory resulting in higher payable payments this year and anticipated continued inventory investments, we've temporarily paused share repurchases under our existing program. And at this time, we're not guiding a range of repurchases for the full year. Importantly, we remain committed to paying quarterly cash dividends. Over the long term, we remain committed to a balanced capital allocation approach and returning excess cash to shareholders.

由於去年的存貨投資導致今年的應付款項增加，並且預計存貨投資將繼續進行，我們暫時暫停了現有計劃下的股票回購。目前，我們不會指導全年的一系列回購。重要的是，我們仍然致力於支付季度現金股息。從長遠來看，我們仍然致力於平衡的資本配置方法，並將多餘的現金返還給股東。

With that, I'd like to turn it back over to Tom for closing remarks.

有了這個，我想把它轉回給湯姆作結束語。

Thanks, Jeff. Since I joined this team in 2016, I've seen this company make terrific progress. I believe we have a strong team in place and a sturdy foundation for growth and profitability both in 2023 and beyond. With the heavy lifting of the integration behind us, I'm confident we're better positioned now for growth and value creation than ever before.

謝謝，傑夫。自從我 2016 年加入這個團隊以來，我看到這家公司取得了巨大的進步。我相信我們擁有一支強大的團隊，並為 2023 年及以後的增長和盈利奠定了堅實的基礎。隨著我們身後整合的繁重工作，我相信我們現在比以往任何時候都更有能力實現增長和價值創造。

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) Our first question for today comes from Simeon Gutman from Morgan Stanley.

（操作員說明）我們今天的第一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Simeon Gutman。

Tom, wishing you well. I'm sorry, I forget the timing is too soon, and I wish you well again. My question is on the margin. The GAAP EBIT margin around 8-ish percent, give or take, is not that different from where this business was several years ago. So the question is, is there some gap of inefficiency relative to peers? Or should we think about margin expansion from here is more ratable with sales growth going forward?

湯姆，祝你一切順利。對不起，我忘了時間太早了，再次祝你好運。我的問題在邊緣。 GAAP 息稅前利潤率大約為 8%，無論是給予還是接受，與幾年前該業務的水平並無太大差異。那麼問題來了，相對於同行是否存在效率低下的差距？或者我們是否應該考慮從這裡開始的利潤率擴張與未來的銷售增長更有關係？

Good morning, Simeon. We still see a substantial opportunity to grow margins and drive EPS and therefore shareholder value. The fact that we've moved to GAAP doesn't change that. We're going to be working through our strategic plan '24 through '26. One of the things that we're excited about is to have the integration behind us. And that means the transformation costs that we've been calling out are going to be coming down over time. You've heard in the prepared remarks that the amortization is exhausted completely by 2025. The integration costs will come down. So that will help us with margin expansion. We talked about changes in the competitive landscape last fall that impacted the Pro sales channel, but we're confident that we can continue to grow margins from here. Right now, we're obviously focused on 2023 and delivering our guidance for the year.

早上好，西蒙。我們仍然看到了增加利潤率和推動每股收益以及股東價值的巨大機會。我們轉向 GAAP 的事實並沒有改變這一點。我們將通過'24 到'26 制定我們的戰略計劃。令我們興奮的一件事是在我們身後進行整合。這意味著我們一直在呼籲的轉型成本將隨著時間的推移而下降。你在準備好的評論中聽說，到 2025 年，攤銷將完全耗盡。整合成本將會下降。因此，這將有助於我們擴大利潤率。去年秋天，我們談到了影響 Pro 銷售渠道的競爭格局變化，但我們相信我們可以從這裡繼續增加利潤。現在，我們顯然專注於 2023 年並提供今年的指導。

And then a follow-up on the free cash flow. Is this year's number encumbered by inventory purchases and then that doesn't repeat? Or is this a reasonable framework, I guess, both CapEx as well as working capital. And then that grows ratably with the earnings power of the business.

然後是自由現金流的跟進。今年的數字是否受到庫存採購的阻礙，然後不再重複？或者這是一個合理的框架，我猜，包括資本支出和營運資金。然後隨著企業的盈利能力而快速增長。

Yes, really, it's the -- it's what you said in the beginning there in terms of our investment in inventory in 2022 and in the early part of 2023, we're just responding to that change in competitive landscape with regards to inventory investment. So we're going to be investing in our inventory to compete more effectively and really better serve our customers. This is primarily within professional. So we expect this to be a 2023 investment, and we would see changes going forward. And we're working through that right now as we work on our [SPP] for '24 through '26.

是的，真的，這是 - 就我們在 2022 年和 2023 年初的庫存投資而言，這就是你一開始所說的，我們只是在應對庫存投資方面競爭格局的變化。因此，我們將投資於我們的庫存，以更有效地競爭並更好地為我們的客戶服務。這主要是在專業範圍內。所以我們預計這將是 2023 年的投資，我們會看到未來的變化。我們正在努力解決這個問題，因為我們正在為 24 年到 26 年的 [SPP] 工作。

Our next question comes from Chris Horvers of JPMorgan Chase.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的克里斯霍弗斯。

It's Christian Carlino, on for Chris. On the fourth quarter, could you just give us some sense of how much you think weather benefited the quarter? And any color on quarter-to-date performance?

我是克里斯蒂安·卡里諾，接替克里斯。在第四季度，您能否告訴我們您認為天氣對本季度有多大好處？季度至今的表現有什麼顏色嗎？

We had a really strong quarter in DIY. We talked -- called out the mid-single-digit growth there. We did gain share in DIY in the quarter. December was obviously colder than it was the previous year in the northern market. So we did benefit from that. So overall, weather was a slight benefit to us, I would say, in the fourth quarter. That said, we gained share. So we feel good about our relative performance in DIY, which is the one that tends to move more with weather.

我們在 DIY 方面有一個非常強勁的季度。我們談過 - 稱那裡有中個位數的增長。我們確實在本季度獲得了 DIY 的份額。北方市場12月明顯比上年冷。所以我們確實從中受益。所以總的來說，我想說，在第四季度，天氣對我們略有好處。也就是說，我們獲得了份額。因此，我們對自己在 DIY 方面的相對錶現感覺良好，DIY 往往會隨天氣而變化。

But we're not going to comment on specific quarter-to-date results. December was colder. January was warmer and you all know that, but we've fully contemplated that in our full year guide. And we said that we expect our comp sales to improve this year as the year goes on. That's an important point. The inventory availability investments that we've been making are going to benefit us more as the year goes on.

但我們不會對具體的季度至今結果發表評論。十二月更冷。一月份比較暖和，你們都知道這一點，但我們在全年指南中已經充分考慮到了這一點。我們說，我們預計今年我們的 comp 銷售額會隨著時間的推移而有所改善。這是很重要的一點。隨著時間的推移，我們一直在進行的庫存可用性投資將使我們受益更多。

Got it. And then on the margin guidance, could you help us understand the complexion of gross margin versus SG&A outlook? And more specifically, do you still expect the capitalized cost headwinds to primarily hit in the first half? Or should continued inflation drag that out into the second half potentially?

知道了。然後關於利潤率指導，您能否幫助我們了解毛利率與 SG&A 前景的關係？更具體地說，您是否仍預計資本化成本逆風將主要在上半年受到衝擊？還是應該將持續的通貨膨脹拖到下半年？

Yes, I'll take the second part of that question first. In terms of inflation, particularly product inflation, we do think it's going to be more of a first half versus a second half, so that's the way we've sort of modeled it here internally. We haven't broken out the contributions of gross margin and SG&A, specifically for the year in terms of the 140 to 180 basis point expansion, but we do believe that we'll get margin contribution from both gross margin and SG&A. Overall, we think gross margin will likely contribute more, but we're laser focused on both growing our gross margin while controlling our cost base.

是的，我先回答這個問題的第二部分。在通貨膨脹方面，尤其是產品通貨膨脹方面，我們確實認為上半年和下半年的情況會更多，所以這就是我們在內部建模的方式。我們沒有詳細說明毛利率和 SG&A 的貢獻，特別是在 140 至 180 個基點擴張方面的年度貢獻，但我們相信我們將從毛利率和 SG&A 中獲得利潤率貢獻。總體而言，我們認為毛利率可能會貢獻更多，但我們非常專注於增加毛利率，同時控制我們的成本基礎。

Our next question for today comes from Elizabeth Suzuki from Bank of America.

我們今天的下一個問題來自美國銀行的伊麗莎白鈴木。

So regarding your distribution network and getting the right part to the customer at the right time, you talked about the Toronto DCs that were consolidated and that there's more opportunity. So what percentage of your distribution network, do you think is due for an upgrade or consolidation/replacement at this point?

因此，關於您的分銷網絡以及在正確的時間向客戶提供正確的零件，您談到了整合的多倫多 DC，並且有更多的機會。那麼，您認為此時需要升級或合併/更換的分銷網絡的百分比是多少？

Let me give you a bit of context on how we're thinking about our longer-term strategy and growth. We feel very well positioned to execute the next generation of our go-to-market strategy. Our vision is really to leverage the entirety of our enterprise assets to provide a superior customer experience within Pro, as we accelerate growth and profitability. I know all of you know that the DIFM business has a lower gross margin than the DIY business. We're uniquely positioned to be able to grow top line sales from here and continue to improve our margins even though you're growing the DIFM business faster. And that's because we've got plenty of assets to compete out there.

讓我給你一些關於我們如何考慮我們的長期戰略和增長的背景信息。我們感到非常有能力執行我們的下一代上市戰略。隨著我們加速增長和盈利，我們的願景實際上是利用我們的全部企業資產在 Pro 內提供卓越的客戶體驗。我知道你們都知道 DIFM 業務的毛利率低於 DIY 業務。我們處於獨特的位置，能夠從這裡增加收入並繼續提高我們的利潤率，即使您正在更快地發展 DIFM 業務。那是因為我們有足夠的資產可以在那裡競爭。

In the past, they just weren't as connected as they were -- sorry, as they are today. We used to have 4 disparate supply chains or technology platforms. That's all behind us. So to your direct question, we're testing variations of this end-state vision now. We talked about Toronto. We've got all the enterprise assortment located into a single building. We think this has application much more broadly across the entire enterprise. We've got to still prove that out, but we feel really good about what's happening in Toronto. And I think look for us to replicate that in markets across North America.

在過去，他們只是沒有像現在這樣緊密聯繫——對不起，就像今天這樣。我們曾經有 4 個不同的供應鍊或技術平台。這一切都在我們身後。所以對於你的直接問題，我們現在正在測試這個最終狀態願景的變體。我們談到了多倫多。我們已將所有企業類別集中在一棟建築中。我們認為這在整個企業中具有更廣泛的應用。我們仍然需要證明這一點，但我們對多倫多發生的事情感覺非常好。我認為我們希望在北美市場複製這一點。

Our next question comes from Bret Jordan of Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Bret Jordan。

On the Pro performance, I guess, sort of relatively underperforming versus peers. Could you talk about sort of what you see as the major impact? I mean is it an availability issue? Is it sort of slow traction on the private label program? And I guess are you seeing competition where [IMC] against Autopart International, Worldpac, is there other sort of [French] competitors that are changing the environment? But if you could sort of lay out how you see the Pro business maybe trailing a little bit and what the factors are that would be great.

我想，在 Pro 性能方面，與同行相比，表現相對較差。你能談談你認為的主要影響嗎？我的意思是這是可用性問題嗎？自有品牌計劃的牽引力是否有點慢？我猜你是否看到 [IMC] 與 Autopart International、Worldpac 的競爭，還有其他類型的 [法國] 競爭對手正在改變環境嗎？但是，如果您能闡述一下您如何看待 Pro 業務可能會落後一點，以及影響因素是什麼，那就太好了。

Sure. I mean, we talked a little bit about our -- the actions we're taking, Bret, on the call, and we expect Pro to accelerate through the year. Really 3 elements to the plan, I mean we've done a lot of work to identify what's driving the underperformance. And there's really a couple of things. First of all, the availability opportunity that we talked about on the last call, we've made targeted inventory investments to improve that. And that spans both high-velocity SKUs, which we're plussing up in both our stores and our distribution centers and in some cases, adding breadth and coverage to hubs and super hubs and in-market nodes.

當然。我的意思是，我們談了一些關於我們正在採取的行動，布雷特，在電話中，我們希望 Pro 在這一年中加速。該計劃真的有 3 個要素，我的意思是我們已經做了很多工作來確定是什麼導致了表現不佳。確實有幾件事。首先，我們在上次電話會議上談到了可用性機會，我們已經進行了有針對性的庫存投資來改善這一點。這涵蓋了高速 SKU，我們在我們的商店和配送中心都增加了這些 SKU，在某些情況下，還增加了樞紐和超級樞紐以及市場節點的廣度和覆蓋範圍。

So first of all, inventory investments to improve availability is job one, that's the biggest opportunity. Secondly, we talked about surgical price investments to close the competitive price gap, and we've made a lot of progress there. We monitor that every week. It's done really account by account and category by category, but the actions we're taking are enabling us to drive more top line sales in Pro and still show margin expansion. And then third, we've got a pretty robust customer sales activation plan that the field is executing, obviously done by customer based on performance, competitive intensity, all the things you would expect. We leverage the quality of our parts and all of the things that we bring to the table.

因此，首先，提高可用性的庫存投資是首要任務，這是最大的機會。其次，我們談到了手術價格投資以縮小競爭性價格差距，我們在這方面取得了很大進展。我們每週都會對此進行監控。它確實是逐個帳戶和逐個類別地完成的，但我們正在採取的行動使我們能夠推動 Pro 的更多頂線銷售，並且仍然顯示利潤率擴張。然後第三，我們有一個該領域正在執行的非常強大的客戶銷售激活計劃，顯然是由客戶根據績效、競爭強度以及您所期望的所有事情來完成的。我們利用我們零件的質量和我們帶來的所有東西。

So the good news is we are seeing improvement in our hard parts categories on a year-to-date basis, and we expect that to accelerate through the balance of the year.

因此，好消息是我們看到我們的硬零件類別在今年迄今的基礎上有所改善，我們預計這一情況會在今年餘下時間加速。

Okay. So your internal data, I would say that Carquest private label brands has fraction equal in Pro to DIY?

好的。所以你的內部數據，我會說 Carquest 自有品牌在 Pro 和 DIY 中的比例相等？

Sorry, say again?

對不起，再說一遍？

The private label program, you'd say its penetration in Pro is equal to the DIY penetration. It's accepted as much for the DIFM customer.

自有品牌程序，你可以說它在 Pro 中的滲透率等於 DIY 滲透率。它為 DIFM 客戶所接受。

Yes, absolutely, absolutely. I would say it's more accepted in Pro. The brand is the name on the door for our independents that are out there. It has a heritage that started in the professional installer community. The installers love the product. That's not the issue. We just got to make -- improve the availability and make sure we're competitively priced and we will grow that business.

是的，絕對，絕對。我會說它在 Pro 中更容易被接受。該品牌是我們在那裡的獨立人士的門上的名字。它具有始於專業安裝程序社區的傳統。安裝人員喜歡該產品。那不是問題。我們只需要做 - 提高可用性並確保我們的價格具有競爭力，我們將發展該業務。

Our next question comes from Michael Lasser from UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的 Michael Lasser。

So over the last few years, you've taken a number of steps to improve the margin profile of the business, integrating the supply chain, working on strategic pricing. You've gotten your private label penetration now above 50%. So what's going to drive margin growth from here? Is it just a function of generating sales growth and leveraging your fixed expenses?

因此，在過去幾年中，您採取了一系列措施來提高業務的利潤率，整合供應鏈，制定戰略定價。您的自有品牌滲透率現在已超過 50%。那麼什麼會推動利潤率增長呢？它只是產生銷售增長和利用固定費用的功能嗎？

Michael, for sure, we've got to accelerate our top line. I mean the original plan that we laid out in 2021 contemplated higher growth certainly than we delivered last year. So for sure, we need to accelerate our top line sales growth. That's an important part of the plan. And we still have a lot of opportunity to expand margins, I think, uniquely, given what I mentioned earlier, to the earlier question on Pro, we can grow the Pro business and grow margins, while we're doing that through private label penetration through continued actions on category management.

邁克爾，當然，我們必須加快我們的收入。我的意思是，我們在 2021 年制定的最初計劃設想的增長肯定比我們去年實現的要高。因此，可以肯定的是，我們需要加快我們的營收增長。這是計劃的重要組成部分。我們仍然有很多機會擴大利潤率，我認為，鑑於我之前提到的關於 Pro 的早期問題，我們可以發展 Pro 業務並增加利潤率，而我們正在通過自有品牌滲透來做到這一點通過持續的品類管理行動。

We're raising our game on category management for sure, driving sales and profit per square foot in the stores, all the things that you would expect. So we do expect to continue to drive margin expansion through category management. We expect to drive it through continued supply chain efficiencies. And then as you said, we want to drive our top line sales growth to leverage SG&A.

我們肯定會提高我們在品類管理方面的遊戲，推動商店的銷售額和每平方英尺的利潤，所有這些都是你所期望的。因此，我們確實希望通過類別管理繼續推動利潤率擴張。我們希望通過持續的供應鏈效率來推動它。然後正如您所說，我們希望推動我們的收入增長以利用 SG&A。

Our next question from today comes from Michael Montani of Evercore ISI. Michael, your line is now open. Please go ahead. Michael, your line is now open. Please go ahead.

我們今天的下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Michael Montani。邁克爾，您的線路現已開通。請繼續。邁克爾，您的線路現已開通。請繼續。

My apologies, we are not receiving any audio. We will move on to the next question from Brian Nagel of Oppenheimer.

抱歉，我們沒有收到任何音頻。我們將繼續討論奧本海默的 Brian Nagel 的下一個問題。

Tom, congratulations on the retirement. So my first question, just with regard to inflation. So you and a number of others in your sector have talked about this expected trajectory or inflation, so to say, ease in the second half of '23. So as we think about that forthcoming dynamic, what are the likely impacts to advance both from a sales and a margin perspective? You're recognizing there's a lot of other pieces moving parts with your P&L. But if we isolate that inflation dynamic, how should we think about the impact there?

湯姆，恭喜你退休了。所以我的第一個問題是關於通貨膨脹。因此，您和您所在行業的許多其他人都談到了這種預期軌跡或通貨膨脹，可以說，在 23 年下半年有所緩解。因此，當我們考慮即將到來的動態時，從銷售和利潤的角度來看，可能會產生哪些影響？您認識到還有很多其他因素會影響您的損益表。但是，如果我們分離出通貨膨脹動力，我們應該如何考慮那裡的影響？

Yes. I think first, the important part is the cadence. The way we're thinking about it, really break it into a first half, second half. We think inflation is going to continue to be elevated as we're seeing today in the first half and then that's going to come down over time. You saw Q4 sequentially improved slightly for us, at least on product cost inflation. And as that comes down, given that we're now on LIFO, you incur those costs as we -- as the inflation hits. So inflation is steady is what we saw in Q4, that's going to be more impactful to our gross margin. As those costs continue to abate, you get that relief over the course of the year.

是的。我認為首先，重要的部分是節奏。我們考慮它的方式，真的把它分成上半場，下半場。我們認為通脹將像我們今天在上半年看到的那樣繼續升高，然後隨著時間的推移會下降。您看到我們的第四季度環比略有改善，至少在產品成本通脹方面是這樣。當這種情況下降時，鑑於我們現在採用後進先出法，隨著通貨膨脹的到來，你會承擔這些成本。所以我們在第四季度看到的通脹穩定，這將對我們的毛利率產生更大的影響。隨著這些成本的持續下降，你會在一年中得到這種緩解。

So I think guidance -- sorry, cadence is the biggest component to that. And I think the biggest driver really is the product cost inflation. We've got inflationary estimates on the rest of the P&L, but wage inflation, for example, we think it'll be fairly static. You'll see that kind of variation that you'll see in product cost inflation.

所以我認為指導——抱歉，節奏是其中最重要的組成部分。我認為最大的驅動因素確實是產品成本通脹。我們對其餘損益表進行了通貨膨脹估計，但例如工資通貨膨脹，我們認為它將是相當穩定的。你會看到你會在產品成本通脹中看到的那種變化。

Perfect. This is a follow-up. So is it still the base case assumption that even as input costs moderate, that the pricing at your stores, the price in the consumer will largely stay the same?

完美的。這是後續行動。那麼，即使投入成本適度，你商店的定價，消費者的價格將基本保持不變，這仍然是基本情況假設嗎？

Yes. We obviously look at that very closely. We want to make sure we stay competitive. We have assumptions around how much price we can maintain when costs come down. There's obviously elasticity depending on the category that you're seeing those costs deeply or inflate, for that matter. So we look at that on a category-by-category basis. And we're going to make sure we stay competitive as we see, hopefully, the cost structure start to improve.

是的。我們顯然非常仔細地研究了這一點。我們希望確保我們保持競爭力。我們假設成本下降時我們可以維持多少價格。就此而言，顯然存在彈性，具體取決於您看到這些成本大幅上漲或膨脹的類別。因此，我們逐個類別地查看它。我們將確保我們保持競爭力，正如我們所看到的那樣，希望成本結構開始改善。

Our next question comes from David Bellinger from MKM Partners.

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

And Tom, congrats on the announcement. Could you just help us contextualize the top line acceleration Q3 to Q4? How much of that is internal versus external? Or are we seeing the payback from these inventory investments already? And I don't think you called out the shift to private label parts as a comp sales headwind. Was that still a sizable impact in the Q4 period?

湯姆，祝賀這一宣布。你能幫我們把第三季度到第四季度的頂線加速背景化嗎？其中有多少是內部的和外部的？或者我們是否已經看到這些庫存投資的回報？而且我不認為你將轉向自有品牌零件稱為競爭銷售逆風。這在第四季度仍然是一個相當大的影響嗎？

David. Yes, first of all, the acceleration in Q4 was largely DIY. We're really happy with our DIY business in the fourth quarter. As you know, it's a very profitable part of our business. We paid a lot of attention to it. We had a strong quarter on DieHard. We continue to build that brand. our Speed Perks platform is really starting to generate some returns for us. We've added members. We're graduating members. So our ability to drive DIY. And by the way, through e-commerce, our e-commerce business is now back in double-digit land again, which is really important for us over the long term.

大衛。是的，首先，第四季度的加速主要是自己動手做的。我們對第四季度的 DIY 業務非常滿意。如您所知，這是我們業務中非常有利可圖的部分。我們非常關注它。我們在 DieHard 上有一個強勁的季度。我們將繼續打造該品牌。我們的 Speed Perks 平台真正開始為我們帶來一些回報。我們增加了成員。我們是畢業會員。所以我們的驅動DIY能力。順便說一句，通過電子商務，我們的電子商務業務現在又回到了兩位數的水平，從長遠來看這對我們來說非常重要。

So we think we can continue to grow that DIY business as we get into 2023. And obviously, that helps us on the margin front. We didn't get a lot of benefit on the Pro side in the fourth quarter from the investments. We're going to do that in a very disciplined fashion. We've got a very robust plan to drive growth in Pro, and we want to do it the right way. And it's done, as I say, very targeted inventory investments, very surgical price investments. And we're confident that, that will drive growth in Pro as the year unfolds, but we didn't see a lot of benefit from that in the fourth quarter.

因此，我們認為我們可以在進入 2023 年時繼續發展 DIY 業務。顯然，這有助於我們提高利潤率。第四季度，我們沒有從投資中獲得很多好處。我們將以一種非常有紀律的方式來做到這一點。我們有一個非常強大的計劃來推動 Pro 的增長，我們希望以正確的方式進行。正如我所說，它已經完成了非常有針對性的庫存投資，非常外科手術的價格投資。我們有信心，隨著今年的展開，這將推動 Pro 的增長，但我們在第四季度並沒有從中看到太多好處。

Just on the owned brand mix, in particular, on the top line, that was a headwind, but consistent with the third quarter, it was a benefit to our gross margin rate. So relatively consistent with what we saw in the third quarter.

就自有品牌組合而言，尤其是在收入方面，這是一個不利因素，但與第三季度一致，這對我們的毛利率有利。與我們在第三季度看到的情況相對一致。

Yes. It's kind of in our base now, David. That's why we're not calling it out as a specific headwind. It's in our base now, so we're going to continue to grow it from here, but it's -- the impact is less.

是的。它現在在我們的基地裡，大衛。這就是為什麼我們沒有將其稱為特定的逆風。它現在在我們的基地，所以我們將繼續從這裡發展它，但它的影響較小。

Got it. Okay. And then the follow-up on the share repurchases being paused, I think that's around 7% of your market cap based on what you did in this year. So what would you need to see to buy back stock again? Are there any specific metrics you need to hit? And is there a certain point in the year where you could go and step back into the market and beginning repurchases again?

知道了。好的。然後暫停股票回購的後續行動，我認為根據你今年所做的，這大約是你市值的 7%。那麼你需要看到什麼才能再次回購股票？您需要達到任何特定指標嗎？一年中是否有某個時間點可以重新進入市場並再次開始回購？

Yes, for sure. We -- first of all, I think it's important to point out that we think the share repurchase to be temporary. We're going to be executing our capital allocation priorities, investing in the business, both CapEx and working capital that we talked about. And we're still really excited about the fact that we're paying a very strong dividend. Having said that, we'll be monitoring is our free cash flow. We don't have any plans to take out debt to repurchase shares. And so we're going to be laser focused on improving that free cash flow as we navigate through the year. But we're going to prioritize making sure we have the very best availability. And so as we work through that, if that improves top line higher than expectations and improved the free cash flow, we'll be back in the market. It's just a matter of making sure we have the free cash flow to support it.

是肯定的。我們 - 首先，我認為重要的是要指出我們認為股票回購是暫時的。我們將執行我們的資本分配優先事項，投資於我們談到的資本支出和營運資本。我們仍然對我們支付非常高的股息感到非常興奮。話雖如此，我們將監控我們的自由現金流。我們沒有任何舉債回購股票的計劃。因此，在我們度過這一年的過程中，我們將專注於改善自由現金流。但我們將優先考慮確保我們擁有最好的可用性。因此，在我們努力解決這個問題的過程中，如果這提高了高於預期的收入並改善了自由現金流，我們將重返市場。這只是確保我們有自由現金流來支持它的問題。

Our next question comes from Zach Fadem from Wells Fargo.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行的 Zach Fadem。

So Tom, could you talk us through your take on the industry growth rate in 2023? How that breaks down between DIY versus Pro and then how you bridge the gap both for your DIY and do-it-for-me expectations relative to the industry growth rate?

那麼湯姆，你能談談你對 2023 年行業增長率的看法嗎？如何在 DIY 與 Pro 之間進行區分，然後如何彌合 DIY 和 do-it-for-me 期望相對於行業增長率的差距？

Sure. Well, first of all, we expect kind of 4-ish for the industry on a full year basis. That's kind of our current projection. We expect Pro to outperform DIY. Now that's an interesting dynamic this year. Obviously, you've got a lot of factors at play, Zach, with some macroeconomic uncertainty and pressure on the low-to-middle income consumer, which tends to shift business to DIY. So as we sit here today with 10 months to go, those are the numbers that we see. We believe we can continue to drive growth in DIY and in particular, benefiting from some of the digital investments we've been making over time to grow share in DIY and as we said a couple of times here, the Pro business to ramp up through the year and get to the industry growth rate or above by -- as we get into the back half.

當然。好吧，首先，我們預計該行業全年將達到 4 歲左右。這就是我們目前的預測。我們希望 Pro 的表現優於 DIY。這是今年的一個有趣動態。顯然，扎克，你有很多因素在起作用，包括一些宏觀經濟的不確定性和中低收入消費者的壓力，這些消費者傾向於將業務轉向 DIY。因此，當我們今天坐在這裡，還有 10 個月的時間時，這些就是我們看到的數字。我們相信我們可以繼續推動 DIY 的增長，特別是受益於我們一直在進行的一些數字投資，以增加 DIY 的份額，正如我們在這裡多次說過的那樣，Pro 業務將通過年並達到行業增長率或更高 - 當我們進入後半部分時。

Got it. And when you think about your historical non-GAAP margin goal of 10.5% to 12.5%, can you walk through what that would equate to on a GAAP basis? And then for 2023, could you talk about your expectations for the LIFO benefit and also the transformation costs that you're embedding in the outlook today?

知道了。當您考慮 10.5% 至 12.5% 的歷史非 GAAP 利潤率目標時，您能否在 GAAP 基礎上逐步了解這等同於什麼？然後對於 2023 年，您能否談談您對 LIFO 收益的期望以及您今天嵌入前景中的轉型成本？

Yes, sure. I mean it's a little bit of apples and oranges as you know, but as Tom mentioned earlier, the initiatives really don't change. And they don't change our ability to expand margins here in the short term and even longer term, whether we're on a GAAP or non-GAAP. Thinking about the sort of reconciliation, if you will, really there's 3 primary components. You've got your -- our transformation costs, restructuring costs. We have the amortization associated with GPI and then LIFO.

是的，當然。我的意思是如您所知，這只是一些蘋果和橘子，但正如 Tom 之前提到的，這些舉措確實沒有改變。他們不會改變我們在短期甚至更長期擴大利潤率的能力，無論我們是在 GAAP 還是非 GAAP 上。想想那種和解，如果你願意的話，真的有 3 個主要組成部分。你有你的 - 我們的轉型成本，重組成本。我們有與 GPI 相關的攤銷，然後是 LIFO。

First 2 are a little bit easier. The transformation and restructuring as we move into 2023, we think that's going to be roughly the same in terms of what we saw in 2022 from a cost standpoint. Amortization is -- it's straight line. So you should expect that to be the same, and that will exhaust in 2025. The difficult one, as you pointed out, is LIFO. And if you take a step back, last year, we started LIFO, and we thought it could be roughly in line with 2021, which is $120 million roughly, and we were nearly 3x that.

前兩個要容易一些。隨著我們進入 2023 年的轉型和重組，我們認為從成本的角度來看，這與我們在 2022 年看到的情況大致相同。攤銷是——它是直線。所以你應該期望它是一樣的，並且會在 2025 年耗盡。正如你所指出的，困難的是後進先出法。如果你退後一步，去年我們開始了後進先出法，我們認為它可能與 2021 年大致一致，大約是 1.2 億美元，我們幾乎是這個數字的 3 倍。

So we're not giving any guide around LIFO. What we did say is we expect product cost inflation, which is a big driver. There's other components. But we expect that to moderate throughout the year. So what I can tell you is we don't expect LIFO to be another $300 million headwind, but we're not going to provide any guidance beyond that.

因此，我們不會就 LIFO 提供任何指南。我們所說的是我們預計產品成本通脹，這是一個很大的驅動因素。還有其他組件。但我們預計全年都會放緩。所以我可以告訴你的是，我們預計 LIFO 不會成為另一個 3 億美元的不利因素，但我們不會提供任何超出此範圍的指導。

Maybe similar in Q1...

也許在第一季度類似......

I'd like to add, Zach -- Zach, I want to add -- go ahead, Zach. Ask your question.

我想補充一點，扎克——扎克，我想補充——繼續，扎克。問你的問題。

I just wanted to clarify, would Q1 be similar to Q4. And then -- sorry, go ahead, sorry to interrupt.

我只是想澄清一下，Q1 是否與 Q4 相似。然後——抱歉，請繼續，抱歉打擾了。

Yes. Again, we're not going to break out the LIFO on a quarterly basis. It will be dependent on what those supply chain and product costs come in at.

是的。同樣，我們不會按季度打破後進先出法。這將取決於這些供應鍊和產品成本的來源。

Yes. Zach, I wanted to add that you'll see on our website, we've broken out and we've had so many questions over the years on this GAAP to non-GAAP comparison. We've broken out the last 5 years. You can clearly see the relative performance GAAP versus non-GAAP. If you look at our adjusted EPS growth over the last 5 years, it's basically 2.4x. It's more than double what it was in 2017. It's got about a 19% CAGR. And this year, at the midpoint of our 2023 guide on a GAAP basis, you see a similar number. So it's all there. We want to make sure that it's clear to everyone. And back to the transformation costs, we're excited about the fact that they're coming down over the next couple of years. And that will enable us to expand margins through [that alone].

是的。扎克，我想補充一點，你會在我們的網站上看到，我們已經爆發了，多年來我們在 GAAP 與非 GAAP 比較方面有很多問題。在過去的 5 年裡，我們已經爆發了。您可以清楚地看到 GAAP 與非 GAAP 的相對錶現。如果你看一下過去 5 年我們調整後的每股收益增長，基本上是 2.4 倍。它是 2017 年的兩倍多。複合年增長率約為 19%。今年，在我們基於 GAAP 的 2023 年指南的中點，您會看到類似的數字。所以一切都在那裡。我們希望確保每個人都清楚這一點。回到轉型成本，我們對它們在未來幾年內下降這一事實感到興奮。這將使我們能夠通過 [that alone] 擴大利潤。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question for today comes from Scot Ciccarelli from Truist.

（操作員說明）我們今天的下一個問題來自 Truist 的 Scot Ciccarelli。

Scot Ciccarelli. So how should we be thinking about the pricing investments that you guys mentioned last quarter relative to, let's call it, the price optimization efforts you implemented over the last few years. Like how are we supposed to kind of reconcile, if you will, kind of the price investment versus, let's call it, raising prices over the last couple of years, which I think has been a pretty big gross margin driver.

蘇格蘭奇卡雷利。那麼我們應該如何考慮你們上個季度提到的相對於你們在過去幾年中實施的價格優化工作的定價投資。就像我們應該如何調和，如果你願意的話，價格投資與過去幾年的價格上漲，我認為這是一個相當大的毛利率驅動因素。

Yes. So a couple of things there. We talked about the unprofitable discounts. We've worked through the vast majority of that. That's going to be an ongoing process. It's really something that doesn't go away. It did not have a significant impact in the fourth quarter. In fact, we saw a very slight benefit, meaning that we didn't lose those customers, and we were still getting the sales and the -- an improved margin because we weren't giving it away through an unprofitable discount.

是的。所以有幾件事。我們談到了無利可圖的折扣。我們已經完成了其中的絕大多數。這將是一個持續的過程。真的是走不掉的東西。它在第四季度沒有產生重大影響。事實上，我們看到了非常輕微的好處，這意味著我們沒有失去那些客戶，而且我們仍然獲得了銷售額和 - 提高的利潤率，因為我們沒有通過無利可圖的折扣放棄它。

More broadly, in terms of the competitive set, Tom mentioned this earlier, but we're going to be very surgical in the pricing investments that we made to close the competitive [gap], and we use the word surgical for a reason. We look at [CPI] and peak last summer, and as we were into the fourth quarter, we're back to where we want to be, and we're testing in different markets. We're monitoring this on a daily and a weekly basis, and we're clearly seeing results. So we're going to make sure we're competitive. We're not going to lose on price, and we're going to improve our availability. And we think that sets us up for a very strong year.

更廣泛地說，就競爭環境而言，湯姆之前提到過這一點，但我們將在為縮小競爭[差距]而進行的定價投資中進行非常外科手術，我們使用外科手術這個詞是有原因的。我們查看 [CPI] 和去年夏天的峰值，當我們進入第四季度時，我們回到了我們想要的位置，我們正在不同的市場進行測試。我們每天和每週都在對此進行監控，並且我們清楚地看到了結果。所以我們要確保我們有競爭力。我們不會在價格上輸，我們會提高我們的可用性。我們認為這讓我們迎來了非常強勁的一年。

That's helpful. And then Jeff, any more color on the first quarter outlook, given your comments in your prepared remarks about 1Q being more challenging?

這很有幫助。然後 Jeff，考慮到您在準備好的關於第一季度更具挑戰性的評論中的評論，第一季度前景還有更多顏色嗎？

I mean not a whole lot. I mean it really is the 3 drivers that we called out. It's the inflation, it's the availability. We do have some transformation-related costs that we anticipate will be in Q1. We'll be able to talk about that a little bit more the next time we meet in whatever is April or May. And those are really the 3 drivers. I mean obviously, the product costs when they come in, we're going to incur them under LIFO. And the availability, as we talked about, just it takes some time to get that into our network and get it forward deployed. It's one thing to get into your distribution center, but we need to get it throughout the network to make sure we're available all the time for our customers.

我的意思是不是很多。我的意思是，確實是我們召集的 3 名車手。這是通貨膨脹，這是可用性。我們確實有一些與轉型相關的成本，我們預計將在第一季度出現。下次我們在 4 月或 5 月見面時，我們將能夠更多地討論這個問題。這些確實是 3 個驅動程序。我的意思是，很明顯，當產品成本進來時，我們將在後進先出法下承擔它們。正如我們所說，可用性只是需要一些時間才能將其納入我們的網絡並進行部署。進入您的配送中心是一回事，但我們需要在整個網絡中獲取它，以確保我們始終為客戶提供服務。

Our next question comes from Steven Zaccone from Citigroup.

我們的下一個問題來自花旗集團的 Steven Zaccone。

Tom, Best wishes in the next step. Just to clarify on the first quarter, just to follow up on that last question. Would you expect first quarter comps to be at the low end of the full year range? Or will they actually be slightly below that full year guidance range?

湯姆，祝您下一步順利。只是為了澄清第一季度，只是為了跟進最後一個問題。您是否預計第一季度的收入會處於全年範圍的低端？或者它們實際上會略低於全年指導範圍嗎？

Yes. We're not going to break out the comps. We feel really good about the 1% to 3% over the course of the year. It's really difficult at this point. I mean, January, December, these time frames are incredibly volatile and to try to put some sort of analysis around the first 4, 6 weeks and say that's going to make our quarter, which, by the way, is our longest quarter, is our 16-week quarter spring selling season. Sometimes it's Q1, sometimes it's Q2. We're -- the least here in Raleigh, we're off to an early spring, but it just is premature to really say whether or not we think comps will be on the low or high end of that range.

是的。我們不會打破譜曲。我們對一年中 1% 到 3% 的增長感到非常滿意。在這一點上真的很難。我的意思是，1 月、12 月，這些時間框架非常不穩定，嘗試在前 4、6 週進行某種分析，然後說這將使我們的季度，順便說一句，這是我們最長的季度，是我們為期 16 週的季度春季銷售旺季。有時是Q1，有時是Q2。我們 - 羅利這裡最少，我們即將迎來早春，但現在說我們是否認為 comps 將處於該範圍的低端或高端還為時過早。

Okay. Fair enough. Then second question I had was, could you talk a bit more about the outlook for SG&A leverage in 2023? What's the puts and takes? Wages are a pressure point across retail. So curious for your input there. And then as we shift to GAAP, how should we think about the ability to drive leverage on SG&A? What level of comp growth do you really need on a go-forward basis?

好的。很公平。然後我的第二個問題是，你能多談談 2023 年 SG&A 槓桿的前景嗎？什麼是 puts 和 takes？工資是零售業的一個壓力點。很想知道你在那裡的意見。然後，當我們轉向 GAAP 時，我們應該如何考慮推動 SG&A 槓桿的能力？在前進的基礎上，您真正需要什麼水平的薪酬增長？

Yes. I mean when it comes to SG&A, you have those transformation and amortization costs that are going to test themselves there. They're going to be relatively flat. So we don't expect any significant volatility with those in particular. In terms of some of the puts and takes, you certainly called out the biggest factor, which is the wage inflation. We're cognizant of that. We've modeled wage inflation yet again for 2023. We do think we have some opportunities in terms of overall cost takeout, leveraging some of our -- sorry, I'm blanking on the term or -- I got the [My Delivery] and [My Day], yes. Thank you. The online -- I'm sorry, the automated payroll and getting the hours into -- really getting the hours associated with the revenue.

是的。我的意思是，當涉及到 SG&A 時，你有那些將在那裡進行自我測試的轉型和攤銷成本。它們將相對平坦。因此，我們預計這些不會有任何顯著波動。就某些看跌期權而言，您肯定指出了最大的因素，即工資通脹。我們認識到這一點。我們再次模擬了 2023 年的工資通脹。我們確實認為我們在總體成本支出方面有一些機會，利用我們的一些 - 抱歉，我在這個詞上空白或者 - 我得到了 [My Delivery] [我的一天]，是的。謝謝。在線 - 對不起，自動工資單和進入時間 - 真正獲得與收入相關的時間。

And so we've been working through that for a number of years. We've got some significant opportunities there. So we do feel good that we can get some improvement in our what we call sales and profit per store. Another big one that we called out were the start-up costs that we had with our California expansion. And those were sizable in 2022. Good news is we're beginning to get those stores open. We've got nearly 90 stores open. We've got a little less than 20 to go. So there's still going to be some start-up costs there, but it won't be nearly as sizable as what we saw in 2022. So the combination of all those gives us a reasonable level of confidence that we're going to leverage SG&A in '23.

因此，我們多年來一直在努力解決這個問題。我們在那裡有一些重要的機會。因此，我們確實感覺很好，我們可以在我們所說的每家商店的銷售額和利潤方面取得一些改善。我們提到的另一個大問題是我們在加州擴張時的啟動成本。這些在 2022 年相當可觀。好消息是我們開始讓這些商店開業。我們已經開了近 90 家商店。我們還有不到 20 人要走。所以那裡仍然會有一些啟動成本，但它不會像我們在 2022 年看到的那樣大。所以所有這些的結合讓我們有合理的信心，我們將利用 SG&A在 23 年。

Our next question comes from Seth Sigman of Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Seth Sigman。

Nice to talk to everybody. Tom, congrats to you. Some of these are follow-ups, but I just wanted to clarify, when we think about that 8% operating margin for '23, I guess, on an apples-to-apples basis, how does that compare to what your prior expectations were for '23 and maybe what some of those big differences could be?

很高興和大家交談。湯姆，恭喜你。其中一些是後續行動，但我只是想澄清一下，當我們考慮 23 年 8% 的營業利潤率時，我想，在同類基礎上，這與您之前的預期相比如何對於 23 年，也許這些重大差異可能是什麼？

Yes. I mean, again, the big drivers between GAAP and non-GAAP are the things that we talked about, the transformation, the LIFO obviously being the biggest one. We had $300 million -- over $300 million of LIFO. So those you have to factor back in, but the initiatives that we have in place don't change. So our ability to drive margins through own brand expansion doesn't change our ability to take costs out through our [My Day], through the [My Delivery] don't change.

是的。我的意思是，再一次，GAAP 和非 GAAP 之間的主要驅動因素是我們談到的事情，即轉型，後進先出法顯然是最大的驅動因素。我們有 3 億美元——超過 3 億美元的後進先出法。所以那些你必須重新考慮的因素，但我們已經採取的舉措不會改變。因此，我們通過自有品牌擴張推動利潤的能力不會改變我們通過 [My Day] 和 [My Delivery] 降低成本的能力。

So those -- we really don't see it any different. We really think the timing to go from non-GAAP to GAAP is appropriate, given that we're seeing the non-GAAP items beginning to moderate eventually go away. So for all those reasons, that's why we wanted to make the change. And there are no change in the underlying assumptions in terms of our margin growth outside of going from non-GAAP to again.

所以那些 - 我們真的沒有看到任何不同。我們真的認為從非 GAAP 轉向 GAAP 的時機是合適的，因為我們看到非 GAAP 項目開始緩和最終消失。因此，出於所有這些原因，這就是我們想要進行更改的原因。除了從非 GAAP 轉為非 GAAP 之外，我們的利潤率增長的基本假設沒有變化。

Got you. Okay. That's helpful. And then just 2 quick follow-ups on the different channels. On the DIY business, did you actually say whether the momentum that you saw in the fourth quarter had continued into Q1? And then just quickly on the Pro business, I'm just curious as you sort of step back and look at the underperformance of that business, how broad based is that underperformance? Or maybe you could speak to like different customer types, different sizes, regions, et cetera? I'm just trying to understand where the [gap] may be within that.

明白了好的。這很有幫助。然後在不同的頻道上進行 2 次快速跟進。關於 DIY 業務，您是否真的說過您在第四季度看到的勢頭是否延續到第一季度？然後很快就專業業務，我很好奇你退後一步看看該業務的表現不佳，表現不佳的基礎有多廣泛？或者，也許您可以與不同的客戶類型、不同規模、地區等交談？我只是想了解 [gap] 可能在哪裡。

Sure. Well, first of all, in DIY, we do believe we can sustain the momentum that we have on DIY in 2023. Once again, based on all the things I talked about, Seth, DieHard, Speed Perks, et cetera and again, the e-commerce business, we believe that our digital business can grow nicely this year. We've sort of dealt with the discounts we used to have and effectively got that business in a very good spot from a profitability standpoint. So now we're building that business the right way.

當然。好吧，首先，在 DIY 方面，我們確實相信我們可以在 2023 年保持我們在 DIY 方面的勢頭。再一次，基於我談到的所有事情，Seth、DieHard、Speed Perks 等等，再一次，電子商務業務，我們相信我們的數字業務今年可以有很好的增長。從盈利能力的角度來看，我們已經處理了過去的折扣，並有效地使該業務處於非常有利的位置。所以現在我們正在以正確的方式建立該業務。

On the professional side, we're very clear on where our opportunities are. We did make some decisions, as we said last year, to reduce unprofitable discounts. In some cases, that was a large account. In some cases, that were smaller accounts. But as we start to laugh those decisions, we'll see some accelerated growth at Pro. And once again, we want to do it the right way. We want to do it in a way that is sustainable over the long term, which is through inventory availability and making sure we got the right part in the right place. So that's kind of the tail of the take there.

在專業方面，我們非常清楚我們的機會在哪裡。正如我們去年所說，我們確實做出了一些決定，以減少無利可圖的折扣。在某些情況下，這是一筆大賬。在某些情況下，這是較小的帳戶。但當我們開始嘲笑這些決定時，我們將看到 Pro 的一些加速增長。再一次，我們想以正確的方式去做。我們希望以一種長期可持續的方式來做到這一點，即通過庫存可用性並確保我們在正確的位置獲得正確的零件。所以這就是那裡的尾巴。

Next question for today comes from Seth Basham of Wedbush.

今天的下一個問題來自 Wedbush 的 Seth Basham。

Thanks a lot. Good morning, and best wishes, Tom. My question is a follow-up just to make sure I understand the guidance on a GAAP basis in terms of margin improvement in 2023. It seems like there's a small piece from lower start-up costs in the Cali stores. But the biggest piece of that step-up is going to be from LIFO. Is that the right way to think about it?

多謝。早上好，祝你好運，湯姆。我的問題是跟進，只是為了確保我理解 2023 年利潤率改善方面基於 GAAP 的指導意見。卡利商店的啟動成本較低似乎有一小部分。但這一升級的最大部分將來自後進先出法。這是正確的思考方式嗎？

Yes, that is. That's the right way to think about it. We think we've gotten through the majority of the inflationary costs on a LIFO basis. There's still going to be some. And that's why we want to be real clear about the cadence in terms of what we're expecting. Q1 for sure, being the most challenging for the reasons that we pointed out. But yes, we definitely think we're going to see improvement in gross margin. It will be largely led by LIFO. We have our other initiatives that are also going to help us contribute whether it's the own brand expansion, the availability. We think we have opportunities there as well, but you are thinking about it correctly.

對，是。這才是正確的思考方式。我們認為我們已經在後進先出的基礎上解決了大部分通貨膨脹成本。仍然會有一些。這就是為什麼我們想要根據我們的期望真正清楚節奏。第一季度肯定是最具挑戰性的，因為我們指出的原因。但是，是的，我們絕對認為我們會看到毛利率有所改善。它將主要由 LIFO 領導。我們還有其他舉措也將幫助我們做出貢獻，無論是自有品牌的擴張，還是可用性。我們認為我們在那裡也有機會，但你的想法是正確的。

All right. Great. And then another question on the guidance in terms of your store growth. Ex the 20 additional California stores you still have to open, you're looking at doing only 40 to 60 net new stores, which is pretty low relative to your store base. I know that a year or 2 ago, you guys had a stated goal of starting to accelerate store growth. Can you just tell us how you're thinking about growth in the future from a store base standpoint?

好的。偉大的。然後是關於商店增長指導的另一個問題。除了你仍然需要開設的 20 家額外的加利福尼亞商店，你打算只開 40 到 60 家淨新店，這相對於你的商店基數來說是相當低的。我知道一兩年前，你們有一個明確的目標，即開始加速商店增長。您能否從商店基地的角度告訴我們您如何考慮未來的增長？

Sure. Well, this year, we want to make sure that we really dial the completion of the California openings. We talked a lot about the delays we experienced last year. And now that we're open, we're gaining market share out there. We've got some really strong team members that came to us from Pep Boys that have a lot of content knowledge and geographic knowledge, product knowledge for that market. So we want to really drive growth and market share gains out in California and obviously continue to grow the new stores that we have planned for the year.

當然。好吧，今年，我們要確保我們真的完成了加州的開業。我們談了很多關於去年經歷的延誤。現在我們開放了，我們正在那裡獲得市場份額。我們有一些非常強大的團隊成員，他們來自 Pep Boys，他們擁有豐富的內容知識和地理知識，以及該市場的產品知識。因此，我們希望真正推動加利福尼亞的增長和市場份額的增長，並且顯然會繼續發展我們今年計劃的新店。

What I would tell you is that we're doing our strategic plan, and I alluded to this earlier, Seth, we're taking a very close look at our -- the entirety of our asset base to drive our Pro business and leveraging everything that we have. We've got over 300 buildings at Worldpac and Autopart International, over 300 hubs in super hubs. So we believe there's a way to further optimize our asset base in Pro, and that has an impact on how we think about new store openings in the future. So as we construct our plan, for '24 through '26, we'll obviously be considering how that unfolds in the future. But for this year, we guided the way we guided.

我要告訴你的是，我們正在製定我們的戰略計劃，我之前提到過，賽斯，我們正在密切關注我們的整個資產基礎，以推動我們的專業業務並利用一切我們有。我們在 Worldpac 和 Autopart International 擁有 300 多座建築，在超級樞紐中擁有 300 多個樞紐。因此，我們相信有一種方法可以進一步優化我們在 Pro 中的資產基礎，這會影響我們對未來新店開張的看法。因此，在我們制定 24 年到 26 年的計劃時，我們顯然會考慮未來如何展開。但是今年，我們按照我們的指導方式進行了指導。

That was the last question for today. So I'll hand back to CEO, Tom Greco, for any further remarks.

這是今天的最後一個問題。所以我會交回首席執行官湯姆格雷科，以獲得任何進一步的評論。

Well, thanks for joining us today. Our '23 guidance reflects growth in comp and net sales as well as GAAP margin expansion. We're pleased to have the bulk of the integration behind us so we can focus on execution and update our strategy. Our goal is to win in the future and continue to drive strong earnings per share growth and shareholder value. Thank you.

好吧，感謝您今天加入我們。我們的 23 年指引反映了薪酬和淨銷售額的增長以及 GAAP 利潤率的增長。我們很高興擁有大量的整合支持，這樣我們就可以專注於執行並更新我們的戰略。我們的目標是贏得未來，並繼續推動強勁的每股收益增長和股東價值。謝謝。

Thank you for joining today's call. You may now disconnect your lines.

感謝您參加今天的電話會議。您現在可以斷開線路。