汽車地帶 (AZO) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to AutoZone's 2022 Fourth Quarter Earnings Release Call. (Operator Instructions) Before we begin, the company would like to read some forward-looking statements. Apologies, just 2 seconds.

女士們，先生們，早上好，歡迎來到 AutoZone 的 2022 年第四季度財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）在我們開始之前，該公司想閱讀一些前瞻性陳述。抱歉，只需 2 秒。

Before we begin, please note that today's call includes forward-looking statements that are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Please refer to this morning's press release and the company's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a discussion of important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made, and the company undertakes no obligation to update such statements. Today's call will also include certain non-GAAP measures. A reconciliation of non-GAAP to GAAP financial measures can be found in our press release.

在我們開始之前，請注意，今天的電話會議包括受 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》安全港條款約束的前瞻性陳述。前瞻性陳述並非對未來業績的保證。請參閱今天上午的新聞稿和公司最近提交的 10-K 表格年度報告和其他提交給證券交易委員會的文件，以討論可能導致實際結果與預期大不相同的重要風險和不確定性。前瞻性陳述僅在作出之日發表，公司不承擔更新此類陳述的義務。今天的電話會議還將包括某些非公認會計原則的措施。在我們的新聞稿中可以找到非公認會計原則與公認會計原則財務指標的對賬。

It is now my pleasure to hand the floor over to Mr. Bill Rhodes, Chairman, President and CEO of AutoZone. Bill, over to you.

現在我很高興將發言權交給 AutoZone 董事長、總裁兼首席執行官 Bill Rhodes 先生。比爾，交給你。

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today for AutoZone's 2022 Fourth Quarter Conference Call. With me today are Jamere Jackson, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Brian Campbell, Vice President, Treasurer, Investor Relations and Tax.

早上好，感謝您今天參加 AutoZone 的 2022 年第四季度電話會議。今天和我在一起的是執行副總裁兼首席財務官 Jamere Jackson；以及投資者關係和稅務副總裁兼財務主管 Brian Campbell。

Regarding the fourth quarter, I hope you've had an opportunity to read our press release and learn about the quarter's results. If not the press release, along with slides complementing our comments today, are available on our website, www.autozone.com under the Investor Relations link. Please click on quarterly earnings conference calls to see them.

關於第四季度，我希望您有機會閱讀我們的新聞稿並了解該季度的業績。如果不是新聞稿，以及補充我們今天評論的幻燈片，可以在我們的網站 www.autozone.com 的投資者關係鏈接下找到。請點擊季度收益電話會議查看它們。

As we begin, we want to recognize our AutoZoners for their tremendous success this past year. They far exceeded our expectations from the beginning of the year and in a very challenging environment as our pledge states put our customers first, resulting in additional share gains and terrific sales performance on top of fantastic results in FY '21. We grew our overall sales of 11.1% on top of 15.8% growth last year, resulting in a 2-year growth that is among the highest we've ever experienced.

在我們開始之際，我們希望表彰我們的 AutoZoners 在過去一年中取得的巨大成功。它們遠遠超出了我們從年初以來的預期，並且在非常具有挑戰性的環境中，因為我們的承諾聲明將我們的客戶放在首位，從而在 21 財年取得了驚人的業績之外，還帶來了額外的份額收益和出色的銷售業績。在去年增長 15.8% 的基礎上，我們的整體銷售額增長了 11.1%，實現了我們經歷過的最高兩年增長。

We could not have achieved this success without phenomenal contributions from across the organization. This year began with the resurgence of the pandemic, ongoing supply chain challenges, a very difficult staffing environment and finished with rising interest rates and inflation at its highest levels in decades, all as major storylines.

如果沒有整個組織的非凡貢獻，我們不可能取得這樣的成功。今年伊始，新冠疫情再度抬頭，供應鏈挑戰持續，人員配置環境非常困難，利率和通貨膨脹率達到幾十年來的最高水平，所有這些都是主要的故事情節。

Throughout the year, our team's incredible supply chain efforts to improve our in-stock position, likely at industry-leading levels, helped our sales growth. These efforts resulted in a positive retail comp and an exceptionally strong commercial comp for both the quarter and the year.

全年，我們的團隊為改善我們的庫存狀況（可能達到行業領先水平）做出了令人難以置信的供應鏈努力，幫助我們的銷售增長。這些努力為該季度和年度帶來了積極的零售業績和異常強勁的商業業績。

Any way you evaluate our FY '22 performance, we had a terrific year. Congratulations AutoZoners, and thanks for always putting our customers first, which led to this success. This morning, we will review our Q4 overall same-store sales, DIY versus DIFM trends, our sales cadence over the 16 weeks of the quarter, merchandise categories that drove our performance and any regional discrepancies. We will also share how inflation is affecting our cost and our retails and how we think inflation will impact our business for FY '23.

無論您以何種方式評估我們 22 財年的表現，我們都度過了非常棒的一年。祝賀 AutoZoners，並感謝您始終將客戶放在首位，這導致了這次成功。今天早上，我們將回顧我們第四季度的整體同店銷售額、DIY 與 DIFM 趨勢、我們在本季度 16 週內的銷售節奏、推動我們業績的商品類別以及任何地區差異。我們還將分享通貨膨脹如何影響我們的成本和零售，以及我們認為通貨膨脹將如何影響我們 23 財年的業務。

Our domestic same-store sales were an impressive 6.2% this quarter on top of last year's 4.3%. On a 2-year basis, we delivered 10.5% comp and on a 3-year basis, a remarkable 32.3% stacked comp. Our team once again executed at an exceptionally high level, and delivered amazing results despite the difficult comparisons, and significant challenges I mentioned above.

本季度我們的國內同店銷售額在去年的 4.3% 的基礎上達到了令人印象深刻的 6.2%。在 2 年的基礎上，我們提供了 10.5% 的補償，在 3 年的基礎上，我們提供了驚人的 32.3% 的疊加補償。儘管進行了艱難的比較和我上面提到的重大挑戰，但我們的團隊再次以極高的水平執行，並取得了驚人的成果。

Our growth rates for commercial and retail were both strong, with domestic commercial growth north of 20%. This quarter was our sixth consecutive commercial growth above 20%. Additionally, Commercial set a fourth quarter record with $1.442 billion in sales, an impressive accomplishment. We generated $260 million more in sales this quarter than in Q4 last year. For the fiscal year, our commercial sales were $4.2 billion versus $3.3 billion just a year ago, up over 26%.

我們的商業和零售增長率均強勁，國內商業增長率超過 20%。本季度是我們連續第六次實現超過 20% 的商業增長。此外，Commercial 以 14.42 億美元的銷售額創下了第四季度的紀錄，這是一個令人印象深刻的成就。我們本季度的銷售額比去年第四季度增加了 2.6 億美元。在本財年，我們的商業銷售額為 42 億美元，而一年前為 33 億美元，增長了 26% 以上。

Last fall, at our National Sales Meeting, our Senior VP of Commercial, Grant McGee, declared a stretched goal to achieve $4 billion in sales for FY '22. That lofty goal ultimately wasn't near lofty enough. We also set a record average weekly sales per store for any quarter at $17,000 per store versus 14.4% last year. Domestic commercial sales represented 30% of our domestic auto parts sales, another record for us compared to just 26% in last year's quarter. Our commercial sales growth continues to be driven by key initiatives we have been working on for the last several years. Improved satellite store inventory, massive improvements in Hub and Mega-Hub coverage, the strength of the Duralast brand, better technology to make us easier to do business with, improve delivery times, enhancing our sales force effectiveness and living consistent with our pledge by being "priced right" for the value proposition we deliver.

去年秋天，在我們的全國銷售會議上，我們的商業高級副總裁 Grant McGee 宣布了一個長期目標，即在 22 財年實現 40 億美元的銷售額。這個崇高的目標最終還不夠崇高。我們還創下了每個季度每家商店的平均每週銷售額為每家商店 17,000 美元的紀錄，而去年為 14.4%。國內商業銷售占我們國內汽車零部件銷售額的 30%，與去年同期的 26% 相比，我們再創紀錄。我們的商業銷售增長繼續受到過去幾年我們一直在努力的關鍵舉措的推動。改善衛星商店庫存，大幅改善 Hub 和 Mega-Hub 覆蓋範圍，Duralast 品牌的實力，更好的技術讓我們更容易開展業務，縮短交貨時間，提高我們的銷售隊伍效率，並通過成為我們的承諾來生活為我們提供的價值主張“定價正確”。

We continue to execute in commercial, and we are extremely proud of our team's performance. We're also very proud of our organization's performance in domestic DIY. We had a positive 1.1% comp this quarter. While our 2-year comp decelerated from Q3's, we believe the more relevant comp is the 3-year, and we are higher than last year's quarter at 24.5% versus 21.6%. For the year, we were very proud of our DIY results considering we grew so much in FY '21. To level set, we had 11% DIY comp in FY '21. And for the full year '22, we were up 2.9%. These results are very strong, considering the difficult comparison, which was driven by the various forms of stimulus last year.

我們繼續在商業上執行，我們為我們團隊的表現感到非常自豪。我們也為我們組織在國內 DIY 方面的表現感到非常自豪。本季度我們有 1.1% 的正收益。雖然我們的 2 年比較從第三季度開始減速，但我們認為更相關的比較是 3 年，我們高於去年同期的 24.5% 和 21.6%。這一年，考慮到我們在 21 財年增長瞭如此之多，我們對自己的 DIY 成果感到非常自豪。為了達到水平，我們在 21 財年有 11% 的 DIY 組合。 22 年全年，我們上漲了 2.9%。考慮到去年各種形式的刺激措施推動的難以比較，這些結果非常有力。

From the data we have available to us, we continue to retain the vast majority of the enormous share gains in dollars and more importantly in units that we built during the initial stages of the pandemic. Our recent performance gives us continued conviction about the sustainability into FY '23.

從我們掌握的數據來看，我們繼續以美元計價，更重要的是，以我們在大流行初期建造的單位保留了絕大多數巨大的份額收益。我們最近的表現使我們對 23 財年的可持續性繼續充滿信心。

Now let's focus on sales cadence. Our quarter spans 16 weeks, early May through the end of August. Our same-store sales increased materially over the first 4 weeks to high single digits, 8.4%. The next 8 weeks, our growth was nearly halved, dropping to 4.9%. And then it reaccelerated over the last 4 weeks, up 6.8%. All of these year-over-year comparisons are difficult to interpret, as so much was going on last year and even the year before. However, for Q4, our 2-year comp was 10.5% and the 4-week periods of the quarter increased 10.4%, 9.4%, 7.9% and 14.4%, respectively. But our 3-year comp was 32.3% and for the 4-week periods of the quarter increased 35.2%, 33.5%, 30.1% and 31%, respectively.

現在讓我們關註銷售節奏。我們的季度跨越 16 週，從 5 月初到 8 月底。我們的同店銷售額在前 4 周大幅增長，達到 8.4% 的高個位數。接下來的 8 週，我們的增長幾乎減半，降至 4.9%。然後它在過去 4 週重新加速，上漲 6.8%。所有這些同比比較都很難解釋，因為去年甚至前一年都發生了很多事情。然而，對於第四季度，我們的 2 年比較為 10.5%，該季度的 4 週期間分別增長了 10.4%、9.4%、7.9% 和 14.4%。但我們的 3 年比較為 32.3%，本季度的 4 週期間分別增長了 35.2%、33.5%、30.1% 和 31%。

We have been encouraged by the sustainability of the enormous sales gains we generated since the beginning of the pandemic. Regarding weather in May and June, we experienced slightly cooler and wetter weather trends across the country. By July, however, it became very hot across most of the country, and it remained unseasonably warm for August. Overall, we feel weather had a small, but slightly positive effect on our sales performance. As we look forward to the fall months, we anticipate normal weather patterns. As a reminder, historically extreme weather, cold or hot, drives parts failure and accelerated maintenance.

自大流行開始以來，我們產生的巨大銷售收益的可持續性使我們感到鼓舞。關於 5 月和 6 月的天氣，我們在全國范圍內經歷了略微涼爽和潮濕的天氣趨勢。然而，到了 7 月，全國大部分地區變得非常炎熱，8 月仍然異常溫暖。總體而言，我們認為天氣對我們的銷售業績產生了輕微但略微積極的影響。當我們期待秋季的幾個月時，我們預計正常的天氣模式。提醒一下，歷史上的極端天氣，冷或熱，會導致零件故障和加速維護。

Regarding this quarter's traffic versus ticket growth, in retail, our traffic was down roughly 7%, while our ticket was up about 8%. Our transaction count decline wasn't surprising, and was driven by lower demand for discretionary sales floor items. However, we were pleased to be in line with last quarter's 3-year transaction trends. We are also quite pleased with the ongoing growth in unit share we are seeing in our market share data. We're also very encouraged by the sales trends we continue to experience in commercial. Our sales growth is coming from transaction growth from new and existing customers, along with higher tickets as we price for inflation. I regularly visit our stores and commercial customers, and find it very encouraging to hear the positive comments from our customers and AutoZoners on our offerings. The reception our AutoZoners are receiving from our customers and as importantly, our prospective customers has changed meaningfully over the last few years as we continue to implement and execute our commercial acceleration strategy.

關於本季度的客流量與票務增長，在零售方面，我們的客流量下降了大約 7%，而我們的票務增長了約 8%。我們的交易數量下降並不令人意外，這是由於對可自由支配的銷售場所物品的需求下降。然而，我們很高興與上一季度的 3 年交易趨勢保持一致。我們也對我們在市場份額數據中看到的單位份額的持續增長感到非常滿意。我們也對我們在商業領域繼續經歷的銷售趨勢感到非常鼓舞。我們的銷售增長來自新老客戶的交易增長，以及我們為通貨膨脹定價而帶來的更高票價。我定期訪問我們的商店和商業客戶，並發現聽到客戶和 AutoZoners 對我們產品的積極評價非常令人鼓舞。我們的 AutoZoners 受到客戶的歡迎，同樣重要的是，隨著我們繼續實施和執行我們的商業加速戰略，我們的潛在客戶在過去幾年中發生了有意義的變化。

I'll say it now, but we're determined, determined to continue to grow meaningfully faster than the market, and we're focused on future growth opportunities to keep our momentum. Our goal stated simply, over time is to become the industry leader in both sectors.

我現在要說，但我們有決心，決心繼續以比市場更快的速度增長，我們專注於未來的增長機會以保持我們的勢頭。簡單地說，我們的目標是隨著時間的推移成為這兩個領域的行業領導者。

As we start our new fiscal year, we continue to be pleased with the momentum we are seeing in both domestic businesses heading into the fall months. During the quarter, there were some geographic regions that did better than others as there always are. This quarter, we saw a 30 basis point difference between the Northeast and Midwest compared to the balance of the country with the Northeast and Midwest being higher. As the Northeast and Midwest were warmer in May and June, their sales accelerated. However, this trend reversed itself over the last 8 weeks of the quarter. As the remainder of the country heated up, those regions grew their comp sales faster than the Northeast and Midwest markets. Heading into the first quarter of the new fiscal year, we continue to believe weather will have only a minimal impact on our sales.

在我們開始新的財政年度之際，我們繼續對進入秋季的這兩個國內業務所看到的勢頭感到滿意。在本季度，一些地理區域的表現一如既往地好於其他地理區域。本季度，我們看到東北部和中西部之間存在 30 個基點的差異，而東北部和中西部地區則更高。隨著 5 月和 6 月東北部和中西部地區變暖，它們的銷售加速。然而，這一趨勢在本季度的最後 8 週發生了逆轉。隨著該國其他地區的升溫，這些地區的複合銷售額增長速度超過了東北和中西部市場。進入新財年第一季度，我們仍然相信天氣對我們的銷售影響很小。

Now let's move into more specifics on performance for the quarter. While I said our same-store sales were up 6.2% versus last year's fourth quarter, our net income was $810 million and our EPS was $40.51 a share, increasing 13.4%. Regarding our merchandise categories in the retail business, our hard parts outperformed sales floor categories with approximately a 2.5% difference between them. As gas prices increased, our discretionary sales for merchandise categories certainly softened. The discretionary categories represent approximately 20% of our DIY sales in any 1 quarter. But this quarter, they were weaker at 19% of the retail mix. This category was down 6.5% in the quarter versus up 3.5% last year in Q4.

現在讓我們進入有關本季度業績的更多細節。雖然我說我們的同店銷售額與去年第四季度相比增長了 6.2%，但我們的淨收入為 8.1 億美元，每股收益為 40.51 美元，增長了 13.4%。關於我們在零售業務中的商品類別，我們的硬零件表現優於銷售樓層類別，兩者之間的差異約為 2.5%。隨著汽油價格上漲，我們對商品類別的可自由支配銷售肯定會走軟。在任何 1 個季度，可自由支配的類別約占我們 DIY 銷售額的 20%。但本季度，它們在零售組合中的佔比較弱，為 19%。該類別在本季度下降了 6.5%，而去年第四季度則上升了 3.5%。

More recently, as gas prices have abated, we are encouraged to see the discretionary categories bounce back a bit. In general, the categories that are driven by failure due to heat performed well, and we were encouraged to see our battery category successfully lapped very strong performance last year and exceed our expectations. We believe our hard parts business will continue to do well this fall as we expect miles driven to improve while our growth initiatives are delivering solid results.

最近，隨著天然氣價格的下跌，我們很高興看到可自由支配的類別有所反彈。總體而言，由熱故障驅動的類別表現良好，我們很高興看到我們的電池類別在去年成功超越了非常強勁的表現並超出了我們的預期。我們相信我們的硬零件業務將在今年秋天繼續表現良好，因為我們預計行駛里程會有所改善，而我們的增長計劃正在取得可觀的成果。

Let me also address inflation and pricing. This quarter, we saw our sales increase by 11% from inflation, in line with cost of goods, which was up about 10%. We believe both numbers for the first quarter will be similar. As rising raw material pricing, labor and transportation costs are all impacting us and our suppliers, inflation has been prevalent in the aftermarket space.

讓我也談談通貨膨脹和定價。本季度，我們的銷售額因通貨膨脹而增長了 11%，與上漲約 10% 的商品成本一致。我們相信第一季度的兩個數字將相似。由於原材料價格上漲、勞動力和運輸成本都在影響我們和我們的供應商，通貨膨脹在售後市場普遍存在。

We believe inflation is stabilizing. We are seeing transportation costs begin to moderate after reaching historic levels, but we are not seeing product cost deflation yet nor are we seeing any signs that labor wage growth is slowing.

我們認為通脹正在企穩。我們看到運輸成本在達到歷史水平後開始放緩，但我們還沒有看到產品成本通縮，也沒有看到任何勞動力工資增長放緩的跡象。

Importantly, I want to point out that our industry has been disciplined about pricing for decades, and we expect that to continue. Historically, as costs have increased, the industry has increased pricing commensurately to maintain margins. It is also notable that following periods of higher inflation, our industry has historically not reduced pricing to reflect lower cost.

重要的是，我想指出，我們的行業幾十年來一直在定價方面受到約束，我們希望這種情況會繼續下去。從歷史上看，隨著成本的增加，該行業會相應地提高定價以維持利潤率。還值得注意的是，在通貨膨脹率較高的時期之後，我們的行業歷來沒有降低定價以反映成本降低。

While we continue to be encouraged with the current sales environment, it remains difficult for us to forecast near to midterm sales. What I previously said is that the past 5 quarter sales have all been consistent on both a 2- and 3-year stacked comp basis. While it's difficult to predict sales going forward, we are excited about our growth initiatives, our team's execution and the tremendous share gains we've achieved in both sectors.

儘管我們繼續對當前的銷售環境感到鼓舞，但我們仍然難以預測接近中期的銷售情況。我之前說過的是，過去 5 個季度的銷售額在 2 年和 3 年的疊加補償基礎上都是一致的。雖然很難預測未來的銷售情況，但我們對我們的增長計劃、團隊的執行力以及我們在這兩個領域取得的巨大份額收益感到興奮。

Over the past 12 to 18 months, the overall macro environment has been favorable for our industry despite inflationary pressures for some of our customers. And even if these near-term trends fade, we believe that we are in an industry that is positioned for solid growth over the long term. For our first quarter of 2023, we expect our sales performance to be led by the continued strength in our commercial business as we execute on our differentiating initiatives. We will, as always, be transparent about what we are seeing and provide color on our markets and outlook as trends emerge.

過去 12 至 18 個月，儘管我們的一些客戶面臨通脹壓力，但整體宏觀環境對我們的行業有利。即使這些近期趨勢消退，我們相信我們所處的行業有望實現長期穩健增長。對於我們 2023 年的第一季度，我們預計我們的銷售業績將由我們的商業業務的持續實力引領，因為我們執行我們的差異化計劃。我們將一如既往地對我們所看到的保持透明，並隨著趨勢的出現為我們的市場和前景提供色彩。

Before handing the call over to Jamere, I'd like to highlight and give some color on a few of our key business priorities for the new fiscal year. First, we are focusing on our supply chain with 2 initiatives that are in flight to drive improved availability. One is our expanded hub and Mega-Hub rollouts. We know intelligently placing more inventory in local markets will lead to our ability to continue to say yes to our customers more frequently and in turn, drive our sales.

在將電話轉交給 Jamere 之前，我想強調一下我們在新財年的一些關鍵業務優先事項並給出一些顏色。首先，我們將重點放在我們的供應鏈上，有 2 項計劃正在實施，以推動提高可用性。一個是我們擴展的中心和 Mega-Hub 的推出。我們知道，明智地在當地市場放置更多庫存將使我們能夠繼續更頻繁地對客戶說“是”，進而推動我們的銷售。

Secondly, we are expanding our distribution center footprint. We announced the development of 2 new distribution centers domestically and 1 additional DC in Mexico. These DCs will allow us to not only reduce drive times to stores, but they increase our capacity. No, we didn't expect to grow our business 30% in 3 years as we did, and they will allow us to carry inventory that is slower turning, yet in demand across the country.

其次，我們正在擴大我們的配送中心足跡。我們宣佈在國內開發 2 個新的配送中心，並在墨西哥開發 1 個額外的配送中心。這些配送中心不僅可以讓我們減少開車到商店的時間，還可以增加我們的容量。不，我們沒想到我們的業務會像我們那樣在 3 年內增長 30%，它們將使我們能夠攜帶周轉較慢但在全國范圍內有需求的庫存。

I'm also excited to announce that we opened a new facility on the West Coast just this month to handle direct import product on a timelier basis. This facility will flow products ordered abroad and distribute them to our other DCs postponing the inventory allocation, and therefore reducing safety stock. Our supply chain strategy is focused on carrying more product closer and closer to the customer, and we believe it has been a significant contributor to our recent success, especially in commercial. Additionally, we plan on continuing to grow our Mexico and Brazilian businesses. At almost 800 stores open internationally, these businesses had impressive performance this past fiscal year and should continue to grow in 2023 and beyond. We are leveraging many of the learnings we have in the U.S. to refine our offerings in Mexico and Brazil.

我也很高興地宣布，就在本月，我們在西海岸開設了一家新工廠，以更及時地處理直接進口產品。該設施將把在國外訂購的產品運送到我們的其他配送中心，從而推遲庫存分配，從而減少安全庫存。我們的供應鏈戰略專注於讓更多產品離客戶越來越近，我們相信這對我們最近的成功做出了重要貢獻，尤其是在商業領域。此外，我們計劃繼續發展我們的墨西哥和巴西業務。在國際上開設的近 800 家門店中，這些業務在上一財年的表現令人印象深刻，並應在 2023 年及以後繼續增長。我們正在利用我們在美國的許多經驗來改進我們在墨西哥和巴西的產品。

Now I'll turn the call over to Jamere Jackson. Jamere?

現在我將把電話轉給 Jamere Jackson。詹姆?

Thanks, Bill, and good morning, everyone. As Bill mentioned, we had a strong fourth quarter, stacked on top of a remarkable fourth quarter last year with 6.2% domestic comp growth, a 5.7% increase in EBIT and a 13.4% increase in EPS. Our results for the entire fiscal year were incredibly strong as our growth initiatives continue to deliver great results and the efforts of our AutoZoners in our stores and distribution centers have continued to enable us to take advantage of robust market conditions.

謝謝，比爾，大家早上好。正如比爾所說，我們的第四季度表現強勁，在去年第四季度的顯著增長基礎上，國內復合增長率為 6.2%，息稅前利潤增長 5.7%，每股收益增長 13.4%。我們整個財年的業績非常強勁，因為我們的增長計劃繼續取得巨大成果，而且我們商店和配送中心的 AutoZoners 繼續努力使我們能夠利用強勁的市場條件。

To start this morning, let me take a few moments to elaborate on the specifics in our P&L for Q4. For the quarter, total sales were just over $5.3 billion, up 8.9%. For the year, our total sales were $16.3 billion, up 11.1% versus last fiscal year. I continue to marvel at the strength of our business since FY '19. Our sales are up an amazing 37% or nearly $4.4 billion since 2019.

從今天早上開始，讓我花點時間詳細說明我們第四季度損益表中的細節。本季度，總銷售額略高於 53 億美元，增長 8.9%。全年，我們的總銷售額為 163 億美元，比上一財年增長 11.1%。自 19 財年以來，我繼續驚嘆於我們業務的實力。自 2019 年以來，我們的銷售額增長了驚人的 37% 或近 44 億美元。

Let me give a little more color on sales and our growth initiatives, starting with our commercial business. For the fourth quarter, our domestic DIFM sales increased 22% to $1.4 billion and were up 43.2% on a 2-year stack basis. Sales to our domestic DIFM customers represented 27% of our total company sales and 30% of our domestic auto part sales. Our weekly sales per program were $17,000, up 18.1% as we exceeded our internal expectations. Our growth was broad-based as both national and local accounts performed very well for the quarter. Our results for the quarter set another record for the highest weekly sales volume for any quarter in the history of the chain. I want to reiterate that our execution on our commercial acceleration initiatives is delivering better-than-expected results as we grow share by winning new business and increasing our share of wallet with existing customers.

讓我從我們的商業業務開始，對銷售和我們的增長計劃進行更多說明。第四季度，我們的國內 DIFM 銷售額增長 22% 至 14 億美元，在 2 年的基礎上增長 43.2%。對國內 DIFM 客戶的銷售額占公司總銷售額的 27%，佔國內汽車零部件銷售額的 30%。我們每個項目的每週銷售額為 17,000 美元，增長了 18.1%，因為我們超出了內部預期。我們的增長基礎廣泛，因為本季度國家和地方賬戶的表現都非常好。我們本季度的業績創下了該連鎖店歷史上任何季度的最高週銷量記錄。我想重申，隨著我們通過贏得新業務和增加我們在現有客戶中的錢包份額來增加份額，我們在商業加速計劃上的執行取得了好於預期的結果。

We have a commercial program in approximately 87% of our domestic stores, which leverages our DIY infrastructure, and we're building our business with national, regional and local accounts. This quarter, we opened 66 net new programs, finishing with 5,342 total programs. As I've said, since the outset of the year, commercial growth led the way in FY '22 and our results in the fourth quarter and year reflected this dynamic.

我們在大約 87% 的國內商店都有商業計劃，利用我們的 DIY 基礎設施，我們正在與國家、地區和本地客戶建立業務。本季度，我們開設了 66 個淨新項目，總項目數為 5,342 個。正如我所說，自今年年初以來，商業增長在 22 財年處於領先地位，我們在第四季度和當年的業績反映了這一動態。

For FY '22, our commercial sales were $4.2 billion, up 26.5% versus last year. Importantly, we believe we have a lot of runway in front of us, and we're delivering on our goal of becoming a faster-growing business. We remain confident in our strategies and execution, and believe we will continue gaining share, delivering quality parts, particularly with our Duralast brand, improved assortments, competitive pricing and providing an exceptional service has enabled us to deliver double-digit sales growth for the past 8 quarters.

22 財年，我們的商業銷售額為 42 億美元，比去年增長 26.5%。重要的是，我們相信我們面前有很多跑道，我們正在實現成為一家增長更快的企業的目標。我們對我們的戰略和執行仍然充滿信心，並相信我們將繼續獲得份額，提供優質零件，特別是我們的 Duralast 品牌，改進的產品種類、有競爭力的價格和提供卓越的服務使我們能夠在過去實現兩位數的銷售增長8個季度。

Our core initiatives are accelerating our growth and position us well in the marketplace. And as I've noted on past calls, our Mega-Hub strategy is driving strong performance and positioning us for an even brighter future in our commercial and retail businesses.

我們的核心舉措正在加速我們的發展，並在市場上佔據有利地位。正如我在過去的電話會議中指出的那樣，我們的 Mega-Hub 戰略正在推動強勁的業績，並使我們在商業和零售業務中擁有更加光明的未來。

Let me add a little more color on our progress. As we've discussed over the last several quarters, our Mega-Hub strategy has given us tremendous momentum. We now have 78 Mega-Hub locations with 11 new stores opened in Q4. While I mentioned a moment ago, the commercial weekly sales per program average was $17,000 per program, the 78 Mega-Hubs averaged significantly higher sales and are growing much faster than the balance of the commercial footprint.

讓我為我們的進展添加更多色彩。正如我們在過去幾個季度中所討論的，我們的 Mega-Hub 戰略給了我們巨大的動力。我們現在有 78 個 Mega-Hub 地點，在第四季度開設了 11 家新店。雖然我剛才提到，每個程序的商業每周平均銷售額為 17,000 美元，但 78 個 Mega-Hub 的平均銷售額明顯更高，並且增長速度比商業足蹟的平衡要快得多。

In fact, our commercial Mega-Hub business grew at twice the rate of our overall commercial business in Q4. As a reminder, our Mega-Hubs typically carry over 100,000 SKUs and drive tremendous sales lift inside the store box, as well as serve as an expanded assortment source for other stores. The expansion of coverage and parts availability continues to deliver a meaningful sales lift to both our commercial and DIY business.

事實上，我們的商業 Mega-Hub 業務在第四季度的增長速度是我們整體商業業務的兩倍。提醒一下，我們的 Mega-Hubs 通常攜帶超過 100,000 個 SKU，並在商店盒子內推動巨大的銷售增長，並為其他商店提供擴展的分類來源。覆蓋範圍和零件可用性的擴大繼續為我們的商業和 DIY 業務帶來有意義的銷售提升。

What we're learning is that not only are these assets performing well individually, but the fulfillment capability for the surrounding AutoZone stores gives our customers access to thousands of additional parts and lift the entire network. This strategy is working. We have an objective to reach 200 Mega-Hubs supplemented by our objective of a total of 300 regular Hubs. We're targeting up to 25 new Mega-Hubs in FY '23.

我們了解到，這些資產不僅單獨表現良好，而且周邊 AutoZone 商店的履行能力使我們的客戶能夠訪問數千個額外的零件並提升整個網絡。這個策略正在奏效。我們的目標是達到 200 個 Mega-Hub，並輔之以總共 300 個常規 Hub 的目標。我們的目標是在 23 財年建立多達 25 個新的大型樞紐。

By leveraging sophisticated analytics, we're expanding our market reach, driving closer proximity to our customers and improving our product availability and delivery times. Our AutoZoners and our customers are excited, and we're determined to build on our strong momentum.

通過利用複雜的分析，我們正在擴大我們的市場範圍，拉近與客戶的距離，並改善我們的產品可用性和交貨時間。我們的 AutoZoners 和我們的客戶都很興奮，我們決心在強勁勢頭的基礎上再接再厲。

On the retail side of our business, our domestic retail business comp was up 1.1% in Q4. The business has been remarkably resilient as we have managed to continue to deliver positive comp growth despite underlying market headwinds. As Bill mentioned, we saw traffic down 7% from last year's traffic levels. However, we also saw 8% ticket growth as we continue to raise prices in an inflationary environment.

在我們業務的零售方面，我們的國內零售業務在第四季度增長了 1.1%。儘管存在潛在的市場逆風，我們仍設法繼續實現正的複合增長，因此該業務具有顯著的彈性。正如比爾所說，我們看到流量比去年的流量水平下降了 7%。然而，隨著我們在通脹環境中繼續提高價格，我們也看到了 8% 的票價增長。

For FY '22, our DIY comp grew 2.9% and 14.1% on a 2-year stack basis. Our DIY business has continued to strengthen competitively behind our growth initiatives. In addition, on a macro basis, the market is experiencing a growing and aging car park and a challenging new and used car sales market for our customers, which continue to provide a tailwind for our business. These dynamics, pricing, growth initiatives and macro car park tailwinds have driven a positive comp despite tough comparisons from last year's stimulus injections and consumer discretionary spending pressure from overall inflation in the economy. Our sales were steady throughout the quarter, and we're forecasting a resilient DIY business in FY '23.

對於 22 財年，我們的 DIY 組合在 2 年的基礎上分別增長了 2.9% 和 14.1%。在我們的增長計劃背後，我們的 DIY 業務繼續增強競爭力。此外，從宏觀上看，市場正在經歷不斷增長和老化的停車場，以及對我們的客戶來說充滿挑戰的新車和二手車銷售市場，這將繼續為我們的業務提供順風。這些動態、定價、增長計劃和宏觀停車場的順風推動了積極的競爭，儘管與去年的刺激措施和經濟整體通脹帶來的非必需消費品支出壓力進行了艱難的比較。我們的銷售額在整個季度保持穩定，我們預計 23 財年的 DIY 業務將具有彈性。

Now I'll say a few words regarding our international business. We continue to be pleased with the progress we're making in Mexico and Brazil. During the quarter, we opened 30 new stores in Mexico to finish with 703 stores and 14 new stores in Brazil, ending with 72. On a constant currency basis, we saw accelerated sales growth in both countries, in fact, at higher growth rates than we saw overall.

現在我將就我們的國際業務說幾句話。我們繼續對我們在墨西哥和巴西取得的進展感到滿意。本季度，我們在墨西哥開設了 30 家新店，最終達到 703 家，在巴西開設了 14 家新店，最終達到 72 家。按固定匯率計算，我們看到這兩個國家的銷售增長加速，實際上增長率高於我們看到了整體。

We remain committed to our store opening schedules in both markets and expect both countries to be significant contributors to sales and earnings growth in the future. With 11% of our total store base now outside the U.S. and our commitment to continue expansion in a disciplined way, international growth will be an attractive and meaningful contributor to AutoZone's future growth.

我們將繼續致力於我們在這兩個市場的開店時間表，並預計這兩個國家都將成為未來銷售和盈利增長的重要貢獻者。由於我們現在有 11% 的總門店基礎在美國以外，並且我們致力於以有紀律的方式繼續擴張，因此國際增長將成為 AutoZone 未來增長的有吸引力和有意義的貢獻者。

Now let me spend a few minutes on the rest of the P&L and gross margins. For the quarter, our gross margin was down 73 basis points, driven primarily by the accelerated growth in our commercial business and a 28 basis points headwind stemming from a noncash $15 million LIFO charge. I'd like to address the $50 million LIFO charge we took this past quarter, which came from the exhaustion of our reserve balance that occurred during the quarter.

現在讓我花幾分鐘時間了解其餘的損益表和毛利率。本季度，我們的毛利率下降了 73 個基點，這主要是由於我們商業業務的加速增長以及 1500 萬美元的非現金 LIFO 費用帶來的 28 個基點的逆風。我想談談我們在上個季度收取的 5000 萬美元的 LIFO 費用，這是由於我們在本季度發生的儲備餘額用盡所致。

The level set, we went from a $335 million reserve balance in Q4 of last year to 0 in Q4 this year, plus an additional $15 million charge. Said differently, we recognized $350 million in higher costs this past year. Basically, all the reduction in our reserves came from higher inventoriable freight costs. This charge does not show up in our cash flow statement this quarter because the accounting for LIFO will adjust the weighted average cost through the P&L to the last in higher-priced items.

設定的水平，我們從去年第四季度的 3.35 億美元儲備餘額到今年第四季度的 0，加上額外的 1500 萬美元費用。換句話說，我們在過去一年中確認了 3.5 億美元的成本增加。基本上，我們儲備的所有減少都來自更高的庫存運費。這個費用沒有出現在我們本季度的現金流量表中，因為後進先出法的會計將通過損益表將加權平均成本調整到高價項目的最後一個。

In a nutshell, it assumes everything you sold in the quarter was at the last and higher prices. We're still modeling for higher freight costs through the end of the calendar year, which in turn means we are modeling LIFO charges through the first half of the new fiscal year. In the first quarter, we anticipate up to $100 million in LIFO charges, and we're forecasting a similar amount for the second quarter. I will note that if freight costs abate as we expect them to, then we'll see these charges reverse and we'll begin to rebuild a LIFO reserve balance.

簡而言之，它假設你在本季度售出的所有東西都是最後一個更高的價格。到日曆年末，我們仍在為更高的運費成本建模，這反過來意味著我們正在為新財年上半年的 LIFO 費用建模。在第一季度，我們預計 LIFO 費用將高達 1 億美元，我們預計第二季度的金額將相似。我會注意到，如果運費成本如我們預期的那樣下降，那麼我們將看到這些費用反轉，我們將開始重建 LIFO 儲備餘額。

Moving to operating expenses. Our expenses were up 8.4% versus last year's Q4 as SG&A as a percentage of sales leveraged 12 basis points driven by strong sales growth. The growth in SG&A has been purposeful as we continue to invest in an accelerated pace in IT and payroll to underpin our growth initiatives. These investments will pay dividends and customer experience, speed and productivity. We're committed to being disciplined on SG&A as we move forward, and we will manage expenses in line with sales growth over time.

轉向運營費用。與去年第四季度相比，我們的費用增長了 8.4%，因為在強勁的銷售增長的推動下，SG&A 佔銷售額的百分比提高了 12 個基點。 SG&A 的增長是有目的的，因為我們繼續加快 IT 和工資單方面的投資以支持我們的增長計劃。這些投資將帶來紅利和客戶體驗、速度和生產力。我們承諾在前進的過程中遵守 SG&A，我們將根據銷售增長來管理費用。

Moving to the rest of the P&L. EBIT for the quarter was $1.1 billion, up 5.7% versus the prior year's quarter driven by our strong sales growth. FY '22, EBIT was just under $3.3 billion, up 11.1% versus the prior year, also driven by strong top line growth. Interest expense for the quarter was $64 million, up 10.1% from Q4 a year ago as our debt outstanding at the end of the quarter was $6.1 billion versus $5.3 billion at Q4 end last year.

轉到損益表的其餘部分。本季度息稅前利潤為 11 億美元，與去年同期相比增長 5.7%，這得益於我們強勁的銷售增長。 22 財年，息稅前利潤略低於 33 億美元，比上年增長 11.1%，這也得益於強勁的收入增長。本季度的利息支出為 6400 萬美元，比去年第四季度增長 10.1%，因為我們在本季度末的未償債務為 61 億美元，而去年第四季度末為 53 億美元。

We're paying interest in the $55 million range for the first quarter of fiscal 2023 versus $43.3 million in this past year's first quarter. Higher debt levels and borrowing rates across the curve are driving this increase. For the quarter, our tax rate was 22.1% and flat with last year's fourth quarter. This quarter's rate benefited 70 basis points from stock options exercised, while last year, it benefited 215 basis points. For the first quarter of FY 2023, we suggest investors model us at approximately 23.5% before any assumption on credits due to stock option exercises.

我們在 2023 財年第一季度支付的利息為 5500 萬美元，而去年第一季度為 4330 萬美元。整個曲線較高的債務水平和借貸利率正在推動這一增長。本季度，我們的稅率為 22.1%，與去年第四季度持平。本季度的利率從行使的股票期權中受益 70 個基點，而去年則受益 215 個基點。對於 2023 財年第一季度，我們建議投資者在因股票期權行使而對信貸進行任何假設之前將我們建模為大約 23.5%。

Moving to net income and EPS. Net income for the quarter was $810 million, up 3.1% versus last year's fourth quarter. Our diluted share count of 20 million was 9.1% lower than last year's fourth quarter. The combination of higher net income and lower share count drove earnings per share for the quarter to $40.51, up 13.4% over the prior year's fourth quarter. For FY '22, net income was $2.4 billion, up 11.9% and earnings per share was $117.19, up 23.1%.

轉向淨收入和每股收益。本季度淨收入為 8.1 億美元，比去年第四季度增長 3.1%。我們稀釋後的股票數量為 2000 萬股，比去年第四季度減少了 9.1%。較高的淨收入和較低的股票數量共同推動本季度每股收益達到 40.51 美元，比去年第四季度增長 13.4%。 22 財年，淨收入為 24 億美元，增長 11.9%，每股收益為 117.19 美元，增長 23.1%。

Now let me talk about our free cash flow for Q4. For the fourth quarter, we generated $1.2 billion of operating cash flow, spent $300 million in capital expenditures, allowing us to generate $900 million of free cash flow. For the year, we generated $2.5 million in free cash versus $2.9 million in the prior year. The decline in free cash flow versus last year was due to a change in working capital this year versus last year. We expect to continue being an incredibly strong free cash flow generator going forward, and we remain committed to returning meaningful amounts of cash to our shareholders.

現在讓我談談我們第四季度的自由現金流。第四季度，我們產生了 12 億美元的運營現金流，花費了 3 億美元的資本支出，使我們能夠產生 9 億美元的自由現金流。這一年，我們產生了 250 萬美元的自由現金，而上一年為 290 萬美元。自由現金流與去年相比下降是由於今年營運資金與去年相比發生了變化。我們預計未來將繼續成為強大的自由現金流產生者，我們將繼續致力於向股東返還大量現金。

Regarding our balance sheet, our liquidity position remains very strong and our leverage ratios remain below our historic norms. Our inventory per store was up 18.4% versus Q4 last year, and total inventory increased 21.5% over the same period last year, driven primarily by our growth initiatives and inflation.

關於我們的資產負債表，我們的流動性狀況仍然非常強勁，我們的槓桿率仍然低於我們的歷史標準。與去年第四季度相比，我們每家商店的庫存增加了 18.4%，總庫存比去年同期增加了 21.5%，這主要受我們的增長計劃和通貨膨脹的推動。

Net inventory, defined as merchandise inventories less accounts payable on a per store basis, was a negative $240,000 versus negative $203,000 last year and negative $216,000 last quarter. As a result, accounts payable as a percent of gross inventory finished the quarter at 129.5% versus last year's Q4 of 129.6%.

淨庫存（定義為商品庫存減去每家商店的應付賬款）為負 240,000 美元，而去年為負 203,000 美元，上一季度為負 216,000 美元。因此，本季度應付賬款佔總庫存的百分比為 129.5%，而去年第四季度為 129.6%。

Lastly, I'll spend a moment on capital allocation and our share repurchase program. We repurchased $1 billion of AutoZone stock in the quarter. And at quarter end, we had just under $1.1 billion remaining under our share buyback authorization. The strong earnings, balance sheet and powerful free cash we generated this year has allowed us to buy back over 10% of the shares outstanding since the beginning of the year. We have bought back over 90% of the shares outstanding of our stock since our buyback inception in 1998, while investing in our existing assets and growing our business. We remain committed to this disciplined capital allocation approach that will enable us to invest in the business and return meaningful amounts of cash to shareholders.

最後，我將花一點時間討論資本配置和我們的股票回購計劃。我們在本季度回購了 10 億美元的 AutoZone 股票。在季度末，我們的股票回購授權僅剩不到 11 億美元。我們今年產生的強勁收益、資產負債表和強大的自由現金使我們能夠回購自年初以來超過 10% 的流通股。自 1998 年開始回購以來，我們已經回購了超過 90% 的已發行股票，同時投資於我們現有的資產並發展我們的業務。我們仍然致力於這種嚴格的資本分配方法，這將使我們能夠投資於業務並向股東返還大量現金。

Our leverage metric finished Q4 at 2.1x EBITDAR, which is below our historical objective of 2.5x EBITDAR. However, we remain committed to this objective, and we expect to return to the 2.5x target during FY '23.

我們的槓桿指標在第四季度結束時為 2.1 倍 EBITDAR，低於我們 2.5 倍 EBITDAR 的歷史目標。但是，我們仍然致力於實現這一目標，我們預計在 23 財年將回到 2.5 倍的目標。

So to wrap up, we remain committed to driving long-term shareholder value by investing in our growth initiatives, driving robust earnings and cash and returning excess cash to our shareholders. Our strategy continues to work. We're growing our market share and improving our competitive position in a disciplined way.

因此，總而言之，我們仍然致力於通過投資於我們的增長計劃、推動強勁的收益和現金以及將多餘的現金返還給我們的股東來推動長期股東價值。我們的策略繼續有效。我們正在以有紀律的方式增加我們的市場份額並提高我們的競爭地位。

And as we look forward to FY '23, we're bullish on our growth prospects behind a resilient DIY business and a fast-growing commercial business that is continuing to grow share. I continue to have tremendous confidence in our ability to drive significant and ongoing value for our shareholders.

在我們期待 23 財年的同時，我們看好我們在彈性 DIY 業務和快速增長的商業業務背後的增長前景，該業務正在繼續增長份額。我繼續對我們為股東帶來重大和持續價值的能力充滿信心。

And with that, I'll turn it back to Bill.

有了這個，我會把它轉回給比爾。

Thank you, Jamere. As we start a new fiscal year, I'd like to take a moment to discuss our operating theme for the new year. Last night, we kicked off our National Sales meeting with our amazing President's Club winners, our very best store managers. This week, we will embrace our theme for the year, Accelerate Together. We are very excited to have our field leadership team in Memphis for the next 4 days, and I cannot wait to congratulate everyone on their year and thank them for their phenomenal results. They delivered exceptional results in fiscal '22, and we remain focused on superior execution and customer service heading into fiscal '23.

謝謝你，傑米爾。在我們開始新的財政年度之際，我想花點時間討論一下我們新一年的經營主題。昨晚，我們與令人驚嘆的總統俱樂部獲獎者、我們最優秀的商店經理開始了我們的全國銷售會議。本週，我們將擁抱今年的主題，一起加速。我們很高興在接下來的 4 天裡讓我們的現場領導團隊在孟菲斯工作，我迫不及待地祝賀每個人今年的表現，並感謝他們取得的非凡成果。他們在 '22 財年取得了非凡的成果，我們仍然專注於卓越的執行和客戶服務，進入 '23 財年。

Our culture was built on providing exceptional service and this is what will continue to define our success well into the future. As we've accelerated our top line, our competitive positioning has materially improved and customer behavior may have permanently changed post pandemic. If this holds true, it will be the fourth time in the last 30 years that the economy and society have had significant shocks leading to material acceleration in our growth in sales and profits without a corresponding decline back to pre-recessionary or pandemic levels.

我們的文化建立在提供卓越服務的基礎上，這將繼續定義我們未來的成功。隨著我們加快收入增長，我們的競爭地位得到了實質性改善，並且客戶行為可能在大流行後發生了永久性變化。如果情況屬實，這將是過去 30 年來經濟和社會第四次遭受重大衝擊，導致我們的銷售和利潤大幅加速增長，而沒有相應地回落到經濟衰退或大流行前的水平。

Our industry is unique, and it is a very long track record of strong performance with high returns and consistent cash flows. We would also encourage you to migrate to studying our performance on a 1-year comp basis to gauge our performance, as we believe the business is steady enough to talk about year-over-year comps going forward. This time of year, I always enjoy reflecting on the past. This year in particular, is a rewarding experience. Our team delivered some really impressive milestones, $16.3 billion in sales, racing past the $15 billion milestone. DIY comps of 2.9%, most impressively 21.6% on a 3-year basis. Commercial sales blew past $4 billion, ending at $4.23 billion. Average weekly sales domestically of $46,300 per store per week, equating to over $2.4 million per store annually.

我們的行業是獨一無二的，它有著長期的強勁業績、高回報和穩定的現金流。我們還鼓勵您遷移到以 1 年比較為基礎研究我們的業績，以衡量我們的業績，因為我們相信業務足夠穩定，可以談論未來的同比業績。每年的這個時候，我總是喜歡回顧過去。尤其是今年，是一次收穫頗豐的經歷。我們的團隊實現了一些非常令人印象深刻的里程碑，銷售額達到 163 億美元，超過了 150 億美元的里程碑。 DIY 比例為 2.9%，最令人印象深刻的是 3 年為 21.6%。商業銷售額突破 40 億美元，最終達到 42.3 億美元。每家商店每週在國內的平均每週銷售額為 46,300 美元，相當於每年每家商店超過 240 萬美元。

Our Mexico and ALLDATA teams both broke numerous records, and Brazil is poised for significant growth in store count. We bought back a record-breaking $4.4 billion in AutoZone stock, and our team has grown our EBIT by roughly 50% in 3 years. Yes, that's 5-0, and that is remarkable. But we can't rest on our laurels, and we aren't without our challenges. That's for sure.

我們的墨西哥和 ALLDATA 團隊都打破了多項記錄，而巴西的門店數量有望大幅增長。我們回購了創紀錄的 44 億美元 AutoZone 股票，我們的團隊在 3 年內將息稅前利潤增長了大約 50%。是的，這是 5-0，這很了不起。但我們不能固步自封，我們也並非沒有挑戰。這是肯定的。

Our greatest challenge, which we will spend time discussing this week with the team, is "exiting pandemic mode." In addition to our fanatical customer focus, and our phenomenal culture, a huge part of our historical success has been flawless execution. In all candor, we haven't been flawlessly executing. In the depths of the pandemic, it was impossible and our teams appropriately made trade-offs. We have ensured that some of those trade-offs do not result in "new norms or worse, numbness or bad habits." Those new norms can't and won't be tolerated. We have to make sure our in-stock levels finally recover to our historic levels and they recover soon. Our vendors must return to providing us with the right amount of merchandise at the right time. Every store has to be staffed right, every hour of every day. Our processes need to function correctly always. We have to meet our store opening goals and time lines. Simply put, we have to remain the execution machine we have always been an exit pandemic mode.

我們將在本週花時間與團隊討論的最大挑戰是“退出流行病模式”。除了我們狂熱的客戶關注和我們非凡的文化之外，我們歷史成功的很大一部分是完美的執行。坦率地說，我們並沒有完美地執行。在大流行的最深處，這是不可能的，我們的團隊適當地做出了權衡。我們確保其中一些權衡不會導致“新規範或更糟、麻木或壞習慣”。這些新規範不能也不會被容忍。我們必須確保我們的庫存水平最終恢復到我們的歷史水平，並且很快就會恢復。我們的供應商必須在正確的時間重新為我們提供正確數量的商品。每家商店都必須配備正確的員工，每天的每一小時。我們的流程需要始終正確運行。我們必須滿足我們的開店目標和時間表。簡而言之，我們必須保持執行機器，我們一直是退出流行模式。

I've had the honor of being part of this team for nearly 28 years now, and it has been one of the great privileges of my life. I could not be more proud of our AutoZoners across the organization for their commitment to passionately serving our customers. We must continuously challenge ourselves during these extraordinary times to position our company for even greater future success and rest assured, we are doing just that.

近 28 年來，我有幸成為這個團隊的一員，這是我一生中最大的特權之一。我為整個組織內的 AutoZoners 以熱情地服務客戶而感到無比自豪。在這些非常時期，我們必須不斷挑戰自我，以使我們的公司在未來取得更大的成功並放心，我們正在這樣做。

We know that investors will ultimately measure us by what our future cash flows look like 3 to 5 years from now, and we very much welcome that challenge. I continue to be bullish on our industry, and in particular, on our team at AutoZone.

我們知道，投資者最終將通過我們未來 3 到 5 年的現金流量來衡量我們，我們非常歡迎這一挑戰。我繼續看好我們的行業，尤其是我們在 AutoZone 的團隊。

Now we'd like to open up the call for questions.

現在我們想打開提問的電話。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question is coming from Bret Jordan of Jefferies.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Bret Jordan。

On the supply chain comment, could you maybe give us an update where we are as far as fill rates go, and the cadence of improvement? It does seem talking to some commercial customers, finding parts is still a bit of a challenge.

關於供應鏈評論，您能否向我們介紹一下我們在填充率方面的最新情況以及改進的節奏？它似乎確實與一些商業客戶交談，尋找零件仍然是一個挑戰。

Thank you, Bret. It's still quite challenging. And it's moved. I've talked about it over time. It moves from one category to another one. Most of our hard part categories, we're in pretty good shape on. We have some challenges in areas like filtration. But generally, we're in pretty good shape, but we are still a couple of points behind our overall in-stock rate that we had before the pandemic. It's been very stubborn, frankly. We're looking to push through it. But every time we think we've got it solved, in other category rears its ugly head.

謝謝你，布雷特。這仍然相當具有挑戰性。它被移動了。隨著時間的推移，我已經談到了它。它從一個類別轉移到另一個類別。我們大部分的硬零件類別，我們的狀態都很好。我們在過濾等領域面臨一些挑戰。但總的來說，我們的狀態非常好，但我們仍然比大流行前的整體庫存率低了幾個百分點。坦率地說，這是非常固執的。我們正在努力克服它。但是每次我們認為我們已經解決了它時，在其他類別中就會出現醜陋的問題。

And then in the prepared remarks, you mentioned priced right, and obviously a big topic this year. Are you seeing anything in the market pricing, whether it be in the DIY against the nontraditionals? Is anything changing in pricing cadence?

然後在準備好的評論中，你提到了價格合適，顯然是今年的一個大話題。您是否在市場定價中看到任何東西，無論是在 DIY 中與非傳統產品的對比嗎？定價節奏有什麼變化嗎？

No, we're not seeing anything changed in terms of pricing cadence. We've been very disciplined about the pricing that we put in the marketplace. Again, we've been pricing to recover inflation and been doing that pretty consistently. And as I've said before, our industry has been very disciplined over time as it relates to this, and we're not seeing anything that throws us out of whack there.

不，我們在定價節奏方面沒有看到任何變化。我們對市場上的定價非常自律。同樣，我們一直在定價以恢復通貨膨脹，並且一直在這樣做。正如我之前所說，隨著時間的推移，我們的行業一直非常自律，因為它與此相關，我們沒有看到任何讓我們陷入困境的東西。

Your next question is coming from Steven Zaccone of Citi.

您的下一個問題來自花旗銀行的 Steven Zaccone。

So my question was on the DIY side of the business. You cited resilient expectations for this year, and thinking about the business on a 1-year basis. Do you see the potential to comp positive again in fiscal '23? And within that context, you cited some weakness on the discretionary side. How do you expect that to perform over the balance of the year now that gas prices have come down a bit?

所以我的問題是關於業務的 DIY 方面。您引用了對今年的彈性預期，並以 1 年為基礎考慮業務。您是否看到在 23 財年再次獲得正收益的潛力？在這種情況下，您列舉了可自由支配方面的一些弱點。既然天然氣價格已經下降了一點，你預計它會在今年餘下的時間裡表現如何？

Sure. Well, first, on the latter part of the question, we addressed it a little bit in our prepared remarks that when gas prices were $5.50 a gallon on average across the country, we saw an immediate reduction in our discretionary products. As those gas prices have come back down, we've seen discretionary products improve. You have to be careful because it's such a small part of our business, but we've certainly seen it improve.

當然。好吧，首先，關於問題的後半部分，我們在準備好的評論中稍微提到了這一點，即當全國平均汽油價格為每加侖 5.50 美元時，我們看到我們的可自由支配產品立即減少。隨著這些汽油價格回落，我們看到可自由支配的產品有所改善。您必須小心，因為它只是我們業務的一小部分，但我們肯定看到它有所改善。

As for whether or not we can see positive comps in DIY for FY '23, as you know, we don't give guidance. There's a lot of uncertainty in the marketplace with inflation, with rising interest rates and the like. But I will tell you -- I'll answer it this way. This latter part of the fourth quarter was much stronger than we were expecting it to be in June and July. And so that gives us some confidence that at least for now, the DIY business is really quite strong. And frankly, as strong if not stronger than we thought it would be back in the early months of the summer.

至於我們是否可以在 23 財年的 DIY 中看到積極的補償，如您所知，我們不提供指導。由於通貨膨脹、利率上升等因素，市場存在很多不確定性。但我會告訴你——我會這樣回答。第四季度的後半部分比我們預期的 6 月和 7 月要強得多。所以這給了我們一些信心，至少就目前而言，DIY 業務確實非常強大。坦率地說，即使不是比我們想像的要強，它也會在夏天的最初幾個月回來。

The follow-up I had was just thinking about the commercial business from a higher level. You said you've grown past the $4 billion sales target that you had. How should we think about the multiyear path for that business? And I guess what are the strategies you're focused on for the next chapter of growth?

我的後續只是從更高的層面思考商業業務。你說你已經超過了 40 億美元的銷售目標。我們應該如何看待該業務的多年路徑？我猜你關注下一章增長的策略是什麼？

I think the strategies that we're focused on for the next chapter of growth are the same ones that we've been working on for about 5 years. We're going to continue to make sure that we've got the best coverage in the marketplace. That considers being in the best situation in the local store. It also means expansion of Hubs and Mega-Hubs. We've talked about growing our Mega-Hubs from today's 78 to 200. So we're just over -- just under 40% of the way there, and we're moving pretty quickly.

我認為我們為下一個增長篇章所關注的戰略與我們已經努力了大約 5 年的戰略相同。我們將繼續確保我們擁有市場上最好的覆蓋範圍。這考慮到在當地商店處於最佳狀態。這也意味著樞紐和超級樞紐的擴展。我們已經討論過將我們的 Mega-Hubs 從今天的 78 個增加到 200 個。所以我們剛剛結束 - 不到 40%，而且我們正在迅速行動。

Same kind of trajectory on the Hub stores. We're around 200. We want to get to 300 of those. So we have lots of growth still in front of us on Hubs and Mega-Hubs, and we're continuing to test new philosophies and new coverage even in those. We're going to continue to focus on the Duralast brand. We're leveraging technology to make our people more efficient and to reduce our delivery times. We're always making sure that we're priced right. We've got a lot of different strategies, and that's the thing to me that's most encouraging is, it's not one single thing that's making this happen. It's a holistic substantial improvement in our competitive positioning in the marketplace.

Hub商店的相同軌跡。我們大約有 200 個。我們希望達到其中的 300 個。因此，在集線器和大型集線器方面，我們仍有很多增長空間，我們正在繼續測試新的理念和新的覆蓋範圍，即使是在這些方面。我們將繼續專注於 Duralast 品牌。我們正在利用技術來提高我們的員工效率並縮短我們的交付時間。我們始終確保我們的定價是正確的。我們有很多不同的策略，這對我來說最令人鼓舞的是，不是一件事讓這一切發生。這是我們在市場上的競爭地位的全面重大改進。

At the end of the day, we got around 4% share in commercial. I said on the call today, the first time we've ever said it. We want to win and be the largest in both sectors. And it's going to take us a while, but that's our goal. And I'm very pleased with the progress that we've had with 20% growth over 6 consecutive quarters, that's pretty phenomenal regardless of how the industry is growing.

最終，我們獲得了大約 4% 的商業份額。我今天在電話會議上說，這是我們第一次這麼說。我們希望贏得併成為這兩個領域中最大的。這需要我們一段時間，但這是我們的目標。我對我們連續 6 個季度實現 20% 的增長感到非常滿意，無論行業如何發展，這都是非常了不起的。

Your next question is coming from Simeon Gutman of Morgan Stanley.

您的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Simeon Gutman。

I'll be the LIFO person for the call. So the LIFO charges because of freight, noncash. If you look out 12 to 18 months, do you get back all the charges to earnings either freight subsides or you take credits? Or you actually just raise price when -- over time to recoup this?

我將成為接聽電話的 LIFO 人。所以 LIFO 收費是因為運費，非現金。如果您看 12 到 18 個月，您是否將所有費用退回到收入中，或者運費補貼還是您獲得信用？或者你實際上只是提高價格——隨著時間的推移來彌補這一點？

Yes, Simeon. So what we're modeling right now, as we said, is up to $100 million in the first quarter due primarily to higher freight. We are starting to see freight moderate some in the spot markets. However, what I'll remind you is that when we were in this environment of trying to make sure that we had capacity, we were incurring higher freight charges just so that we could secure capacity. So as those short-term contracted capacity dynamics happen from freight start to roll off, we'll start to see the benefits of what we're starting to see in the marketplace, which is a moderating freight market.

是的，西蒙。因此，正如我們所說，我們現在正在建模的第一季度高達 1 億美元，這主要是由於運費增加。我們開始看到現貨市場的運費有所放緩。但是，我要提醒您的是，當我們處於這種試圖確保我們有運力的環境中時，我們會產生更高的運費，以便我們能夠確保運力。因此，隨著這些短期合同運力動態從貨運開始到下降，我們將開始看到我們開始在市場上看到的好處，這是一個放緩的貨運市場。

You could see this in the back half, get better, barring any disruptions. But right now, from a forecast standpoint, we're modeling somewhere in the neighborhood of close to $100 million in the first quarter and something similar in the second quarter. From a pricing standpoint, what we've said is that when there's hyperinflation on things like freight, where, for example, container costs went up 7x what we normally pay, and then spike back down over time, you typically don't price to recover those kinds of spikes. What you do is you wait for the market to sort of moderate and your price accordingly to what you see the long-term impacts are going to be.

你可以在後半部分看到這一點，變得更好，除非有任何干擾。但現在，從預測的角度來看，我們在第一季度的某個地方建模接近 1 億美元，第二季度的模型類似。從定價的角度來看，我們所說的是，當貨運等出現惡性通貨膨脹時，例如，集裝箱成本上漲了我們通常支付的 7 倍，然後隨著時間的推移又回落，你通常不會定價恢復那些尖峰。你所做的是等待市場趨於溫和，然後根據你所看到的長期影響來調整價格。

So we're continuing to price in a disciplined way. We're monitoring what's happening in the freight markets. It will come back. It's already starting to come back. And what you'll see is that we'll get credits coming back through the P&L to offset the charges that I've talked about for the first and the second quarter. And then as we get back to our normal market conditions, you'll see us rebuild that reserve balance over time.

因此，我們將繼續以有紀律的方式定價。我們正在監測貨運市場的情況。它會回來的。它已經開始回來了。你會看到的是，我們將通過損益表獲得積分，以抵消我在第一季度和第二季度談到的費用。然後，當我們恢復正常的市場條件時，您會看到我們隨著時間的推移重建儲備餘額。

I'll ask something different for the follow-up. If you look at the units in DIY, they're probably negative. So can you talk about the stacks there whether it's stabilizing and thinking about reversion or even elasticity, does the DIY units, do they stay negative or they work back to flat through fiscal '23?

我會問一些不同的東西來跟進。如果您查看 DIY 中的單位，它們可能是負面的。那麼，你能談談那裡的堆棧，無論是穩定還是考慮回歸甚至彈性，DIY 單元是保持負數還是在 23 財年恢復到持平？

Simeon, you followed us for a lot of years, and you've heard me say many times that the dirty little secret of our industry is that there's downward pressure on units and have been for decades. So oftentimes, we'll be down 3% or 4% in units and customer count. A lot of that is driven by improvements in automobile technology.

Simeon，你跟隨我們很多年了，你聽我說過很多次，我們這個行業的骯髒小秘密就是單位有下行壓力，而且幾十年來一直如此。所以很多時候，我們的單位和客戶數量會下降 3% 或 4%。其中很大一部分是由汽車技術的改進推動的。

So easy example is spark plugs. You used to buy spark plugs, and they were copper spark plugs and they would last for 30,000 miles. Now you buy Iridium spark plugs and they last 100,000 miles. Now the old copper spark plugs used to cost $0.59. Now Iridium's are oftentimes over $10. So there's an upward pressure on cost per piece -- price per piece, and a downward pressure on units.

很簡單的例子就是火花塞。你以前買火花塞，它們是銅火花塞，它們可以使用 30,000 英里。現在您購買銥星火花塞，它們可以使用 100,000 英里。現在舊銅火花塞的價格是 0.59 美元。現在銥星的價格通常超過 10 美元。因此，每件成本（每件價格）存在上行壓力，而單位成本則存在下行壓力。

I think our downward pressure in the fourth quarter was more exaggerated than it typically is, mainly because of the incredible performance that we've seen over the last 3 years. I think there's been some moderation. There was also a little bit of moderation as we said, because of the discretionary items, accessories and the like. Is that helpful?

我認為我們在第四季度的下行壓力比通常情況下更大，主要是因為我們在過去 3 年中看到的令人難以置信的表現。我認為有一些節制。正如我們所說，由於可自由支配的物品，配件等，也有一點節制。這有幫助嗎？

Yes. That's helpful.

是的。這很有幫助。

Your next question is coming from Michael Lasser of UBS.

您的下一個問題來自瑞銀的 Michael Lasser。

Understanding that you don't provide guidance, but in light of the $100 million LIFO charge this quarter and next quarter, coupled with rising interest expense and what looks to be a slightly higher tax rate year-over-year, is it best that we assume this is going to be a sub algorithm year even if you comp in the traditional 3% to 4% range and buy back a similar amount of stock that you have been buying back?

了解您不提供指導，但鑑於本季度和下一季度 1 億美元的 LIFO 費用，再加上利息支出的增加以及與去年同期相比略高的稅率，我們最好假設這將是一個子算法年，即使您在傳統的 3% 到 4% 範圍內進行比較並回購與您回購的股票數量相似的股票？

From an operating standpoint, we will be spot on the algorithm that we've typically had. You do have some dynamics associated with LIFO this year where if you model in a couple of quarters of LIFO charges in the $100 million range, it will have a nonoperating impact on our gross margins.

從操作的角度來看，我們將發現我們通常擁有的算法。今年你確實有一些與 LIFO 相關的動態，如果你在幾個季度模擬 1 億美元範圍內的 LIFO 費用，它將對我們的毛利率產生非經營性影響。

So if you're thinking about modeling it that way, then certainly, that's potentially the case. But we'll come back to you. We'll be very transparent about what we're seeing. As we said, we're starting to see some moderation in the dynamics that are causing us to take a LIFO charge. As we get through the first and the second quarter, we could see some moderation there and that could change how you ultimately end up for the fiscal year.

因此，如果您正在考慮以這種方式對其進行建模，那麼當然，可能就是這種情況。但我們會回來找你的。我們將對所看到的內容非常透明。正如我們所說，我們開始看到導致我們採取 LIFO 收費的動態有所緩和。隨著我們度過第一季度和第二季度，我們可能會看到一些放緩，這可能會改變你最終在本財年結束的方式。

But what I want to make sure that people understand is that this certainly is an operational deficiency. It's simply noncash LIFO accounting. And we're continuing to run the business in a very disciplined way, which means that as we've seen pricing impacts on our product costs, we're continuing to take pricing. We'll continue to drive our growth initiatives. We're going to be a very strong cash flow generator. And the most important part of the operating model in our mind is that cash is going to mean that we're going to invest in our business, and we're going to return a meaningful amount of that to shareholders this year.

但我想確保人們理解的是，這肯定是一個操作缺陷。這只是非現金後進先出會計。我們將繼續以非常有紀律的方式經營業務，這意味著當我們看到定價對我們的產品成本產生影響時，我們將繼續定價。我們將繼續推動我們的增長計劃。我們將成為一個非常強大的現金流發生器。在我們看來，運營模式中最重要的部分是現金將意味著我們將投資於我們的業務，今年我們將向股東返還大量資金。

Jamere, let me jump in and amplify a couple of points, too. First of all, I've been involved with this company since before we went public in 1991. This is the first time we've ever had a LIFO charge period. These are uncertain times or unique dynamics, especially with the level of inflation that we've seen in cargo freight going from $1,800 to over $20,000 per container. Those numbers have moderated significantly now, but we do have some long term -- or some midterm contracts, call them 6 to 12 months where we had to secure capacity.

Jamere，讓我也加入並強調幾點。首先，我在 1991 年上市之前就參與了這家公司。這是我們第一次有 LIFO 收費期。這是不確定的時期或獨特的動態，尤其是在我們看到的貨運通脹水平從每個集裝箱 1,800 美元到超過 20,000 美元的情況下。這些數字現在已顯著放緩，但我們確實有一些長期或一些中期合同，稱它們為 6 到 12 個月，我們必須確保產能。

It is our full expectation, and I don't know if it will happen this year or not. It's going to depend on freight costs. It is our full anticipation whatever charges we take in Q1 and Q2 ultimately will be reversed, and we will go back to 0 and then we'll start building a LIFO reserve that we don't record. So we think this $100 million to $200 million charge will be temporary, and it will reverse and it could be -- the back half of this year, could be next year, but that is fully our expectation.

這是我們的全部期望，我不知道今年是否會發生。這將取決於運費。我們完全預期我們在第一季度和第二季度採取的任何收費最終都會被逆轉，我們將回到 0，然後我們將開始建立一個我們不記錄的 LIFO 儲備。因此，我們認為這 1 億至 2 億美元的費用將是暫時的，並且會逆轉，並且可能是 - 今年下半年，可能是明年，但這完全是我們的預期。

So just to clarify, your point being, yes, for maybe this year on a GAAP basis, your EPS algorithm might be a little bit lower than it's been historically, but that's just a GAAP reporting number, the cash flow characteristics of the business aren't changing. And so if that's the correct interpretation, is it fair to assume that eventually the gross margin can get back to 52% or better over time as this accounting situation reverses and perhaps you start to see the benefits of deflation in your product cost while you keep your retails flat or growing?

所以只是澄清一下，你的觀點是，是的，也許今年在 GAAP 的基礎上，你的 EPS 算法可能比歷史上的低一點，但這只是一個 GAAP 報告數字，業務的現金流特徵是不改變。因此，如果這是正確的解釋，是否可以公平地假設隨著這種會計情況的逆轉，最終毛利率可以恢復到 52% 或更高，也許你開始看到通貨緊縮對產品成本的好處，同時你保持您的零售額持平還是增長？

Yes. I don't want to specifically say 52% gross margins is what the future is going to look like. As you've seen, there are pressures on gross margin as we continue to grow this commercial business at such an accelerated rate. That pressure is likely going to continue. But just like you said, the GAAP charge, let's just say it was $200 million for the first half of the year. A year from now or 18 months from now, you're also going to have to think about when that $200 million comes back through the P&L. And so we would encourage you to look at it, excluding the LIFO charges, both as it's a penalty for us now and when it's a benefit for us whenever that happens.

是的。我不想特別說 52% 的毛利率是未來的樣子。如您所見，隨著我們繼續以如此加速的速度發展這項商業業務，毛利率面臨壓力。這種壓力很可能會持續下去。但就像你說的，GAAP 費用，讓我們說上半年是 2 億美元。從現在起一年或從現在起 18 個月後，您還必須考慮這 2 億美元何時通過損益表收回。因此，我們鼓勵您查看它，不包括 LIFO 費用，因為它現在對我們來說是一種懲罰，而且每當發生這種情況時它對我們來說都是一種好處。

Your next question is coming from Scot Catarelli from Truist Securities.

您的下一個問題來自 Truist Securities 的 Scot Catarelli。

So I guess I have another question on kind of the same SKU inflation outlook. I mean while you guys are still seeing double-digit same SKU inflation, year-over-year comparisons do start to become much more difficult over the next few quarters. So how should we think about the comp cadence as those comparisons start to become difficult?

所以我想我對同樣的 SKU 通脹前景還有另一個問題。我的意思是，雖然你們仍然看到兩位數的相同 SKU 通脹，但在接下來的幾個季度中，逐年比較確實開始變得更加困難。那麼，隨著這些比較開始變得困難，我們應該如何考慮組合節奏呢？

Well, from a comp cadence standpoint, a couple of things I'll point you to is, remember, the first 2 quarters of last year, we have well over 13% domestic comps. And those are toughest 2 quarters from a comp standpoint, and then you start to see that comp sort of moderate in the back half of the year. And we encourage you for the full year to look at our comps on a year-over-year basis. And the things that we've talked about is, again, we have a resilient DIY business, albeit in a marketplace that has some volatility and some uncertainty associated with it. We've been very disciplined and our growth initiatives are delivered.

好吧，從競爭節奏的角度來看，我要指出的幾件事是，請記住，去年前兩個季度，我們有超過 13% 的國內競爭。從比賽的角度來看，這是最艱難的兩個季度，然後你開始看到下半年的比賽有點溫和。我們鼓勵您全年查看我們的年度業績。我們談到的事情是，我們有一個有彈性的 DIY 業務，儘管市場存在一些波動性和一些與之相關的不確定性。我們一直非常自律，我們的增長計劃已經交付。

And then probably the most important part of our story is the commercial story where we're continuing to see accelerated growth in commercial, driven by all the initiatives that Bill talked about, and the fact that we're a 4 or 5 share in a large and growing market. So that's how you should think about our comps. And again, the first half comps obviously are going to be a little bit tougher just given the fact that we printed over 13% in the first 2 quarters of last year.

然後可能我們故事中最重要的部分是商業故事，在比爾談到的所有舉措的推動下，我們繼續看到商業的加速增長，以及我們在一個 4 或 5 份額的事實龐大且不斷增長的市場。所以這就是你應該如何看待我們的比賽。再一次，考慮到我們在去年前兩個季度的印刷量超過 13% 的事實，上半年的比賽顯然會變得更加艱難。

And then just a quick follow-up here. Does the increase in interest rates and higher interest costs change your expectations at all for your debt-to-EBITDAR targets? Or maybe how aggressive you plan to be on your buyback program?

然後在這裡進行快速跟進。利率的增加和更高的利息成本是否會改變您對債務與 EBITDAR 目標的預期？或者，您計劃在回購計劃中採取多積極的態度？

They don't. A couple of things I'll point you to. One is we've been at roughly a 2.1x metric. So we have a lot of dry powder to get back to our 2.5x metric. We continue to stress that as we move through this period where our business has grown on an accelerated basis, and we have confidence in our growth prospects going forward. And we're going to move back closer to or at that 2.5x target. So that gives us a lot of financial firepower to, first of all, invest in our existing assets and grow our business, but also to give meaningful amounts back to our shareholders. So you'll see us continue to drive free cash flow and get our leverage metrics back to the 2.5x. And that means that we'll be able to do some exciting things for shareholders in the future.

他們沒有。我會指出一些事情。一個是我們的指標大約是 2.1 倍。所以我們有很多乾粉來恢復我們的 2.5 倍指標。我們繼續強調，隨著我們度過這個業務加速增長的時期，我們對未來的增長前景充滿信心。我們將回到更接近或達到 2.5 倍目標的位置。因此，這給了我們很多財務火力，首先，投資於我們現有的資產並發展我們的業務，同時也為我們的股東提供可觀的回報。因此，您將看到我們繼續推動自由現金流並將我們的槓桿指標恢復到 2.5 倍。這意味著我們將來能夠為股東做一些令人興奮的事情。

Your next question is coming from Kate McShane of Goldman Sachs.

您的下一個問題來自高盛的 Kate McShane。

We wondered within DIFM, if you're seeing similar demand trends from national accounts and independents? And also in DIFM, how is private label playing a role in this expanded business? Is it becoming a higher percentage of your mix?

我們想知道在 DIFM 內部，您是否看到來自國民賬戶和獨立人士的類似需求趨勢？在 DIFM 中，自有品牌如何在這一擴展業務中發揮作用？它在你的組合中所佔的比例更高嗎？

Yes. Terrific questions, Kate. I'll take the last one first. Duralast continues to perform exceptionally well in the DIFM sector. We've rolled it into more categories. In the last few years, we've rolled it into shocks and struts. We've rolled out a Duralast Gold high performance chassis program, and we've rolled out Duralast elite brake pads. Each of these have been well received in both the retail and the commercial market, where 10 years ago, everybody would say, we couldn't be successful in commercial because of the Duralast brand. I think, the exact opposite is true. It has become a real strength for us. Remind me the first part of your question, sorry.

是的。非常棒的問題，凱特。我先拿最後一個。 Duralast 在 DIFM 領域繼續表現出色。我們已將其分為更多類別。在過去的幾年裡，我們將它變成了避震器和支柱。我們推出了 Duralast Gold 高性能底盤計劃，並且推出了 Duralast 精英剎車片。這些產品中的每一個都在零售和商業市場上受到好評，在 10 年前，每個人都會說，因為 Duralast 品牌，我們無法在商業上取得成功。我認為，恰恰相反。它已成為我們真正的力量。提醒我你問題的第一部分，對不起。

Just demand trends from national accounts and independents.

只需要國民賬戶和獨立人士的趨勢。

Yes, sorry. I think they're very, very similar. Both are doing very well. There's not a discernible difference between the 2 right now.

是的，對不起。我認為他們非常非常相似。兩者都做得很好。目前兩者之間沒有明顯的區別。

Your next question is coming from Daniel Imbro of Stephens Inc.

您的下一個問題來自 Stephens Inc. 的 Daniel Imbro。

Bill, you discussed your new supply chain investment, I think it's on the West Coast for direct importing. Obviously, direct importing is tough, especially with fill rates are so important. There's been some changes on your merchandising management internally. So can you just walk through the pros and cons, I mean, growing the direct import business, maybe how you manage that risk in the supply chain backdrop?

比爾，你討論了你的新供應鏈投資，我認為是在西海岸直接進口。顯然，直接進口很困難，尤其是在填充率如此重要的情況下。您的內部銷售管理髮生了一些變化。那麼，您能否簡單介紹一下利弊，我的意思是，發展直接進口業務，也許您如何在供應鏈背景下管理該風險？

Yes. First of all, we've been -- thanks for the question. Terrific. We've been direct importing for years. We've got a strong team of people in China today, and import from China and Taiwan and Vietnam and Turkey and India. We've got a very robust direct import program that will continue to grow, and it's been a very important part of us managing our product cost over long periods of time.

是的。首先，我們一直- 感謝您的提問。了不起。我們多年來一直在直接進口。今天，我們在中國擁有一支強大的團隊，並從中國、台灣、越南、土耳其和印度進口。我們有一個非常強大的直接進口計劃，該計劃將繼續增長，它是我們長期管理產品成本的一個非常重要的部分。

What we're doing today is we're going to make it more efficient for us. So we've opened in the beginning stages of opening a direct import facility in California. We also announced that we're going to be opening a new distribution center in New Kent, Virginia and attached to that new distribution center will also be a direct import facility.

我們今天所做的是，我們要讓它對我們更有效率。因此，我們在加利福尼亞州開設了直接進口設施的初期階段。我們還宣布，我們將在弗吉尼亞州新肯特開設一個新的配送中心，該新配送中心也將是一個直接進口設施。

What this is going to allow us to do is continue to import, but instead of having to buy in quantities that are going to ship from China or Turkey or India by distribution center, we're going to flow them into this direct import facility, and it allows us to do postponement on the allocation of the inventory by probably 45 days, which will make us be able to reduce our safety stock in a significant way and make us more efficient. I'm really excited about this new program.

這將使我們能夠繼續進口，但不必購買大量從中國、土耳其或印度通過配送中心運出的貨物，我們將把它們流入這個直接進口設施，它允許我們將庫存分配推遲大約 45 天，這將使我們能夠顯著減少安全庫存並提高效率。我對這個新計劃感到非常興奮。

And Jamere, I want to follow up on the SG&A side. I think Do-It-For-Me or commercial delivery costs are actually in that line. So can you talk about maybe on a store level basis, what the SG&A initiatives are that you're implementing, just impressed you're able to leverage that despite the growth in commercial? So trying to understand what's happening on the noncommercial delivery, kind of the core SG&A side of the business?

Jamere，我想跟進 SG&A 方面的情況。我認為 Do-It-For-Me 或商業交付成本實際上是在這條線上。那麼，您能否在商店層面上談談，您正在實施的 SG&A 計劃是什麼，只是讓您印象深刻的是，儘管商業增長，您仍然能夠利用這些計劃？因此，試圖了解非商業交付（業務的核心 SG&A 方面）發生了什麼？

We've continued to run the playbook that we've always run inside the company on SG&A, where we're very disciplined about cost. We tend to try to run our SG&A line to be somewhat close to what we're seeing from a sales standpoint. And so there's a laundry list of tactics that we run every single year to make sure that we're delivering productivity from an SG&A standpoint. Every function is involved in that. So it isn't just the store functions that are a part of that. And those are the things that are, quite frankly, give us a lot of confidence that we're able to manage that line item in line with what we're seeing on the top line over time.

我們繼續運行我們一直在公司內部運行的關於 SG&A 的劇本，我們在成本方面非常自律。我們傾向於嘗試運行我們的 SG&A 產品線，使其與我們從銷售角度看到的情況有些接近。因此，我們每年都會運行一系列策略，以確保我們從 SG&A 的角度來提供生產力。每個功能都參與其中。因此，不僅僅是存儲功能是其中的一部分。坦率地說，這些事情給了我們很大的信心，我們能夠根據我們在頂線上看到的隨著時間的推移來管理該訂單項。

Naturally, from a payroll standpoint, we continue to invest in the payroll line to deliver on the customer experience that our customers expect. And as the sales growth has been accelerated, we've tried to make sure that we put the hours in and the labor into our stores to be able to deliver on that promise and that experience, and it's been successful for us. And quite frankly, it's driving our top line growth.

自然，從工資單的角度來看，我們繼續投資於工資單線，以提供客戶期望的客戶體驗。隨著銷售增長的加快，我們努力確保我們投入時間和人力投入到我們的商店中，以便能夠兌現承諾和體驗，這對我們來說是成功的。坦率地說，它正在推動我們的收入增長。

Your next question is coming from Greg Melich of Evercore.

您的下一個問題來自 Evercore 的 Greg Melich。

Congrats on a great year and quarter, guys. The inflation number of 11% for this company in DIY, you said ticket was up 8. Is it fair to say that the difference between the 11 and the 8 is all just items in the basket at DIY? Or is there some -- there's inflation that's less in retail.

祝賀你們度過了一個偉大的一年和一個季度，伙計們。這家公司DIY的通貨膨脹率11%，你說票漲了8。可以說11和8之間的差異都只是DIY籃子裡的東西嗎？還是有一些 - 零售業的通貨膨脹率較低。

It's basket and mix that are driving the difference there.

是籃子和混合推動了那裡的差異。

Okay. So I should assume inflation is the same in DIY?

好的。所以我應該假設通貨膨脹在 DIY 中是一樣的？

That's right.

這是正確的。

And then the second question is, and maybe it ties a little bit into the margins on LIFO. Any thoughts in terms of how far AP to inventory can go? Any changes in terms there? If you did, would that help you get some more of these products in certain categories? How should we think about the AP to inventory ratio?

然後第二個問題是，也許它與 LIFO 的邊緣有點相關。關於AP到庫存可以走多遠的任何想法？那裡的條款有什麼變化嗎？如果你這樣做了，這會幫助你在某些類別中獲得更多這些產品嗎？我們應該如何考慮 AP 與庫存的比率？

We have a strong program that are driving the AP to inventory numbers. The other thing I'll point to is that our turns are elevated relative to where we've been historically, 1.5x versus probably being somewhere in the 1.2x to 1.3x. And that's given us some goodness there in terms of the AP to inventory ratio. It may move around a few points or so, but we're going to continue to be aggressive on the programs that we've put in place.

我們有一個強大的計劃來推動 AP 庫存數量。我要指出的另一件事是，相對於我們歷史上的水平，我們的轉彎率提高了 1.5 倍，而可能在 1.2 到 1.3 倍之間。就 AP 與庫存的比率而言，這給了我們一些好處。它可能會移動幾個點左右，但我們將繼續積極推進我們已經實施的計劃。

And my last one would be trade down. Is there any sign of that? You talked a lot about the strength in commercial in Duralast Gold and Elite, but if you look across the box, including DIY, are we seeing consumers starting to shift anywhere?

我的最後一個是降價交易。有什麼跡象嗎？你談了很多關於 Duralast Gold 和 Elite 的商業實力，但如果你放眼整個盒子，包括 DIY，我們是否看到消費者開始在任何地方轉移？

Yes, it's a great question, Greg. It's something that we have been studying really since probably May. We have seen it at times on the margin. But really -- I mean, we've really looked for it hard. We have not seen it in mass by any stretch of the imagination at this point in time.

是的，這是一個很好的問題，格雷格。這是我們從五月開始就一直在研究的東西。我們有時在邊緣看到它。但真的 - 我的意思是，我們真的很努力地尋找它。在這個時間點，我們還沒有通過任何想像力大規模地看到它。

Okay. I'm going to hand back over to Bill now. We have finished the question-and-answer section. Bill, over to you.

好的。我現在要交還給比爾。我們已經完成了問答部分。比爾，交給你。

Okay. Well, before we conclude the call, I just want to take a moment to reiterate that we believe our industry is in a strong position, and our business model we know is solid. We are excited about our growth prospects for the year, but we will take nothing for granted as we understand our customers have alternatives.

好的。好吧，在我們結束電話會議之前，我只想花點時間重申一下，我們相信我們的行業處於強勢地位，我們知道我們的商業模式是可靠的。我們對今年的增長前景感到興奮，但我們不會認為任何事情都是理所當然的，因為我們了解我們的客戶有其他選擇。

We have exciting plans that should help us succeed for the future, but I want to stress again that it's a marathon and not a sprint. As we continue to focus on the basics and strive to optimize shareholder value for the future, we are confident AutoZone will continue to be very successful. Thank you for participating in today's call. Have a great day.

我們有令人興奮的計劃，可以幫助我們在未來取得成功，但我想再次強調，這是一場馬拉松，而不是短跑。隨著我們繼續專注於基礎並努力為未來優化股東價值，我們相信 AutoZone 將繼續取得巨大成功。感謝您參加今天的電話會議。祝你有美好的一天。