汽車地帶 (AZO) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Greetings. Welcome to the AutoZone's 2024 Q3 Earnings Release Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this conference is being recorded. The company would like to announce the following forward-looking statement.

問候。歡迎參加 AutoZone 2024 年第三季財報發布電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，本次會議正在錄製中。該公司謹宣布以下前瞻性聲明。

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.

在我們開始之前，請注意，今天的電話會議包含前瞻性陳述，這些陳述受到 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》安全港條款的約束。請參閱今天早上的新聞稿、公司最新的 10-K 表格年度報告以及向美國證券交易委員會提交的其他文件，以了解可能導致實際結果與預期存在重大差異的重要風險和不確定性的討論。前瞻性陳述僅代表截至做出之日的情況，本公司不承擔更新此類陳述的義務。

Today's call will also include certain non-GAAP measures. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures can be found in our press release.

今天的電話會議還將包括某些非公認會計準則措施。您可以在我們的新聞稿中找到 GAAP 與非 GAAP 財務指標的調整表。

It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to Phil Daniele, Chief Executive Officer with AutoZone.

現在我很高興將發言權交給 AutoZone 執行長 Phil Daniele。

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today for AutoZone's 2024 Third Quarter Conference Call. With me today are Jamere Jackson, Chief Financial Officer; and Brian Campbell, Vice President, Treasurer, Investor Relations and Tax. Regarding the third quarter, I hope you had an opportunity to read our press release and learn about the quarter's results. If not, the press release along with the slides complementing our comments today, are available on our website, www.autozone.com, under the Investor Relations link. Please click on the Quarterly Earnings Conference calls to see them.

早安，感謝您今天參加 AutoZone 2024 年第三季電話會議。今天與我在一起的有財務長傑米傑克森 (Jamere Jackson)；布萊恩·坎貝爾 (Brian Campbell)，副總裁兼財務主管，負責投資者關係和稅務。關於第三季度，我希望您有機會閱讀我們的新聞稿並了解該季度的業績。如果沒有，請在我們的網站 www.autozone.com 的投資者關係連結下查看新聞稿以及補充我們今天評論的幻燈片。請點選季度財報電話會議查看。

As we begin the call, I want to say thank you to our more than 120,000 AutoZoners across all of our businesses for delivering solid earnings results in the face of a difficult macro environment. With our continued focus on providing what we call WOW! Customer Service, our AutoZoners delivered our total sales increase of 3.5%, total company same-store sales up 1.9%, and on a constant currency basis, total company same-store sales of 0.9%. Also, our operating profit grew 4.9%, while our earnings per share grew 7.5%.

在我們開始通話之際，我想對我們所有業務部門的超過 120,000 名 AutoZon 員工表示感謝，感謝你們在困難的宏觀環境下取得了穩健的盈利成果。我們持續專注於提供我們所謂的“WOW！”在客戶服務方面，我們的 AutoZoners 總銷售額成長了 3.5%，公司同店總銷售額成長了 1.9%，以固定匯率計算，公司同店總銷售額成長了 0.9%。此外，我們的營業利潤成長了 4.9%，每股收益成長了 7.5%。

In spite of our lower-than-planned sales, we managed our business well, and we were able to deliver bottom line results that continue to build on the phenomenal results we've had over the last several years. Congratulations to our AutoZoners everywhere who helped us achieve this quarter's growth. Your dedication to delivering on our commitment of WOW! Customer Service is always inspiring.

儘管我們的銷售額低於計劃，但我們的業務管理得很好，並且我們能夠在過去幾年取得的驚人業績的基礎上繼續實現盈利。恭喜我們各地的 AutoZoners 幫助我們實現了本季的成長。你們致力於兌現我們對 WOW 的承諾！客戶服務總是鼓舞人心。

Before I begin my comments on our third quarter sales, as a reminder, the backdrop to this quarter and every third quarter of our fiscal year includes tax refund season. It is roughly a $300 billion influx of cash to our customers. It begins around Valentine's Day and generally last 4 to 6 weeks. These dollars matter to our customers and meaningfully impact their shopping patterns in our stores. This year, refund dollars ended up slightly versus the previous year. However, February refund flows were lower than expected and negatively impacted the first 3 weeks of the quarter's domestic same-store sales.

在我開始評論我們第三季的銷售之前，提醒一下，本季和我們財年的每個第三季的背景都包括退稅季節。這大約為我們的客戶帶來了 3000 億美元的現金流入。它從情人節前後開始，通常持續 4 至 6 週。這些美元對我們的客戶很重要，並對他們在我們商店的購物模式產生有意義的影響。今年的退款金額較上年略有增加。然而，2 月退款流量低於預期，並對本季前 3 週的國內同店銷售產生負面影響。

While the refund flows did catch up later -- in the later weeks, we felt the delayed refunds were a drag on our sales results through February and early March, similar to what you may have heard from other retailers. Secondly, the weather was unfortunately cooler and wetter than we had expected and planned, especially in the Northeast and the Midwest markets. As a result, sales in these markets were noticeably below the remaining markets with this pattern more pronounced over the last 8 weeks of our 12-week quarter. Again, extreme weather, either hot or cold, drives hard part failures and accelerates maintenance over time, thereby driving higher sales.

雖然退款流量確實在後來的幾週內趕上了，但我們認為延遲退款拖累了我們整個 2 月和 3 月初的銷售業績，這與您可能從其他零售商那裡聽到的情況類似。其次，不幸的是，天氣比我們預期和計劃的涼爽和潮濕，特別是在東北部和中西部市場。因此，這些市場的銷售額明顯低於其餘市場，這種模式在我們為期 12 週的季度的最後 8 週更為明顯。同樣，極端天氣，無論是炎熱還是寒冷，都會導致硬體零件故障，並隨著時間的推移加速維護，從而推動更高的銷售。

So on balance, we believe this quarter's sales were impacted negatively by the late start of the tax refund season, while the last 8 weeks were impacted by cooler than weather than we had planned. Despite these headwinds, we also had many successes. We gained share in our retail business, and we believe we continue to gain share in commercial. We continue to be encouraged by our supply chain initiatives. The construction of our 2 new domestic DCs are on track for Q2 FY '25 opening as well as our continued forward deployment of inventory across both our Hubs and our Mega-Hubs.

因此，總的來說，我們認為本季的銷售受到退稅季節較晚開始的負面影響，而過去 8 週則受到比我們計劃的天氣涼爽的影響。儘管存在這些阻力，我們也取得了許多成功。我們在零售業務中獲得了份額，我們相信我們將繼續在商業領域獲得份額。我們的供應鏈計畫繼續鼓舞著我們。我們的 2 個新的國內配送中心的建設工作正按計劃於 25 財年第二季度開業，並且我們將繼續在我們的樞紐和大型樞紐中部署庫存。

We continue to see progress on our initiatives within our domestic commercial business that give us confidence about accelerated growth. While it is prudent for us to remain cautious on our outlook for the remainder of the year, we believe sales will accelerate over time.

我們繼續看到國內商業業務的舉措取得進展，這讓我們對加速成長充滿信心。雖然我們對今年剩餘時間的前景保持謹慎是謹慎的做法，但我們相信隨著時間的推移，銷售將會加速。

We are excited about our commercial initiatives that are providing deeper parts coverage closer to the customer with faster delivery times, improving customer service, and thereby, driving sales.

我們對我們的商業計劃感到興奮，這些計劃透過更快的交貨時間提供更接近客戶的更深入的零件覆蓋範圍，改善客戶服務，從而推動銷售。

For the third quarter, our total company same-store sales were 0.9% on a constant currency basis. As we have mentioned, international has become a more important part of our growth story in this quarter. We delivered another strong quarter, up over 9.3% on a constant currency basis.

第三季度，以固定匯率計算，我們公司同店總銷售額成長了 0.9%。正如我們所提到的，國際化已成為我們本季成長故事中更重要的一部分。我們再次實現了強勁的季度業績，以固定匯率計算成長超過 9.3%。

We continue to be very encouraged with both our short-term and long-term growth prospects we have internationally, and we plan to accelerate new store openings and drive operational improvements in these markets over the next several years.

我們對國際上的短期和長期成長前景持續感到非常鼓舞，我們計劃在未來幾年加速新店開幕並推動這些市場的營運改善。

Our domestic same-store sales were flat this quarter compared to up 0.3% last quarter and up 1.9% in Q3 of last year. As I mentioned previously, we believe our sales were impacted in the first 4 weeks of the quarter by the delayed tax refund season and the last 8 weeks by the mild wet weather pattern across much of the U.S. Domestically, we ran a negative 0.7% comp across the first 4 weeks and collectively across the last 8 weeks of plus 0.3% comp.

本季我們的國內同店銷售額持平，上季成長 0.3%，去年第三季成長 1.9%。正如我之前提到的，我們相信我們的銷售在本季的前4 週受到退稅季節延遲的影響，在過去8 週受到美國大部分地區溫和潮濕天氣模式的影響。了0.7% 的負增長前 4 週以及最後 8 週的總漲幅為 0.3%。

Our commercial business grew 3.3% against last year's Q3 growth of 6.3%. Our commercial results were higher in the first 8 weeks and relatively consistent, but slightly lower the last 4 weeks. The last 4 weeks comparison were the most difficult of the quarter. Weather impact was more pronounced in the last 8 weeks of the quarter, and it was during this time that the regional performance disparities became more apparent. The Northeast and the Midwest underperformed the remainder of the country by close to 200 basis points over the last 8 weeks of the quarter.

我們的商業業務成長了 3.3%，而去年第三季的成長率為 6.3%。我們的商業業績在前 8 週較高且相對穩定，但在最後 4 週略有下降。最後 4 週的比較是本季最困難的。天氣影響在本季最後 8 週更為明顯，正是在這段時間，地區業績差異變得更加明顯。本季最後 8 週，東北部和中西部地區的表現落後全國其他地區近 200 個基點。

Commercial transaction counts were up and were partially offset by slightly negative ticket growth, which was attributable to similarly negative inflation on a same SKU basis.

商業交易數量有所增加，但被門票小幅負增長所部分抵消，這是由於相同 SKU 基礎上類似的負通膨所致。

We opened 20 net new commercial programs and now have commercial in 92% of our domestic stores. Domestic commercial sales represented 31% of our domestic auto part sales for Q3.

我們淨新開設了 20 個商業項目，目前國內 92% 的門市都有商業項目。第三季國內商業銷量佔國內汽車零件銷量的 31%。

Despite the choppiness in our commercial sales results this quarter, we are planning for a stronger growth rate in Q4 behind continued execution of our growth initiatives and somewhat easier comparisons. Commercial sales growth continues to be driven by the key initiatives we've been working on over time, improved satellite store inventory availability, material improvements in Hub and Mega-Hub coverage, the strength of the Duralast brand with an intense focus on high-quality parts and products and technology enhancements that make us easier to do business with. We are encouraged by our recently launched initiatives focused on improving customer service with faster delivery times. As we roll these initiatives to the majority of the chain, we are anticipating faster growth and accelerated share gains.

儘管本季我們的商業銷售業績不穩定，但我們計劃在繼續執行成長計畫和更容易進行比較的情況下，在第四季度實現更強勁的成長率。商業銷售的成長繼續受到我們長期以來致力於的關鍵舉措的推動，衛星商店庫存可用性的提高、樞紐和大型樞紐覆蓋範圍的材料改進、Duralast 品牌的實力以及對高品質的高度關注零件、產品和技術改進，使我們更容易開展業務。我們最近推出的旨在改善客戶服務並縮短交貨時間的舉措令我們深受鼓舞。當我們將這些舉措推廣到整個鏈條的大部分時，我們預計會出現更快的成長和加速的份額成長。

Regarding domestic DIY, we had a negative 1% comp this quarter versus last year's comp of 0.6%. DIY ran negative 2% across the first 4 weeks of the quarter, positive 0.1% the second 4-week segment and negative 0.1% comp over the last 4 weeks. Regionally, the Northeast and the Midwestern markets underperformed the remainder of the country by approximately 100 basis points over the last 8 weeks of the quarter, similar to our commercial business.

關於國內 DIY，本季我們的年成長率為 1%，而去年同期為 0.6%。 DIY 在本季的前 4 週內下跌 2%，在第二個 4 週內上漲 0.1%，在過去 4 週內下跌 0.1%。從地區來看，東北部和中西部市場在本季最後 8 週的表現落後於全國其他地區約 100 個基點，與我們的商業業務類似。

Heading into the fourth quarter, we feel weather should be less volatile and we are planning accordingly.

進入第四季度，我們認為天氣波動應該會減少，我們正在製定相應的計劃。

Regarding our merchandise categories in the DIY business, our sales floor categories, and particularly discretionary categories, underperformed hard parts. We also saw several seasonal merchandise categories and weather-sensitive hard part categories being off our planned results due to the cooler-than-expected weather.

就我們 DIY 業務中的商品類別而言，我們的銷售區域類別，特別是非必需品類別，表現落後於硬零件。由於天氣比預期涼爽，我們還發現一些季節性商品類別和對天氣敏感的硬零件類別的結果超出了我們的計劃。

Regarding this quarter's traffic versus ticket growth, our DIY traffic was down approximately 2%, while our ticket average was up only 1%. We expect our average ticket growth will return to more normalized levels in the 2% to 4% range as we get further removed from the higher inflation from the last couple of years. We attribute our previously mentioned DIY share gains to improve customer service levels in our stores and our in-stock nearing pre-pandemic levels driven by most of our vendor partners returning to more normalized operations, meaning recovering from the pandemic sales surge and supply chain disruptions.

關於本季的流量與門票成長情況，我們的 DIY 流量下降了約 2%，而我們的門票平均流量僅增加了 1%。我們預計，隨著我們進一步擺脫過去幾年的較高通膨，我們的平均票價成長將恢復到 2% 至 4% 的更正常水平。我們將前面提到的DIY 份額收益歸因於改善我們商店的客戶服務水平以及我們的庫存接近大流行前的水平，這是由於我們的大多數供應商合作夥伴恢復了更加正常化的運營，這意味著我們正在從大流行的銷售激增和供應鏈中斷中恢復過來。

As we look forward, we are continuing to focus on flawless execution and delivering WOW customer service will drive our accelerated sales growth in our domestic business.

展望未來，我們將繼續專注於完美的執行，提供令人驚嘆的客戶服務將推動我們國內業務的銷售加速成長。

Before handing the call to Jamere, I'd like to highlight and give some color on our international business. At 872 stores opened internationally, or 12% of our store base, this business had yet again impressive performance last quarter and should continue to grow at a robust pace for the remainder of fiscal year 2024 and beyond. We are leveraging many of the learnings we have in the U.S. to refine our offerings in our international markets.

在將電話交給 Jamere 之前，我想強調並介紹我們的國際業務。該業務在國際上開設了 872 家門市，占我們門市總數的 12%，上季度再次取得了令人印象深刻的業績，並且應該在 2024 財年剩餘時間及以後繼續以強勁的速度增長。我們正在利用在美國學到的許多知識來完善我們在國際市場上的產品。

And before Jamere discusses our financial results, I'd like to remind you of our key objectives for fiscal year 2024. We are focused on growing our domestic commercial business, and we believe our improved customer service levels will lead to continued sales growth. We are also focused on our supply chain with 2 initiatives that are in flight to drive improved availability versus our expanded Hub and Mega-Hub rollouts. And secondly, we are making good progress on adding capacity to our distribution network. We have 2 distribution centers that are nearing completion in the U.S., 1 in Chowchilla, California, and the other in New Kent, Virginia. We are also very close to completing the expansion of our Tapeji, Mexico DC. And last quarter, we broke ground on a larger facility that will house our relocated Monterrey, Mexico DC.

在 Jamere 討論我們的財務表現之前，我想提醒您我們 2024 財年的主要目標。我們也專注於我們的供應鏈，正在實施兩項舉措，以相對於我們擴大的樞紐和巨型樞紐的推出來提高可用性。其次，我們在增加分銷網絡容量方面取得了良好進展。我們在美國有 2 個配送中心即將完工，其中一個位於加州喬奇拉，另一個位於維吉尼亞州新肯特。我們也即將完成墨西哥特區 Tapeji 的擴建。上個季度，我們在一個更大的設施上破土動工，該設施將容納我們搬遷到的墨西哥特區蒙特雷。

Our strategy is focused on leveraging the entire network to carry more inventory closer to the customer, driving sales growth with improved speed, expanded parts availability and improved efficiencies. These capacity expansions will underpin our future growth. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Jamere Jackson.

我們的策略重點是利用整個網路將更多庫存運送到離客戶更近的地方，透過提高速度、擴大零件可用性和提高效率來推動銷售成長。這些產能擴張將支撐我們未來的成長。現在我想把電話轉給傑米爾傑克森。

Thanks, Phil, and good morning, everyone. As Phil has previously discussed, we had a solid third quarter, with 3.5% total company sales growth, flat domestic comp growth, a 9.3% international comp on a constant currency basis, a 4.9% increase in EBIT and a 7.5% increase in EPS. We continue to deliver solid results, and the efforts of our AutoZoners in our stores and distribution centers continue to enable us to drive earnings growth in a meaningful way.

謝謝菲爾，大家早安。正如Phil 之前討論的那樣，我們的第三季度業績表現強勁，公司總銷售額增長3.5%，國內比較增長持平，按固定匯率計算國際比較增長9.3%，息稅前利潤增長4.9%，每股收益增長7.5% 。我們繼續取得紮實的成果，我們的商店和配送中心的 AutoZoners 的努力繼續使我們能夠以有意義的方式推動收入成長。

To start this morning, let me take a few moments to elaborate on the specifics in our P&L for Q3. For the quarter, total sales were $4.2 billion, up 3.5%, and let me give a little more color on sales and our growth initiatives. Starting with our domestic commercial business, our domestic DIFM sales increased 3.3% to just under $1.2 billion and were up 9.6% on a 2-year stack basis. Sales to our domestic DIFM customers represented 31% of our domestic auto part sales. Our average weekly sales per program were $16,400, down 2.4% versus last year's $16,800.

從今天早上開始，讓我花一些時間詳細說明第三季損益表的具體細節。本季總銷售額為 42 億美元，成長 3.5%，讓我對銷售和我們的成長計畫進行更多介紹。從我們的國內商業業務開始，我們的國內 DIFM 銷售額增長了 3.3%，達到近 12 億美元，並且在 2 年基礎上增長了 9.6%。國內 DIFM 客戶的銷售額佔國內汽車零件銷售額的 31%。每個項目的平均每週銷售額為 16,400 美元，比去年的 16,800 美元下降了 2.4%。

Now as a reminder, we have added over 300 new programs over the last 12 months, and these new programs are diluting the overall sales per program. We are, however, extremely pleased that these programs are maturing significantly faster than our historical performance and position us well for the future. We now have our commercial program in approximately 92% 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 20 net new programs finishing with 5,843 total programs. Our commercial acceleration initiatives continue to make progress as we grow share by winning new business and look to gain share of wallet with existing customers. Importantly, we have a lot of opportunity in front of us, and we will continue to aggressively pursue growth in the highly fragmented commercial market, which we believe is our single largest growth opportunity.

現在提醒一下，我們在過去 12 個月內添加了 300 多個新計劃，這些計劃正在稀釋每個計劃的整體銷售額。然而，我們非常高興的是，這些計劃的成熟速度明顯快於我們的歷史表現，並使我們為未來做好了準備。現在，我們大約 92% 的國內商店都有我們的商業計劃，該計劃利用了我們的 DIY 基礎設施，並且我們正在透過國家、地區和當地客戶來建立我們的業務。本季度，我們淨開設了 20 個新項目，總計 5,843 個項目。我們的商業加速計劃不斷取得進展，我們透過贏得新業務來增加份​​額，並希望贏得現有客戶的錢包份額。重要的是，我們面前有很多機會，我們將繼續在高度分散的商業市場中積極尋求成長，我們認為這是我們最大的成長機會。

To support our commercial growth, we now have 103 Mega-Hub locations with 2 net new Mega-Hubs opened in Q3. Our Mega-Hubs continue to average significantly higher sales than the balance of the commercial programs, and grew more than 3x the rate of our overall commercial business in Q3. Our Mega-Hubs typically carry roughly 100,000 SKUs, drive tremendous sales lift inside the store box and serve as an expanded fulfillment source for other stores. These assets are performing well individually, and the fulfillment capability for the surrounding AutoZone stores is giving our customers access to tens of thousands of additional parts and lifting the entire network. We will continue to aggressively open Mega-Hubs for the foreseeable future, and we expect to open well north of 200 Mega-Hubs at full build-out. These assets are key to our growth plans.

為了支持我們的商業成長，我們現在擁有 103 個超級中心，其中 2 個淨新超級中心於第三季開幕。我們的巨型中心的平均銷售額持續顯著高於商業項目的其餘部分，第三季的成長率是我們整體商業業務的 3 倍以上。我們的大型中心通常承載約 100,000 個 SKU，大大提升店內銷售量，並作為其他商店的擴展履行來源。這些資產單獨表現良好，周圍 AutoZone 商店的履行能力使我們的客戶能夠獲得數以萬計的額外零件，並提升整個網路。在可預見的未來，我們將繼續積極開設巨型樞紐，並預計在全面擴建後將開設 200 個巨型樞紐以北的區域。這些資產是我們成長計畫的關鍵。

On the domestic retail side of our business, our comp was down 1% for the quarter. As Phil mentioned, we saw traffic down approximately 2%, offset by approximately 1% ticket growth. Overt time, we would expect to see slightly declining transaction counts offset by low to mid-single-digit ticket growth, in line with the long-term historical trends for the business driven by changes in technology and the durability of new parts.

在我們業務的國內零售方面，本季我們的比較下降了 1%。正如 Phil 所提到的，我們看到客流量下降了約 2%，但被約 1% 的門票成長所抵消。從長遠來看，我們預計交易數量將略有下降，但門票成長將被低至中個位數的成長所抵消，這與技術變革和新零件耐用性推動的業務長期歷史趨勢一致。

While DIY discretionary purchases were challenged in Q3, we continue to see a growing and aging car park, miles driven back to prepandemic levels, a challenging new and used car sales market and a consumer that is likely to continue to invest in their existing vehicles. As such, we believe our DIY business will remain resilient.

雖然DIY 隨意購買在第三季度受到挑戰，但我們仍然看到停車場不斷增長和老化，行駛里程回到大流行前的水平，新車和二手車銷售市場充滿挑戰，消費者可能會繼續投資現有車輛。因此，我們相信我們的 DIY 業務將保持彈性。

Now I'll say a few words regarding our international business. We continue to be pleased with the progress we're making internationally. Our same-store sales grew an impressive 18.1% on an actual basis and 9.3% on a constant currency basis. During the quarter, we opened 12 stores in Mexico to finish with 763 stores, and 1 store in Brazil ending with 109. We remain committed to international, and given our success, we're bullish on international being an attractive and meaningful contributor to AutoZone's future growth.

現在我就我們的國際業務說幾句話。我們仍然對我們在國際上的進展感到滿意。我們的同店銷售額實際成長 18.1%，以固定匯率計算成長 9.3%，令人印象深刻。本季度，我們在墨西哥開設了12 家商店，總數達到763 家，在巴西開設了1 家商店，總數達到109 家。有吸引力且有意義的貢獻者未來的成長。

Now let me spend a few moments on the rest of the P&L and gross margins. For the quarter, our gross margin was 53.5%, up 102 basis points, driven by a significant improvement in our core business gross margins and 15 basis points from a noncash $24 million LIFO credit in this quarter versus a $17 million LIFO credit in Q3 of last year. Excluding LIFO from both years, we had a very strong 87-basis-point improvement in gross margin.

現在讓我花一些時間討論其餘的損益表和毛利率。本季度，我們的毛利率為53.5%，成長了102 個基點，這主要是由於我們的核心業務毛利率顯著改善，並且本季度的非現金2400 萬美元後進先出信貸較上一季的1700萬美元後進先出信貸提高了15 個基點。排除後進先出法，我們的毛利率大幅提高了 87 個基點。

Our merchandising and supply chain teams have done an exceptional job of driving gross margin improvement this year. I will point out that we now have $19 million in cumulative LIFO charges yet to be reversed through our P&L, and we expect this credit balance to reverse over the next couple of quarters. We're currently modeling approximately $10 million in LIFO credits in Q4 based on the deflation experienced this past year. This compares to $30 million LIFO credit we had in Q4 last year, which means we would have a $20 million net headwind from LIFO in gross profit.

今年，我們的銷售和供應鏈團隊在推動毛利率改善方面表現出色。我要指出的是，我們現在有 1900 萬美元的累積後進先出費用尚未透過我們的損益表逆轉，我們預計這一信貸餘額將在未來幾季逆轉。目前，我們根據去年經歷的通貨緊縮情況，對第四季度約 1000 萬美元的 LIFO 信貸進行了建模。相比之下，我們去年第四季擁有 3000 萬美元的 LIFO 信貸，這意味著我們將因 LIFO 的毛利而遭受 2000 萬美元的淨阻力。

As I've said previously, once we credit back the $19 million through the P&L, we will not take any more credits, and we will begin to rebuild an unrecorded LIFO reserve.

正如我之前所說，一旦我們透過損益表貸回了 1900 萬美元，我們將不再接受任何貸方，並且我們將開始重建未記錄的 LIFO 儲備。

Moving to operating expenses. Our expenses were up 6% versus last year's Q3, as SG&A as a percentage of sales deleveraged 76 basis points. On a same-store basis, SG&A grew 3.3% as we continue to invest in initiatives that drive speed, productivity and improve customer service. We are committed to being disciplined on SG&A growth as we move forward, and we will manage expenses in line with sales growth over time.

轉向營運費用。與去年第三季相比，我們的費用成長了 6%，因為 SG&A 佔銷售額的百分比去槓桿化了 76 個基點。以同店計算，SG&A 成長了 3.3%，因為我們繼續投資於提高速度、生產力和改善客戶服務的措施。我們致力於在前進的過程中嚴格控制銷售及行政管理 (SG&A) 的成長，並且我們將根據銷售成長來管理費用。

Moving to the rest of the P&L. EBIT for the quarter was $900 million, up 4.9% versus the prior year, driven by our positive same-store sales growth and gross margin improvements. Interest expense for the quarter was $104 million, up 41% from Q3 a year ago as our debt outstanding at the end of the quarter was $9 billion versus $7.3 billion in Q3 last year. We are planning interest in the $148 million range for the fourth quarter versus $109 million last year. Higher debt levels and borrowing rates across the curb are driving this increase, along with the extra week that we will have in this year's fourth quarter.

轉向損益表的其餘部分。在同店銷售積極成長和毛利率改善的推動下，本季息稅前利潤為 9 億美元，比上年增長 4.9%。本季利息支出為 1.04 億美元，比去年第三季增加 41%，因為本季末我們的未償債務為 90 億美元，而去年第三季為 73 億美元。我們計劃第四季的興趣為 1.48 億美元，而去年為 1.09 億美元。較高的債務水平和整個路邊借款利率以及今年第四季度的額外一周時間推動了這一增長。

For the quarter, our tax rate was 18.1%, and up from last year's third quarter of 17.4%. This quarter's rate benefited 479 basis points from stock options exercised, while last year, it benefited 595 basis points.

本季，我們的稅率為 18.1%，高於去年第三季的 17.4%。本季利率因股票選擇權行使而受益 479 個基點，而去年則受益 595 個基點。

For the fourth quarter, we suggest investors model us at approximately 23.2% before any assumptions on credits due to stock option exercises.

對於第四季度，我們建議投資者在考慮因股票選擇權行使而產生的信貸假設之前將我們的利率模型定為約 23.2%。

Moving to net income and EPS. Net income for the quarter was $652 million, up 0.6% versus last year. Our diluted share count of $17.8 million was 6.4% lower than last year's third quarter. The combination of slightly higher net income and lower share count drove earnings per share for the quarter to $36.69, up 7.5% for the quarter.

轉向淨利和每股收益。該季度淨利潤為 6.52 億美元，比去年同期增長 0.6%。我們的稀釋後股票數量為 1,780 萬美元，比去年第三季減少了 6.4%。淨利潤略高和股票數量減少相結合，推動本季每股收益達到 36.69 美元，成長 7.5%。

Now let me talk about our free cash flow. For the third quarter, we generated $434 million in free cash flow. We had higher CapEx spending this quarter versus a year ago, and we expect to spend close to $1.1 billion in CapEx this fiscal year as we complete the addition of our distribution center capacity expansion ahead of schedule. I will also remind you that we generate a majority of our free cash flow in the back half of each of our fiscal years.

現在讓我談談我們的自由現金流。第三季度，我們產生了 4.34 億美元的自由現金流。我們本季的資本支出高於一年前，隨著提前完成配送中心產能擴張，我們預計本財年的資本支出將接近 11 億美元。我還要提醒您，我們的大部分自由現金流是在每個財政年度的後半段產生的。

We expect to continue being an incredibly strong cash flow generator going forward, and we remain committed to returning meaningful amounts of cash to our shareholders.

我們預計未來將繼續成為一個極其強大的現金流發生器，並且我們仍然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 ratio finished Q3 at 2.5x EBITDAR. Our inventory was up 7.9%, driven by a combination of inventory per store growth to support our growth initiatives, improvements in in-stock levels along with new store growth. Net inventory, defined as merchandise inventories less accounts payable on a per store basis was $168,000 negative versus $215,000 negative last year and negative $164,000 negative last quarter.

就我們的資產負債表而言，我們的流動性狀況仍然非常強勁，第三季末我們的槓桿率為 2.5 倍 EBITDAR。我們的庫存成長了 7.9%，這是由支持我們的成長計畫的每家商店庫存成長、庫存水準的改善以及新店成長共同推動的。淨庫存（定義為每家商店的商品庫存減去應付帳款）為負 168,000 美元，而去年為負 215,000 美元，上季度為負 164,000 美元。

As a result, accounts payable as a percent of inventory finished the quarter at 119.7% versus last year's 126.5%.

因此，本季應付帳款佔庫存的百分比為 119.7%，而去年為 126.5%。

Lastly, I'll spend a moment on capital allocation and our share repurchase program. We repurchased $735 million of AutoZone stock in the quarter. And at quarter end, we had $1.4 billion remaining under our share buyback authorization. We have bought back over 100% of the then outstanding shares of stock since our buyback inception in 1998, while investing in our existing assets and growing our business. We remain committed to a leverage target of 2.5x and a 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畫。我們在本季回購了價值 7.35 億美元的 AutoZone 股票。截至季末，我們的股票回購授權剩餘 14 億美元。自 1998 年回購開始以來，我們已經回購了超過 100% 的當時已發行股票，同時投資於我們的現有資產並發展我們的業務。我們仍然致力於 2.5 倍的槓桿目標和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。

So to wrap up, we remain committed to driving long-term shareholder value by investing in our growth initiatives, driving robust earnings and free cash flow and returning excess cash to our shareholders. We're growing our market share, expanding our margins and improving our competitive positioning in a disciplined way. And as we look forward to Q4, we remain bullish on our initiatives to grow sales behind a steady DIY business, a fast-growing international business and a domestic commercial business that remains underpenetrated. I continue to have tremendous confidence in our strategy and our ability to drive significant and ongoing value for our shareholders.

總而言之，我們仍然致力於透過投資我們的成長計劃、推動強勁的盈利和自由現金流以及將多餘的現金返還給股東來推動長期股東價值。我們正在以嚴格的方式擴大市場份額、擴大利潤並提高我們的競爭地位。當我們展望第四季時，我們仍然看好我們在穩定的 DIY 業務、快速成長的國際業務和仍然滲透不足的國內商業業務背後增加銷售額的舉措。我仍然對我們的策略以及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 Phil.

說到這裡，我會把它轉回給菲爾。

Thank you, Jamere. We are proud of the results our team delivered this last quarter. We remain on track to deliver a solid 2024, but we must continue to focus on superior customer service and flawless execution. Execution and our culture of always putting customer first are what defines us. We are well positioned to grow sales across our domestic and international store bases with both our retail and commercial customers. Our gross margins are solid and our operating expense structure is appropriate for future growth. We are putting our capital investments where they matter most, our stores, distribution centers and leveraging technology to build a superior customer service experience where we are able to say yes to our customers' need.

謝謝你，傑米爾。我們對我們的團隊上季度所取得的成果感到自豪。我們仍有望在 2024 年實現穩健的業績，但我們必須繼續專注於卓越的客戶服務和完美的執行。執行力和始終將客戶放在第一位的文化定義了我們。我們處於有利地位，可以增加我們國內和國際商店基地與零售和商業客戶的銷售。我們的毛利率穩定，我們的營運費用結構適合未來的成長。我們將資本投資投入最重要的地方，即我們的商店、配送中心，並利用科技打造卓越的客戶服務體驗，讓我們能夠滿足客戶的需求。

Fiscal 2024's top priority has been enhanced execution. We are making good progress. Additionally, we have many strategic projects in varying stages of completion. We will continue opening new Mega-Hub and Hubs, completing construction on our new distribution centers and optimizing our new direct import facility. We are also in the early stages of ramping up our domestic and international store growth. As discussed, our international teams posted same-store sales comps on a constant currency basis of plus 9.3%, continuing several years of strong growth. While I mentioned all these investments in FY '24, AutoZone's biggest opportunity remains growing share in our domestic commercial business. We continue to believe we have a solid plan in place for growth for the foreseeable future.

2024 財年的首要任務是加強執行力。我們正在取得良好進展。此外，我們還有許多處於不同完成階段的策略項目。我們將繼續開設新的巨型樞紐和樞紐，完成新配送中心的建設並優化我們新的直接進口設施。我們也處於加速國內和國際商店成長的早期階段。如所討論的，我們的國際團隊公佈的以固定匯率計算的同店銷售業績成長了 9.3%，持續了幾年的強勁成長。雖然我在 24 財年提到了所有這些投資，但 AutoZone 最大的機會仍然是增加我們國內商業業務的份額。我們仍然相信，我們為可預見的未來的成長制定了堅實的計劃。

We know our focus on parts availability and WOW! Customer Service will lead to additional sales growth. We are excited about what we can accomplish and our AutoZoners are committed to delivering the results. Now I'd like to open up the call for questions.

我們知道我們對零件可用性的關注，哇！客戶服務將帶來額外的銷售成長。我們對我們能夠取得的成就感到興奮，我們的 AutoZoners 致力於交付成果。現在我想開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question for today is from Bret Jordan with Jefferies.

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

Could you talk a little bit about the cadence? You commented at the end of the quarter in the commercial business ended a bit softer and obviously very early in Q4, but could you give us any color sort of as we've trended sequentially into the fourth?

能談談節奏嗎？您在季度末評論說，商業業務的結束有點疲軟，而且顯然在第四季度很早，但您能否給我們任何顏色，因為我們已經連續進入第四季度？

Yes. The commercial business, like we said, has been choppy. The last 4 weeks were the more difficult compares for the quarter and as we said several times, I hate being the weatherman, but this particular spring has been challenging for us from a wet and cooler season, and typically, in the latter half of the quarter, we start seeing some improved performance around the hot weather categories like AC chemicals and AC hard parts and battery sales, et cetera. And we just didn't get that through the last several weeks of the quarter.

是的。正如我們所說，商業業務一直不穩定。過去 4 週是本季比較困難的，正如我們多次說過的，我討厭成為天氣預報員，但這個特殊的春天對我們來說是一個挑戰，因為潮濕和涼爽的季節，通常是在下半年第在第二季度，我們開始看到AC 化學品、AC 硬零件和電池銷售等炎熱天氣類別的表現有所改善。我們只是在本季度的最後幾週沒有做到這一點。

Okay. And then I guess on a calendar year basis, could you maybe give us some color where you see inflation in pricing for your mix as the compares, I guess, get...

好的。然後我想在日曆年的基礎上，您能否給我們一些顏色，您會看到您的組合的定價通貨膨脹，因為比較，我想，得到...

Yes. On the inflation front, that has definitely been challenging as we've come off several years of hyperinflation, if you will, at our average unit retail on both the DIY side and the commercial side, frankly. I suspect the average unit retail same-SKU inflation would get back to more normal growth levels as we move further and further away from the inflation that we had over the previous years. Now those inflation numbers start to come back as we get in the later quarters of the calendar year, and I suspect they'll return to more normalized levels over time.

是的。在通貨膨脹方面，這絕對是一個挑戰，因為我們已經擺脫了幾年的惡性通貨膨脹，坦白說，如果你願意的話，我們在 DIY 方面和商業方面的平均單位零售量都是如此。我懷疑，隨著我們距離前幾年的通膨越來越遠，同 SKU 的平均單位零售通膨將恢復到更正常的成長水準。現在，隨著進入日曆年的後幾個季度，這些通膨數據開始回升，我懷疑隨著時間的推移，它們將恢復到更正常化的水平。

Your next question is from Chris Horvers with JPMorgan.

您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. First question on gross margin. The supply chain crisis aside, you've grown the commercial business pretty considerably over the past couple of years. So could you speak to, I guess, the degree of vendor rebates you've yet to receive? And how long you should benefit from this catch-up period for all the growth that you've had since prior to the pandemic?

克里斯汀·卡利諾 (Christian Carlino) 替補出場。第一個問題是關於毛利率。拋開供應鏈危機不談，在過去幾年裡，你們的商業業務已經有了相當大的成長。我想您能談談您尚未收到的供應商回扣程度嗎？對於自大流行之前以來的所有增長，您應該從這個追趕期中受益多長時間？

Well, certainly, our gross margins, as it relates to our relationship with vendors, has an opportunity improved. As Phil mentioned previously, we are coming off a period of significant hyperinflation, particularly in the areas like flat freight. Quite frankly, we saw snarls across the majority of the supply chain. It impacted them from the standpoint of having higher labor costs, higher input costs in total. So we're starting to see that abate, and that's given us an opportunity to go and negotiate for some deflation as we move forward. We're still in early innings there. And I wouldn't say that all of the inflationary pressures have abated, but we're certainly in a much better position today than we were a year ago.

嗯，當然，我們的毛利率，因為它與我們與供應商的關係有關，有機會得到改善。正如菲爾之前提到的，我們正在經歷一段嚴重的惡性通貨膨脹時期，特別是在統一貨運等領域。坦白說，我們看到大部分供應鏈都陷入混亂。從更高的勞動成本和更高的總投入成本的角度來看，這對他們產生了影響。因此，我們開始看到這種情況減弱，這給了我們在前進過程中就通貨緊縮進行談判的機會。我們還處於早期階段。我不會說所有的通膨壓力都已經減弱，但我們今天的處境肯定比一年前好得多。

Got it. That's helpful. And then now that you're starting to lap some of the earlier signs of maintenance deferral at some of the tire centers, are you starting to see trends improve with that cohort of customers? And just broadly, can you speak to the performance at like the national accounts, the tire centers, the buy here, pay here dealers and then the up and down the street mechanics?

知道了。這很有幫助。現在，您開始在一些輪胎中心看到一些維護延期的早期跡象，您是否開始看到這群客戶的趨勢有所改善？廣義而言，您能談談國民帳戶、輪胎中心、「在這裡購買、在這裡付款」經銷商以及街頭機械師的表現嗎？

I would say if you kind of broke apart those segments that you just talked about, probably the most challenged group of customers or customers that are -- drive their repair revenue from tires. Tires have definitely been a pressure point. I think that downward trend on tires has probably flattened out a little bit. But I still think the tire segment in particular, is under some pressure and has been for quite a while. On your other segment of customers, the buy here, pay here lot and used car centers, those have been more challenged as well. You think about there was tons of used cars that were sold over the last 2 years or so. And I think that's just been slower. Also, as the consumers under a little bit more economic pressure due to inflation, not just in our category but across all of retail and across life at the moment, I think there's more pressure on some of those bigger ticket items like tires. New tires is a pretty big purchase for our customer.

我想說，如果你把你剛才談到的那些細分市場分開，可能是最具挑戰性的客戶群或客戶——他們的維修收入來自於輪胎。輪胎無疑是一個壓力點。我認為輪胎的下降趨勢可能已經趨於平緩。但我仍然認為，特別是輪胎領域，承受著一定的壓力，而且這種壓力已經持續了很長一段時間。在您的其他客戶群中，在這裡購買、在這裡付款和二手車中心，這些也受到了更大的挑戰。您想一下，在過去兩年左右的時間裡，售出了大量二手車。我認為這只是速度變慢了。此外，由於通貨膨脹，消費者承受更大的經濟壓力，不僅是在我們的品類中，而且在目前所有零售業和生活中，我認為輪胎等一些大件商品面臨更大的壓力。對於我們的客戶來說，新輪胎是一筆相當大的購買。

Your next question for today is from Simeon Gutman with Morgan Stanley.

今天的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的西蒙古特曼。

My first question is on Mega-Hubs. Can you share some math on them? What -- you mentioned 200 over time, can you tell us year-over-year how many should we see per year? And then -- and can you frame the 1-year lift from them, please?

我的第一個問題是關於巨型樞紐的。你能分享一些關於它們的數學知識嗎？什麼——您提到隨著時間的推移會出現 200 個，您能告訴我們每年應該看到多少個嗎？然後——您能幫我們設計一下他們一年的提升嗎？

Yes. So certainly, from a Mega-Hub standpoint, we're pretty excited about our future there. As we've announced, we've -- we'll likely have over 200 Mega-Hubs at full build-out. Last year, we opened 20. We're likely going to open less than that this year. And we've got work to do. But our pipeline is very strong, and our pipeline is robust as we look into FY '25. So we're going to go as fast as we possibly can. These are big boxes and difficult-to-find places. But we've done a really good job and worked really hard to fill up that pipeline, and you'll start to see that accelerate as we move into FY '25 and beyond.

是的。當然，從超級樞紐的角度來看，我們對那裡的未來感到非常興奮。正如我們所宣布的，我們可能會擁有超過 200 個全面擴建的巨型中心。去年，我們新開了 20 家。我們還有工作要做。但我們的管道非常強大，當我們展望 25 財年時，我們的管道也很強大。所以我們會盡可能快地進行。這些都是大盒子而且很難找到的地方。但我們做得非常好，並且非常努力地填補了這一管道，隨著我們進入 25 財年及以後，您將開始看到這種加速。

Hubs are up -- I'll just add on. hubs are -- these have been great stores for us. I think looking over history, we thought we'd have 30 to 40 of these things in various markets. And now we see line of sight to, like Jamere said, well north of 200 Mega-Hubs, and the hubs are still an important part of our strategy as well, which has slightly less SKU count, well, 30,000 to 40,000 less SKUs than a Mega-Hub, but both of those store bases are great for us. They help significantly on the commercial side of the business, and they lift the DIY market as well. So they're great assets for us and performed better than our normal stores.

集線器已啟動 - 我將補充。中心——這些對我們來說都是很棒的商店。我認為回顧歷史，我們認為在不同的市場上我們會有 30 到 40 種這樣的東西。現在，正如 Jamere 所說，我們看到了 200 個巨型中心以北的視線，這些中心仍然是我們策略的重要組成部分，其 SKU 數量略少，嗯，比我們少 30,000 到 40,000 個 SKU一個超級中心，但這兩個商店基地對我們來說都很棒。它們對業務的商業方面有很大幫助，也提升了 DIY 市場。因此，它們對我們來說是巨大的資產，並且比我們的普通商店表現得更好。

And then can I ask -- I know you don't give forward guidance. In thinking about fiscal '25, the first half and the second half, are you -- is it fair to think that there's -- not a hockey stick, but it will be second half weighted? In other words, the top line backdrop improves mildly, hopefully from weather, but you are going to lap some big gross margin gains core, non-LIFO while you'll need the top line to lever the expenses. So it looks like you could see some second half weighting in next year. Curious if that's -- some thoughts on sequencing for next year.

然後我可以問一下——我知道你不會提供前瞻性指導。在考慮 25 財年的上半年和下半年時，您認為沒有曲棍球桿，但下半年會加權嗎？換句話說，收入背景略有改善，希望是由於天氣原因，但你將獲得一些巨大的核心毛利率收益，非後進先出，同時你需要收入來槓桿支出。所以看起來你可能會在明年下半年看到一些權重。很好奇這是否是——對明年排序的一些想法。

Yes. Like you said, we don't give guidance, but here's some things that I'll tell you that I'm excited about. One is, weather has been challenging. And we -- I think over summer -- summer is going to heat up. We should get some -- the merchandise categories and mix and things of that nature will help our sales as we move a little bit forward. And although slower than we'd like, our commercial initiatives are working, and we think those will continue to mature over time. And in a segment where we're underpenetrated in share, below 5% share on the commercial business, we think we have ample opportunity to continue to grow over time with improved service, improved hard part and expanded part availability and better service and delivery on the -- based on the things we talked about, parts investments, Mega-Hub investments and technology investments that will grow our sales.

是的。就像你說的，我們不提供指導，但我會告訴你一些令我興奮的事情。一是天氣充滿挑戰。我認為整個夏天，夏天將會變暖。我們應該得到一些——商品類別和組合以及類似性質的東西將有助於我們的銷售，因為我們向前邁進了一點。儘管比我們希望的要慢，但我們的商業計劃正在發揮作用，我們認為隨著時間的推移，這些計劃將繼續成熟。在我們的份額滲透不足（商業業務份額低於5%）的細分市場中，我們認為我們有充足的機會隨著時間的推移透過改進服務、改進硬部件​​和擴大部件可用性以及更好的服務和交付來繼續成長。

But it won't be -- it's not going to be a hockey stick that turns around in 6 weeks or something. It's going to take time.

但它不會——它不會是一根 6 週內就可以轉動的曲棍球棒或類似的東西。這需要時間。

Your next question is from Greg Melich with Evercore ISI.

您的下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Greg Melich。

I wanted to follow up on inflation because it sounds like it was still across the box slightly positive in the quarter. And -- but I think I heard in commercial that it was same SKU, slightly negative. So could you just give us a little more of the detail on that?

我想追蹤通膨情況，因為聽起來本季通膨仍然略為正值。而且——但我想我在廣告中聽說它是相同的 SKU，但略有負面。那麼您能給我們更多詳細資訊嗎？

Yes. I think 2 things from an inflation standpoint. Number one, the backdrop is we're coming off a period of significantly more inflation last year. So as we look at this year and look at that impact on our ticket growth, our ticket growth is lower than it's been historically. And quite frankly, that's had an impact on the top line growth. You've heard me say a number of times that while hyperinflation is difficult from a cost standpoint, from a top line standpoint, inflation has been our (inaudible), and we just don't have that tailwind right now. We do expect inflation to normalize over time, but the high freight cost that we had and the significant inflation that we had in the industry, it's just not there right now. And this industry has been very disciplined about passing that inflation through, but also in times where the inflation is not there. We've also been disciplined about the pace with which retails are raised.

是的。從通貨膨脹的角度來看，我認為有兩件事。第一，背景是我們正在擺脫去年通膨大幅上升的時期。因此，當我們回顧今年並看看這對我們的門票增長的影響時，我們的門票增長低於歷史水平。坦白說，這對營收成長產生了影響。你已經聽我說過很多次了，雖然從成本的角度來看，惡性通貨膨脹是困難的，但從頂線的角度來看，通貨膨脹一直是我們的（聽不清楚），而且我們現在沒有那種順風。我們確實預計通貨膨脹會隨著時間的推移而正常化，但我們的高運費和行業中的嚴重通貨膨脹，現在還沒有出現。這個行業在度過通貨膨脹方面一直非常自律，而且在通貨膨脹不存在的時候也是如此。我們也嚴格控制零售額成長的速度。

So we feel pretty good with where we are in total. We think inflation is going to return. But right now, it's running significantly lower than it was a year ago and lower than what we've seen historically.

所以我們對我們的整體狀況感覺很好。我們認為通膨將會回歸。但現在，它的運行速度明顯低於一年前，也低於我們歷史上看到的水平。

And just to be clear, in the quarter, it was 0?

需要明確的是，在本季度，它是 0？

Yes, we saw ticket growth across the business to be very muted in the quarter. And we're seeing some inflation in certain categories and other categories we're seeing hardly any inflation. And as we manage our way through that, we've just got to make sure that we're pricing dynamically to price for inflation where we see it and in places where you don't see it. Obviously, we're being disciplined like this industry has been for a really long time.

是的，我們看到本季整個業務的門票成長非常緩慢。我們在某些​​類別中看到了一些通貨膨脹，而在其他類別中我們幾乎沒有看到任何通貨膨脹。當我們設法解決這個問題時，我們必須確保我們的定價動態符合通貨膨脹的價格，無論是在我們看到通貨膨脹的地方，還是在你看不到通貨膨脹的地方。顯然，我們正像這個行業長期以來一樣受到紀律約束。

Got it. So still discipline and you expect it to normalize, but right now, it's not, it's on the...

知道了。所以仍然有紀律，你希望它能夠正常化，但現在，它不是，而是......

Yes, it's pretty muted right now.

是的，現在很安靜。

Yes. Fair enough. And then my follow-up was just to understand a little bit more about the consumer trends. I know you've talked in the past that we really haven't seen trade down on the DIY side at all. I'm just curious if that started to show up as a way. I think you mentioned maybe fewer items in the basket. Could you just double-click on that a little bit?

是的。很公平。然後我的後續行動只是為了更多地了解消費趨勢。我知道您過去曾說過，我們實際上根本沒有看到 DIY 方面的折價。我只是好奇這是否開始成為一種方式。我想你提到的籃子裡的東西可能更少。能雙擊一下嗎？

Yes. It's a great question. I think there's a couple of things going on with -- if you kind of think about average ticket, some of it, frankly, has been mix of category and I'll talk about it in a couple of different ways. One is highly discretionary items have been challenged for a while. Some of those have a great ticket. There's probably slightly fewer pieces in the basket. But I think some of that has been driven by the environment and the weather. Big jobs like air conditioning, if you will, those have been definitely muted in the spring time. Those are big jobs that have big tickets, multiple parts in them. When it rains, you're probably going to sell 2 wiper blades, and when it's nice, people decide to do a tune up, you may have all kinds of filters that have significantly more parts transactions -- pieces per transaction.

是的。這是一個很好的問題。我認為有一些事情正在發生——如果你考慮平均票價，坦白說，其中一些是不同類別的混合，我會用幾種不同的方式來談論它。一是高度自由裁量權的項目在一段時間內受到了挑戰。其中一些人有一張很好的門票。籃子裡的東西可能稍微少一點。但我認為其中一些是由環境和天氣驅動的。如果你願意的話，像空調這樣的大工作在春天肯定已經被靜音了。這些工作量很大，涉及多個部分。下雨的時候，你可能會賣掉2 個雨刷片，而天氣好的時候，人們決定進行調整，你可能會擁有各種過濾器，這些過濾器的零件交易量顯著增加- 每筆交易的零件數。

So I think ticket average will improve. It's not going to be improved based on hyperinflation like we've had over the last couple of years, but I do believe it will improve as we move through the summertime and get a better mix of product as we move through some of this more challenging weather scenario.

所以我認為平均票價將會提高。它不會像過去幾年那樣基於惡性通貨膨脹而得到改善，但我確實相信，隨著我們度過夏季，它會得到改善，並在我們度過一些更具挑戰性的過程中獲得更好的產品組合天氣場景。

Your next question for today is from Scot Ciccarelli with Truist.

今天的下一個問題來自 Scot Ciccarelli 和 Truist。

Given the slowdown in sales that obviously we're talking about, is there anything else you guys think you can do to accelerate the sales trends? Or is it just a matter of executing the way you can and you need the broader environment to improve?

考慮到我們顯然正在談論的銷售放緩，你們認為還有什麼可以做來加速銷售趨勢嗎？或者這只是你能採取的方式執行的問題，而你需要更廣泛的環境來改進？

And then kind of part 2 of this is, is there a point at some stage where if sales stayed sluggish, does it potentially tempt you to go through another round of price investments? I know that wasn't the original intent, but a long period of further sales could potentially raise that sensation, I would think.

第二部分是，在某個階段，如果銷售持續低迷，是否會誘使您進行另一輪價格投資？我知道這不是最初的意圖，但我認為，長期的進一步銷售可能會引發這種感覺。

Yes. Let me start with kind of your first -- the first part of your question. Are there things that we can do to improve? The answer is yes. We're in the process now of doubling down on customer service and execution. And on the commercial side, we're continuing on both sides. We're continuing to invest in hard parts coverage and hubs and mega hubs. Those drive sales. On the commercial side, we continue to invest in ways to service the customer better and faster, and we like those initiatives that we have. So I think those help to improve our sales execution, if you will.

是的。讓我從你的第一部分開始——你問題的第一部分。我們可以做些什麼來改進嗎？答案是肯定的。我們現在正在加倍加強客戶服務和執行力。在商業方面，我們正在雙方繼續。我們將繼續投資於硬零件覆蓋範圍以及樞紐和大型樞紐。這些推動了銷售。在商業方面，我們繼續投資於更好、更快地為客戶提供服務的方法，我們喜歡我們所採取的這些措施。所以我認為這些有助於提升我們的銷售執行力，如果你願意的話。

The second part of the question...

問題的第二部分...

The second part is on pricing. From a pricing standpoint, as I mentioned before, we've been very disciplined on pricing, and we executed around the pricing initiatives a couple of years and it helped us grow our shares and improve our units. We like where we're priced today, and we don't see the need to go move the needle on pricing as a way to go accelerate sales growth. I'll just remind you that the lion's share of the demand in this business is relatively inelastic. So this industry has been disciplined about pricing for decades, and we continue to see that being the case. And to Phil's point, I mean, we're committed and doubling down on our growth initiatives. It's improving the quality of our parts, it's expanding the assortments with Mega-Hubs, it's improving delivery times, leveraging technologies, being competitive on pricing, all those are the kinds of things that are driving our business as we move forward, and we're pretty excited about the future.

第二部分是關於定價。從定價的角度來看，正如我之前提到的，我們在定價方面一直非常嚴格，我們圍繞定價措施執行了幾年，這幫助我們增加了股票並改善了我們的單位。我們喜歡今天的定價，我們認為沒有必要透過調整定價來加速銷售成長。我只是提醒您，這個行業的大部分需求相對缺乏彈性。因此，幾十年來，這個行業一直在定價方面受到嚴格約束，而且我們仍然看到這種情況。對於菲爾的觀點，我的意思是，我們致力於並加倍努力我們的成長計劃。它提高了我們零件的質量，它通過大型中心擴大了品種，它提高了交貨時間，利用技術，在價格上具有競爭力，所有這些都是推動我們業務前進的因素，我們對未來感到非常興奮。

(inaudible).

（聽不清楚）。

Yes. Our pricing strategies on both DIY. We like where we are. And we believe we have the right strategies on both sides of the business. We made those investments several years ago to rightsize those strategies. The industry has been very disciplined on pricing over a long period of time, and we don't see that changing.

是的。我們對 DIY 的定價策略。我們喜歡我們現在所處的位置。我們相信我們的業務雙方都有正確的策略。我們幾年前進行了這些投資，以調整這些策略的規模。長期以來，該行業在定價方面一直非常嚴格，我們認為這種情況不會改變。

Your next question is from Kate McShane with Goldman Sachs.

您的下一個問題來自高盛的 Kate McShane。

I just wanted to clarify. I think you mentioned in the prepared comments a mention of store growth. And I wondered if that was more of a domestic comment versus international comment? Should we see an acceleration of the store openings here? And we wondered if just with the sheer amount of growth you've seen over the last few years, do you think some of the demand weakness that you're seeing is just due to the sheer volume of what your current store base is handling?

我只是想澄清一下。我認為您在準備好的評論中提到了商店的成長。我想知道這是否更多的是國內評論而不是國際評論？我們應該看到這裡的商店開業加速嗎？我們想知道，僅考慮過去幾年您所看到的巨大增長量，您是否認為您所看到的部分需求疲軟僅僅是由於您當前的商店基礎處理的數量龐大？

Yes. We've talked several quarters ago about our aspirations to expand and accelerate our store growth in the back half of the decade. We historically have built about 150 stores, give or take a few, in domestically. And we think that we can significantly expand that number as we move forward. The drivers there, obviously, are the growth opportunities that we see in DIY, but also a significant growth opportunity in commercial. And as we look at that, along with the expanded trade areas in the U.S., there's an opportunity for us to expand our business domestically, and we're going to do that by accelerating our store growth as we move through the balance of the decade.

是的。幾個季度前，我們已經談到了我們在本世紀後半葉擴大和加速商店成長的願望。歷史上，我們在國內開設了大約 150 家商店（數量不等）。我們認為，隨著我們的前進，我們可以顯著擴大這個數字。顯然，驅動因素是我們在 DIY 領域看到的成長機會，同時也是商業領域的重要成長機會。當我們看到這一點時，隨著美國貿易區域的擴大，我們有機會擴大國內業務，我們將透過在這十年的餘下時間加速我們的商店成長來實現這一目標。

And then internationally, we've been extremely pleased with what we've seen in Mexico, and we like the growth prospects that we've seen in Brazil. And you've seen what we've posted in terms of same-store sales comp growth now for several quarters. And there's an opportunity for us to go faster there as well. So that accelerated store growth is certainly a part of our future growth strategy, and it will help us become a faster growing business as we move forward.

然後在國際上，我們對在墨西哥看到的情況非常滿意，我們喜歡在巴西看到的成長前景。您已經看到了我們發布的幾個季度的同店銷售業績成長情況。我們也有機會在那裡走得更快。因此，加速商店成長無疑是我們未來成長策略的一部分，它將幫助我們在前進過程中成為一家成長更快的企業。

And then your comment about the capacity of our stores. I mean one of the things that we've done over time is we've continued to optimize the footprint of our satellite stores and then augment that with what we've done with Hubs and Mega-Hubs to jam more parts in a local market closer to customers. It's an important part of the growth strategy, both on the DIY and the commercial side of the business, and we'll continue to do that as we move forward, which is one of the reasons why we talked about expanding the number of Mega-Hubs that we have and our Mega-Hub count will be north of 200 at full build-out.

然後是您對我們商店容量的評論。我的意思是，隨著時間的推移，我們所做的一件事是，我們繼續優化衛星商店的佔地面積，然後通過我們在集線器和大型集線器上所做的事情來擴大這一範圍，以將更多零件塞進當地市場更貼近客戶。無論是在業務的 DIY 方面還是在商業方面，這都是成長策略的重要組成部分，隨著我們的前進，我們將繼續這樣做，這也是我們談論擴大 Mega- 數量的原因之一。 ，我們擁有的樞紐和巨型樞紐數量將超過200 個。

SP1 We just wish they'd come faster. Those building new stores takes -- it's a long tail from the time you sign a contract at the time we actually open the doors and start selling parts out of them. It just takes longer than we'd like.

SP1 我們只是希望他們能來得更快。那些建立新商店需要——從你簽訂合約到我們真正開門並開始銷售零件的時間，這是一個很長的尾巴。只是花費的時間比我們想要的時間長。

Your next question is from Seth Sigman with Barclays.

您的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的塞思·西格曼。

A couple of follow-ups from my side. So when I look at the gap between your DIY business and the commercial business, it just seems narrower than it's been in the past, certainly pre-pandemic, and that's been happening in the last couple of quarters. And if you look at DIY down 1%. It's actually not that different than the range we've seen in the past. So it's really commercial at this lower run rate. I know there's a lot of moving pieces here, but it's more of a macro question, right? Do you think that the commercial-end customer is just slowing more? And maybe that's deferral, maybe that's trading down, I'm not sure. But I guess that's really what we're trying to figure out.

我這邊有一些後續行動。因此，當我審視 DIY 業務和商業業務之間的差距時，它似乎比過去更窄，尤其是在大流行之前，而且這種情況在過去幾個季度一直在發生。如果你看看 DIY，下降了 1%。實際上，它與我們過去看到的範圍沒有太大不同。因此，在如此低的運行速度下，它確實是商業化的。我知道這裡有很多變化，但這更多的是一個宏觀問題，對吧？您是否認為商業端客戶的速度正在放緩？也許這是延期，也許是降價，我不確定。但我想這確實是我們想要弄清楚的。

Is that commercial-end customer that may be more middle-income consumer trading down a little bit more?

那些可能屬於中等收入消費者的商業終端客戶的消費水準是否會下降一些？

Yes, that's tough to figure out exactly what's going on in commercial when you start talking about how is the customer migrating up or down the cost curve, if you will. We don't get near the segmentation on the commercial side that we do on the DIY side and the retail side of the business. But is the customer trading down, I think if you look at some of the segments that we have, that are more challenged, thinking tires, right? Tire purchase could be well north of $1,000 for a customer. Those -- that segment has been challenged for sure. Some of the new car and used car dealer segments have been a little more challenged, partly because I think they're not selling as many units. So those 2 segments have been challenged.

是的，如果你願意的話，當你開始談論客戶如何沿著成本曲線向上或向下遷移時，很難準確地弄清楚商業中到底發生了什麼。我們在商業方面沒有像在 DIY 方面和零售方面那樣進行細分。但我想，如果你看看我們擁有的一些更具挑戰性的細分市場，例如輪胎，客戶的交易是否會下降，對嗎？客戶購買輪胎的費用可能遠遠超過 1,000 美元。那些——這個部分肯定受到了挑戰。一些新車和二手車經銷商部門面臨的挑戰更大一些，部分原因是我認為他們的銷售量沒有那麼多。所以這兩個部分都受到挑戰了。

So if you think are customers migrating down because of bigger jobs or down the good, better, best column? I think that's probably true that a customer may -- they may have normally taken a car to an OE dealer, do they then migrate to a Firestone or something of that nature, and do they migrate to the UDS customer or do the job themselves. I think you could see that, but it's very hard to understand how customers move on the commercial side of the business.

那麼，如果您認為客戶是因為更大的工作而向下遷移，還是因為好的、更好、最好的欄位而向下遷移？我認為這可能是真的，客戶可能會——他們通常會將汽車帶到 OE 經銷商處，然後他們會遷移到 Firestone 或類似的東西，然後他們會遷移到 UDS 客戶還是自己做這項工作。我想你可以看到這一點，但很難理解客戶如何在業務的商業方面移動。

And I think part of that as we think of the commercial market in general, that's why we've been focused on this notion that we're roughly a (inaudible) and what's approaching $100 billion market. Despite the fact that big ticket is pressured across really all of retail and certainly, a big ticket purchase in auto parts is not immune to those dynamics, I mean we still have an opportunity to grow significantly in commercial and an opportunity to grow significantly faster. And so all the things that Phil talked about in terms of our initiatives are the things that we're focused on. And if we do those things and execute on them, -- and that gives us an opportunity to really accelerate our commercial growth as we move forward.

我認為，當我們總體上看待商業市場時，這就是為什麼我們一直關注這樣一個概念：我們大致上是一個（聽不清楚）且接近 1000 億美元的市場。儘管事實上所有零售業都面臨著大額購買的壓力，當然，汽車零件的大額購買也不能倖免於這些動態，但我的意思是，我們仍然有機會在商業領域顯著增長，並且有機會顯著更快地成長。因此，菲爾在我們的倡議方面談到的所有事情都是我們關注的事情。如果我們做這些事情並執行它們，那就給我們一個機會，在我們前進的過程中真正加速我們的商業成長。

And just on that last point around accelerating commercial, you mentioned a number of initiatives around service and delivery. Can you just help us better understand operationally what is actually changing? Are we adding people? Are we adding routes and just how to think about that. And it sounds like you've had some success early on in some of the markets where you have deployed some of these changes. Any sense on the lift they're seeing there that gives you that confidence?

就在關於加速商業化的最後一點上，您提到了一些圍繞服務和交付的舉措。您能否幫助我們更了解實際發生的變化？我們要加人嗎？我們是否要添加路線以及如何考慮這一點。聽起來您在一些已經部署了一些變革的市場中已經取得了一些成功。他們在電梯上看到的任何感覺給了你信心？

Yes. I think we are seeing success, again, still relatively small in our rollout, and that rollout is not very mature at the moment. But we're leveraging some technology, leveraging the technology to handhelds and other technology in our stores to be smarter about how we deliver and where we deliver a part from. We're ultimately able to get the part to the shop faster than we were previously, and we're leveraging all of the assets we have in the local market to get those parts to a customer faster. And we like the results that we're seeing.

是的。我認為我們再次看到了成功，但我們的推出仍然相對較小，而且目前的推出還不是很成熟。但我們正在利用一些技術，將這些技術應用於手持設備和商店中的其他技術，以便更聰明地了解我們如何交付零件以及從哪裡交付零件。我們最終能夠比以前更快地將零件送到商店，並且我們正在利用我們在當地市場上擁有的所有資產，更快地將這些零件送到客戶手中。我們喜歡我們所看到的結果。

We believe that as we roll these out, our sales will improve in those markets. And ultimately, we'll provide better customer service and gain new customers as well as share of wallet with existing customers.

我們相信，隨著我們推出這些產品，我們在這些市場的銷售額將會提高。最終，我們將提供更好的客戶服務並贏得新客戶並與現有客戶分享錢包。

Your next question for today is from Brian Nagel with Oppenheimer.

今天的下一個問題來自布萊恩·內格爾和奧本海默。

So the first question I have, I know that we've already had a number of questions on commercial, but so I apologize also asking about commercial. But this is in the near term, if I heard the prepared comments correctly, it sounded like you expected a bit of a strength in here into the end of fiscal '24, the fourth period. So the question I have is, as you look at the business, I think comparisons do get easier. But are there specific sort of say, building blocks, which could help to strengthen the business here in the very near term?

我的第一個問題是，我知道我們已經有很多關於商業的問題，但我很抱歉也問了關於商業的問題。但這是在短期內，如果我正確地聽到了準備好的評論，聽起來你預計到 24 財年第四期末會有一點強勢。所以我的問題是，當你審視業務時，我認為比較確實變得更容易。但是否有特定的建置模組可以幫助在短期內加強這裡的業務？

I think you got 2 dynamics. One, as you mentioned before, is that the comparisons do get a little bit easier in the fourth quarter if you look at our grow-over numbers. But the second one is just the initiatives that Phil talked about. I mean we're -- we've been really focused on jamming more parts in the local markets, and we've done a great job of doing that, and that's paying dividends for us. And then we've been focused on service and delivery speed. And if we can win the game in terms of parts availability with jamming those parts in the local market and we can get them to the customer faster, those are things that are going to drive our business as we move forward. So again, we're excited about where we are and excited about the opportunity to accelerate our growth as we move forward.

我認為你有兩個動力。其一，正如您之前提到的，如果您查看我們的成長數據，那麼第四季度的比較確實會變得容易一些。但第二個就是菲爾談到的舉措。我的意思是，我們一直專注於在當地市場投入更多零件，我們在這方面做得很好，這為我們帶來了紅利。然後我們一直專注於服務和交付速度。如果我們能夠透過在當地市場塞滿這些零件來贏得零件供應方面的競爭，並且我們能夠更快地將它們交付給客戶，那麼這些都將推動我們業務的發展。再說一次，我們對我們所處的位置感到興奮，並對在我們前進的過程中加速我們成長的機會感到興奮。

There are always macro challenges that you have to fight your way through and big ticket is pressured. But you combine the fact that we're underpenetrated. We've got a full slate of growth initiatives in place, those are the things that get us excited about the future.

總有一些宏觀挑戰需要你去克服，而且大票也面臨壓力。但你結合了我們滲透不足的事實。我們已經制定了一整套成長計劃，這些讓我們對未來感到興奮。

My follow-up, again, it's also a follow-up. But just with respect to the consumer, look, you operate in a unique part of retail. A lot of the spend that happens at your stores is not necessarily discretionary. But there's a lot of chatter out there right now across consumer about maybe some incremental pressures on the lower-income consumer. So the question is, are you seeing that -- as you look at your business and the data is available to you, are you seeing clearly or somewhat clearly signs of incremental pressure on this core consumer that's affected their shopping patterns?

我的後續行動，同樣，這也是後續行動。但就消費者而言，你看，你在零售業的一個獨特部分開展業務。您商店中發生的許多支出不一定是可自由支配的。但現在消費者中有很多關於低收入消費者可能面臨的增量壓力的討論。所以問題是，當您查看您的業務並獲得可用數據時，您是否看到這一點，您是否清楚或有些明顯地看到了影響核心消費者購物模式的壓力增加的跡象？

Yes. I think big ticket, I think, has been a challenge for the consumer in all of retail, not just us. Like you said, big pieces of our business are brake fix, starter, alternator, battery, your car is down, you've got to fix it. And those tickets, while they're large, they're not -- it's not thousands of dollars. It's -- a starter and an alternator could be a couple of hundred bucks. Certainly puts pressure on the low-end consumer to have that money come out of pocket and they're under pressure. But discretionary categories have been under pressure for, frankly, quite some time. They all exploded during the pandemic when there was a lot of money in the consumer's pocket. And they've certainly been more challenged over the last 18 to 24 months, and that continues. But maintenance items, I think as customers get more cash strapped, they look at -- if I take care of my car, I know that it will perform better and save me money in the long run.

是的。我認為大額門票對整個零售業的消費者來說都是一個挑戰，而不僅僅是我們。就像你說的，我們的主要業務是煞車修理、起動機、交流發電機、電池，你的車壞了，你必須修理它。這些門票雖然很大，但不是——不是幾千美元。一個啟動器和一個交流發電機可能要幾百美元。這肯定會給低端消費者帶來壓力，要求他們自掏腰包，也面臨壓力。但坦白說，非必需類別在相當長一段時間內一直面臨壓力。當消費者的口袋裡有很多錢時，它們都在大流行期間爆發了。在過去 18 到 24 個月裡，他們確實面臨更多的挑戰，而且這種情況還在繼續。但是維修項目，我認為，隨著客戶變得更加手頭拮据，他們會考慮——如果我保養好我的車，我知道從長遠來看它會表現得更好，並為我省錢。

So maintenance items have a tendency to start to trickle up over time. And then the failure items, if you're going to get the car back on the road, you've got to purchase it. We don't have a lot of good, better, best categories. We have some in brakes and a couple of other categories, but that's not a big piece of our business. The vast majority of our sales are on application parts that have -- you have 1 choice and the customer buys that part to get their car back on the road. And we think that will continue.

因此，隨著時間的推移，維護項目往往會開始逐漸增加。然後是失敗的物品，如果你想讓車子重新上路，你必須購買它。我們沒有很多好的、更好的、最好的類別。我們有一些煞車和其他幾個類別的產品，但這並不是我們業務的重要組成部分。我們的絕大多數銷售都來自於應用部件，您有 1 個選擇，客戶購買該部件是為了讓他們的汽車重新上路。我們認為這種情況將會持續下去。

Your next question for today is from Michael Lasser with UBS.

今天的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團 (UBS) 的 Michael Lasser。

Phil, how would you compare and contrast this year for the aftermarket to 2017, which was the last year of challenged trends within the industry. And in your mind, is it really just a function of more cooperative weather that will drive an acceleration for the industry from here? Or do you think something else needs to happen in order for the backdrop to be more favorable?

Phil，您如何將今年的售後市場與 2017 年進行比較和對比，2017 年是行業內趨勢面臨挑戰的最後一年。在您看來，這真的只是更合作的天氣的作用，將推動該行業從這裡加速嗎？或者您認為需要發生其他事情才能使背景變得更有利？

It's a great question. I was wondering when the tough weather questions from a winter perspective would come up, and that was kind of that 16%, 17% range you're talking about. It's a great question. It's frankly, when we talk about internally all the time. We've had a pretty soft winter weather pattern for the last 2 years. And when I kind of look across the country, this winter pattern, we got some pretty good weather from a precipitation, snow and temperatures in the Midwest. We got very soft weather patterns relative to driving brake fix part failures on the Eastern seaboard. Wasn't a lot of snow in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, D.C. And we didn't have a lot of cold temperatures in those markets.

這是一個很好的問題。我想知道從冬季角度來看，惡劣天氣問題何時會出現，這就是你所說的 16%、17% 範圍。這是一個很好的問題。坦白說，當我們一直在談論內部時。過去兩年，我們的冬季天氣非常溫和。當我放眼全國時，這個冬季模式中，我們從中西部地區的降水、降雪和氣溫中得到了一些相當好的天氣。相對於東海岸的行駛煞車修理零件故障，我們得到了非常溫和的天氣模式。紐約、波士頓、費城特區沒有下很多雪，而且這些市場的氣溫也沒有太低。

And those typically have meant undercar and brake categories performed very well when you have those types of seasonal patterns. We didn't get that this year and frankly, didn't get it last year. So it's a little undetermined what happens in a long period of time where you haven't had those weather patterns with categories in that half of the country. So I think that is yet to be seen. We don't have the inflation that we had probably back in '17, '18 and frankly, over the last 2 years to be a benefit. But I do think we'll get a better mix of categories going into the summer selling season than we've had in Q3. So I don't know if I'm really answering your question. I think that's yet to be seen. And I think it will prove out over the next 4 months or so.

這些通常意味著當您具有這些類型的季節性模式時，車底和煞車類別表現得非常好。我們今年沒有得到這一點，坦白說，去年也沒有得到它。因此，在很長一段時間內，如果你沒有在該國的那一半地區出現具有類別的天氣模式，那麼會發生什麼有點不確定。所以我認為這還有待觀察。我們沒有像 17 年、18 年那樣的通貨膨脹，坦白說，過去兩年的通貨膨脹是一種福利。但我確實認為，進入夏季銷售季節，我們將獲得比第三季更好的類別組合。所以我不知道我是否真的回答了你的問題。我認為這還有待觀察。我認為這將在未來 4 個月左右的時間內得到證明。

Okay. My follow-up question is on the underlying gross margin trend outside of the LIFO benefit. It sounds like the LIFO could be about a $20 million drag in 4Q. How much more room do you have to improve the underlying gross margin to offset that type of headwind that you're going to experience especially as you move into next year where comps could remain uncertain and the market was still expecting double-digit EPS growth?

好的。我的後續問題是關於後進先出收益之外的基本毛利率趨勢。聽起來 LIFO 可能會在第四季拖累約 2000 萬美元。您還有多少空間可以提高基本毛利率，以抵消您將要經歷的那種逆風，特別是當您進入明年時，比較可能仍存在不確定性，並且市場仍預期每股收益將實現兩位數增長？

So what I'll say is we've run the gross margin play with intensity and our merchandising teams, and our supply chain teams have done a fantastic job. You saw last quarter, we had -- this past quarter, we had almost 90 basis points of margin improvement strictly from what we're doing on the merchandising side and what we're doing with the supply chain. I wouldn't suggest that those numbers are going to be as high as we move forward. We are coming out of a period where we had some pretty significant inflation that we got some deflation. And as we mentioned a little bit earlier, we're not getting the ticket necessarily to help us from a gross margin standpoint. So that will be muted some. But we believe that we'll have the potential to offset most, if not all of the pressure that you see from a LIFO standpoint.

所以我要說的是，我們的毛利率非常高，我們的銷售團隊和供應鏈團隊做得非常好。你可以看到上個季度，我們在上個季度的利潤率提高了近 90 個基點，嚴格來說，從我們在銷售方面所做的事情以及我們在供應鏈方面所做的事情來看。我不認為這些數字會隨著我們的進展而變得那麼高。我們正在經歷一段相當嚴重的通貨膨脹和通貨緊縮的時期。正如我們之前提到的，從毛利率的角度來看，我們獲得的門票不一定能幫助我們。所以這會被靜音一些。但我們相信，我們將有潛力抵消大部分（如果不是全部）從後進先出的角度看到的壓力。

Your final question for today is from Max Rakhlenko with TD Cowen.

今天的最後一個問題是 Max Rakhlenko 和 TD Cowen 提出的。

So first, on the speed initiative, can you discuss the pace of the rollout? And when we think -- when we should think that it will be in majority or all of the markets that you have Mega-Hub in.

首先，關於速度倡議，您能討論一下推出的速度嗎？當我們認為——當我們應該認為它將在大多數或所有擁有巨型中心的市場中出現時。

We've been working on this for probably a year, 1.5 years, and we started seeing the results that we really liked earlier this year and started ramping it up. we're probably in the middle innings, if you will, of rolling that out to our stores. We've got -- in our networks, we've got some more to go. And we'll continue to add incremental stores as we move through the process. But I would say we're in middle innings. We do believe that as we roll this out, again, we believe we get better customer service, faster time to shop. And we believe with that better customer service, we'll gain new customers and grow share of wallet. It won't be an immediate snap, but we like the efforts and the growth that we're seeing in those markets.

我們已經為此工作了大約一年，1.5 年，今年早些時候我們開始看到我們真正喜歡的結果，並開始加強。如果你願意的話，我們可能正處於將其推廣到我們的商店的中間階段。在我們的網路中，我們還有更多的工作要做。隨著流程的推進，我們將繼續增加增量商店。但我想說我們正處於中局。我們確實相信，當我們推出這項服務時，我們相信我們會得到更好的客戶服務，更快的購物時間。我們相信，透過更好的客戶服務，我們將贏得新客戶並增加錢包份額。這不會是一蹴可幾的事情，但我們喜歡在這些市場中看到的努力和成長。

That's great. And then just as a follow-up, on the slower Mega-Hubs openings, is that more structural? Is it tougher to find boxes in the right areas? Or is it about execution opportunities on your end? And then it does sound like that the opening should start to accelerate in the next few quarters. Is that right?

那太棒了。然後，作為後續行動，在較慢的大型樞紐開放方面，這是否更具結構性？在正確的區域找到盒子是否更難？還是關於你的執行機會？聽起來確實應該在接下來的幾季開始加速開放。是對的嗎？

The openings will definitely accelerate, and Phil has sort of smiled at me because I own store development as part of my finance responsibilities. And so this is one of my primary objectives for this year. They are big boxes in hard-to-find locations. We've been working through what we need to do from an execution standpoint. I will say it's anybody that's doing new store construction across the business know how challenging the market has been over the last couple of years or so. But we've worked our way through a lot of those challenges this fiscal year. We like the pipeline that we've built, and we expect to see that accelerate as we move into FY '25.

開業肯定會加速，菲爾對我微笑，因為我負責商店開發，這是我財務職責的一部分。所以這是我今年的主要目標之一。它們是位於難以找到的位置的大盒子。我們一直在從執行的角度研究我們需要做的事情。我想說的是，任何在整個行業進行新店建設的人都知道過去幾年左右市場面臨的挑戰有多大。但本財年我們已經克服了許多挑戰。我們喜歡我們已經建立的管道，並且預計隨著我們進入 25 財年，這條管道將會加速。

I think the good thing is we know exactly where we want these stores in every metro market or adding multiples to a given city or an individual market that may have a smaller number of stores. We know where we want to be. We want to make sure we get them at the right distance from our current locations. And they've got to have good routes, so they're easily accessible to the other markets. And then you got to find the spot that is a great retail location and a great place to do to fulfill and get these expanded parts to our shops and our stores fast. And it's just -- it takes time. We'd love to go faster because they're great boxes for us, and they know they help us on both DIY and commercial.

我認為好處是我們確切地知道我們想要在每個都市區市場中的什麼地方開設這些商店，或者在特定城市或可能擁有較少商店數量的單一市場中增加多個商店。我們知道我們想去哪裡。我們希望確保它們位於目前位置正確的距離。他們必須擁有良好的路線，以便能夠輕鬆到達其他市場。然後你必須找到一個很棒的零售地點和一個很好的地方來滿足和快速將這些擴展的零件運送到我們的商店和我們的商店。這只是——這需要時間。我們希望速度更快，因為它們對我們來說是很棒的盒子，而且他們知道它們在 DIY 和商業方面都能幫助我們。

So before we conclude the call, I'd like to take a moment to reiterate that we believe our industry is in a strong position and our business model is solid. We are excited about our growth prospects for the remainder of the year, but will take nothing for granted as we understand our customers have alternatives to shopping with us. We have exciting plans that should help us succeed for the future, but I want to stress that this is a marathon and not a sprint.

因此，在我們結束電話會議之前，我想花點時間重申一下，我們相信我們的產業處於強勢地位，我們的商業模式也很穩固。我們對今年剩餘時間的成長前景感到興奮，但我們不會認為這是理所當然的，因為我們了解客戶除了在我們這裡購物之外還有其他選擇。我們有令人興奮的計劃，應該有助於我們在未來取得成功，但我想強調，這是一場馬拉松，而不是短跑。

As we continue to focus on the basics, and strive to optimize shareholder value for the future, we are confident AutoZone will be successful.

隨著我們繼續專注於基礎知識，並努力優化未來的股東價值，我們對 AutoZone 將取得成功充滿信心。

Lastly, as we celebrate Memorial Day next Monday, I ask that we all remember our country's heroes both past and present. We owe these great Americans a tremendous debt of gratitude. Thank you again for participating in today's call.

最後，當我們下週一慶祝陣亡將士紀念日時，我請求我們所有人記住我們國家過去和現在的英雄。我們對這些偉大的美國人深表感激。再次感謝您參加今天的電話會議。

This concludes today's conference, and you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

今天的會議到此結束，此時您可以掛斷電話了。感謝您的參與。