汽車地帶 (AZO) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

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Before we begin, please note that today's call include forward-looking statements 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 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，今天的電話會議中包含的前瞻性陳述受到 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》安全港條款的約束。 請參閱今天上午的新聞稿以及該公司最新的 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。 用於討論可能導致實際結果與預期有重大差異的重要風險和不確定性。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 also includes 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。

Good day, everyone, and welcome to AutoZone's 2024 fourth quarter earnings release conference call. (Operator Instructions)

大家好，歡迎參加 AutoZone 2024 年第四季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）

It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Phil Danielle, CEO. of AutoZone. Sir, the floor is yours.

現在我很高興將發言權交給東道主執行長菲爾丹妮爾 (Phil Danielle)。 AutoZone 的。 先生，地板是你的了。

Thank you. Good morning and thank you for joining us today for AutoZone's 2024 fourth quarter conference call. With me today are Jamere Jackson fund Chief Financial Officer, and Brian Campbell, Vice President, Treasurer, Investor Relations and Tax.

謝謝。 早安，感謝您今天參加 AutoZone 2024 年第四季電話會議。 今天與我在一起的有 Jamere Jackson 基金首席財務官，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 had an opportunity to read our press release and learn about our quarter's results. If not the press release along with slides, complementing our comments today are available on our website at www.autozone.com under the Investor Relations link. Please click on the quarterly earnings conference call 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我們季度的業績。 如果不是新聞稿和幻燈片，您可以在我們的網站 www.autozone.com 的投資者關係連結下獲取對我們今天評論的補充。 請點擊季度收益電話會議查看它們。

As we begin this morning. I want to thank our more than 120,000 AutoZoners for their contributions during fiscal 2024 that resulted in our solid performance. As the first line of our pledge states. They continue putting our customers first, which resulted in total sales growth of 5.9% for the fiscal year, while earnings per share increased 13%.

正如我們今天早上開始的那樣。 我要感謝我們超過 12 萬名 AutoZoners 在 2024 財年所做的貢獻，讓我們取得了穩健的表現。正如我們承諾的第一行所述。 他們繼續將客戶放在第一位，導致本財年總銷售額成長 5.9%，每股收益成長 13%。

As a reminder, this fiscal year had an extra week of results. So excluding the 53rd week, our sales were up 3.8%, while our EPS was up 10.4%. In the fourth quarter, with our continued focus on what we call wow, customer service, our total sales were up 9%, while EPS was up 11%. On a 16-week basis, our Q4 sales were up 2.6%, while our EPS was up 3.5%.

提醒一下，本財年多了一週的結果。 因此，排除第 53 週，我們的銷售額成長了 3.8%，而每股盈餘成長了 10.4%。第四季度，由於我們繼續專注於客戶服務，我們的總銷售額成長了 9%，每股收益成長了 11%。 以 16 週為基礎，我們第四季的銷售額成長了 2.6%，每股盈餘成長了 3.5%。

We also delivered 1.3% total company same-store sales, domestic same-store sales growth of 0.2%, and international same store sales up 9.9%. Our domestic commercial sales accelerated sequentially finishing up 4.5% versus last year's Q4 of 3.9%. This is on a 16 week versus 69 and on a 17-week versus 16 week basis.

我們也實現了公司總同店銷售額成長 1.3%，國內同店銷售額成長 0.2%，國際同店銷售額成長 9.9%。 我們的國內商業銷售較上季加速成長 4.5%，去年第四季為 3.9%。 這是基於 16 週與 69 週以及 17 週與 16 週的比較。

While our international business continued to comp up approximately 10% in local currencies, we faced a nearly 500 points of currency headwind, and our reported growth rate is approximately 5%. As you know, the weaker US dollar has been a tailwind for our reported results since we began reportings international comps last year i n our fourth quarter earnings report. The stronger dollar had a meaningful impact on our reported sales, operating profit and EPS this quarter. Jamere, we'll update the potential impact of foreign currency on FY25 later in the call.

雖然我們的國際業務以當地貨幣計算持續成長約 10%，但我們面臨近 500 個點的貨幣逆風，我們報告的成長率約為 5%。 如您所知，自從我們去年在第四季度收益報告中開始報告國際比較以來，美元疲軟一直是我們報告業績的推動力。美元走強對我們本季報告的銷售額、營業利潤和每股盈餘產生了重大影響。 Jamere，我們將在稍後的電話會議中更新外幣對 25 財年的潛在影響。

While there will always be tailwinds and headwinds in the quarter's results, what has been consistent is that we could not have achieved both this quarters and this year's success without exceptional efforts across the entire organization. So let me dive into our sales results.

雖然本季的業績總會有順風和逆風，但始終如一的是，如果沒有整個組織的非凡努力，我們不可能在本季度和今年都取得成功。 讓我深入了解我們的銷售業績。

First of all, say that our domestic DIY results were very similar to last quarter. Q4 DI comp sales were down about 1%. The impact from the headwind on our discretionary merchandise categories drove the bulk of this decline similar to last quarter. For our fourth quarter, discretionary category sales were approximately 18% of our mix, and they were down roughly 5% year over year. Again, similar to our results in previous quarters this fiscal year. We have seen this trend for the entire fiscal year, and our belief is that these categories will continue to be pressured until the consumer gets some economic relief and customer confidence improves consumer confidence improves.

首先說我們國內的DIY結果和上季非常相似。 第四季 DI 比較銷售額下降約 1%。 與上季類似，我們的非必需商品類別的逆風影響推動了這一下降的大部分。 第四季度，非必需品類銷售額約占我們產品組合的 18%，較去年同期下降約 5%。 同樣，與我們本財年前幾季的結果類似。我們在整個財年都看到了這個趨勢，我們相信這些品類將繼續受到壓力，直到消費者得到一些經濟救濟以及客戶信心改善。

With regards to our inflation impact on that DIY comp, we saw both average ticket and like-for-like SKU of inflation of approximately 1% for the quarter. While still low versus historical norms, t he growth is a good trend for us as we would expect inflation in our ticket average to be approximately 3% over time. We anticipate average ticket growth will return to historical industry growth rates as we move farther away from the hyperinflation not the last couple of years.

關於我們的通膨對 DIY 比較的影響，我們看到本季平均門票和同類 SKU 的通膨約為 1%。 雖然與歷史正常水平相比仍然較低，但增長對我們來說是一個良好的趨勢，因為我們預計隨著時間的推移，票價平均通膨率約為 3%。 我們預計，隨著我們遠離惡性通貨膨脹，而不是過去幾年，平均門票成長將恢復到歷史產業成長率。

We also saw DIY transactions count down 2%. While our industry overall sales growth rate for DIY appears to be down over the last quarter, i t was very encouraging to see our market share growth in the DIY. We believe we have a best in class offering, and this gives us confidence that when our consumers return to their historicals historical shopping habits, we will be the beneficiaries of that upswing.

我們還發現 DIY 交易數量下降了 2%。雖然我們的 DIY 產業整體銷售成長率似乎比上個季度有所下降，但看到我們在 DIY 市場佔有率的成長還是非常令人鼓舞的。我們相信我們擁有一流的產品，這讓我們相信，當我們的消費者恢復他們過去的購物習慣時，我們將成為這種成長的受益者。

Secondly, I'll speak to our regional DIY performance. Simply put, what it was consistent across the country as each of our 10 reporting census regions delivered approximately a 1% negative comp.

其次，我要講我們地區的DIY表演。簡而言之，全國範圍內的情況是一致的，因為我們 10 個報告人口普查地區的每個地區都出現了大約 1% 的負面影響。

Third, I will address whether and what we believe the impact was on our DIY business. We clearly saw hot weather across the U.S. this past summer. And in those markets where the weather was hot, our sales increased accordingly. However, across the majority of the country, the weather pattern was similar to the previous year and therefore did not have I mean meaningful impact on our performance.

第三，我將討論我們認為這是否對我們的 DIY 業務產生了影響以及影響是什麼。 去年夏天，我們清楚看到美國各地天氣炎熱。 而在那些天氣炎熱的市場，我們的銷售量也相應增加。 然而，在全國大部分地區，天氣模式與去年相似，因此對我們的業績沒有重大影響。

Next, I will touch on our US commercial business. While we reported this morning that our commercial sales were up 10.9% for the quarter, o n a 16-week comparable basis to last year, our sales were up 4.5%. We were encouraged to see our U.S. commercial sales growth. This past quarter marked another quarter of sequential increases to year-over-year DIFM sales. We saw very little variation in the commercial sales across regions as the entire country was basically running at the overall sales growth rate of 4.5% on a 16-week basis.

接下來我會講一下我們在美國的商業業務。 雖然我們今天早上報告稱，與去年 16 週可比相比，本季的商業銷售額增長了 10.9%，但我們的銷售額增長了 4.5%。 看到美國商業銷售的成長，我們深受鼓舞。上季 DIFM 銷售額又實現年比連續成長。 我們看到各個地區的商業銷售變化很小，因為整個國家在 16 週的基礎上基本上以 4.5% 的整體銷售成長率運作。

While we are encouraged by the progress we are making, we still have significant opportunities in front of us to grow market share with improved satellite store inventory availability, significant improvement in hubs and mega hub coverage, the strength of our world-class brand, and good execution on our initiatives to improve speed of delivery and improved customer service. We are confident about our future.

雖然我們對所取得的進展感到鼓舞，但我們仍然有很大的機會來擴大市場份額，透過改善衛星商店庫存可用性、樞紐和大型樞紐覆蓋範圍的顯著改善、我們世界級品牌的實力以及良好執行我們提高交付速度和改善客戶服務的措施。 我們對我們的未來充滿信心。

This quarter, i nflation on a like-for-like SKU basis was essentially flat, which drove flat pricing and average ticket f or commercial. We have seen pricing remained relatively flat as inflation has cooled for goods in our industry. We expect to see slightly more inflation next year in our assumption is like for likes SKU retail inflation will be in the low single digits in FY25.

本季度，基於同類 SKU 的通貨膨脹基本持平，這推動了商業廣告的定價和平均票價持平。隨著我們行業商品的通膨降溫，我們看到定價保持相對穩定。 我們預計明年通膨率將略有上升，假設 SKU 等零售通膨率在 2025 財年將處於低個位數。

For the year, we opened 11 mega hubs, which is roughly half of what we did in FY23. We are excited about the ability to resume aggressively opening these important assets in FY25, although openings will be somewhat second half loaded. Hubs and megahubs lead to comp results that grow faster than the balance of the chain. And we are going to continue to aggressively deploy these assets.

今年，我們開設了 11 個大型樞紐，大約是 2023 財年的一半。 我們對能夠在 2025 財年恢復積極開放這些重要資產感到興奮，儘管下半年開放的資產將會增加。樞紐和大型樞紐導致的績效成長速度快於鏈條的平衡點。 我們將繼續積極部署這些資產。

For our first quarter of FY 25, w e expect both DIY and commercial sales trends to modestly improve. We expect better sales performance in Q2 in the Q3 timeframes. We will, as always, be transparent about what we are seeing and provide color on our markets and outlook as trends range.

對於 25 財年第一季，我們預計 DIY 和商業銷售趨勢將略有改善。 我們預計第二季的銷售業績將比第三季更好。 我們將一如既往地對我們所看到的情況保持透明，並隨著趨勢的變化提供我們的市場和前景的資訊。

Before turning the call to Jamere, I would like to take a moment to discuss our international business. We were busy opening stores this quarter. Between Mexico and Brazil, wq e opened 49 new stores and now have 921 international stores. As you can see from our press release, our same store sales were just under 10%. We remain committed to growing the number of stores in both Mexico and Brazil.

在打電話給 Jamere 之前，我想花點時間討論一下我們的國際業務。 這個季度我們正忙著開店。 在墨西哥和巴西之間，wq e 開設了 49 家新店，目前擁有 921 家國際店。 正如您從我們的新聞稿中看到的，我們的同店銷售額略低於 10%。 我們仍然致力於增加墨西哥和巴西的商店數量。

Today, we have 13% of our store total store base outside of the US and expect that number will continue to growth. We plan to accelerate our openings by 2028, and we are targeting around 200 international openings per year. We continue to take our US store learnings, induce them to the international store operations. We are very excited about our future in international.

如今，我們的商店總數的 13% 位於美國境外，預計將繼續增長。 我們計劃在 2028 年加快開設新職位的速度，目標是每年開設約 200 個國際職缺。 我們繼續吸收我們在美國商店的經驗，引導他們進行國際商店的運作。 我們對國際化的未來感到非常興奮。

In summary, we have continued to invest in making in-market inventory assortments better to drive future traffic growth and sales, enhancing our IT systems and our supply chain. In FY25, we'll continue to ramp up our store openings, specifically our hubs and mega hubs and drive efficiencies from our new DCs, which are expected to come online in 2025.

總而言之，我們繼續投資改善市場庫存分類，以推動未來的流量成長和銷售，增強我們的 IT 系統和供應鏈。 2025 財年，我們將繼續增加門市數量，特別是我們的樞紐和大型樞紐，並提高新配送中心的效率，這些配送中心預計將於 2025 年上線。

At AutoZone, we are investing in our future growth initiatives. In FY24, we invested more than $1 billion in CapEx and are focused on our strategic growth priorities. In FY25, you will see more of the same. We are investing in accelerated store growth, specifically hubs and megahubs, placing inventory closer to our customers; distribution centers that will drive efficiency and reduce supply chain costs; IT systems that will improve customer service and improve our AutoZoners ability to help our customers. We believe that our industry is strong and we have an opportunity to grow market share domestically and internationally.

在 AutoZone，我們正在投資未來的成長計劃。 2024 財年，我們在資本支出上投資了超過 10 億美元，並專注於我們的策略成長重點。 25 財年，您將看到更多相同的情況。 我們正在投資加速商店成長，特別是中心和大型中心，使庫存更接近我們的客戶；配送中心將提高效率並降低供應鏈成本； IT 系統將改善客戶服務並提升我們的 AutoZoners 幫助客戶的能力。我們相信我們的行業很強大，我們有機會擴大國內和國際市場份額。

Now, I will turn the call over to Jamere Jackson.

現在，我將把電話轉給傑米爾傑克森。

Thanks, Sheryl, and good morning, everyone. Before I'll unpack our results, I want to remind you that each year our fiscal year ends on the last Saturday of August. Based on the way the calendar fell this year, w e have an extra week in our fiscal year in the fourth quarter is based on 17 weeks versus 16. For comparison, our same-store sales comps are based on a 16 week basis, while our total sales, EBIT and EPS results will be discussed on a 17-week basis.

謝謝，謝麗爾，大家早安。 在我公佈我們的結果之前，我想提醒您，每年我們的財政年度在八月的最後一個星期六結束。 根據今年日曆的排列方式，我們第四季度的財年多了一周，是基於 17 週而不是 16 週。總銷售額、息稅前利潤和每股盈餘結果將每17 週討論一次。

As Phil as previously discussed, we reported 9% total company sales growth. On a 16-week basis, total company sales were up 2.6%. Our domestic same-store sales grew 0.2% and our international comp was up 9.9% o n a constant currency basis. Total company EBIT grew 6.1% and our EPS grew 11%.

正如菲爾之前所討論的，我們報告公司總銷售額成長了 9%。 16 週以來，公司總銷售額成長了 2.6%。 以固定匯率計算，我們的國內同店銷售額成長了 0.2%，國際銷售額成長了 9.9%。公司息稅前利潤 (EBIT) 總額成長 6.1%，每股盈餘 (EPS) 成長 11%。

Also want to point out that we had a headwind from foreign exchange rates i n this quarter. We had a 500 basis points drag on international sales that resulted in a $32 million headwind to sales and $8 million headwind to EBIT and a $0.32 a share drag. We continued our efforts of our AutoZoners in our stores and distribution centers have enabled us to grow our business in our earnings and a meaningful way. We take a few moments to elaborate on the specifics in our P&L for Q4.

還要指出的是，本季我們遇到了外匯匯率的不利影響。我們的國際銷售額下降了 500 個基點，導致銷售額下降 3,200 萬美元，息稅前利潤下降 800 萬美元，每股下降 0.32 美元。 我們繼續努力在我們的商店和配送中心使用 AutoZoners，這使我們能夠以有意義的方式增加我們的業務收入。 我們花了一些時間來詳細說明第四季損益表的具體細節。

For the quarter, total sales were just over $6.2 billion and as I just mentioned, was up 9%. For the year, o ur total sales were $18.5 billion, up 5.9% versus last fiscal year. Let me give a little color on our sales and our growth initiatives s tarting with our domestic commercial business f or the fourth quarter. Our domestic DIFM. sales increased 10.9% to $1.7 billion.

本季總銷售額略高於 62 億美元，正如我剛才提到的，成長了 9%。今年，我們的總銷售額為 185 億美元，比上一財年成長 5.9%。 讓我對我們的銷售和成長計劃進行一些介紹，從第四季度的國內商業業務開始。我們國內的DIFM。銷售額成長 10.9%，達到 17 億美元。

On 16 week basis, o ur domestic commercial business grew 4.5%. For FY24, our commercial sales were $4.9 billion, up 6.2% versus last year. In the quarter, sales to our domestic DIFM customers represented 31% of our domestic auto parts sales and 27% of our total company sales. Our average weekly sales per program were $16,700, flat to last year as we lap new programs that we opened that are not at maturity.

以 16 週計算，我們的國內商業業務成長了 4.5%。 2024 財年，我們的商業銷售額為 49 億美元，比去年成長 6.2%。 本季度，國內 DIFM 客戶的銷售額占我們國內汽車零件銷售額的 31%，占公司總銷售額的 27%。 我們每個專案的平均每週銷售額為 16,700 美元，與去年持平，因為我們推出了尚未成熟的新專案。

Our commercial acceleration initiatives are continuing to deliver good results as we grow share by winning new business and increasing our share of wallet with existing customers. We now have our commercial program and 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 five net new programs, finishing with 5,898 total programs. Importantly, we have a lot of runway in front of us and we will aggressively pursue growth in commercial, which represents a tremendous growth opportunity for our company.

隨著我們透過贏得新業務和增加現有客戶的錢包份額來增加份額，我們的商業加速計劃繼續取得良好成果。 我們現在擁有自己的商業計劃和大約 92% 的國內商店，這些商店利用了我們的 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 5 個新項目，總計 5,898 個項目。 重要的是，我們面前有很多跑道，我們將積極追求商業成長，這對我們公司來說是一個巨大的成長機會。

To support our commercial growth, w e now have 109 mega hub locations. While I mentioned a moment ago, our commercial weekly sales per program average was $16,700 per program. The 109 mega hubs average significantly higher sales are growing much faster than the balance of the commercial business in Q4.

為了支持我們的商業成長，我們現在擁有 109 個大型樞紐站點。 我剛才提到過，我們每個節目的商業週銷售額平均為每個節目 16,700 美元。 第四季 109 個大型樞紐的平均銷售額成長速度遠快於商業業務的平衡成長速度。

As a reminder, our mega hubs typically carry over 100,000 SKUs and drive tremendous lift inside the store box as well as service and expanded fulfillment 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. These assets are performing well in Vigilys and fulfillment capability for the surrounding AutoZone stores is giving our customers access to thousands of additional parts and lifting the entire network.

提醒一下，我們的大型中心通常承載超過 100,000 個 SKU，並為商店內帶來巨大的提升，並為其他商店提供服務和擴展的履行來源。 覆蓋範圍和零件供應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。 這些資產在 Vigilys 中表現良好，周圍 AutoZone 商店的履行能力使我們的客戶能夠獲得數千個額外零件並提升整個網路。

We have an objective to have well north of 200 mega hubs at full build out. Our customers are excited by our commercial offering as we deploy more parts and the local markets closer to the customer while improving our service levels.

我們的目標是全面建造 200 個以上的大型樞紐。 我們的客戶對我們的商業產品感到興奮，因為我們部署了更多零件，本地市場更貼近客戶，同時提高了我們的服務水準。

Our domestic retail side of our business, our DIY comp was down 1.1% for the quarter. For all of FY24, DIY comp was down six tenths of a percent despite the industry softness. We continue to gain share and DIY., and we are well positioned when the industry reaccelerates. As Phil mentioned, we saw traffic down percent along with 1% ticket growth. As we move forward, 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.

我們的國內零售業務 DIY 比較本季下降了 1.1%。 儘管業界疲軟，但 2024 財年全年 DIY 銷售額仍下降了十分之六。 我們不斷獲得份額和DIY，當行業重新加速時我們處於有利地位。正如 Phil 所提到的，我們看到流量下降了 1%，而門票卻增加了 1%。 隨著我們的前進，我們預計交易數量將略有下降，但在技術變化和新零件耐用性的推動下，交易數量將被中低個位數的門票增長所抵消，這與業務的長期歷史趨勢一致。

Our DIY business has continued to gain share behind our growth initiatives. Importantly, the market is expense and a growing and aging car park in a challenging new car sales market for our customers, which continued to provide a tailwind for our business. These dynamics, ticket growth, growth initiatives, and macro car park tailwinds, we believe will continue to drive a resilient VIY business environment for FY25.

我們的 DIY 業務在我們的成長計劃背後不斷獲得份額。 重要的是，對於我們的客戶來說，在充滿挑戰的新車銷售市場中，市場費用高昂，而且停車場不斷增長和老化，這繼續為我們的業務提供動力。 我們相信，這些動態、門票成長、成長舉措和宏觀停車場順風將繼續推動 25 財年有彈性的 VIY 商業環境。

Now, I'll say a few words regarding our international business. We continue to be pleased with the progress we're making in our international markets. During the quarter, we opened 31 new stores in Mexico to finish with 794 stores and 18 new stores in Brazil ending with 127. Our same store sales grew 9.9% on a constant currency basis and 4.9% when taking into account foreign exchange rates. We remain committed to international and given our success in these markets. We will accelerate the store opening pace g oing forward. We're bullish on international being an attractive, a meaningful contributor to AutoZone future sales and operating profit growth for the quarter.

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市場取得的進展感到滿意。 本季度，我們在墨西哥開設了31 家新店，總數達到794 家；在巴西開設了18 家新店，總數達到127 家。我們的同店銷售額成長了4.9%。 鑑於我們在這些市場上的成功，我們仍然致力於國際化。未來我們將加快開店步伐。 我們看好國際業務對 AutoZone 本季未來銷售和營業利潤成長具有吸引力且有意義的貢獻。

Our gross margin was 52.5%, down 21 basis points, driven primarily by an unfavorable life of comparison to last year. Excluding life from both years, we had a 32 basis point improvement in gross margin, driven by continued improvement and merchandising marketing margins. For Q4 l ast year, we had a 30 million life of credit, w hile this year we did not have any credits. We previously said that we thought we would have approximately $10 million of LIFO credits in the quarter, which would have equated to 16 bps of higher gross margins are $0.45 a share. At year end, we had $19 million in cumulative LIFO charges yet to be reversed through our P&L. At the moment, we're not anticipating any charges or credits to our P&L for Q1 of FY25 as inflation has not materially impacted our LIFO inventory accounting results.

我們的毛利率為 52.5%，下降 21 個基點，主要是因為與去年相比壽命不利。 排除這兩年的壽命，在持續改善和商品行銷利潤的推動下，我們的毛利率提高了 32 個基點。去年第四季度，我們有3000萬的信用額度，而今年我們沒有任何信用額度。 我們之前說過，我們認為本季我們將擁有約 1000 萬美元的 LIFO 積分，這相當於每股 0.45 美元的毛利率提高 16 個基點。截至年底，我們還有 1,900 萬美元的累計後進先出費用尚未透過損益表沖銷。 目前，我們預計 25 財年第一季的損益表不會有任何費用或貸項，因為通貨膨脹並未對我們的 LIFO 庫存會計結果產生重大影響。

I will remind you that in last year's first quarter, we booked 2 million LIFO credit. And as a reminder, once we credit back to $19 million through the P&L, we will not take any more credits and we will begin to rebuild and unrecorded life reserve.

我要提醒你的是，去年第一季度，我們預訂了 200 萬個 LIFO 信用。 提醒一下，一旦我們透過損益表貸記回 1,900 萬美元，我們將不再取得任何貸記，我們將開始重建和未記錄的生命儲備。

Moving to operating expenses, our expenses were up 10.4% versus last year's Q4 as SG&A as a percentage of sales deleveraged 37 basis points. On a 16-week basis, our SG&A was up 4.6%. Growth in SG&A has been purposeful as we continue to invest at 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 growth as we move forward, and we will manage expenses in line with sales growth over time.

說到營運費用，我們的費用比去年第四季成長了 10.4%，因為 SG&A 佔銷售額的百分比降低了 37 個基點。 以 16 週計算，我們的 SG&A 成長了 4.6%。 隨著我們繼續加快 IT 和薪資方面的投資以支持我們的成長計劃，SG&A 的成長是有目的的。 這些投資將帶來紅利、客戶體驗、速度和生產力。 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，並且隨著時間的推移，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 $1.3 billion, up 6.1% versus the prior year. EBIT for FY24 was just under $3.8 billion, up 9.1% versus the prior year, driven by top line growth and gross margin improvement.

轉向損益表的其餘部分。 該季度息稅前利潤為 13 億美元，比上年增長 6.1%。 受營收成長和毛利率改善的推動，2024 財年的息稅前利潤略低於 38 億美元，較上年增長 9.1%。

Interest expense for the quarter was $153.2 million, up 41% from Q4 a year ago as our debt outstanding at the end of the quarter was $9 billion versus $7.7 billion at Q4 in last year. Planting interest in the $100 million range for the first quarter of FY25 versus $91.4 million in this year i n this past year's first quarter. Higher debt levels and borrowing rates across the curve are driving this increase.

本季利息支出為 1.532 億美元，比去年第四季成長 41%，因為本季末我們的未償債務為 90 億美元，而去年第四季為 77 億美元。 2025 財年第一季的種植興趣為 1 億美元，而今年第一季的種植興趣為 9,140 萬美元。整個曲線上較高的債務水準和借款利率正在推動這一成長。

For the quarter, our tax rate was 21.1% and down from last year's fourth quarter of 22.4%. This quarter's rate benefited 80 basis points from stock options exercised or last year had benefited 22 basis points. For the first quarter of FY25, w e suggest investors model us at approximately 23.4% before any assumption on credits due to stock option exercises.

本季度，我們的稅率為 21.1%，低於去年第四季的 22.4%。 本季利率因股票選擇權行使而受益 80 個基點，而去年則受益 22 個基點。對於 2025 財年第一季度，我們建議投資者在考慮因股票選擇權行使而產生的信用之前，將我們的利率模型定為約 23.4%。

Moving to net income and EPS, net income for the quarter was $902 million, up 4.3% versus last year. Our diluted share count of $17.5 million was 6% 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 $51.58, up 11 7% for the quarter. For FY24, net income was $2.7 billion, up 5.3%, and earnings per share was $149.55, up 13%.

至於淨利潤和每股收益，本季淨利潤為 9.02 億美元，比去年同期成長 4.3%。 我們的稀釋後股票數量為 1,750 萬美元，比去年第四季減少了 6%。 較高的淨利潤和較少的股票數量相結合，推動本季每股收益達到 51.58 美元，成長 11·7%。 2024 財年淨利為 27 億美元，成長 5.3%，每股收益為 149.55 美元，成長 13%。

I'll let me talk about our free cash flow. For the fourth quarter, we generated $723 million free cash flow. For the year, w e generated $1.9 billion in free cash. We expect to continue being in an incredibly strong cash flow generator going forward. We remain committed to returning meaningful amounts of cash to our shareholders.

我來談談我們的自由現金流。 第四季度，我們產生了 7.23 億美元的自由現金流。這一年，我們產生了 19 億美元的自由現金。 我們預計未來將繼續成為一個極其強勁的現金流發生器。 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 in our leverage ratio finished at 2.5 times EBITDAR, even our inventory per store was up 3.7% versus Q4 last year, while total inventory increased 6.8% over the same period last year, driven by new store growth.

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，槓桿率為EBITDAR 的2.5 倍，即使我們每家商店的庫存比去年第四季度增長了3.7%，而總庫存比去年同期增長了6.8%，這主要是由於新店成長。

Net inventory defined as merchandise inventories less accounts payable on a per-store basis was negative $163,000 versus negative $201,000 last year and negative $168,000 last quarter. As a result, accounts payable as a percent of gross inventory finished the quarter at 119.5% versus last year's Q4 of 124.9%.

淨庫存定義為每家商店的商品庫存減去應付帳款，為負 163,000 美元，而去年為負 201,000 美元，上季度為負 168,000 美元。 因此，本季末應付帳款佔庫存總額的百分比為 119.5%，而去年第四季為 124.9%。

Lastly, I'll spend a moment on capital allocation and our share repurchase program. We repurchased $711 million of AutoZone stock in the quarter and at quarter end, we had just under $2.2 billion remaining under our share buyback authorization. The strong earnings balance sheet and powerful free cash we generated this year as allows the buyback 6% of the shares outstanding since the beginning of the fiscal year. 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 related 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畫。 我們在本季回購了價值 7.11 億美元的 AutoZone 股票，到季末，我們的股票回購授權剩餘金額略低於 22 億美元。 我們今年產生的強勁獲利資產負債表和強大的自由現金允許回購自本財年年初以來已發行股票的 6%。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。我們專注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。

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 work. We've grown our market share domestically and internationally and improving our competitive positioning and a disciplined way.

總而言之，我們仍然致力於透過投資我們的成長計劃、推動強勁的盈利和現金以及將多餘的現金返還來推動長期股東價值。 我們擴大了國內和國際市場份額，提高了我們的競爭地位和紀律。

As we look forward to FY25, we're bullish on our growth prospects behind a resilient VIY. business, a fast-growing international business, and a domestic 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 behind a strong industry, a winning strategies and an exceptional team of AutoZoners.

展望 2025 財年，我們看好彈性 VIY 背後的成長前景。業務，快速成長的國際業務，以及份額持續成長的國內商業業務。 我仍然對我們在強大的行業、制勝策略和卓越的 AutoZoners 團隊背後為股東帶來顯著且持續的價值的能力充滿信心。

Before handing the call back to Phil, I want to remind you that we report revenue comps on a constant currency basis to reflect our operating performance. Were generally don't take on transactional risk, so our results reflect the translation impact for reporting purposes. As I mentioned earlier in the quarter, foreign currency resulted in a headwind on revenue and EPS. If yesterday's spot rates held constant for Q1 FY25 than we expect an approximate $55 million drag on revenue, a $16 million drag on EBIT, and a $0.63 a share drag on EPS. And if rates remained at the current spot rates for the full fiscal year 2025, we would expect an approximate $265 million impact to revenues, a $90 million impact to EBIT, and a $3.64 a share impact the full year EPS.

在將電話轉回菲爾之前，我想提醒您，我們以固定貨幣為基礎報告收入比較，以反映我們的經營業績。我們通常不承擔交易風險，因此我們的結果反映了報告目的的翻譯影響。 正如我在本季早些時候提到的，外匯對收入和每股盈餘造成了不利影響。如果昨天的 25 財年第一季即期匯率保持不變，我們預計營收將受到約 5,500 萬美元的拖累，息稅前利潤將受到 1,600 萬美元的拖累，每股收益將受到 0.63 美元的拖累。 如果2025 財年的費率維持在目前即期費率，我們預期營收將受到約2.65 億美元的影響，息稅前利潤將受到9,000 萬美元的影響，全年每股收益將受到3.64 美元的影響。

And now I'll turn back to Phil.

現在我回到菲爾。

Thank you, Amir. We are proud of our AutoZoners across the globe and the results. Our team delivered this past quarter. In FY 24, we focused on improving execution and driving Wow Customer Service. We made meaningful progress and are well positioned to grow sales across our domestic and international store basis with both our retail and our commercial customers.

謝謝你，阿米爾。 我們為我們遍佈全球的 AutoZoners 及其成果感到自豪。 我們的團隊在上個季度交付了成果。 24 財年，我們專注於提升執行力和提升客戶服務品質。 我們取得了有意義的進展，並處於有利位置，可以增加我們國內和國際商店與零售和商業客戶的銷售。

Our gross margins are solid and our operating expense is appropriate for future growth. We continue to put our capital to work where we'll have the biggest impact on sales, our stores, distribution centers and leveraging technology to build a superior customer service experience where we are able to say yes to our customers' needs.

我們的毛利率穩定，營運費用適合未來的成長。 我們持續將資金投入對銷售、商店、配送中心產生最大影響的領域，並利用科技打造卓越的客戶服務體驗，從而滿足客戶的需求。

The top focus areas for fiscal 2025 will remain growing share in our domestic commercial business and continuing our momentum in our international markets. We believe we have a solid plan in place for growth over the next 12 months. We know our focus on parts availability, flawless execution, and what we call Wow Customer Service will lead to sales growth and gains in market share where it started excited to start 2025.

2025 財年的首要重點領域仍將是增加我們在國內商業業務中的份額，並繼續保持我們在國際市場上的勢頭。 我們相信我們已經制定了未來 12 個月的可靠成長計劃。 我們知道，我們對零件可用性、完美執行以及我們所說的「令人驚嘆的客戶服務」的關注將帶來銷售成長和市場份額的增加，從 2025 年開始我們就興奮不已。

This time of year, w e also enjoy reflecting on the past, our team achieved some impressive milestones this past fiscal year. $18.5 billion in sales headed toward for the $20 billion milestone. Commercial sales are about to eclipse $5 billion. It wasn't that long ago, we just crossed across $2 billion. That was only 2017. Average weekly sales domestically of $47,000 a week equating to just under $2.5 million per store annually. Our Mexico and are all data teams b oth broke multiple records. And Brazil, has now more than 100 stores and is growing. We bought back $3.2 billion on stock marketing, $37 billion in buybacks since the start of our Purion back in '98.

每年的這個時候，我們也喜歡回顧過去，我們的團隊在上一財年實現了一些令人印象深刻的里程碑。 185 億美元的銷售額即將邁向 200 億美元的里程碑。 商業銷售額即將超過 50 億美元。 不久前，我們剛剛突破 20 億美元。 這只是 2017 年的情況。 我們墨西哥隊和阿都數據隊都打破了多項紀錄。巴西目前擁有 100 多家商店，並且還在持續成長中。我們透過股票行銷回購了 32 億美元，自 98 年 Purion 成立以來已回購了 370 億美元。

As we started our new fiscal year. I'd like to take a moment and discuss our operating theme for this new year. Great people, great service. I am asked frequently what differentiates AutoZone from others? My answer always goes back to the same point over and over again. Our AutoZoners and AutoZone's amazing culture. Our AutoZoners have built this culture.

當我們開始新的財政年度。 我想花點時間討論一下我們新一年的營運主題。 很棒的人，很棒的服務。 常常有人問我 AutoZone 與其他產品有何不同？ 我的回答總是一遍又一遍地回到同一點。我們的 AutoZoners 和 AutoZone 令人驚嘆的文化。 我們的 AutoZoners 已經建立了這種文化。

This year, w e'll focus on our AutoZoners like never before. We are determined to improve upon an already existing culture of service. Next week will mark the start of our NASH and a sales meeting here in Memphis. Just over 3,000 AutoZoners will be in Memphis to learn about our parts and products, celebrate this past year's accomplishments as well as allowing our leadership to celebrate and recognize the best performing store and distribution center AutoZoners. We cannot wait to have everyone here.

今年，我們將以前所未有的方式關注我們的 AutoZoners。 我們決心改善現有的服務文化。 下週我們將在孟菲斯舉辦 NASH 和銷售會議。 超過 3,000 名 AutoZoners 將在孟菲斯了解我們的零件和產品，慶祝過去一年的成就，並讓我們的領導層慶祝和表彰表現最佳的商店和配送中心 AutoZoners。 我們迫不及待地想讓大家都來這裡。

But we can't rest on our laurels and we aren't without our challenges. That's for sure. We must make sure that every store is staffed right every hour of every day, our processes need to function properly always, and we have to meet our new store opening goals and time lines. S imply put, we have to remain the execution machine that we have always been.

但我們不能滿足於現狀，也面臨挑戰。 這是肯定的。 我們必須確保每家商店每天每小時都有合適的人員配備，我們的流程需要始終正常運行，並且我們必須滿足新店開業目標和時間表。簡而言之，我們必須保持我們一直以來的劊子手形象。

Fiscal 2025's t op priorities will continue to be based on improving execution, and we will continue to invest in our following strategic projects: reaccelerate our new hubs and mega hub openings, effectively and efficiently open our new distribution centers and optimize our direct import facility, ramp up our demo, MYSTIC and international store growth. A s discussed, our international teams posted same-store sales comps on a constant currency basis of 10.2%, continuing several years of very strong growth. And most importantly, reaccelerate our domestic commercial sales growth and continue to gain market share on the iWatt. All.

2025 財年的首要任務將繼續以提高執行力為基礎，我們將繼續投資於以下戰略項目：重新加速我們的新樞紐和大型樞紐的開業，有效且高效地開設我們的新配送中心並優化我們的直接進口設施，加速我們的展示店、MYSTIC 和國際商店的成長。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額成長率為 10.2%，持續了幾年的強勁成長。最重要的是，重新加速我們的國內商業銷售成長並繼續獲得 iWatt 的市場份額。 全部。

So this morning I'd like to remind everyone that Kim JCOX. joined AutoZone tool kit is a strong addition for us having served most recently at US. Steel, where he served as Senior Vice President and Commercial Chief Officer. He has extensive experience in the B2B space and has developed an LED world-class sales teams. He is a great cultural fit, and we are fortunate to have can join us.

所以今天早上我想提醒大家 Kim JCOX。加入 AutoZone 工具包對我們最近在美國服務的我們來說是一個強大的補充。 Steel，他曾擔任高級副總裁兼商務首席官。 他在 B2B 領域擁有豐富的經驗，並培養了一支世界一流的 LED 銷售團隊。 他非常適合文化背景，我們很幸運能夠加入我們。

We are excited about what we can accomplish, and our AutoZoners are committed to delivering even better results. We believe in our potential for future growth. We believe in zones best days lie ahead of us.

我們對我們能夠取得的成就感到興奮，我們的 AutoZoners 致力於提供更好的結果。 我們相信我們未來的成長潛力。 我們相信，在各地區，最好的日子就在前方。

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

現在，我們想開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) Simeon Gutman, Morgan Stanley.

（操作員指令）Simeon Gutman，摩根士丹利。

Good morning, Hey, Phil, you mentioned accelerating commercial sales growth. You made a hire recently and we talked about hubs on the call and I think you're tweaking inventory. Can you talk about timing, what what should investors expect, what you expect out of the organization when we can see commercial sales move to that next level?

早安，嘿，菲爾，你提到加速商業銷售成長。 您最近聘用了員工，我們在電話中討論了中心，我認為您正在調整庫存。 當我們看到商業銷售邁向新的水平時，您能談談時機嗎？

Yes. Great question. Thanks, Simeon. I think we will sequentially improve from here come again, I would like we've talked about on the last couple of calls. I think it's a progressive improvement. I don't think it's going to be a snapback.

是的。 很好的問題。 謝謝，西蒙。 我認為我們會從這裡開始依次改進，我希望我們在最近幾次通話中已經討論過。 我認為這是一個漸進的改進。 我不認為這會是一個快速回歸。

You'd look at the environment out there, t he consumer is still pressure on and we think that's showing up on both DIY and the commercial side of the business. But we like our strategies that we have in place as far as exactly what you said, incrementally improving the store side assortments at the satellite stores, opening up these hubs and mega hubs, and adding inventory closer to the customers. And then, we're also working on ways to streamline customer service, specifically improving speed to customer on those harder to find parts. So we like our strategy and we think will continue to build from here.

你看看外面的環境，消費者仍然面臨壓力，我們認為這在 DIY 和商業方面都有體現。 但我們喜歡我們已經制定的策略，正如您所說的那樣，逐步改善衛星商店的店面品種，開放這些中心和大型中心，並增加靠近客戶的庫存。 然後，我們也正在研究簡化客戶服務的方法，特別是提高向客戶提供那些難以找到的零件的速度。 因此，我們喜歡我們的策略，並且我們認為將從這裡繼續發展。

And then quick follow-up on gross margin. What's left and how I can go? Because I think discretionary being down one of her to commercial being up with probably heard you. How do you I guess where you where the drive, whereas the strength coming from and how much can it continue?

然後快速跟進毛利率。 還剩下什麼，我該怎麼走？ 因為我認為自由裁量權是她之一到商業上的可能聽到你的聲音。你如何猜測你的動力在哪裡，而力量來自哪裡以及能夠持續多少？

Yes. I think we've got a couple of things working in our favor. one, our merchants are doing a fantastic job driving merchandising margin improvements on and negotiating with our supply base. And that team has done a tremendous job for us. So I think as we move forward, we'll continue to drive merch margin improvements of a little bit of a drag on early on because we're adding a couple of on DCs associated with the supply chain efforts that we have. But net-net, we think that the merchandising margin improvements will continue to power ours moving forward through.

是的。 我認為我們有一些對我們有利的事情。 第一，我們的商家在推動商品利潤率提高以及與我們的供應基地談判方面做得非常出色。 團隊為我們做了巨大的工作。 因此，我認為，隨著我們的前進，我們將繼續推動商品利潤率的提高，這在早期會受到一些拖累，因為我們正在增加一些與我們現有的供應鏈工作相關的 DC。 但淨淨，我們認為商品利潤率的提高將繼續推動我們的前進。

The one area that we're watching very closely is what's happening in the industry from a pricing standpoint, as Phil alluded to, and I alluded to as well. So we're not seeing the average ticket growth. That's largely a function of what we're seeing on the inflation side. As we get some additional inflation that starts to make its way into the industry, w e're looking forward to having an opportunity to push retails a little bit harder. So a very disciplined approach on very strong merchandising margins, and we're looking forward to a pretty good outlook for FY25.

我們正在密切關注的一個領域是從定價角度來看該行業正在發生的事情，正如菲爾所提到的，我也提到的。 所以我們沒有看到平均門票增長。 這很大程度上取決於我們所看到的通膨方面的情況。隨著一些額外的通貨膨脹開始進入該行業，我們期待有機會進一步推動零售業的發展。 因此，我們將採取非常嚴格的方法來實現非常強勁的銷售利潤，我們期待 25 財年的良好前景。

Thank you. Good luck.

謝謝。 祝你好運。

Bret Jordan, Jefferies.

布雷特·喬丹，杰弗里斯。

Hey, good morning, guys. C ould you talk about what, if any are the hurdles to reaccelerating the hub growth now that the three major players are all using a hub strategy? Is the real estate access issue? Or is it just sort of timing of your internal development team?

嘿，早上好，夥計們。既然三大主要參與者都在使用樞紐策略，您能否談談重新加速樞紐成長的障礙是什麼？ 是房地產進入問題嗎？ 或者這只是您內部開發團隊的時間安排？

Phil always smiles when we get this question, the design island store development inside of our organization. And we feel very good about what we've done, essentially what we've done over the last five years, so is rebuilding our pipeline and our capabilities are obviously, and we've talked about it here on the call. We struggled a little bit as we got through the pandemic. Everything was generally delayed during that timeframe. But the reality is that there were things that we needed to improve from an operational standpoint to really improve that pipeline.

當我們收到這個問題時，菲爾總是微笑，我們組織內部的設計島商店開發。 我們對我們所做的事情感到非常滿意，基本上是我們在過去五年中所做的事情，重建我們的管道和我們的能力顯然也是如此，我們已經在電話會議上討論過這一點。 在度過疫情期間，我們遇到了一些困難。 在那段時間裡，一切都被推遲了。 但現實是，從營運的角度來看，我們需要改進一些事情，才能真正改善這條管道。

We're pretty excited about where we are on on hubs and megahubs. We still have our plan to open 200 plus mega hubs on versus our original estimate of 110. We'll build 20 plus in FY25. And I'm really excited about the fact that we have about 70 mega hubs in the pipeline today, most of which are under construction. So I feel good about the but these are 30,000 square foot boxes and tough to find locations on. But we've reorganized our team and double down on our efforts to get those boxes into the marketplace. I am excited about what they'll contribute to our future growth prospects.

我們對我們在樞紐和大型樞紐上的進展感到非常興奮。 我們仍然計劃開設 200 多個大型樞紐，而我們最初的估計是 110 個。 我非常興奮的是，我們目前正在籌建約 70 個大型樞紐，其中大部分正在建造中。 所以我感覺很好，但這些盒子麵積達 30,000 平方英尺，很難找到位置。 但我們已經重組了我們的團隊，並加倍努力將這些盒子推向市場。 我對他們將為我們未來的成長前景做出的貢獻感到興奮。

Okay. Then, a follow up on the commercial business. I mean, can you talk about the cadence through the quarter and then any dispersion between national account business versus the up-and-down the street business yet?

好的。 然後，跟進商業業務。 我的意思是，您能否談談本季的節奏，以及國民帳戶業務與街頭業務之間的差異？

If you talk about the cadence the quarter, like I said in both regionally and the cadence across the quarter were all pretty similar. The very beginning of the quarter was a was a little bit lighter. June was great, some of it due to the hot weather came a little bit earlier this year. And then when you get into July and August, it was pretty similar to last year from a weather perspective. So you didn't see meaningful change in July and August as from a comp perspective where it was hot, we saw on all of the categories take off like you would expect. So we had we had a good summer. It wasn't demonstrably different than last year, though. And so that's kind of that's kind of how we think about that from a quarter perspective.

如果你談論本季的節奏，就像我所說的那樣，在區域和整個季度的節奏都非常相似。本季初的情況稍顯輕鬆。 六月很棒，部分原因是今年炎熱的天氣來得早一些。 然後當你進入七月和八月時，從天氣角度來看，它與去年非常相似。 因此，您在七月和八月沒有看到有意義的變化，因為從比較的角度來看，它很熱門，我們看到所有類別都像您預期的那樣起飛。 所以我們度過了一個愉快的夏天。 不過，這與去年並沒有明顯不同。 這就是我們從季度角度看待這個問題的方式。

So what was the second part of the question?

那麼問題的第二部分是什麼呢？

And I guess national account versus the up-and-down industry business? Or are you seeing any change in the independent the WD competitive landscape out there around that around the uptick demonstrate?

我猜國民帳與上營行業業務？ 或者您看到圍繞成長表現的獨立 WD 競爭格局有任何變化？

Yes. So on national accounts, that's a great question on. We kind of think of our the up-and-down the street customer. We think about national accounts. And then we have what we call some verticals. And I'll explain kind of how we solve performance across those segments. That one down the street customers been very resilient, been one of the best growing segments for us. The national accounts have improved quarter over quarter, and a part of that improvement has come from a lot of those national accounts are heavily tied towards tires and tires are not as bad as they used to be. The trends have improved. We're seeing more tire replacement, even though those customers generally, I think you're seeing down customer traffic, but tires are not the big drag that they have historically been.

是的。 因此，就國民帳戶而言，這是一個很好的問題。 我們有點想到街頭的顧客。我們考慮國民帳。 然後我們就有了一些垂直領域。 我將解釋我們如何解決這些細分市場的績效問題。 街上的那個客戶非常有彈性，是我們成長最快的細分市場之一。 國民帳戶逐季有所改善，而這種改善的部分原因是許多國民帳戶與輪胎密切相關，而輪胎也不像以前那麼糟糕了。 趨勢有所改善。 我們看到更多的輪胎更換，儘管這些客戶總體上，我認為你看到客戶流量下降，但輪胎並不像歷史上那樣是一個大阻力。

The one segment that has not performed very good for us. And as I say, I think you're going to go make scented anything related to new cars, used cars or buyer payer lots As cars changed hands, t here's generally an uptick in maintenance. It's too and used car. They may refurb and put on put tires on put on new brake suspension items, change all the filters, do some maintenance, et cetera. And is that new customer picks up the new car, they may continue to personalize it. So that segment of the business, which were highly penetrated in, has not performed as well. We think as the environment and the economy improves a little bit and we see more used cars change hands and new cars being sold, that will help those two segments of the business.

對我們來說表現不佳的一個部分。 正如我所說，我認為你會去製作與新車、二手車或買家付款批次相關的任何東西。 這也太二手車了。 他們可能會翻新並換上舊輪胎，換上新的煞車懸吊部件，更換所有過濾器，進行一些維護，等等。 當新客戶拿起新車時，他們可能會繼續對其進行個性化設置。 因此，該業務的滲透率很高的部分錶現不佳。 我們認為，隨著環境和經濟的一點點改善，我們看到更多的二手車轉手和新車銷售，這將有助於這兩個業務領域。

Right. Thank you.

正確的。 謝謝。

Chris Horvers, JPMorgan.

克里斯霍弗斯，摩根大通。

Thanks and good morning. Can you talk about what you think that the DIY, domestic DIY. and domestic commercial markets are growing? You mentioned share gains and DIY percent, e-com down one. So any thoughts on where you think those markets are grew during the quarter and how we think about the improvement in the back drop over FY25?

謝謝，早安。 能否談談您認為的DIY，國內DIY。國內商業市場正在成長？ 您提到了份額增長和 DIY 百分比，電子商務下降了 1%。 那麼，您對這些市場在本季的成長有何想法，以及我們如何看待 25 財年背景下降的改善？

Great question. Thank you. So on DIY, as we said, the biggest pressure point has really been in the discretionary part categories of the business. So think of that accessories, truck, tolling, performance, things of that nature. That business has been pretty tough for us for at least a year. And when you look at the share gains that Florida area is where we've seen the most challenging performance.

很好的問題。 謝謝。 因此，在 DIY 方面，正如我們所說，最大的壓力點實際上是在業務的可自由支配的部分類別中。 所以想想配件、卡車、收費、性能等類似性質的東西。 至少一年來，這項業務對我們來說一直相當艱難。 當您查看份額收益時，佛羅裡達地區是我們看到最具挑戰性的表現的地方。

And our maintenance categories in our failure categories on the DIY side of the business have been pretty resilient. But if those headwinds from the discretionary categories that have been tough. We frankly don't know that that's going to change too much until that are pressured. Consumer starts to get some economic relief. And frankly, when they're competent starts to improve a bit.

我們的 DIY 業務故障類別中的維護類別非常有彈性。 但如果這些阻力來自可自由支配的類別，那就很難了。坦白說，在受到壓力之前，我們不知道情況會發生太大變化。 消費者開始獲得一些經濟救濟。 坦白說，當他們有能力時就會開始有所進步。

On the commercial side, we believe we're still one of the fastest growing in the industry. I'm a little bit of a tougher comp scenario, but we believe we're growing share and we like our strategies of deploying inventory through the hub and the mega hub assortments. And we have several strategies that are focused on improving customer service in commercial, and we're seeing really good results from those.

在商業方面，我們相信我們仍然是業內成長最快的公司之一。 我的補償方案有點困難，但我們相信我們的份額正在成長，我們喜歡透過樞紐和大型樞紐分類部署庫存的策略。 我們有一些專注於改善商業客戶服務的策略，並且我們看到了這些策略帶來的良好結果。

And I would say just to build on that. I mean, if you think about the growth rates, we actually believe that the DIY market, it's been down kind of low single digits because of those dynamics that Phil talked about. But also the fact that we're not seeing the same level of retail inflation tickets are still growing slower than historical levels, and that's put some pressure on it. So a combination of consumer sentiment fact that we are not seeing retail inflation or sort of driving that, that business down a little bit.

我想說只是以此為基礎。 我的意思是，如果你考慮成長率，我們實際上認為 DIY 市場因為菲爾談到的這些動態而下降了低個位數。 但事實上，我們沒有看到相同水平的零售通膨率成長速度仍低於歷史水平，這給它帶來了一些壓力。 因此，綜合消費者信心的事實，我們沒有看到零售通膨或某種程度的推動，該業務略有下降。

But what we're excited about is the fact that we continue to execute a s Phil mentioned, I mean, we're providing great service to the customer and is that a portion of the industry reaccelerates on will be in great shape. And on the commercial side, I mean, as near as we can still looming, commercial's been flat to declining for -- or slightly declining for a few quarters here on. And if we look at what we saw this quarter was probably in a similar sort of ZIP code. So we're excited about the fact that we've accelerated our core commercial sales growth. And as we move forward, the execution on our initiatives, hubs in the marketplace, all in all of bode well for us as we move forward.

但令我們感到興奮的是，我們繼續執行菲爾提到的目標，我的意思是，我們正在為客戶提供優質的服務，而行業的一部分重新加速將處於良好狀態。 在商業方面，我的意思是，就我們仍然可以預測的情況來看，商業業務一直持平甚至下降，或者在接下來的幾個季度中略有下降。 如果我們看看本季所看到的情況，可能是類似的郵遞區號。 因此，我們對核心商業銷售成長加速感到興奮。隨著我們的前進，我們的計劃的執行、市場中心，所有這些都對我們前進來說是個好兆頭。

Got it. Net A couple quick margin follow-ups. First, in the gross margin, it looks like a 53rd week, the gross margin was maybe 80 basis points lower was. So is there something to read into that? You talked about being positive on gross margin over the year, but some DC pressures with some of the venture accounting nuance or something that we should think about in terms of cadence?

知道了。 Net 幾個快速保證金跟進。首先，在毛利率方面，看起來是第 53 週，毛利率可能下降了 80 個基點。 那麼有什麼值得解讀的嗎？ 你談到了今年的毛利率是積極的，但是一些風險會計的細微差別或我們應該在節奏方面考慮的一些 DC 壓力？

And then secondly, on teh potential FX headwind. The international up implied operating margin for the year is materially higher than the quarter. So what you experienced in the fourth quarter, so it is that the 53rd week impact? Or is there something going on there?

其次，關於潛在的外匯逆風。國際上年度隱含營業利潤率大幅高於本季。 那麼你在第四季經歷了什麼，所以是第53週的影響？ 或是那裡發生了什麼事情？

Yes. So the 53rd week is always a little bit noisy for us, just insist in general in terms of how allocations happened, et cetera. So I wouldn't read much into how you think about. I mean, overall for the total company, we had about $365 million of sales and about $87 million of EBITDA associated with that, that extra week when you look at it on a on a like-for-like basis in our margin impacts and SG&A impacts and all those things can get a little bit skewed just based on how you do allocations in the quarter.

是的。 因此，第 53 週對我們來說總是有點吵，只要堅持總體上分配是如何發生的，等等。 所以我不會過度了解你的想法。 我的意思是，就整個公司而言，我們的銷售額約為3.65 億美元，與之相關的EBITDA 約為8700 萬美元，如果您在利潤率影響和SG&A 方面進行類似比較的話，那麼額外的一周我們的銷售額約為3.65 億美元，EBITDA 約為8700 萬美元。

What I'll say about on international and the international margins, as we think about it going forward, it's a very strong business for us. And our business in Mexico has basically doubled over the last three fiscal years or so. So given that significant revenue and see the impact of our international footprint, phone can have swings in FX rates are going to impact us, et cetera. The team's doing a great job of executing on, and we wanted to be really transparent on what we see in time we have on FX moving forward and what the what the margin impact is going to be going forward.

我要說的是，關於國際和國際利潤率，當我們考慮未來時，這對我們來說是一項非常強大的業務。 在過去三個財年左右的時間裡，我們在墨西哥的業務基本上翻了一番。 因此，考慮到可觀的收入並看到我們國際足跡的影響，手機匯率的波動將會影響我們等等。團隊在執行方面做得非常出色，我們希望能夠真正透明地了解我們在外匯方面的進展以及未來的利潤率影響。

Got it. Thank you.

知道了。 謝謝。

Steven Forbes, Guggenheim.

史蒂文福布斯，古根漢。

Good morning, Bill, Jamere. Just a follow-up to start on the commercial business. Maybe we just focus on sort of weekly sales per commercial program. If we adjust for the extra week contribution, it looks like on new sales were down mid-single digits year over year. Any way to help contextualize sort of what's driving that and or write any sort of initial thoughts on how your initiatives on speed of delivery, right, customer service you may help inflect back r ight? As we look out over the coming quarters here in potentially get it back to growing?

早安，比爾，傑米爾。只是開始商業業務的後續行動。 也許我們只關注每個商業項目的每週銷售額。 如果我們調整額外一週的貢獻，看起來新銷量比去年同期下降了中個位數。 有什麼方法可以幫助將推動這一趨勢的因素結合起來，或者寫出任何關於您在交付速度、客戶服務方面的舉措如何影響的初步想法？ 當我們展望未來幾個季度時，它是否有可能恢復成長？

Yes. Well, again, we are if you compare the 16 weeks to 16 weeks were up 4.5% versus last year. So and it sequentially from the last three quarters, that's three quarters in a row of growing trend on our commercial sales. If you look at what we're focused on with the obviously improving our assortments is something we do all the time. I think our merchants have done a fantastic job of improving the store level assortments and also improving the store level of the hub and mega hub assortments within any given market that may have one of those types of boxes.

是的。 好吧，如果您將 16 週進行比較，我們會發現 16 週比去年增加了 4.5%。 因此，從過去三個季度開始，我們的商業銷售連續三個季度呈現成長趨勢。 如果你看看我們所關注的重點，我們一直在做的事情就是明顯改進我們的產品種類。 我認為我們的商家在改善商店級別的分類方面做得非常出色，並且還提高了可能擁有其中一種盒子的特定市場內的中心和大型中心分類的商店級別。

What we're focused on is having deployed inventory in a given market either in a hub or a satellite and getting that inventory quicker to the customer at the shop level. So we think of it in terms of time, speed to shop. How quickly can we get that inventory from wherever it may be to the shop, the fastest way to improve customer service. And as you back up to a harbor, a mega hub, the assortments get deeper and how do we get that product to those customers faster? We've deployed quite a bit of technology over the last couple of years. We continue to leverage that technology and learn how to improve the customer service for the AutoZoners, allowing them to help the customer better as well as getting that inventory quicker to the customer wherever that inventory may be.

我們的重點是在給定市場的中心或衛星中部署庫存，並在商店層級更快地將庫存交付給客戶。 所以我們從時間、購物速度的角度來考慮。我們能多快地將庫存從任何地方運送到商店，這是改善客戶服務的最快方法。 當您返回港口、大型樞紐時，產品種類會變得更加豐富，我們如何更快地將產品交付給這些客戶？在過去的幾年裡，我們部署了相當多的技術。 我們繼續利用該技術並學習如何改善 AutoZoners 的客戶服務，使他們能夠更好地幫助客戶，並更快地將庫存提供給客戶，無論庫存在哪裡。

And we're seeing really good results. We like the strategy. What I'll tell you is it's dependent on having a hub and a mega hub, which is why this strategy having more hubs deployed with the inventory assets closer to the customer is so important will start rate. And then we've got a as Javier mentioned, we've got a great pipeline. We feel good about the future. We know where we want all of these big boxes to be involved. Salix well north of 200 of them on the mega hub side. We know they are such matter negotiating and getting them open.

我們看到了非常好的結果。 我們喜歡這個策略。 我要告訴您的是，它取決於擁有一個樞紐和一個大型樞紐，這就是為什麼部署更多樞紐並讓庫存資產更接近客戶的策略如此重要的原因。 然後我們就有了哈維爾提到的，我們有一個很棒的管道。 我們對未來感覺良好。 我們知道我們希望所有這些大盒子參與其中。 柳樹位於大型樞紐一側的 200 個柳樹以北。 我們知道他們正在談判並讓其開放。

I appreciate the color. And then just a quick follow-up for Jamere, right. Appreciate the qualification of FX on assuming all things constant. The release obviously quantified the EBIT contribution the extra week, Greg, also called out LIFO. If we add these up right, we have sort of a mid single digit headwind to EBIT growth next year, i s that the right way to frame up sort of the non-controllable headwinds to EBIT growth or anything else you want to add as we think about sort of cleansing the models here?

我很欣賞它的顏色。 然後是 Jamere 的快速跟進，對吧。 欣賞外匯在假設一切不變的情況下的資格。 該發布顯然量化了額外一周的息稅前利潤貢獻，格雷格還呼籲後進先出。 如果我們將這些正確地加起來，我們明年的息稅前利潤增長將面臨中等個位數的阻力，這是構建息稅前利潤增長的不可控阻力或我們認為的其他任何你想添加的阻力的正確方法嗎？

So there's really two pieces. one is on we had about $40 million of LIFO credits that rolled through the P&L this year that become headwinds next year. Now, dependent on what happens from an inflation standpoint, we've got about $19 million of credits still to come before we go back to and unrecorded balance. So you could offset some maybe half of that $40 million benefit that you had this year on the LIFO sites. So that should help you from a from a modeling standpoint.

所以確實有兩塊。 其中之一是，我們今年有大約 4000 萬美元的後進先出信貸，這些信貸在今年的損益表中滾動，但明年將成為不利因素。 現在，從通貨膨脹的角度來看，在我們回到未記錄的餘額之前，我們還需要大約 1900 萬美元的信貸。 因此，您可以抵消今年在 LIFO 網站上獲得的 4000 萬美元收益中的大約一半。 因此，從建模的角度來看，這應該會對您有所幫助。

And then from an FX standpoint, we tried to be transparent about, you know, where the where the spot rates are certainly not on making a prediction on where FX is going to land or lots of things that will impact that. Certainly things that happened in the US economy, things that happened in the international economies, and in some of the political dynamic. So what we wanted to do is just be really transparent about where the spot rates currently are and what the impact could potentially be on our P&L.

然後從外匯的角度來看，我們試圖對即期匯率保持透明，當然不是為了預測外匯將在哪裡或會影響這一點的許多因素。 當然是美國經濟中發生的事情、國際經濟中發生的事情以及一些政治動態中發生的事情。 因此，我們想要做的就是真正透明地了解當前的即期匯率以及它可能對我們的損益產生的影響。

We will update you as we as we move through the year. It's been pretty volatile. You've seen a pretty significant spike probably to the tune of 20 or 25% and a very short period of time. And again, as I said, given the size of international and in our P&L and the profitability of that business, it does have an impact. So we'll be transparent and share with you exactly what we see as it rolls its way through the P&L.

隨著這一年的進展，我們將向您通報最新情況。 它非常不穩定。 您已經看到在很短的時間內出現了相當顯著的峰值，可能達到 20% 或 25%。 正如我所說，考慮到國際業務的規模、我們的損益表以及該業務的獲利能力，它確實會產生影響。 因此，我們將保持透明，並與您準確分享我們在損益表中看到的情況。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Robbie Ohmes, Bank of America.

羅比·歐姆斯，美國銀行。

Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. I was hoping could you guys talk a little bit more about -- I'm seeing inflation return and what the drivers to that normal normally are what they could be? And maybe as part of that, you can remind us on, you know, how historically tariffs in place, port strikes and things like that impact on inflation for you guys?

嘿，早安。 感謝您提出我的問題。 我希望你們能多談談——我看到通膨回歸，以及通常情況下的驅動因素是什麼？ 也許作為其中的一部分，您可以提醒我們，您知道，歷史上關稅、港口罷工以及類似的事情對您們的通貨膨脹有何影響？

So let me let me kind of backup, and we've talked about this a couple of different times of the historical growth rates versus what we're seeing today and ticket average. It's been fairly muted over the last year or so at around this 1% retail inflation and ticket average inflation has been muted on both sides of the business. Similar numbers, they're down from historical rates.

因此，讓我做一下備份，我們已經多次討論過歷史成長率與我們今天看到的成長率和平均票價。 在過去一年左右的時間裡，零售通膨率相當低，零售通膨率約為 1%，而且業務雙方的門票平均通膨率也都很低。 類似的數字，都低於歷史水準。

Over the long term, and I'm talking literally close somewhere between 20 and 30 years. The industry has generally seen somewhere between 3% and 5% inflation and average ticket and around 1% to 3% decline in transactions, typically driven by inflation of parts as well as technology enhancements and quality of the product. We believe that some time in the near horizon, we would revert back to historical growth rate on both of those metrics on.

從長遠來看，我說的是大約 20 到 30 年。 該行業的平均票價普遍上漲 3% 至 5%，交易量下降約 1% 至 3%，這通常是由零件通膨以及技術改進和產品品質推動的。 我們相信，在不久的將來，我們將恢復這兩個指標的歷史成長率。

What we typically see, what drives inflation is mix of business there to drive ticket averages. This mix of business converting to higher technology products, which generally speaking, are more expensive over the last year. There hasn't been much product cost come into the system. And we all believe that that's because of if you look back through the pandemic years, we had the supply chain constraints. We had massive inflation and cost, and we took those retails and pushed into the consumer. And we ended up with this hyperinflation. We're now lapping a lot of that and that trend starts to slow down kind of now going through the end of the year. And we would expect that inflation would come back in sometime in '25 and get back to normal.

我們通常看到，推動通貨膨脹的因素是業務組合推動門票平均價格。 這種業務組合轉向高科技產品，一般來說，這些產品比去年更昂貴。 系統中沒有太多的產品成本。 我們都相信，這是因為，如果你回顧大流行病的歲月，我們會發現供應鏈受到限制。 我們面臨著巨大的通貨膨脹和成本，我們把這些零售業推向了消費者。 我們最終陷入了惡性通貨膨脹。 我們現在已經完成了很多工作，而且這種趨勢在今年年底開始放緩。 我們預計通膨將在 25 年的某個時候回歸併恢復正常。

As far as tariffs, your question there, that those sorts of things have ebbed and flowed over the years. If we get tariffs, we will pass those tariff costs back to the consumer and we'll pass them through as they turn through will generally raise prices ahead of we know with the tariffs will be we generally raise prices ahead of that. You can get some gross margin improvement as the cost of goods turn in and then it flattened out. So that's historically what we've done. I see no reason this industry has been very consistent on pricing and rational, and we believe that all those same metrics are still in place.

至於關稅，你的問題是，這些年來這些事情一直在消退。 如果我們徵收關稅，我們將把這些關稅成本轉嫁給消費者，我們將在消費者轉嫁時將其轉嫁給消費者，通常會在我們知道關稅之前提高價格。 隨著商品成本的增加然後趨於平緩，你可以得到一些毛利率的提高。 這就是我們在歷史上所做的。 我認為這個行業沒有理由在定價和理性方面非常一致，而且我們相信所有這些相同的指標仍然存在。

Thanks. And do you think that in just a quick follow-up, since you brought up the last 20 to 30 years, when I went over the last 20, 30 years, has the consumer been like this you guys are talking about on the DIY side at a challenged consumer? What happened last last time, the consumer was like this?

謝謝。您是否認為，在快速跟進中，自從您提到過去 20 到 30 年以來，當我回顧過去 20、30 年時，消費者是否像你們在 DIY 方面談論的那樣？ ？ 上次發生了什麼，消費者是這樣的？

I don't know. Well, that's a great question on the consumers under much different pressure of the bottom end consumer has been pressured for the last 20 months or so or maybe more, but it's ebbed and flowed over recessions, et cetera. Have we seen the type of inflation that we saw over the last three years now? I'm not certainly not in my lifetime.

我不知道。 嗯，這是一個很好的問題，對於處於不同壓力下的消費者來說，底端消費者在過去20 個月左右甚至更長的時間裡一直承受著壓力，但隨著經濟衰退等因素的影響，壓力會消退和流動。 我們現在看到過去三年的通貨膨脹類型了嗎？ 我肯定不在我的有生之年。

But generally speaking, in tougher economic times, people will generally defer maintenance and discretionary items early in the cycle. And then as we get further through the cycle, they start to repair their cars because they realize a little investment today maintaining their vehicle defers a major repair into the future. So we think it's going to ebb and flow over time. But we feel like our execution, our improvement in execution and our strategies are the right strategies for us, and we'll work over the long term.

但一般來說，在經濟困難時期，人們通常會在週期的早期推遲維護和可自由支配的項目。 然後，當我們進一步經歷這個週期時，他們開始修理他們的汽車，因為他們意識到今天維護他們的車輛的一點投資可以推遲到未來的大修復。 所以我們認為它會隨著時間的推移而潮起潮落。 但我們覺得我們的執行力、執行力的改進和我們的策略對我們來說是正確的策略，我們將長期努力。

Just a little more on the consumer. I mean, I know a couple of things really stand out to as one is if you look at the economy, just in general. I've said this for a while that you've had this sort of this two-speed world where the middle and upper-income consumers have strong balance sheets and are continuing to spend as normal a nd the lower end is feeling the pinch, particularly in the discretionary categories. The beauty of our businesses that are the lion's share of our businesses, relatively inelastic. It's break-fix, it's essential maintenance. Consumers need their vehicles for mobility. So we tend to power our way through those.

只是對消費者多一點。 我的意思是，我知道有幾件事確實很突出，如果你看看整體經濟的話。我已經說過一段時間了，你已經經歷了這種雙速世界，其中中等收入和高收入消費者擁有強大的資產負債表，並繼續正常消費，而低端收入消費者則感到壓力，特別是在可自由裁量的類別中。 我們業務的優點是我們業務的大部分，相對缺乏彈性。 這是故障修復，這是必要的維護。 消費者需要他們的車輛來出行。 所以我們傾向於透過這些來推動我們的發展。

What encourages us about the consumers that, you know, even in this environment and you've got unemployment at 4.2%, you've got wage growth at 4%. So wage growth is finally keeping up our outpatient inflation. So we've we feel pretty good that as consumer sentiment improves on moving forward, that you'll see some return kind of normalcy in terms of spending on and our business will benefit from that. But the good news again, is the lion's share of our business that break fix essential maintenance. It's pretty resilient, really through all cycles.

讓我們消費者感到鼓舞的是，即使在這種環境下，失業率為 4.2%，薪資成長率仍為 4%。 因此，薪資成長最終跟上了門診通膨的步伐。 因此，我們感覺非常好，隨著消費者情緒的改善，您將看到支出方面恢復正常，我們的業務將從中受益。 但好消息是，我們的大部分業務都進行了故障修復和必要的維護。 它非常有彈性，確實經歷了所有周期。

Really helpful. Thank you.

真的很有幫助。 謝謝。

Michael Lasser, UBS.

麥可拉瑟，瑞銀集團。

Good morning. Thank you so much for taking my question. So the market's grown accustomed to AutoZone, growing its earnings by a double-digit clip with mid single digit operating income growth and the rest coming from share repurchases. It seems like your message today is that the algorithm might prove a loose two for the next few quarters as a headwind to our international business comes into play from FX in some of the other, i.e., effective like light flow. So when is it realistic that AutoZone can get back to the double-digit EPS growth algorithm? And is it really incumbent on an acceleration in pricing that's going to both help the top line and the margin moving through 2025? Thank you.

早安. 非常感謝您回答我的問題。 因此，市場已經習慣了 AutoZone，其獲利以兩位數的速度成長，營業收入成長為中個位數，其餘部分來自股票回購。 您今天的信息似乎是，該演算法可能會在接下來的幾個季度中證明是鬆散的兩個，因為外匯在其他一些方面（即像光流一樣有效）對我們的國際業務產生了不利影響。那麼 AutoZone 什麼時候才能恢復兩位數 EPS 成長演算法呢？ 是否真的有必要加快定價以幫助提高 2025 年的營收和利潤率？ 謝謝。

Thanks for your question, Michael. For the first thing I'll say is that the long term algo is unchanged. I mean, this is a business that on we believe as we look forward to an opportunity to expand margins that will have a ton of free cash flow at the bottom of the waterfall on buyback of shares and do shareholder-friendly things associated with it.

謝謝你的提問，麥可。 首先我要說的是，長期演算法沒有改變。 我的意思是，我們相信這是一項業務，因為我們期待有機會擴大利潤率，在股票回購方面將在瀑布底部產生大量自由現金流，並做與之相關的有利於股東的事情。

In the near term, the things that you've alluded to, things like LIFO pressure on from an FX standpoint may impact that on a quarterly basis, but that long-term algo doesn't change. I think what we're encouraged by is that on the growth initiatives that we have as the macro environment improves, you'll see the acceleration in the and the top line, which is key to that algo working as we move forward. So all the things are working on from a growth initiative standpoint will really start to show up in the results. But in this environment we're in particularly the consumer's been pressured. DIY has been a little bit soft. It's a little tough to print that for that number quarter over quarter as we move forward.

在短期內，您提到的事情，例如從外匯角度來看的後進先出壓力，可能會按季度影響這一點，但長期演算法不會改變。 我認為令我們感到鼓舞的是，隨著宏觀環境的改善，我們所採取的成長舉措中，你會看到收入和營收的加速，這是我們前進過程中該演算法發揮作用的關鍵。 因此，從成長計畫的角度來看，所有正在進行的事情都將真正開始體現在結果中。 但在這種環境下，我們尤其受到消費者的壓力。 DIY有點軟。 隨著我們的前進，逐季印出這個數字有點困難。

So we feel good about where we are. We feel good about the fundamentals of the business, the fundamentals of the industry, the fundamentals of our execution, but on a quarterly basis, it's difficult to print the print, the algo as it has. It has been so long term, no change. Short term, you'll certainly see some impact from the top line and some of these other drivers in the business.

所以我們對自己所處的位置感覺良好。 我們對業務的基本面、行業的基本面、我們執行的基本面感覺良好，但按季度計算，很難列印出印刷品和演算法。 已經過去這麼久了，沒有什麼改變。 短期來看，您肯定會看到營收和業務中其他一些驅動因素帶來的一些影響。

To reiterate, I mean, I agree that there definitely will be pressure on the given quarter. But the Mexico business and international businesses, an incredible business and growing, Tom, we like the profitability of that market. And we like our strategies both on the international markets and opportunities that we still have here in the US. So we're happy with our strategy. Don't like the FX pressure we can't, but that's not what we can we can deal with at the moment.

重申一下，我的意思是，我同意特定季度肯定會面臨壓力。 但是墨西哥業務和國際業務是一項令人難以置信的業務並且正在不斷增長，湯姆，我們喜歡該市場的盈利能力。 我們喜歡我們在國際市場上的策略以及我們在美國仍然擁有的機會。 所以我們對我們的策略感到滿意。 我們不喜歡外匯壓力，但目前無法應付。

My follow-up question is the margin structure of AutoZone has evolved a bit over the year. It's now more income at a point. The group margin expansion to drive stable flat overall operating margins do not fit some growth in this Q&A. So if AutoZone is running into the call to grow its gross margin for the market back, that he can make it unique to moderate that keep its overall operating margin flattish moving forward?

我的後續問題是 AutoZone 的利潤結構在過去一年中發生了一些變化。 現在在某個點上收入更多了。 集團利潤率擴張以推動整體營運利潤率穩定持平，但與本次問答中的一些成長並不相符。 因此，如果 AutoZone 遇到了提高市場毛利率的呼聲，那麼他是否可以對其進行獨特的適度調整，以保持其整體營業利潤率持平？

Yes, I think two things associated with that. one is we are continuing to run the gross margin play with intensity inside the company. And as I mentioned a little bit earlier, our merchandising teams are doing a fantastic job of finding a way to give us expanding margins even in an environment where we haven't had an opportunity to raise retail's as fast on, which is a pretty significant achievement for the company.

是的，我認為有兩件事與此相關。 一是我們在公司內部繼續大力提高毛利率。 正如我之前提到的，我們的銷售團隊正在出色地尋找一種方法來擴大利潤，即使我們沒有機會快速提高零售額，這是一個非常重要的目標為公司取得的成就。

I have also said that in the middle of the P&L that to the extent that the top line or the gross margins don't materialize, that we have the muscle and we'll make the decisions that are necessary to make sure that we're protecting our operating margins in total. And that includes the things that we do on the SG&A line. What we've been able to do over the last couple of years, is invest in a very disciplined way and things that are positioned us very real well for the future in SG&A. So things like IT, payroll to improve service, payroll that's necessary to support some of these growth initiatives. And those things are all going to pay benefits or so.

我還說過，在損益表中間，如果營收或毛利率沒有實現，我們有實力，我們將做出必要的決定，以確保我們保護我們的整體營業利潤。 這包括我們在 SG&A 方面所做的事情。 過去幾年我們所能做的就是以非常嚴格的方式進行投資，這些投資使我們在 SG&A 的未來處於非常有利的位置。 因此，IT、改善服務的薪資、支持其中一些成長計畫所必需的薪資等。 這些事情都會帶來好處。

I think the message here is no change to the algo on no outlook that suggests that in our operating margins are on online return. And as we continue to work gross margins and work the middle of the P&L, the operating margin profile with companies protective.

我認為這裡傳達的訊息是演算法沒有變化，沒有前景表明我們的營業利潤取決於線上回報。 隨著我們繼續研究毛利率並研究損益表的中間部分，公司的營業利潤率狀況受到保護。

Thank you very much.

非常感謝。

Michael Baker, D.A. Davidson.

麥可貝克，D.A.戴維森。

Okay, thanks, guys. Add two quick ones. Y ou've alluded a little bit the pricing competitive pricing. Could -- c an you just tell us what we know one of your competitors has been investing in price? Is that impacting the average ticket at all?

好的，謝謝大家。 添加兩個快速的。您已經提到了一點定價競爭性定價。 您能否告訴我們您的競爭對手之一一直在價格方面進行投資的情況？ 這會影響平均票價嗎？

Yeah, I would come I would say that that they we heard that they're doing that in the day. We monitor our pricing all the time. We haven't seen any radical change. I think specifically on the commercial side of the business, the vast majority of the share is with the WDs, and that's who we focus on some in our pricing strategies. And we haven't seen any material change there.

是的，我會來，我會說我們聽說他們白天就這麼做了。 我們一直監控我們的定價。 我們還沒有看到任何根本性的改變。 我認為，特別是在業務的商業方面，絕大多數份額都屬於 WD，這也是我們在定價策略中重點關注的對象。 我們還沒有看到任何實質變化。

I would say that if you ask if that's the pressure point for a lack of average ticket growth, the answer's no. The impetus for average ticket growth in retail inflation is really comes from cost and the cost comes in. We'll push that cost to the consumer, and that's where you get some of that retail average ticket inflation. So I would say that is not the primary reason for the lack of inflation on ticket average. It goes back to this hyper inflation that we had since the supply chain issues of the pandemic.

我想說，如果你問這是否是平均門票成長不足的壓力點，答案是否定的。零售通膨中平均門票成長的動力其實來自於成本，而成本也隨之而來。 所以我想說，這並不是平均票價缺乏通膨的主要原因。這可以追溯到自從大流行的供應鏈問題以來我們所經歷的惡性通貨膨脹。

Yes. I mean, you're going to say in the past, particularly during the during the pandemic, where we saw pretty significant increases in ticket. That inflation is a bit of our friend when it comes to retails. And that that dynamic is because, as Phil alluded to, this is a very disciplined and rational industry in terms of pricing. And so even when you are looking at changes that you're making dynamically from a pricing standpoint, because you're largely in a break fix business where you don't necessarily stimulate demand from pricing, downward pressure on pricing, we generally don't see that happening in our industry in this industry decades.

是的。 我的意思是，你會說在過去，特別是在大流行期間，我們看到門票大幅增加。 對零售業來說，通貨膨脹是我們的朋友。 正如菲爾所提到的，這種動態是因為這是一個在定價方面非常有紀律和理性的行業。 因此，即使您從定價的角度動態考慮所做的變化，因為您主要處於故障修復業務中，您不一定會刺激定價需求，定價下行壓力，我們通常不會這樣做。還沒看到這種情況發生。

Exactly.

確切地。

Yes. Okay. That's pretty clear. one follow-up, I guess, a week into Quickparts, you said you expect first quarter comps to be I think I said improving. Why is that based on what you're seeing quarter to date? And then you also said accelerating or more store growth. Can you quantify that? How many stores you gave us a mega hub number for next year? How many total stores should we expect in 2025?

是的。 好的。 這很清楚。 我想，在 Quickparts 一周後，你說你預計第一季的業績會有所改善，我想我說過。 為什麼這是基於您本季迄今所看到的情況？ 然後你也提到加速或更多商店的成長。 你能量化一下嗎？ 您為我們提供了明年的大型中心數量有多少家商店？ 2025 年我們預計會有多少家店？

Thanks, Jeff. Um. So Jamere said, I think we are expecting somewhere north of 20 on the mega hubs that, as I said, they'll also be kind of back end loaded. So I think kind of after Christmas or so would be where the vast majority of those will come in the latter part of the year. So we like that really reaccelerate those. We wish they were going to be earlier in the queue for the quarter.

謝謝，傑夫。 嗯。 Jamere 說，我認為我們預計大型樞紐的數量將超過 20 個，正如我所說，它們也會有後端負載。 所以我認為聖誕節後左右將是其中絕大多數將在今年下半年出現的地方。 所以我們喜歡真正重新加速這些。 我們希望他們能夠在本季更早排隊。

We don't see a whole lot of the consumer is still under the same pressure. They were back in over the summertime. The consumer confidence I think is pretty stable at the moment. We wish it would improve, but we don't see a whole lot of catalysts for it to improve, frankly, maybe until December timeframe after the election, et cetera. So we expected to be pretty similar and we think it will improve. We'll get back to a normal growth average ticket growth later in the year. And that's kind of when we see things maybe having a better inflection point.

我們沒有看到很多消費者仍然面臨同樣的壓力。 他們在夏天回來了。 我認為目前消費者信心相當穩定。 我們希望它會有所改善，但坦白說，我們沒有看到太多的催化劑可以改善它，也許要等到12月選舉後的時間框架，等等。 所以我們預計會非常相似，並且我們認為它會有所改進。 我們將在今年稍後恢復正常的平均門票成長。 這就是當我們看到事情可能有更好的轉折點時。

We'd love for winter to get here and have a harsh winter.

我們希望冬天能夠來到這裡，度過一個嚴酷的冬天。

And I don't know, David, you said you expect first quarter modestly improve --

我不知道，大衛，你說過你預計第一季會略有改善 -

Modestly improved from a from a debt perspective? That's correct.

從債務角度來看略有改善？ 這是正確的。

Yes. Okay. Thank you.

是的。 好的。 謝謝。

Zach Fadem, Wells Fargo.

札克法德姆，富國銀行。

For the second reason is partnering with our new cars from 2018, 2019 are starting to come off, warranty and newest, why you wouldn't view this as an air pocket or headwind for the industry? Or any thoughts on why that.

第二個原因是與我們2018年、2019年的新車合作，保固期和最新款都開始脫落，為什麼您不認為這是業界的氣穴或逆風？ 或對為什麼會這樣的任何想法。

Simply put the cars are lasting longer and they're staying on the road. So even though the SRs come down, you're not seeing cars go to the bone yard. So as a result of that, the car park has continued to tick up. And you can see that from the data that's out there when the average age of vehicle on the road, it's ticked up to 12.6 years.

簡而言之，汽車的使用壽命更長，並且可以在路上行駛。 因此，即使 SR 下降，您也不會看到汽車進入報廢場。 因此，停車場的數量持續增加。 你可以從現有的​​數據中看到，道路上車輛的平均車齡已經上升到了 12.6 年。

And what all the data suggests space on what we know today is that it's likely going to be one or two ticks higher next year. And that's a combination of what consumer behavior is. But it's also a factor of what's happening with technology. The cars just simply last longer. And you're seeing them stay in the car park on much longer, which means the average household was fractionally going up a little bit more in terms of the number of vehicles on that there.

所有數據表明，與我們今天所知道的相比，明年的價格可能會上漲一到兩個基點。 這是消費者行為的結合。但這也是科技發展的因素。 這些汽車只是使用壽命更長。 你會看到他們在停車場停留的時間更長，這意味著平均家庭的車輛數量略有增加。

Is it going to kind of your air pocket? I think that did happen to some degree back in the financial crisis 2007, '08, '09, your car, your new car source literally dipped below 10 million annually. And out of we haven't seen anywhere near that type of a decline in stores. So I don't I don't think it's necessarily going to be an issue.

它會影響你的氣穴嗎？ 我認為這確實在某種程度上發生在2007年的金融危機中，'08'，'09年，你的汽車，你的新車來源實際上每年下降到1000萬輛以下。 我們還沒有看到商店出現類似的下降。 所以我不認為這一定會成為一個問題。

Again, we love the fact that cars are now over 12 years on average and the American consumer is driving a lot of those are great tailwinds for us. We like that.

同樣，我們喜歡這樣一個事實：汽車現在的平均使用壽命已超過 12 年，而且美國消費者駕駛的汽車很多，這對我們來說是巨大的推動力。 我們喜歡這樣。

Got it. That makes sense to maybe fewer newer cars entering the addressable market, but also fewer scraps. So that makes sense. So just separately, when you look at your SG&A growth on a per-store basis, it was about 1% normalized, step down from about 3% in Q4. And when you think about managing your business for 2025, could you talk about why this low single digit range is the right level for you, particularly in light of the investments that you're making in commercial and also in light of some of the peer stepping up to mid-single digit drive share gains?

知道了。 這可能會減少進入目標市場的新車數量，但也會減少報廢量。 所以這是有道理的。 因此，單獨來看每家商店的 SG&A 成長時，正常化後的 SG&A 成長約為 1%，較第四季的 3% 左右有所下降。 當您考慮管理 2025 年的業務時，您能否談談為什麼這個較低的個位數範圍適合您，特別是考慮到您在商業方面的投資以及一些同行的情況提高到中個位數推動份額成長？

I mean what we've said about SG&A is that we'll continue to invest in a disciplined way does support our growth initiatives. And so to the extent that there are opportunities for us to invest in things like store payroll, the work that we're continuing to do in IT to improve the customer experience and improve our AutoZoners experience. We're going to invest into that all day long ,but we also very responsible in terms of how we manage that SG&A as we move forward. So in a softer sales environment, we do the things that we need to do to make sure that we're running efficiently from an SG&A standpoint.

我的意思是，我們關於銷售、管理和行政費用（SG&A）的說法是，我們將繼續以嚴格的方式進行投資，這確實支持我們的成長計劃。 因此，我們有機會投資商店薪資等方面，我們將繼續在 IT 領域開展工作，以改善客戶體驗並改善我們的 AutoZoners 體驗。我們將整天對此進行投資，但在我們前進的過程中，我們對如何管理 SG&A 也非常負責。 因此，在銷售環境較為疲軟的情況下，我們需要做一些事情，以確保從銷售、管理和行政費用 (SG&A) 的角度來看，我們能夠有效運作。

So it's a balanced approached. We're not hesitating to invest in growth initiatives. We have a pull back on any investment in growth initiatives, but we are disciplined about how we manage it when the weather the top line is a little bit softer.

所以這是一種平衡的方法。 我們會毫不猶豫地投資成長計劃。 我們會縮減對成長計畫的任何投資，但當營收稍微疲軟時，我們會嚴格控制投資方式。

Appreciate the time.

珍惜時間。

Thank you. Appreciate the question.

謝謝。 感謝這個問題。

Thank you. That concludes our Q&A session. I'll hand the conference back to Phil Daniel, CEO. of AutoZone for closing remarks. Please go ahead.

謝謝。 我們的問答環節到此結束。 我將把會議交回給執行長菲爾·丹尼爾 (Phil Daniel)。 AutoZone 的閉幕詞。 請繼續。

Thank you, everyone, for the questions today. Before weekly conclude the call, I'd like to take a moment to reiterate, we believe our industry is in a strong position in our business model 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.

謝謝大家今天提出的問題。 在每週結束電話會議之前，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，我們的商業模式很穩定。 我們對今年的成長前景感到興奮，但我們不會認為任何事情都是理所當然的，因為我們知道我們的客戶有其他選擇。

We have exciting plans that should help us succeed into the future, but I want to stress that this is a marathon and not a sprint. As we continue to focus on flawless execution while customer service and strive to optimize shareholder value for the future, we are confident AutoZone will be successful.

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。隨著我們繼續專注於完美的執行和客戶服務，並努力優化未來的股東價值，我們對 AutoZone 將會成功充滿信心。

Thank you for participating in today's call.

感謝您參加今天的電話會議。

Thank you, everyone. This concludes today's event. You may disconnect at this time and have a wonderful day. Thank y ou for your participation.

謝謝大家。 今天的活動到此結束。 此時您可能會斷開連接並度過美好的一天。感謝您的參與。