O'Reilly Automotive Inc (ORLY) 2021 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the O'Reilly Automotive, Inc. Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Earnings Conference Call. My name is James, and I'll be your operator for today's call. (Operator Instructions)

歡迎參加歐萊利汽車公司2021財年第四季及全年財報電話會議。我是詹姆斯，將擔任本次電話會議的接線生。 （接線生操作說明）

And I'd now like to turn the call over to Tom McFall. Mr. McFall, you may begin.

現在我把電話交給湯姆‧麥克福爾先生。麥克福爾先生，您可以開始了。

Thank you, James. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. During today's conference call, we'll discuss our fourth quarter 2021 results and our full year outlook for 2022. After our prepared comments, we'll host a question-and-answer period.

謝謝詹姆斯。大家早安，感謝各位參加今天的電話會議。在今天的會議中，我們將討論2021年第四季業績以及2022年全年展望。在準備好的發言之後，我們將進行問答環節。

Before we begin this morning, I'd like to remind everyone that our comments today contain forward-looking statements, and we intend to be covered by and we claim the protection under the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as estimate, may, could, will, believe, expect, would, consider, should, anticipate, project, plan, intend or similar words. The company's actual results could differ materially from any forward-looking statements due to several important factors described in the company's latest annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, and other recent SEC filings. The company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made during this call.

在今天上午會議開始之前，我想提醒大家，我們今天的發言包含前瞻性陳述，我們打算並聲明受1995年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》中關於前瞻性陳述的「安全港」條款的保護。您可以透過諸如「估計」、「可能」、「可以」、「打算」、「相信」、「預期」、「會」、「考慮」、「應該」、「預計」、「計劃」、「打算」或類似詞語來識別這些前瞻性陳述。由於本公司截至2020年12月31日止年度的最新10-K表格年度報告以及其他近期提交給美國證券交易委員會（SEC）的文件中所述的若干重要因素，公司的實際業績可能與任何前瞻性陳述存在重大差異。本公司不承擔更新本次電話會議中任何前瞻性陳述的義務。

At this time, I'd like to introduce Greg Johnson.

在此，我謹向大家介紹格雷格·約翰遜。

Thanks, Tom. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the O'Reilly Auto Parts Fourth Quarter Conference Call. Participating on the call with me this morning are Brad Beckham, our Chief Operating Officer; and Tom McFall, our Chief Financial Officer. Greg Henslee, our Executive Chairman; David O'Reilly, our Executive Vice Chairman; and Brent Kirby, our Chief Supply Chain Officer, are also present on the call.

謝謝，湯姆。大家早安，歡迎參加歐萊利汽車配件公司第四季電話會議。今天早上與我一同參加會議的有：營運長布拉德貝克漢；財務長湯姆麥克福爾；執行董事長格雷格亨斯利；執行副董事長大衛歐萊利；以及首席供應鏈官布倫特柯比。

I'd like to begin our call today by congratulating Team O'Reilly on the tremendous results in the fourth quarter, which capped off another record-setting year. This year marked our company's 65th year since our founding and our 29th year as a publicly traded company, and I feel very comfortable saying it was our best year yet driven by the truly remarkable contributions of our team of over 83,000 hard-working professional parts people.

今天，我首先要祝賀歐萊利團隊在第四季度取得了輝煌的業績，為又一個創紀錄的年份畫上了圓滿的句號。今年是我們公司成立65週年，也是我們上市29週年。我可以非常自豪地說，這是我們迄今為止業績最好的一年，這要歸功於我們超過83,000名勤奮敬業的專業零件員工的卓越貢獻。

Our team's performance in 2021 was highlighted by our comparable store sales growth of 13.3% and diluted earnings per share growth of 32%. This outstanding performance is even more impressive when you consider that our team delivered these results on top of a record-setting year in 2020, when we achieved comparable sales increase of 10.9% and growth in earnings per share of 32%.

2021年，我們團隊的業績亮點包括同店銷售額成長13.3%和稀釋後每股收益成長32%。考慮到我們團隊在2020年創下歷史新高（同店銷售額增長10.9%，每股收益增長32%）的基礎上，2021年的出色表現更令人印象深刻。

There are a number of different metrics I could provide to highlight the strength of our business, and we'll talk through many of those details in our customary updates during the call today. However, there are 2 specific numbers that I'd like to provide an incredible picture of just how much growth Team O'Reilly has generated for our shareholders over the past 2 years.

我可以提供許多不同的指標來突出我們業務的實力，我們將在今天的電話會議中按慣例進行詳細討論。但是，我想特別強調兩個數字，它們能夠清晰地展現奧萊利團隊在過去兩年為股東創造了多麼巨大的成長。

For 2021, our average store generated sales of $2.3 million, which represents an increase of over 23% from the average store sales volume just 2 years ago in 2019. During this same time -- period of time, our operating profit dollars per store has grown by an incredible 42% as our store and distribution teams leveraged our dual market business model to drive very strong operating profit flow-through.

2021年，我們平均每家店的銷售額為230萬美元，比兩年前的2019年平均門市銷售額成長了23%以上。同時，由於我們的門市和配送團隊利用雙市場商業模式推動了強勁的營業利潤成長，我們每家店的營業利潤也實現了驚人的42%的成長。

I want to take this opportunity to thank Team O'Reilly for your tremendous back-to-back annual performance. One of the guiding principles of our culture is our team's dedication to our customers and fellow team members, and that commitment was truly on display in 2021.

我想藉此機會感謝奧萊利團隊連續兩年取得的卓越表現。我們企業文化的核心原則之一是團隊對客戶和同事的奉獻精神，而這種奉獻精神在2021年得到了充分的體現。

Rolling out the numbers for over the $13 billion of sales, it can be easy to lose sight of the context of what it takes to deliver these results. These big growth numbers are made up of millions of individual interactions with our customers, where our team members constantly go the extra mile to provide the best customer service in our industry to earn our customers' current and future business.

面對超過130億美元的銷售額，人們很容易忽略實現這些業績背後的艱辛付出。這些驚人的成長數字是由我們與客戶數百萬次的互動構成的，在這些互動中，我們的團隊成員始終竭盡全力，提供業內最佳的客戶服務，從而贏得客戶現在和未來的信賴。

Our team truly lived a "Never Say No" philosophy in 2021, while at the same time, consistently executing on best practices to protect the health and safety of our customers and team members and tackle head on the significant challenges brought on by the pandemic. It's taken a monumental effort, and I again want to express my gratitude for the selfless dedication, hard work and sacrifice of each member of Team O'Reilly.

2021年，我們的團隊真正實踐了「永不言敗」的理念，同時始終貫徹最佳實踐，以保障客戶和團隊成員的健康與安全，並積極應對疫情帶來的嚴峻挑戰。這需要付出巨大的努力，我再次衷心感謝奧萊利團隊每位成員的無私奉獻、辛勤付出和無私犧牲。

Now I'd like to take a few minutes and provide some color around our fourth quarter results. Our comparable store sales for the fourth quarter grew 14.5%. From a cadence perspective, we continue to see steady trend of elevated sales levels throughout the quarter, continuing the consistent broad-based strength we've experienced since the second quarter of 2020. As a result, our sales results were fairly consistent throughout the quarter, with December being the strongest month on a 2- and 3-year stack basis.

現在我想花幾分鐘時間，詳細介紹我們第四季的業績。第四季度，我們的同店銷售額成長了14.5%。從銷售節奏來看，整個季度銷售額持續保持穩定成長，延續了自2020年第二季以來持續強勁的銷售動能。因此，我們整個季度的銷售業績都相當穩定，其中12月份的業績在過去兩年和三年中表現最為強勁。

We've continued to see solid sales volumes. The results thus far in 2022 have been impacted by the Omicron variant and by some inclement weather given choppiness in certain regions of the company -- or country, rather. I'll spend more time on this in a few minutes on our sales outlook for 2022, but I'd like to add that we're always pleased to see this type of harsh weather as the wear and tear it inflicts on vehicles benefits us throughout the year.

我們持續保持穩健的銷售量。 2022 年迄今為止的業績受到了 Omicron 車型以及該公司部分地區（或更確切地說是國家部分地區）惡劣天氣的影響。稍後我會詳細說明我們對 2022 年銷售前景的展望，但我想補充一點，我們一直樂於見到這種惡劣天氣，因為它對車輛造成的磨損對我們全年都有益處。

Our comparable store sales results were driven by somewhat stronger growth on the professional side of our business, which continues to trend -- which continues the trend we experienced in the second and third quarters. However, our DIY business was also very strong in the fourth quarter and our expectations against difficult compares from the prior year.

我們的同店銷售業績主要得益於專業業務板塊的強勁增長，這一增長勢頭延續了第二季度和第三季度的良好勢頭。此外，我們的DIY業務在第四季也表現強勁，超出預期，與去年同期相比仍有較大差距。

For the quarter, we were very pleased to see the solid growth on both average ticket and comparable ticket counts in both our professional and DIY businesses, with average ticket being the larger contributor. The average ticket growth was aided by heightened inflation with the benefit we realized from same-SKU selling prices landing in the high single digits. However, we continue to be pleased to see growth in average ticket beyond the positive impact of same-SKU inflation driven by the long-term increased complexity of automotive technology.

本季度，我們非常高興地看到，無論是專業服務業務還是DIY業務，平均客單價和可比客單價均實現了穩健增長，其中平均客單價的增長貢獻更大。平均客單價的成長得益於通貨膨脹加劇，同款產品售價漲幅達到個位數高點。然而，我們更欣喜地看到，平均客單價的成長不僅受到同款產品價格上漲的正面影響，還得益於汽車技術長期複雜性的提升。

Demand in our industry has remained very resilient for the past 2 quarters, even as price levels and the broader economy have risen sharply. The acquisition cost increases we saw in 2021 were consistent with the cost pressures experienced across the automotive aftermarket, and the industry continues to be very rational in passing through the inflationary pricing.

過去兩個季度，儘管物價水準和整體經濟狀況大幅上漲，但我們行業的需求仍然保持強勁。 2021年採購成本的成長與整個汽車售後市場面臨的成本壓力相符，而且該行業在將通膨成本轉嫁給消費者方面也一直保持著非常理性的態度。

Finally, even though average ticket was the larger contributor to our comparable store sales for the quarter, we also believe we're pleased to capitalize on solid ticket count comps, which were positive for both the professional and DIY businesses. We've been encouraged by the stability of our customer traffic, especially as we continue to move further past the major macro-level demand tailwinds provided by the government stimulus. We believe we're very clearly benefiting from market share gains and an increased willingness of customers to invest in their existing vehicles.

最後，儘管平均客單價是本季同店銷售額的主要貢獻者，但我們也欣喜地看到客單價的穩定成長，這對專業客戶和DIY客戶都產生了正面影響。客流量的穩定性令我們倍感鼓舞，尤其是在政府刺激政策帶來的宏觀需求利好逐漸消退之後。我們相信，市場佔有率的成長以及客戶對現有車輛投資意願的提高，都讓我們受益匪淺。

Next, I want to transition to a discussion of our 2022 sales guidance as well as our 2021 gross profit performance and outlook for gross profit for 2022. As we disclosed in our earnings release yesterday, we're establishing an annual comparable store sales guidance for 2022 at the range of 5% to 7%. Our expectations are to generate positive comparable store sales growth on both sides of our business, with stronger growth on the professional business.

接下來，我想談談我們2022年的銷售預期，以及2021年的毛利表現和2022年的毛利展望。正如我們在昨天發布的財報中所揭露的，我們預計2022年同店銷售額將成長5%至7%。我們預期公司所有業務部門的同店銷售額都將實現正成長，其中專業業務的成長動能將更為強勁。

This range and corresponding expectations for the coming year are higher than we can remember ever providing in our initial annual guidance. So I want to spend some extra time to provide color on the basis for our forecast relating both to our general outlook for the coming year as well as our planned strategy to further invest in pricing on the professional side of our business.

這項預期範圍以及對來年的相應預測都高於我們以往任何年度業績指引。因此，我想花點時間詳細說明我們做出這項預測的依據，這不僅關乎我們對來年的整體展望，也關乎我們計劃進一步投資於專業業務定價的策略。

To begin, from a macro perspective, we remain very confident about the health of the automotive aftermarket and believe the stable, robust growth trends experienced in our industry are indicative of ongoing core underlying strength. The value proposition for consumers to invest in their existing vehicles remains very strong driven by scarcity of new vehicle supply, high demand for used vehicles, and the quality of engineering and manufacturing of vehicles currently on the road, merits higher mileages.

首先，從宏觀角度來看，我們對汽車售後市場的健康發展依然充滿信心，並認為產業內穩定強勁的成長趨勢顯示其核心基礎依然穩固。由於新車供應稀缺、二手車需求旺盛，以及目前在售車輛的工程和製造品質優良，消費者投資現有車輛的價值主張依然非常強勁，這些因素都使得車輛行駛里程更長也更值得。

Our industry history has proven that time -- in times of economic uncertainty motivate consumers to take more cautious financial outlook and allocate additional share of their wallet to maintain their existing vehicles. We believe this has been a positive for our business since the onset of the pandemic and that this value proposition will continue to support solid demand in our industry. We are also encouraged by the resilience of the strong sales trends in our business we've moved -- as we move further past the injection of government stimulus into the economy and believe that economically, consumers remain relatively healthy with employment increasing and miles driven steadily recovering.

我們的產業歷史證明，在經濟不確定時期，消費者會更謹慎地看待財務問題，並將更多資金用於維護現有車輛。我們相信，自疫情爆發以來，這對我們的業務發展起到了積極作用，而這種價值主張將繼續支撐我們行業的強勁需求。此外，隨著政府經濟刺激措施逐步退出市場，我們業務的強勁銷售趨勢也讓我們倍感鼓舞。我們相信，隨著就業成長和行駛里程的穩定恢復，消費者的經濟狀況仍然相對健康。

Beyond this positive macroeconomic backdrop, it is also clear to us that our extremely strong sales results are driven by significant share gains, with our outperformance, the direct result of significant competitive advantages afforded by the strength of our business model and supply chain.

除了積極的宏觀經濟背景之外，我們也清楚地認識到，我們極其強勁的銷售業績是由市場份額的顯著增長所驅動的，而我們的優異表現，則是我們強大的商業模式和供應鏈所帶來的顯著競爭優勢的直接結果。

For the DIY side of our business, we anticipate delivering generally stable to slightly negative ticket counts, with the headwind coming from lapping the positive impact of governance stimulus in the first half of 2021 and expected pressures from increased prices. We remain cognizant of the impact of sustained inflation on the economically challenged DIY consumers, who have just historically deferred noncritical maintenance and traded down the product value spectrum as prices dramatically increased.

就我們的DIY業務而言，我們預計訂單量將保持穩定或略有下降，不利因素主要來自2021年上半年政府刺激政策的正面影響逐漸消退以及預期價格上漲帶來的壓力。我們始終關注持續通膨對經濟狀況不佳的DIY消費者的影響，他們歷來都會推遲非必要的維護工作，並在價格大幅上漲時選擇價格更低的產品。

We expect this pressure to ticket comp counts to be more than offset by increased average ticket as our forecast includes an assumption of mid-single-digit same-SKU inflation. The anticipated benefit from same-SKU inflation does not include significant incremental increases in price levels from this point forward in 2022, consistent with our historical approach to issuing guidance. Our projection reflects the static prices from current levels with expected benefit of same-SKU inflation being stronger in the first half of the year as we compare price levels that ramp throughout 2021.

我們預計，平均客單價的上漲將足以抵銷客單價下跌所帶來的壓力，因為我們的預測基於同店商品價格將維持中等個位數的通膨預期。同店商品價格上漲帶來的預期收益並不包括2022年至今價格水準的大幅上漲，這與我們以往發布業績指引的做法一致。我們的預測是基於當前物價水準的穩定假設，並預期同店商品價格上漲帶來的收益在今年上半年更為顯著，因為我們將價格水準的逐步上漲與2021年全年進行比較。

From the professional side of our business, our guidance expectations assume robust growth in ticket counts supported by 4 factors: the stronger economic resilience of the end-user customers on this side of the business; incremental improvement in miles driven from consumers generally returning to an in-person work post pandemic; the long-term industry demographic trend for faster growth on the professional side of our business; and anticipated accelerated growth from the professional pricing initiative, which I will discuss next.

從我們業務的專業領域來看，我們的業績預期基於以下四個因素，即客單數量的強勁增長：該領域終端用戶客戶更強的經濟韌性；疫情后消費者普遍恢復線下工作，從而帶動出行里程的逐步增長；行業人口結構長期趨勢推動我們業務的專業領域實現更快增長；以及專業定價計劃帶來的預期加速增長，我將在下一部分討論。

Throughout our history, we have been steadfast in earning our professional customers business by providing excellent customer service from highly trained professional parts people with rapid access to industry-leading inventory at competitive prices. This unwavering commitment to customer service has allowed us to drive exceptional value for our customers and capitalize on competitive advantages to earn a pricing premium in many of our markets. Our service over price philosophy remains unchanged, but we believe we have an opportunity to accelerate our professional share gain through targeted competitive adjustments to our professional pricing strategy.

縱觀我們的發展歷程，我們始終堅持以卓越的客戶服務贏得專業客戶的信賴。我們擁有訓練有素的專業零件團隊，能夠快速提供業界領先的庫存，並以極具競爭力的價格滿足客戶需求。這種對客戶服務的執著追求，使我們能夠為客戶創造非凡價值，並利用競爭優勢在眾多市場中獲得溢價。我們「服務至上」的理念始終未變，但我們相信，透過對專業定價策略進行有針對性的調整，我們有機會加速提昇在專業客戶中的市場份額。

The past 2 years in the automotive aftermarket have been very turbulent, characterized by volatility in customer demand as a result of the pandemic, significant supply chain shocks and an evolving competitive landscape. These factors have been more disruptive on the do-it-for-me side of the business, which remains very fragmented and where the ability to respond to challenging environments has differed significantly between market participants. Against this backdrop, we have been very successful in gaining professional market share and growing substantially faster than the overall market through the strength of our industry-leading inventory availability, tiered distribution and hub network and world-class professional parts people.

過去兩年，汽車售後市場動盪不安，受疫情影響，顧客需求波動劇烈，供應鏈遭受重創，競爭格局也日趨複雜。這些因素對代工服務業的影響尤其顯著，目前該產業高度分散，各市場參與者應對挑戰的能力也存在顯著差異。在此背景下，憑藉著業界領先的庫存實力、分級分銷和樞紐網絡以及世界一流的專業零件團隊，我們成功拓展了專業市場份額，並實現了遠超市場整體水平的成長。

However, we believe that the current disruptive environment presents an opportunity for us to enhance our competitive positioning and leverage our competitive advantages to drive accelerated long-term market share gains. Over the course of the past few quarters, we've tested several professional pricing strategies in multiple markets. We've been very encouraged by the results of our testing. And after dialing in our strategy, we rolled out the professional pricing initiative company-wide at the beginning of February.

然而，我們相信，當前充滿挑戰的環境為我們提供了一個提升競爭地位、利用自身競爭優勢加速長期市場佔有率成長的機會。在過去的幾個季度裡，我們在多個市場測試了多種專業定價策略，測試結果令人鼓舞。經過策略的完善，我們於2月初在全公司範圍內正式推行了專業定價計畫。

For 2022, we expect to see a meaningful benefit to our professional customer comps from share gains, which we've incorporated into our comparable sales growth expectations. The professional pricing initiatives will pressure our gross margin rate, which we have also incorporated into our gross profit guidance. While we continually adjust pricing by location, by customer and by product line to reflect changing market conditions, we believe the professional pricing initiative we've put in place appropriately positions us to enhance the value proposition we offer our professional customers and solidify our position on the top of the call list for 2022 and beyond.

2022年，我們預期市佔率的成長將顯著提升專業客戶的同店銷售額，我們已將此因素納入同店銷售成長預期。專業定價策略將對我們的毛利率構成壓力，我們也已將此因素納入毛利指引。儘管我們會根據市場變化，持續調整不同地區、客戶和產品線的價格，但我們相信，我們已實施的專業定價策略能夠有效提升我們為專業客戶提供的價值主張，並鞏固我們在2022年及以後的市場領先地位。

Next, I'd like to provide some color on our fourth quarter gross margins and additional details supporting our full year 2022 guidance. Our fourth quarter gross margin of 52.7% was a 66 basis point improvement from our fourth quarter of 2020, which exceeded the expectations we discussed on the third call -- third quarter call. For the full year, gross margin also came in at 52.7%, which was 23 basis points higher than last year and at the upper end of our guidance range instead of the bottom half of the range as previously expected. The principal driver of the better-than-expected performance was lower-than-expected distribution cost. As we've discussed on previous calls, our distribution infrastructure is facing inefficiencies due to extremely high sales volumes, the difficult labor environment and global logistics challenges. While we continue to take targeted actions in the fourth quarter to respond to these pressures, we did not incur the level of incremental expense that we had anticipated.

接下來，我想就我們第四季的毛利率以及支持我們2022年全年業績指引的更多細節進行詳細說明。我們第四季的毛利率為52.7%，較2020年第四季提高了66個基點，超出了我們在第三次電話會議（第三季度電話會議）中討論的預期。全年毛利率同樣為52.7%，比去年同期高出23個基點，並且處於我們先前預期的指引範圍的上限，而非先前預期的下半部。業績優於預期的主因是分銷成本低於預期。正如我們在先前的電話會議中所討論的那樣，由於銷量極高、勞動力市場環境嚴峻以及全球物流挑戰，我們的分銷基礎設施效率低下。儘管我們在第四季繼續採取有針對性的措施來應對這些壓力，但我們並未產生預期的額外支出。

For 2022, we expect gross margin to be in the range of 50.8% to 51.3%. The year-over-year pressure to our gross margin rate is driven by the impact of our professional pricing initiative, a reduced LIFO benefit and a headwind from higher mix of professional business, which we expect to grow faster than DIY. We expect these headwinds to be partially offset by leverage of our distribution cost as supply chain conditions begin to normalize.

我們預計2022年毛利率將在50.8%至51.3%之間。毛利率年比承壓主要受以下因素影響：專業定價策略的影響、後進先出法（LIFO）收益的降低，以及專業業務佔比上升帶來的不利影響（我們預計專業業務的成長速度將超過DIY業務）。隨著供應鏈狀況逐步恢復正常，我們預期這些不利因素將部分被分銷成本的槓桿效應所抵銷。

Before turning the call over to Brad, I'd like to highlight our fourth quarter earnings per share increase of 41% to $7.64 with a full year 2021 increase of 32% to $31.10. For 2022, our guidance is $32.35 to $32.85, representing an increase of 5% versus 2021 at the midpoint. After delivering earnings per share growth of 32% in both 2021 and 2020, our forecasted annual increase for 2022 diluted earnings per share represents a 3-year compounded annual growth rate of 22% and is a testament to the historical results our team has been able to generate and repeat through consistent excellent execution.

在將電話轉給布拉德之前，我想重點介紹一下我們第四季每股收益成長41%至7.64美元，2021年全年預計將成長32%至31.10美元。對於2022年，我們的預期為每股收益32.35美元至32.85美元，中位數較2021年增長5%。繼2021年和2020年每股收益均實現32%的增長之後，我們預測2022年稀釋後每股收益的年增長率將達到三年複合年增長率22%，這充分證明了我們團隊憑藉持續卓越的執行力，能夠創造並延續以往的輝煌業績。

To wrap up my comments, I want to again thank Team O'Reilly for an outstanding year. Your dedication to living out our culture and taking care of our customers every day drives our continued success.

最後，我要再次感謝奧萊利團隊過去一年來的出色表現。你們對公司文化的實踐和對客戶的悉心服務，是我們持續成功的動力。

I'll now turn the call over to Brad Beckham. Brad?

現在我把電話交給布拉德貝克漢。布拉德？

Thanks, Greg, and good morning, everyone. I want to begin my comments today by echoing Greg and congratulating Team O'Reilly on another amazing year. After our record-breaking year in 2020, we came into 2021 knowing just how difficult it was going to be to sustain that same level of performance. However, our team once again proved they were up to the challenge and generated even more impressive growth in 2021. The core driver of our success is our team's relentless focus on providing excellent customer service, and we are very excited about the opportunities we have in front of us in 2022.

謝謝格雷格，大家早安。今天，我首先要和格雷格一樣，恭喜歐萊利團隊又度過了精彩的一年。在2020年創下歷史新高之後，我們深知2021年要維持同樣的業績水準有多麼困難。然而，我們的團隊再次證明了他們能夠應對挑戰，並在2021年取得了更令人矚目的成長。我們成功的核心在於團隊始終堅持不懈地提供卓越的客戶服務，我們對2022年即將迎來的機會充滿期待。

Greg previously discussed our strategic professional pricing initiative, but I want to add one more point before we move on to the rest of my prepared comments. Anyone who has participated in our earnings calls or attended our Analyst Days for any length of time has heard us say on multiple occasions that price is not the most important factor on the professional side of the business and that you cannot win sustainable business solely on price. We want to be very clear that this rule still holds true for our business and our industry. We strongly believe that the lion's share of the professional business in the marketplace is, one, day in and day out through exceptional customer service and rapid inventory availability.

格雷格之前已經討論過我們的策略性專業定價計劃，但在我繼續發言之前，我想補充一點。任何參加過我們財報電話會議或分析師日活動的人，無論時間長短，都會多次聽到我們強調，價格並非專業業務領域最重要的因素，單靠價格無法贏得可持續的業務。我們想明確指出，這項原則對我們公司和整個產業仍然適用。我們堅信，市場上絕大部分的專業業務，日復一日，都建立在卓越的客戶服務和快速的庫存供應之上。

However, we believe we can generate solid long-term returns by further investing in professional pricing. As an important part of our professional pricing initiative, we are intentionally not positioned as the lowest-price competitor in each market, and our store and sales teams remain as committed as ever to earning our customers' business by outhustling and outservicing our competitors. Our team fully realizes that business won with price alone is easily lost to a lower price, a competitor may decide to offer. This initiative is geared to position us more quickly to gain professional market share based on all the services we offer, along with a very competitive price.

然而，我們相信透過進一步投資專業定價，可以獲得穩健的長期回報。作為我們專業定價策略的重要組成部分，我們有意避免在每個市場都成為價格最低的競爭對手，我們的門市和銷售團隊將一如既往地致力於透過超越競爭對手的積極性和更優質的服務來贏得客戶的信賴。我們的團隊深知，僅僅依靠價格優勢贏得的業務很容易被競爭對手更低的價格所取代。這項策略旨在讓我們憑藉自身提供的全方位服務以及極具競爭力的價格，更快地贏得專業市場份額。

Now I'd like to take some time to covering our SG&A and operating profit performance in 2021 as well as our outlook for 2022. For the fourth quarter, we generated an impressive increase in operating margin of 165 basis points and operating profit dollar growth of 27%. For the full year, we generated a 21% increase in operating profit dollars, yielding a new annual record of 21.9% operating margin. This increase in operating profit results for 2021 was driven by our team's ability to generate exceptional comparable store sales results of 13.3% while limiting our per-store SG&A growth to under 9%. The result was improved leverage of SG&A expenses of 81 basis points.

現在我想花點時間談談我們2021年的銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）和營業利潤表現，以及我們對2022年的展望。第四季度，我們的營業利潤率實現了165個基點的顯著成長，營業利潤額成長了27%。全年來看，我們的營業利潤額成長了21%，營業利益率創下21.9%的新年度紀錄。 2021年營業利潤的成長主要得益於我們團隊在將單店銷售、管理及行政費用增長控制在9%以下的同時，實現了13.3%的同店銷售額增長。最終，銷售、管理及行政費用的槓桿率提高了81個基點。

Our 2021 results are even more impressive considering we delivered these results on top of leveraging SG&A by 263 basis points in 2020. The dollar growth in our SG&A spend per store in 2021 was significantly higher than our typical growth in operating expenses driven by expenses incurred in store payroll, incentive compensation and variable operating expenses to support our sales growth. Over the last 1.5 years, our focus has been to match the tremendous opportunities we've had to gain share and drive very strong sales growth by delivering on the excellent customer service standard that is at the core of our business, all while micromanaging our expense structure.

考慮到我們在2020年將銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）降低了263個基點，2021年的業績更加令人矚目。 2021年，我們每家店的SG&A支出成長顯著高於往年營運費用的成長，這主要得益於門市薪資、激勵性薪資以及為支援銷售成長而產生的可變營運費用。過去一年半，我們始終致力於抓住巨大的市場機遇，透過提供卓越的客戶服務（這是我們業務的核心），實現強勁的銷售成長，同時嚴格控製成本結構。

The result has been an enhanced level of profitability that candidly has exceeded our previous expectations for our ability to execute our model effectively at this level of SG&A productivity. However, our top line growth for the last 7 quarters has been both robust and remarkably consistent. This stability in strong sales volumes, coupled with high fixed low-variable cost structures for our stores to generate very favorable leverage for our business model. As we capitalize on lessons learned as we've navigated record high sales and productivity gains and look forward to 2022, we are more confident than ever that our seasoned experienced teams will continue to be able to execute at this step change of increased profitability.

最終，我們的獲利能力顯著提升，坦白說，這超出了我們先前對在當前銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）水平下有效執行現有模式的預期。然而，過去七個季度，我們的營收成長強勁且保持了驚人的穩定性。強勁的銷售量以及門市高固定成本低變動成本的結構，為我們的商業模式創造了非常有利的槓桿效應。在總結過往銷售和生產力創歷史新高的經驗教訓並展望2022年之際，我們比以往任何時候都更加確信，我們經驗豐富的團隊能夠繼續成功應對這一盈利能力大幅提升的變革。

Our estimated per-store SG&A reflects our confidence in our ability to effectively control expenses moving forward. Our teams have demonstrated this ability to leverage SG&A even as we have faced significant wage rate pressures. Our SG&A expectations for 2022 include continued pressure from inflation and wage rates at trends consistent with what we saw in 2021, more than offset by efficiency gains, leverage on fixed costs and incentive compensation planned at target levels.

我們對每家店銷售、管理及行政費用的預估反映了我們對未來有效控制支出能力的信心。我們的團隊已證明，即使面臨巨大的薪資上漲壓力，我們也能有效控制銷售、管理及行政費用。我們對2022年銷售、管理及行政費用的預期包括：通膨和工資上漲帶來的持續壓力，其趨勢與2021年保持一致；但效率提升、固定成本槓桿作用以及已達到目標水準的激勵性薪酬將足以抵銷這些壓力。

For 2022, we estimate per-store SG&A will grow by approximately 2.5%, which is solidly below our comparable store sales we expect to generate. As always, our top priority is to ensure we are providing excellent customer service, enabling us to develop long-term, loyal customer relationships.

我們預計2022年單店銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）將成長約2.5%，遠低於我們預期的同店銷售額成長。一如既往，我們的首要任務是確保提供卓越的客戶服務，從而建立長期忠誠的客戶關係。

Based upon the pressure to gross margin Greg outlined earlier, partially offset by improved SG&A leverage, we expect operating profit to decline between 80 and 130 basis points from 2021's phenomenal results. However, we expect operating profit dollars at the midpoint of our guidance to increase approximately 2.5% and our operating profit guide of 20.6% to 21.1% of sales brackets our 2020 operating profit, which represented an all-time high for our company before we expanded the record by another 100 basis points in 2021.

鑑於格雷格先前概述的毛利率壓力，以及銷售、管理及行政費用槓桿率的改善部分抵消，我們預計營業利潤將較2021年的卓越業績下降80至130個基點。然而，我們預期營業利潤金額（以我們預期中位數計算）將成長約2.5%，而我們給出的營業利潤率預期為銷售額的20.6%至21.1%，與2020年的營業利潤率基本持平。 2020年的營業利益率創下公司歷史新高，而我們在2021年又將這項紀錄提高了100個基點。

Our capital expenditures for 2021 were $443 million, which was lower than our typical capital spend and below our original plan going into 2021. The lower CapEx was driven by a few different factors, including a heavier weighting of leased versus owned stores, the delay of certain expenditures limited by constraints on availability of vehicles and equipment and the timing of certain store-level strategic initiatives that had to be pushed back as our teams prioritize supporting the current strong sales volumes.

我們2021年的資本支出為4.43億美元，低於我們通常的資本支出水平，也低於我們2021年初的計畫。資本支出減少的原因有幾個，包括租賃門市相對於自有門市的佔比增加、由於車輛和設備供應受限而導致某些支出推遲，以及由於團隊優先支持當前強勁的銷售量，一些門市層面的戰略舉措不得不推遲。

As we set our expectations for 2022, our plan is to deploy capital for the initiatives that were delayed in 2021 as well as support new store and DC development to support our long-term growth strategies in the U.S. and Mexico. For 2022, we are setting our capital expenditure guidance at $650 million to $750 million. We have also established a target of 175 to 185 net new store openings.

展望2022年，我們的計畫是將資金投入2021年因故延期的各項舉措中，並支持新店和配送中心的建設，以助力我們在美國和墨西哥的長期成長策略。 2022年，我們的資本支出目標為6.5億美元至7.5億美元。此外，我們也設定了新增淨門市175至185家的目標。

Outside of our new store and DC development, we have also identified several exciting projects and initiatives in 2022 to enhance the service we provide our customers and improve our efficiency to drive strong returns. Our CapEx guidance includes planned investments in DC and store fleet upgrades; store projects to enhance the image, appearance and convenience of our stores; as well as strategic investments in information technology projects.

除了新建門市和配送中心外，我們還在2022年確定了幾個令人振奮的項目和計劃，旨在提升客戶服務水平，提高營運效率，從而實現強勁的盈利增長。我們的資本支出計畫包括：對配送中心和門市車隊進行升級改造；提升門市形象、外觀和便利性的門市專案；以及對資訊科技專案的策略性投資。

Inventory per store at the end of 2021 was $637,000, which was down 2% from the end of last year. As we've discussed on previous calls during the course of 2020 and 2021, our intent has been to aggressively add incremental dollars to our store-level inventories. During the strong sales environment the past 7 quarters, rolling out the full scope of these initiatives has had to take a backseat to the day-to-day replenishment needs of our stores. We still see significant opportunity to build upon our industry-leading parts availability, and our plan for 2022 includes the deployment of additional inventory in our store and hub network above and beyond our normal new store and typical product additions.

2021年底，各門市平均庫存量為63.7萬美元，較上年末下降2%。正如我們在2020年和2021年期間的電話會議中所討論的，我們的目標是積極增加門市庫存。在過去七季強勁的銷售環境下，全面推行這些措施不得不讓位於門市的日常補貨需求。我們仍然看到在行業領先的零件供應方面有巨大的提升空間，2022年的計劃包括在門市和配送中心網路中部署額外的庫存，這超出了我們正常的門市和常規產品新增庫存。

As a result of this plan to catch up on delayed initiatives for 2022, we are planning our per-store inventory to increase over 8%. This level of inventory growth is significantly above our historical run rates and is driven in part by our focus on meeting the extremely strong sales demand in a supply-constrained market environment. Our ongoing inventory management is geared to deploy the right inventory at the optimal position within our tiered distribution network and includes continual adjustments to pushout and pullback inventory to achieve this objective. However, our overriding goal is to have the best local inventory offering, and that priority drives how we manage our inventory and, in turn, is the primary reason for the higher level for 2022.

為了彌補2022年之前延誤的項目，我們計劃將單店庫存增加8%以上。這項庫存成長水準遠高於我們以往的水平，部分原因是我們在供應受限的市場環境下，專注於滿足極為強勁的銷售需求。我們持續的庫存管理旨在將合適的庫存部署到我們分級分銷網絡的最佳位置，並不斷調整庫存的增減，以實現這一目標。然而，我們最重要的目標是提供最佳的本地庫存，這項優先事項指導著我們的庫存管理方式，也是2022年庫存水準提高的主要原因。

Before I turn the call over to Tom, I want to once again thank Team O'Reilly for their dedication and hard work in 2021.

在將電話交給湯姆之前，我想再次感謝奧萊利團隊在 2021 年的奉獻和辛勤工作。

Now I'll turn the call over to Tom.

現在我把電話交給湯姆。

Thanks, Brad. I'd also like to congratulate Team O'Reilly on another outstanding year.

謝謝，布拉德。我也想祝賀奧萊利團隊又度過了出色的一年。

Now we'll take a closer look at our fourth quarter results and provide some additional guidance for 2022. For the quarter, sales increased $463 million, comprised of a $398 million increase in comp store sales, a $56 million increase in noncomp store sales and a $9 million increase in noncomp nonstore sales. For 2022, we expect our total revenues to be between $14.2 billion and $14.5 billion.

現在我們將更詳細地分析第四季業績，並對2022年業績做出進一步展望。本季，銷售額成長4.63億美元，其中同店銷售額成長3.98億美元，非同店銷售額成長5,600萬美元，非同店非門市銷售額成長900萬美元。我們預計2022年總收入將在142億美元至145億美元之間。

Greg covered our gross margin performance earlier, but I want to provide additional details on our positive LIFO impact. For the full year 2021, the LIFO impact was $80 million compared to $11 million in the prior year. As a reminder, the positive LIFO impact is a byproduct of the reversal of our historic LIFO debit. Since 2013, due to negotiated acquisition price decreases, our calculated LIFO inventory balances exceeded the value of our inventory at replacement costs, and we elected the conservative approach to not write up inventory value beyond the replacement cost.

Greg之前已經介紹過我們的毛利率表現，但我想就後進先出法（LIFO）帶來的正面影響提供更多細節。 2021年全年，LIFO帶來的正面影響為8,000萬美元，而前一年為1,100萬美元。需要說明的是，LIFO帶來的正面影響源自於我們歷史LIFO借方的衝回。自2013年以來，由於收購價格談判降低，我們計算的LIFO存貨餘額超過了以重置成本計算的存貨價值，因此我們選擇了保守的做法，即不將存貨價值增值超過重置成本。

As a result of this accounting, we've seen a benefit from rising costs and price levels via the sell-through of lower-cost inventory purchased prior to the recent cost increases. However, during the third quarter of 2021, our LIFO reserve flipped back to a credit balance as a result of inflation and acquisition costs. And moving forward, we expect to be back to typical LIFO accounting and no longer valuing inventory at a lower replacement cost. As a result, we anticipate a limited benefit of less than $10 million in 2022 for the final sell-through of the remaining lower-cost inventory, which creates a headwind to our gross margin rate.

由於採用了這種會計方法，我們透過售出近期成本上漲前購入的低成本庫存，從成本和價格上漲中獲益。然而，在2021年第三季度，由於通貨膨脹和購置成本的增加，我們的後進先出（LIFO）儲備金轉為貸方餘額。展望未來，我們預計將恢復傳統的後進先出會計方法，不再以較低的重置成本對庫存進行估值。因此，我們預計2022年剩餘低成本庫存的最終售出收益將不足1,000萬美元，這將對我們的毛利率造成不利影響。

Our fourth quarter effective tax rate was 19.4% of pretax income, comprised of a base rate of 20.4%, reduced by 1% benefit for share-based compensation. This compares to the fourth quarter of 2020 rate up 21.4% of pretax income, which was comprised of a base tax rate of 21.8%, reduced by a 0.4% benefit for share-based compensation. The fourth quarter of 2021 base rate as compared to 2020 benefited from a higher level of renewable energy tax credits, as a result of the timing of these projects, which was in line with our expectations. For the full year, our effective tax rate was 22.2% of pretax income, comprised of a base rate of 23.5%, reduced by 1.3% per share-based compensation. For the full year of 2022, we expect an effective tax rate of 23.2%, comprised of a base rate of 23.7%, reduced by a benefit of 0.5% per share-based compensation.

我們第四季的實際稅率為稅前利潤的19.4%，基本稅率為20.4%，並扣除了1%的股權激勵收益。相較之下，2020年第四季的實際稅率為稅前利潤的21.4%，基本稅率為21.8%，並扣除了0.4%的股權激勵收益。 2021年第四季的基本稅率較2020年有所降低，這得益於再生能源專案啟動時間所對應的更高額度的稅收抵免，符合我們的預期。全年實際稅率為稅前利潤的22.2%，基本稅率為23.5%，並扣除了每股股權激勵收益1.3%。預計 2022 年全年實際稅率為 23.2%，其中基本稅率為 23.7%，每股股份支付的薪酬可享 0.5% 的折扣。

We expect the fourth quarter rate to be lower than the other 3 quarters due to the expected timing of benefits from renewable energy tax credits and tolling of certain tax periods. These expectations assume no significant changes to existing tax codes. Also, variations in the tax benefit from share-based compensation can create fluctuations in our quarterly tax rate.

我們預計第四季度稅率將低於其他三個季度，這主要是由於再生能源稅收抵免和某些稅期中止的預期生效時間所致。這些預期是基於現有稅法不會發生重大變化的假設。此外，股權激勵稅收優惠的波動也可能導致我們季度稅率的波動。

Now I'll move on to free cash flow and the components that drove our results and our expectations for 2022. Free cash flow for 2021 was $2.5 billion versus $2.2 billion in 2020. The increase of $359 million or 16% was driven by an increase in operating income and a higher reduction in net inventory in 2021 versus the prior year. For 2022, we expect free cash flow to be in the range of $1.3 billion to $1.6 billion, with the year-over-year decrease primarily due to increased net inventory investment and increased CapEx, as Brad previously outlined.

接下來，我將談談自由現金流以及推動我們業績成長的因素，並展望我們對2022年的預期。 2021年的自由現金流為25億美元，而2020年為22億美元。成長3.59億美元，增幅達16%，主要得益於營業收入的成長以及2021年淨存貨較上年大幅下降。我們預計2022年的自由現金流將在13億美元至16億美元之間，年減的主要原因是淨存貨投資增加和資本支出增加，如布拉德之前所述。

Our AP-to-inventory ratio at the end of the fourth quarter was 127%, which set an all-time high for our company and was heavily influenced by the extremely strong sales volumes and inventory turns in 2021. We anticipate our AP-to-inventory ratio to moderate off of this historic high as we complete our additional inventory investments and sales growth moderate. Our current expectation is to finish 2022 at a ratio of approximately 120%.

截至第四季末，我們的應付帳款與庫存比率為127%，創公司歷史新高，這主要受2021年強勁的銷售量和庫存週轉率的影響。我們預計，隨著額外庫存投資的完成和銷售成長放緩，應付帳款與庫存比率將從這段歷史高點回落。我們目前的預期是，2022年底該比率將維持在120%左右。

Moving on to debt. We finished the fourth quarter with an adjusted debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 1.69x as compared to our end of 2020 ratio of 2.03x, with the reduction driven by the significant growth in EBITDAR during 2021 and a decrease in adjusted debt, including the redemption of $300 million of senior notes in the second quarter. We continue to be below our leverage target ratio of 2.5x, and we will approach that number when appropriate.

接下來談談債務情況。第四季末，我們調整後的負債與EBITDA比率為1.69倍，而2020年底為2.03倍。比率下降主要得益於2021年EBITDAR的顯著增長以及調整後債務的減少，其中包括第二季贖回的3億美元優先票據。我們目前的槓桿率仍低於2.5倍的目標值，我們將在適當的時候努力達到該目標值。

We also continue to execute our share repurchase program. And for 2021, based on the strength of our business, we were able to repurchase 4.5 million shares at an average share price of $545.78 for a total investment of $2.5 billion. Subsequent to the end of the year and through the date of our press release, we repurchased 0.3 million shares at an average share price of $660.23. We remain very confident that the average repurchase price is supported by the expected future discounted cash flows of our business, and we continue to view our buyback program as an effective means of returning excess capital to our shareholders. As a reminder, our EPS guidance for 2022 includes the impact of shares repurchased through this call but does not include any additional share repurchases.

我們持續推進股票回購計畫。 2021年，基於公司強勁的業務表現，我們以平均每股545.78美元的價格回購了450萬股股票，總投資額達25億美元。在2021年年末至本新聞稿發布之日，我們又以平均每股660.23美元的價格回購了30萬股股票。我們仍然非常有信心，平均回購價格能夠得到公司未來預期現金流折現的支撐，我們始終認為股票回購計畫是向股東返還剩餘資本的有效途徑。需要提醒的是，我們對2022年每股收益的預期已包含本次電話會議中已回購股票的影響，但不包括任何額外的股票回購。

Before I open up our call to your questions, I'd like to thank the O'Reilly team for their dedication to our company and our customers. Your hard work and commitment to excellent customer service continues to drive our outstanding performance.

在正式開始回答各位的問題之前，我想感謝歐萊利團隊對公司和客戶的盡心盡責。你們的辛勤工作和對卓越客戶服務的執著追求，一直是推動我們取得優異業績的關鍵所在。

This concludes our prepared comments. And at this time, I'd like to ask James, the operator, to return to the line, and we'll be happy to answer your questions.

我們的發言到此結束。現在，請接線員詹姆斯回到電話線，我們很樂意回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question is from Scot Ciccarelli of Truist Securities.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Truist Securities 的 Scot Ciccarelli。

I think we can appreciate that price isn't the most important factor in driving a customer's decision. But I guess my questions are, number one, why are we making these price investments now, as in what has changed? And then number two, why couldn't we see this round of price cuts become another set of price cuts at some point in the future, potentially threatening one of the key investment pillars of this vertical?

我想我們都明白，價格並非影響顧客決策的最重要因素。但我的問題是：第一，我們現在為什麼要進行這些價格的投資？究竟發生了什麼變化？第二，為什麼我們不能預見這輪降價會在未來某個時候演變成另一輪降價，從而可能威脅到該垂直領域的關鍵投資支柱之一？

Yes, Scot, this is Greg. I'll take that one and then see if Tom and Brad may have something to add to it. As to -- first of all, I want to reiterate what you said. Our philosophy hasn't changed. We always lead with service. Service is most important followed by inventory availability and then price.

是的，史考特，我是格雷格。我先回答這個問題，然後再看看湯姆和布萊德有沒有補充。至於──首先，我想重申你剛才說的話。我們的理念沒有改變。我們始終把服務放在第一位。服務最重要，其次是庫存充足，最後才是價格。

As far as why now, when you look at the past couple of years, we've been through 2 years of inflation, price increases. We've seen rising prices. We've seen supply chain disruption. And I think we've performed better than a lot of our competitors over the past couple of years, especially our smaller competitors.

至於為什麼現在情況如此，回顧過去幾年，我們經歷了兩年通貨膨脹和物價上漲。我們目睹了物價上漲，也目睹了供應鏈中斷。我認為在過去幾年裡，我們的表現優於許多競爭對手，尤其是規模較小的競爭對手。

When you look at the professional side of our business as a whole, as you know, it's very, very fragmented. There's a lot of players out there on that side of our business, some of which are the large national players, some of which are the smaller WDs and 2-steppers. We compete against each of those every day in every market that we operate in. So we felt like coming off of a couple of years of inflation and supply chain disruption, again, where we've performed well, and the anticipation that some of the supply chain disruption may moderate in the back half of the year, timing was right to implement this change.

如您所知，從我們業務的整體專業層面來看，它非常分散。在這個領域，有許多參與者，既有大型全國性企業，也有規模較小的批發商和二步驟經銷商。我們在營運的每個市場每天都要與所有這些企業競爭。因此，考慮到過去幾年通貨膨脹和供應鏈中斷的影響（儘管我們表現良好），並且預計下半年供應鏈中斷的情況可能會有所緩解，我們認為現在是實施這項變革的合適時機。

We -- what we did here is really no different than what we do day in and day out with our pricing team. Our pricing team constantly monitors pricing on both sides of our business and makes tweaks to pricing at both the professional and the DIY level across our customers. And this initiative specifically targets our DIFM customers and -- just we feel like this will enable us to take additional market share on that side of the business. So that's why now.

我們——我們在這裡所做的，其實和我們定價團隊日常的工作並無二致。我們的定價團隊持續監控公司各個業務領域的定價，並針對專業客戶和DIY客戶調整價格。而這項措施專門針對我們的DIFM客戶，我們認為這將有助於我們在該領域獲得更多市場份額。所以，這就是我們推出這項措施的原因。

Brad, did you want to add anything to that or take the second part of the question?

布拉德，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？還是你想回答問題的第二部分？

I would just really echo what Greg said, Scot, in terms of you as well as anybody on the call knows how fragmented the DIFM side of the business is. And you know how really little share when you add up us and our public competitors on the -- really the addressable DIFM share in the United States is still very small. And so I would just reiterate really what you said and what Greg said that it's so important for us to convey that this is not a change in terms of our focus. We have built our company on service. We have built our company on relationships. And as you know, we built our company on the professional customer, and retail came later. And so this is not abandoning all the things that got us where we are and the things that are going to get us into the future.

史考特，我完全同意格雷格的觀點。你和所有參加電話會議的人都知道，DIFM（直接投資管理）業務有多分散。你也知道，即使把我們和我們的上市競爭對手加起來，美國DIFM市場的潛在份額仍然非常小。所以我再次強調你和格雷格的觀點，對我們來說，傳達這一點至關重要：這並不意味著我們改變了發展重點。我們公司的發展根基在於服務和客戶關係。如你所知，我們最初是服務專業客戶，零售業務是後來才拓展的。所以，這並不意味著我們會放棄所有讓我們走到今天以及未來發展的關鍵因素。

To your point on the timing of it, Greg had some great comments there. And the other thing I would say, Scot, is with everything that our industry and really everybody in the world has been through the last couple of years, especially our professional customers. Whether it be a shade tree mechanic to an independent garage to the national and regional accounts, we have not backed off of being out there, calling on them, meaning actually visiting their shops day in, day out, week in, week out. And an opportunity that we saw the last couple of years is our shops are telling us, I mean, our service is where it needs to be. Our teams in the stores, everything that you know we've done with inventory availability.

關於您提到的時機問題，Greg 也發表了一些非常精闢的評論。 Scot，我還想補充一點，過去幾年，我們整個產業乃至全世界都經歷了種種挑戰，尤其是我們的專業客戶。無論是路邊修車工、獨立修車廠，還是全國性和區域性客戶，我們都從未停止過與他們保持聯繫，我們日復一日、週復一周地拜訪他們的店鋪。過去幾年，我們看到的一個機會是，我們的店鋪告訴我們，我們的服務已經達到了應有的水準。我們門市的團隊，以及我們在庫存管理方面所做的一切努力，都證明了這一點。

And when it comes to the independents out there and the 2-step-type model competitors as well as some of the specialty-type competitors that maybe just focused on a couple of categories, we just simply see an opportunity from our sales team and in the field to go out and with a rifle approach, target those areas; and with existing customers that may be buying a certain amount from us, maybe buying a certain amount from an independent in another amount from a true specialty company, consolidating that customer and truly getting a first and only call, and we feel very good about that.

至於那些獨立零售商、兩步式模式的競爭對手，以及一些可能只專注於幾個類別的專業型競爭對手，我們看到銷售團隊和一線人員有機會採取精準的市場拓展策略，瞄準這些領域；對於現有客戶，他們可能從我們這裡購買一定數量的產品，也可能從獨立零售商那裡購買精準的市場拓展策略，瞄準這些領域；對於現有客戶，他們可能從我們這裡購買一定數量的產品，也可能從獨立零售商那裡購買一定數量，再從真正的專業公司購買另一部分

And Scot, just on your -- the second part of your question, I want to reiterate that this is a targeted approach. This is a very scientific approach we're taking. This is not across the board. This price enhancement was done by category, by SKU. And we still feel like that based on our performance, our supply chain strength, that we can still charge a premium to our professional customers. So we do not feel like this is a race to the bottom. We do not feel like we are low-balling cost. We're just getting competitive with some of our competitors out there in the market to take additional market share.

史考特，關於你問題的第二部分，我想重申一下，這是一個有針對性的策略。我們採取的是一種非常科學的方法，並非一刀切。這次提價是按品類、按SKU進行的。我們仍然認為，基於我們的業績和供應鏈實力，我們有能力繼續向專業客戶收取溢價。所以我們不認為這是價格戰，也不認為我們在壓低價格。我們只是為了在市場上與一些競爭對手競爭，以爭取更多的市場佔有率。

Our next question is from Christopher Horvers of JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的克里斯多福·霍弗斯。

I'll be the second to ask about the pricing. I thought that was a great answer. I just want to focus on a couple of things. So first, going back to the introductory comment that you intentionally try not to be the lowest price in the market because you have the leading service model. Do you still expect that to be true going forward? And if some of this is just you're not passing along the inflation that you're experiencing, what's the risk that you actually lower the market -- lower the low range of the market price range? Do you know what I mean?

我第二個要問定價問題。我覺得剛才的回答很棒。我只想重點問幾個方面。首先，回到您剛才提到的，您故意不追求市場最低價，因為您擁有領先的服務模式。您認為未來還會如此嗎？如果部分原因在於您沒有將通膨轉嫁給消費者，那麼這樣做會不會反而拉低了市場價格——也就是拉低了市場價格區間的最低點？您明白我的意思嗎？

Yes, Chris. On the first, we absolutely feel like that this makes us competitive in the marketplace. And as far as lowering, again, we are not doing this to be the lowest price in the marketplace. We feel like that there is tremendous value in the services that we provide and the relationships.

是的，克里斯。關於第一點，我們絕對認為這能增強我們在市場上的競爭力。至於降價，我們再次強調，我們並非為了追求市場最低價。我們認為我們提供的服務和建立的客戶關係具有巨大的價值。

You have to remember the professional customer, while price is important, we're not seeing price is not important, what's more important to that professional customer is the relationship we have with them, the inventory availability that we have and our consistent performance and ability to get that part to them timely so they can complete the jobs they're working on. Our professional customers will always prioritize that over price, again, assuming that we're competitive on price. So we feel like this move will enable us to take additional market share both from existing customers and gain market share from customers we may not be getting business from today.

您必須記住，對於專業客戶而言，價格固然重要，但並非不重要。對他們來說，更重要的是我們與他們的關係、庫存的充足性以及我們始終如一的卓越表現和及時交付零件的能力，以便他們能夠順利完成工作。我們的專業客戶總是會將這些放在價格之上，當然，前提是我們的價格具有競爭力。因此，我們相信此舉將有助於我們從現有客戶中獲得更多市場份額，並開拓目前尚未與我們開展業務的客戶群。

Chris, to address your second part of your question, you're absolutely right. In many cases, due to the significant inflation -- same-SKU inflation, it varies across product line. In many cases, this isn't reducing The Street price. It's just not taking that acquisition increase to The Street in price.

克里斯，關於你問題的第二部分，你說得完全正確。很多情況下，由於通貨膨脹——尤其是同款產品價格的通貨膨脹——不同產品線的價格會有所不同。很多時候，這並沒有降低The Street的售價，只是沒有把收購成本的增加反映在The Street的售價上。

Got it. And then as a follow-up, you talked about sort of targeting sort of product lines and categories where you see some specialty players having share. So can you maybe expand on that? Is this targeted at share with like national accounts? Is it up and down The Street mechanics? And to what extent it is something like, I don't know, like fuel injection lines that maybe have a certain degree of specificity where that specialty player provides differentiated sort of product?

明白了。接下來，您提到要針對某些產品線和品類，看看哪些專業廠商佔據了一定的市場份額。能詳細說說嗎？這是指針對全國性客戶的市場佔有率嗎？還是針對The Street這樣的汽車維修店？比如說，像燃油噴射系統這類具有一定專業性的產品，專業廠商能夠提供差異化的產品，這種策略在多大程度上適用？

Well, Chris, this is Tom. I'm going to start with the answer. So you know that the answer is going to be we're not going to give that. But I really want to make sure that -- we're talking about a broad pricing strategy. We don't communicate the details of our pricing strategy. A lot of science, a lot of work goes into it, a lot of history. So we're not going to get down into the details of what the program is. But in general, I'll turn it over to Brad for his comments.

好的，克里斯，我是湯姆。我先來回答這個問題。你知道答案肯定是我們不會透露具體細節。但我真的想強調一點——我們討論的是一個大致的定價策略。我們不會透露定價策略的具體細節。這其中涉及大量的科學研究、大量的工作以及豐富的歷史經驗。所以我們不會深入探討這個方案的具體內容。總而言之，接下來我把發言權交給布萊德，請他發表一下看法。

Yes, Chris, I think what's important to talk about here is this isn't a, again, new strategy or initiative that's focused on one customer group. Again, this is going to -- this is our commitment to everybody from the Shade Tree to the independent garages to the regional players to the national accounts. And Chris, as you know, we still have a gap in footprint in a part of the -- Northeast part of the country that keeps us from really being the first call for some of the national guys from a matchup standpoint.

是的，克里斯，我認為這裡需要重點討論的是，這並非一項只針對特定客戶群的新策略或舉措。再次強調，這是我們對所有客戶的承諾，從路邊攤到獨立修車廠，再到區域企業和全國性客戶。克里斯，你也知道，我們在美國東北部部分地區的業務覆蓋仍然存在不足，這使得我們無法成為一些全國性企業在競爭格局上的首選。

But what I would say, again, to remember is that while we have new opportunity for new customers always, one of the things that we really like about this is our existing customers that are buying a piece from us, maybe a piece from our public competitors, a really big piece from the independents and then another piece of their monthly purchases from a specialty company. And we're already delivering to these shops. In some cases, we're delivering part of the job that maybe they had to get another item from somewhere else. And so we just see tremendous opportunity. And our customers are telling us that with our inventory availability, our service, our people, if we can make some adjustments there, we really have a huge opportunity to turn into the first and only call for those garages.

但我還是要再次強調，雖然我們始終有機會拓展新客戶，但我們真正看重的是現有客戶，他們可能從我們這裡購買一些零件，也可能從我們的上市競爭對手那裡購買一些零件，從獨立維修商那裡購買大量零件，然後從專業公司購買一部分零件。我們已經開始向這些維修店供貨。在某些情況下，我們甚至能提供他們原本需要從其他地方購買的零件。因此，我們看到了巨大的商機。我們的客戶告訴我們，憑藉我們充足的庫存、優質的服務和優秀的團隊，如果我們能做出一些調整，我們完全有機會成為這些維修店的首選供應商。

Our next question is from Bret Jordan of Jefferies.

下一個問題來自傑富瑞集團的布雷特喬丹。

I'll jump from pricing to supply chain. Could you talk about maybe the cadence of supply chain disruption? Or I think in prior quarters, we talked about some categories specifically being really hard from an import or production standpoint. Could you talk about how you saw your availability of inventory in the fourth quarter?

我將從定價話題轉到供應鏈。能否談談供應鏈中斷的節奏？或者，我認為在前幾個季度，我們討論過某些品類在進口或生產方面面臨非常大的困難。您能否談談您對第四季庫存可用性的看法？

Yes, Bret, I'll start that, and then I'll see if Brent has anything to add because he lives that day in and day out. We have seen improvement. And when you talk about supply chain constraints over the past several months, it's bigger than just supply and demand. There's been a lot of facets to that.

好的，布雷特，我先開始，然後看看布倫特有沒有什麼補充，因為他每天都在處理這方面的事情。我們已經看到情況有所改善。說到過去幾個月的供應鏈瓶頸，這不僅是供需問題，還涉及許多方面。

I would say that it has improved from overseas. Container availability has improved. We still have some port challenges. We still have some targeted suppliers, primarily suppliers that are operating in smaller markets domestically that are having -- still having some labor issues. We got some raw material challenges that some of our suppliers are having.

我認為情況比海外有所改善。貨櫃供應增加。但我們仍然面臨一些港口的挑戰。我們還有一些重點供應商，主要是那些在國內較小市場運作的供應商，仍存在一些勞動力問題。此外，我們的一些供應商也面臨原材料供應方面的挑戰。

Overall, I would tell you that our fill rate from our DCs to our stores has improved. I would tell you that our in-stock position at our stores has and continues to improve, and most of our suppliers overall fill rate has improved. Now that said, we still have some suppliers that are challenged, and we still work with those. I know Brent and his team, some of our suppliers, they're meeting with weekly or even multiple times a week to work through those constraints. Brent, did you want to add anything to that?

總的來說，我想說的是，我們配送中心到門市的供貨率有所提高。門市的庫存狀況也一直在改善，而且大部分供應商的整體供貨率也有所提高。當然，我們仍然有一些供應商面臨挑戰，我們也在與他們合作。我知道布倫特和他的團隊，以及我們的一些供應商，每週甚至每週多次與他們會面，以解決這些限制。布倫特，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

Yes. Bret, Greg gave a good summary. I mean, I think we are seeing general trends of improvement, as he alluded to. We still have some spotty suppliers that we're working more closely with than others. But generally, we're encouraged by what we're seeing, and we anticipate that improvement to continue, hopefully, as we work through the first half of the year and into the back half of the year.

是的。布雷特，格雷格總結得很好。我的意思是，正如他所提到的，我們看到了整體的改善趨勢。我們仍然有一些不太穩定的供應商，我們與他們之間的合作比其他供應商更密切。但總的來說，我們對目前的情況感到鼓舞，並希望這種改善趨勢能持續下去，尤其是在今年上半年和下半年。

Okay. Great. And my follow-up question is going to be on price. But you said you're going to be competitive in the markets. And I guess, given your higher service levels and historically higher in-stocks than peers, can you be priced still above those peers just given the other values you offer in the transaction? Or are you thinking that by competitive, do you mean you'll be priced on a dollar basis in line?

好的，太好了。我的下一個問題是關於價格的。您說過您會在市場上保持競爭力。我想，考慮到您比同行更高的服務水平和歷來更高的庫存水平，僅憑藉您在交易中提供的其他價值，您的價格還能高於同行嗎？或者您所說的競爭力是指以美元計算的價格與其他公司持平？

No. Bret, we still feel like we can be priced at a higher price point than our competitors based on the services we provide, which has been our historic stance on this. Tom, did you...

不，布雷特，我們仍然認為，基於我們提供的服務，我們可以比競爭對手定價更高，這始終是我們在這方面的立場。湯姆，你…

The thing that I'd point to, Bret, is we have a wide range of competitors, and Brad touched on them earlier. Some compete solely on price. A lot of specialty one-line suppliers, they get business by being absolutely the lowest priced, and that's not our business model. So when we say we're going to be more, we're going to be within a competitive range. Obviously, it depends on how expensive the part is. If it's $1 part, you're $1 over, that's a heck of a lot. If you're $1 over and it's a $100 part, that's a different, different thing.

布雷特，我想指出的是，我們的競爭對手很多，布萊德之前也提到過。有些競爭對手完全靠價格競爭。許多專營單一產品的供應商，他們靠的是絕對最低的價格來獲得業務，但這並非我們的商業模式。所以，當我們說價格會更高時，我們指的是價格會保持在一個具有競爭力的範圍內。當然，這取決於零件的價格。如果零件本身價值1美元，你多付1美元，那可是一筆不小的數目。但如果零件價值100美元，你多付1美元，那情況就完全不同了。

And what we got to remember is the biggest cost for professional installers is they're (inaudible). And that ability to turn those [bays] is what turns their profit. So we want to make sure that we're pricing holistically for the quality of the product, the availability of the product, the team that we offer, services that we offer. So we look at it in aggregate. But there is always going to be someone, and we talked about it in our prepared comments, who'll be the lowest price. And if that's how you sustain your business, if somebody comes along, decides to drop the price, you're going to be in trouble. And we want to have a relationship and a partnership with our professional shops that help them make money over the long term.

我們必須記住，專業安裝人員最大的成本在於他們的（聽不清楚）。而他們能否有效率地完成這些工作，才是他們獲利的關鍵。因此，我們希望確保我們的定價能夠全面考慮產品品質、供貨情況、團隊實力以及我們提供的服務。我們會綜合考慮所有因素。但總會有人（我們在事先準備好的發言稿中也提到過）會提供最低價格。如果你的生意是靠低價維持的，一旦有人決定降價，你就會陷入困境。我們希望與專業安裝店建立長期的合作關係，幫助他們實現長期獲利。

And our next question is from Greg Melich of Evercore ISI.

下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Greg Melich。

I guess I'd love to go to the guidance on the top line, the 5 to 7 comp guide. I think you said it was mid-single-digit inflation in that. And assuming that mix is still positive, is it fair to say units will be flat or even slightly down this year?

我想專注於營收指引，也就是5到7年的同業比較指引。我記得您說過，通貨膨脹率會維持在個位數中段。假設產品組合仍保持積極態勢，那麼今年的銷售量是否會持平甚至略有下降？

So 5 to 7 -- that mid-single digit within the 5 to 7 was specifically for the DIY side of the business, and we would expect it to be sure on the ticket count there. Because of the price -- the professional price initiative, we won't see as robust an increase in same-SKU inflation on the professional side. So we need to generate a meaningful increase in average ticket on the professional side. So that -- your numbers are right, but that was just for the DIY side.

所以，5到7——這5到7之間的中間個位數部分專門針對DIY業務，我們預計這部分訂單量會比較穩定。由於價格因素——也就是專業定價策略——我們不會看到專業業務的同SKU價格大幅上漲。因此，我們需要在專業業務方面實現平均訂單量的顯著成長。所以——你的數據沒錯，但那隻是針對DIY業務的。

Got it. And then I guess the follow-up linked to that is, if we look at the gross margin rate in your guidance this year versus last year, I guess, LIFO is maybe 50 bps. Could you give us how much of it is the pro pricing initiative versus just the normal mix change you would expect to pro outperformance?

明白了。接下來我想問的是，如果我們看一下您今年和去年的毛利率預期，假設採用後進先出法（LIFO），毛利率大概會提高50個基點。您能否告訴我們，這其中有多少是定價策略帶來的成長，又有多少是您預期中會提升業績的正常產品組合調整所致？

So Greg, you've picked up on a good point. Part of it is going to be just a mix shift. As professional grows faster than DIY because they're buying on volume, their gross margin is lower. We also have the benefit of the supply chain. I would tell you that the professional pricing is larger than LIFO, but we're not going to get into parsing out because the next we'll be talking about our distribution costs, and that's something we just don't do.

格雷格，你說的很有道理。部分原因在於產品組合的轉變。由於專業市場成長速度快於DIY市場，因為他們的採購量較大，所以毛利率較低。此外，我們也受惠於供應鏈。雖然專業市場的定價高於後進先出法（LIFO），但我們今天不打算詳細分析，因為接下來我們要討論分銷成本，而分銷成本是我們通常不會涉及的。

And our next question from Michael Baker of D.A. Davidson.

接下來，我們向 D.A. Davidson 的 Michael Baker 提問。

I wish I could ask something not about pricing, but this is the topic. So -- what do you expect the competitive response to be? Do you have any precedent for doing something like this? And what have you seen competitors do? And I guess, related to that, just to be clear, who is -- who do you think you're taking share from, from this initiative? It sounds like it's more about taking share from smaller players rather than your big public competitors, but I just wanted to confirm that.

我真希望可以問一些與定價無關的問題，但既然談到這個話題，那就說說吧。所以——您預期競爭對手會有什麼反應？您之前有過類似的先例嗎？您看到競爭對手都採取了哪些措施？還有，我想確認一下，您認為這項措施會從哪些競爭對手那裡搶佔市場份額？聽起來似乎更多的是從小型企業而非大型上市競爭對手那裡搶佔市場份額，但我還是想確認一下。

Mike, this is Brad. I'll jump in there and see what Greg and Tom have to say about it. But on -- I'll answer the share question. And on the share, it's hard a little bit to always tell exactly where it's coming from. But I would say that what we're seeing, it's more from the -- more of the mid-tier, maybe the mediocre or maybe the weaker, independent competitors that have struggled the last couple of years with supply and things like that.

麥克，我是布萊德。我先插一句，看看格雷格和湯姆對此有什麼看法。不過，關於市佔率的問題，我先回答一下。關於市場份額，很難總是準確地判斷它的來源。但我認為，我們看到的市場份額更多來自——更多來自中等水平的，或許是那些實力平平，或者實力較弱的獨立競爭對手，他們在過去幾年裡一直受到供應等方面的困擾。

Mike, as you know, as good as anybody, I mean, we have tremendous public competitors that we have the utmost respect for and then we have these regional competitors that are the strong, strong independent 2-step-type competitors that not too long ago, we were in the Ozarks and kind of our old part of the company. But I would just say on the share that we're seeing a lot of different things, but the majority of the opportunity we see is with the smaller independents and the ones that have struggled the last couple of years.

麥克，正如你所知，我們和其他人一樣優秀。我的意思是，我們有一些實力雄厚的上市競爭對手，我們對他們非常尊重。此外，我們還有一些區域性競爭對手，他們是實力強勁的獨立兩步式競爭對手。不久前，我們還在奧沙克地區，那是我們公司以前的業務區域。但我想說的是，就市場佔有率而言，我們看到了許多不同的情況，但我們認為大部分機會都來自規模較小的獨立公司，以及那些過去幾年舉步維艱的公司。

Yes. Mike, on what the reaction would be, I can tell you based on the test that we were in, in multiple markets before rolling this out, the reaction was obviously favorable or we wouldn't have rolled it out company-wide.

是的。麥克，至於市場反應，我可以根據我們在多個市場進行的測試告訴你，市場反應顯然是正面的，否則我們也不會在全公司範圍內推廣。

When you say the reaction, so I mean the competitive reaction, not the customer reaction. So when you say the competitive reaction was favorable, I presume that means you didn't necessarily see them drop price as well?

您所說的「反應」是指競爭對手的反應，而不是顧客的反應。所以，當您說競爭對手的反應是正面的，我理解您的意思是您並沒有看到他們也降價吧？

That's correct, Michael. We can -- obviously, our competitors are going to do what they do with their price. I think we just want to stress that we are not setting the low market price here. So it's not as if competitors that are winning business on price alone are not going to still be the lowest.

沒錯，麥可。當然，我們的競爭對手也會以他們的方式定價。我們想強調的是，我們並沒有設定最低的市場價格。所以，那些只靠價格優勢贏得業務的競爭對手，他們的價格仍然可能是最低的。

Understood. Makes sense. And I think all these answers clarify the strategy quite a bit. So I appreciate that.

明白了。很有道理。我覺得這些回答都很好地闡明了策略。非常感謝。

Our next question from Chris Bottiglieri of BNP Paribas.

下一個問題來自法國巴黎銀行的克里斯·博蒂格列裡。

So my question is going to be, I guess, on inventory/inflation. So the inventory investment you spoke of plus 8%. It sounds like your guidance assumes kind of like flattish inflation, maybe even deflation for Q4 '22, I would think, with the price investments. So are you effectively just raising in-store inventory units or by year-end? And then do I have that right first? And then how do you think of the cadence of that inventory? Is it going to be pretty smooth as you throughout the year? Is it front-half loaded? Any context there would be helpful.

所以我的問題大概是關於庫存/通貨膨脹的。您提到的庫存投資加上8%的通膨。聽起來您的預測是基於2022年第四季通膨平穩，甚至可能出現通貨緊縮的假設，考慮到價格投資。那麼，您實際上是在增加門市庫存，還是在年底前增加？我理解的對嗎？您如何看待庫存的調整節奏？是全年平穩調整，還是會集中在前半年？任何相關資訊將不勝感激。

This is Tom. Let me take a shot at that one. So when we talk about 8% increase, we don't have -- and we talked about it for the last 7 quarters, we're not sitting on as much inventory as we would normally sit on because of supply constraints and because of the high volume. So part of it is to get back to where we normally would be. And part of it, these initiatives go back to our 2020 guidance. And I guess it would be the end of 2019 fourth quarter call where we had a plan to add to the hub-and-spoke network. So it's a combination of those 2 items.

我是湯姆。讓我來回答一下。我們之前談到8%的成長，但實際上——過去七個季度我們也一直在討論這個問題——由於供應限制和銷量高，我們的庫存並沒有像往常那樣多。所以，一部分原因是我們需要恢復到正常水準。另一部分原因則與我們2020年的業績指引有關。我想，這應該可以追溯到2019年第四季末的電話會議，當時我們提出了擴大樞紐輻射式網路的計畫。所以，這是這兩面因素共同作用的結果。

When we look at how fast we can roll this inventory in, everybody in this room and everybody on our team would like to have it tomorrow. The question is, how fast can suppliers supply it? How fast can we push it through the distribution network? So this is, as Brent said earlier today, and he can add to this, this is going to be an all-year project. We're going to move a lot of units.

當我們考慮如何快速將庫存運抵時，在座各位以及我們團隊的每個人都希望明天就能拿到貨。問題是，供應商的供貨速度如何？我們能否快速地透過分銷網絡將貨物送達？正如布倫特今天早些時候所說，而且他還可以補充一點，這將是一個貫穿全年的項目。我們將需要處理大量的貨物。

Yes. Again, Chris, this is not a new strategy. It's something we've had planned for a couple of years, but supply chain constraints and the volumes we pushed through our DCs in the last couple of years have just prohibited us from getting this inventory rolled out.

是的。克里斯，這並非什麼新策略。我們幾年前就計劃好了，但供應鏈的限制以及過去幾年我們配送中心的超負荷運轉，導致我們一直無法完成這批庫存的投放。

Got you. That makes sense. And then a related question, on the LIFO, the $10 million, is that more like kind of a Q1-ish event? Or is it -- are these slow-turning SKUs that would cause you to take that throughout the year? And then like -- yes, that's it for me.

明白了。這說得通。還有一個相關的問題，關於後進先出法（LIFO），那1000萬美元的支出，是更像是第一季才會發生的事件嗎？還是說－這些是周轉緩慢的SKU，所以才會在全年都發生？嗯——好了，我的問題就這些了。

A great question. That should all rolled in, in the first quarter.

問得好。這些都應該在第一季實現。

Next question from Michael Lasser of UBS.

下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的麥可·拉塞爾。

What -- as you were laying out your plan for 2022, what did you assume that the overall industry is going to grow at in the year ahead?

您在製定 2022 年計畫時，您認為未來一年整個產業的成長率是多少？

That's an interesting question, Michael. I think what we looked at is when we look at inflation, what we're going to anniversary in same-SKU inflation. I think that's a pretty reasonable number for the industry. I think we'll be pressured more on the DIY side. Professional will continue to grow faster, more resilience to those price increases. Of course, we build our plan from product line and store up, and it's really independent of what the market is going to do. But our expectation is -- as you know, has always been that we are going to grow faster than the market.

邁克爾，這個問題很有意思。我們主要關注的是通膨，也就是同店商品價格的周年漲幅。我認為這個數字對整個行業來說相當合理。 DIY產品線可能會面臨更大的壓力。專業產品線則會持續保持更快的成長速度，對價格上漲的抵抗力也會更強。當然，我們的計畫是從產品線和門市層級制定的，這與市場走勢並無直接關聯。但正如你所知，我們一直以來的預期是，我們的成長速度將超過市場平均。

Yes. Obviously, the intent of the question was to try and size how much market share you expect to get for the price investments that you're going to be making. So is there another way to frame that out? And then I'll let you answer that, and then I have one quick follow-up.

是的。顯然，這個問題意在評估你預期透過投入資金能獲得多少市場份額。那麼，有沒有其他表達方式呢？我先讓你回答這個問題，然後我還有一個後續問題。

Okay. So there are a lot of puts and takes within what we think is going to happen with the business, both on the DIY and the professional side of the business. And we are confident that when we look at our gross margin dollars that this is going to be a winner for us. And we've rolled it out here in February, and we are very optimistic it's going to exceed our expectations.

好的。我們對公司未來的發展有許多考量，包括DIY和專業服務兩方面。但我們相信，從毛利率來看，這項業務將會獲利。我們在二月推出了這項業務，並且非常樂觀地認為它會超出我們的預期。

And my follow-up question is, do you expect this strategy, which will weigh on your gross margin and drive market share, to be unique to 2022? Your guidance implies that your gross margin rate this year is going to get back to levels that it was last at in 2013, 2014. So what are the chances that you will have to continue to execute this pricing and investment strategy beyond '22 such that your gross margins are going to float lower even after this year?

我的後續問題是，您認為這項會影響毛利率並影響市場佔有率的策略是否會被限制在2022年？您的預測表明，今年的毛利率將回落到2013年和2014年的水平。那麼，您認為在2022年之後，您繼續執行這項定價和投資策略，導致毛利率持續走低的可能性有多大？

Well, the thing, I guess, I would point out is that percents are nice and dollars pay the bills. So I did see a note where in 2014, the gross margin percent was the same. But I would say that we're about 98% more gross margin dollars, which is $3.5 billion. At the end of the day, we're trying to figure out how we build a sustainable business that generates increasing operating profit dollars year-over-year. And we think that this initiative continues to move us in that direction. And after the number exercises, I'll turn it over to Greg.

我想指出的是，百分比固然好，但最終還是得看美元。我看到一份報告顯示，2014年的毛利率與今年持平。但我認為，我們的毛利成長了約98%，達到了35億美元。歸根究底，我們正在努力打造一個永續發展的業務，實現逐年成長的營業利潤。我們相信，這項舉措將繼續推動我們朝著這個方向前進。數字分析完畢，接下來就交給格雷格吧。

Yes, Michael. We don't have any planned initiatives like this beyond this year. That said, as I said earlier, our pricing team consistently, day in and day out, looks at pricing in the marketplace. And we tweak the SKU up, the SKU down just to optimize our margin. So there's always changes in our pricing structure both -- on both sides of our business. But we don't anticipate future larger-scale price reductions like this.

是的，邁克爾。我們今年之後沒有類似的計劃。不過，正如我之前所說，我們的定價團隊每天都在關注市場價格。我們會根據市場狀況調整產品價格，優化利潤率。所以，我們的定價結構一直在變化——無論是在產品線還是銷售管道。但我們預計未來不會再有像這樣的大規模降價。

Okay. So Greg, just to clarify that you expect this year, you're going to make some price tweaks away in your gross margin. And then after this, it will be normal course of business to continue with what you've done in the past?

好的。格雷格，我確認一下，你是說你預計今年會調整一下價格，降低毛利率。之後，一切就會恢復正常，繼續沿用過去的做法嗎？

That is correct.

沒錯。

Our next question from Daniel Imbro of Stephens.

下一個問題來自史蒂芬斯公司的丹尼爾·伊姆布羅。

I'll ask one, not on pricing. Greg, I wanted to ask one just on the customer. I think you mentioned the potential for customer repair deferrals during periods of inflation or maybe economic uncertainty. Just as we head into this year, as the low-end consumer feels pressure from broader inflation, are you seeing any indication early on of repair deferrals or something that make you think that could happen this year? And is there anything like that baked into the comp guidance you've given?

我問一個問題，不是關於價格的。格雷格，我想問一個關於客戶的問題。我記得你提到過，在通貨膨脹或經濟不確定時期，客戶可能會推遲維修。今年年初，低端消費者正感受到整體通膨的壓力，你是否已經看到任何維修延遲的跡象，或者有什麼跡象讓你認為這種情況今年可能會發生？你所給予的業績預期中是否也考慮到了這一點？

Yes, Daniel, we call that out as we often do because historically, we've seen those changes to that lower-income consumer being one of the first things they do. We have not. We have not seen any signs of our DIY or our professional customers for that matter trading down or deferring maintenance at this point.

是的，丹尼爾，我們經常指出這一點，因為從以往的經驗來看，低收入消費者往往會率先做出這些改變。但我們目前還沒有看到任何跡象顯示我們的DIY客戶或專業客戶會降低產品檔次或延遲維護。

What I would add to that is we've seen pretty significant price increases. And to the extent when we look historically, when that's happened, DIY, especially on the lower end, we faced headwinds on customer transaction counts. And we anticipate some of that this year and have built that into the forecast.

我想補充的是，我們已經看到價格大幅上漲。回顧歷史，每當這種情況發生時，DIY市場，尤其是低端市場，都會面臨客戶交易量下降的不利影響。我們預計今年也會出現類似的情況，並已將其納入預測。

Got it. That's helpful color. And then I can ask a follow-up on SG&A. I think SG&A per store, it looks like at the midpoint, call it, 3% to 4% increase. I guess, one, is that right? And then two, with wages being as inflationary, Tom, you mentioned efficiency benefits earlier in kind of fixed costs, but are there any other initiatives you guys are doing to keep that at such a muted pace? I think we expect there to be more SG&A growth given the wage backdrop we're seeing. So trying to understand what's driving that improvement.

明白了。這個顏色很有幫助。接下來我可以再問一下銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）的情況。我認為每家店的SG&A，中間值大概是3%到4%的成長。我想問的是，第一，這個數字對嗎？第二，考慮到薪資上漲帶來的通膨，湯姆，你之前提到過提高效率帶來的固定成本效益，但你們還有其他什麼措施來控製成長速度嗎？鑑於目前的薪資水平，我們預期SG&A還會繼續成長。所以我想了解是什麼因素推動了這種成長。

So I think in our prepared comments, our math is around 2.5% increase. Last year, we were significantly above that, and sales were significantly above that. As Brad talked about in his prepared comments, we manage our SG&A at a micro level, especially store payroll, which is our biggest variable expense, to make sure that we're taking opportunities to gain share but not getting out over our skis. So this is based on the sales forecast. To the extent that we exceed the sales forecast, it will be higher than this. To the extent we are less than the sales forecast, you better believe it will be less than this. So more of a normal -- actually, higher than our normal run rate because our comp guide's higher than our run rate.

所以我認為，根據我們事先準備好的發言稿，我們預期成長率約為2.5%。去年，我們的成長率和銷售額都遠高於這個數字。正如布拉德在發言稿中提到的，我們對銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）進行精細化管理，尤其是門市工資，這是我們最大的可變成本，以確保我們抓住機會提升市場份額，但又不會過度擴張。這個成長率是基於銷售預測的。如果銷售額超過預測，成長率就會高於這個數字；如果低於預測，成長率一定會低於這個數字。所以，實際成長率會更接近正常水準——實際上，會高於我們正常的成長率，因為我們的同店銷售指導高於我們的正常成長率。

On the SG&A efficiencies, 8, 9 years ago, we used to talk a lot about our initiatives, then they seem to become other people's initiatives. So we tend not to go into detail on those.

關於銷售、管理及行政費用效率提升，八、九年前，我們經常談論自己的舉措，但後來這些舉措似乎變成了其他人的舉措。所以我們現在往往不再詳細討論這些舉措。

And we have reached our allotted time for questions. I will now turn the call back over to Mr. Greg Johnson for closing remarks.

我們的提問時間已經到了。現在我將把電話交還給格雷格·約翰遜先生，請他作總結發言。

Thank you, James. We'd like to conclude our call today by thanking the entire O'Reilly team once again for their unwavering commitment to our customers and for their incredible performance in 2021. We look forward to another strong year in 2022.

謝謝詹姆斯。今天通話的最後，我們再次感謝歐萊利團隊全體成員對客戶的堅定承諾以及他們在2021年的出色表現。我們期待2022年再創佳績。

I'd like to thank everyone for joining our call today, and we look forward to reporting our 2022 first quarter results in April. Thank you.

感謝各位今天參加我們的電話會議，我們期待在四月公佈2022年第一季業績。謝謝。

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes today's conference. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

謝謝各位。今天的會議到此結束。感謝各位的參與。現在可以斷開連線了。