O'Reilly Automotive Inc (ORLY) 2021 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the O'Reilly Automotive, Inc. Third Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Adrian, and I'll be your operator for today's call. (Operator Instructions) I'll now turn the call over to Tom McFall. Tom McFall, you may begin.

歡迎參加歐萊利汽車公司2021財年第三季財報電話會議。我是Adrian，將擔任本次電話會議的接線生。 （接線生操作說明）現在我將把電話交給Tom McFall。 Tom McFall，您可以開始了。

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

謝謝艾德里安。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年第三季的業績以及我們更新後的全年展望。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，我們打算遵守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，並聲明該條款具有保護效力。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 Third Quarter conference call. Participating on the call with me this morning are Brad Beckham, our Executive Vice President of Store Operations and Sales; and Tom McFall, our Chief Financial Officer; Greg Henslee, our Executive Chairman; David O'Reilly, our Executive Vice Chairman; and Jeff Shaw, our Chief Operating Officer and Co-President, are also present on the call. As we announced on last quarter's call, Brad will be providing prepared comments today -- on today's call in Jeff's normal spot as we anticipate and prepare for Jeff's upcoming retirement in early 2022 after more than 33 years of distinguished and dedicated service to the company.

謝謝，湯姆。大家早安，歡迎參加歐萊利汽車零件公司第三季電話會議。今天早上與我一同參加會議的有：門市營運和銷售執行副總裁布拉德·貝克漢姆；首席財務官湯姆·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；以及首席營運官兼聯席總裁傑夫·肖。正如我們在上個季度電話會議上宣布的那樣，布拉德今天將代替傑夫發言，為我們即將於2022年初退休做準備。傑夫為公司服務超過33年，貢獻卓著，盡職盡責。

It's my pleasure to congratulate Team O'Reilly on yet another incredible performance in the third quarter and to thank every member of our team for their unwavering commitment to our company and to our customers. The highlights of our third quarter results include a 6.7% increase in comparable store sales on top of an impressive 16.9% increase in the third quarter of last year and a 14% increase in diluted earnings per share, which is all the more impressive considering we grew EPS 39% in the third quarter last year. We'll walk through the details of our performance and our prepared comments today, but I don't want to miss an opportunity at the beginning of the call to express my sincere gratitude to our team for their relentless hard work and dedication as we continue to weather the pandemic.

我很高興祝賀奧萊利團隊在第三季再次取得令人矚目的成績，並感謝每位團隊成員對公司和客戶的堅定承諾。第三季業績亮點包括：同店銷售額成長6.7%，高於去年同期的16.9%；稀釋後每股盈餘成長14%，考慮到去年同期每股盈餘成長了39%，這一成績更令人矚目。今天我們將詳細介紹業績情況並發表準備好的評論，但我想在電話會議伊始，向我們的團隊表達我由衷的感謝，感謝他們在我們共同應對疫情挑戰的過程中所付出的不懈努力和奉獻精神。

Our team has been incredibly resilient to the challenges we faced over the last 1.5 years, and it would be very easy to take this for granted their ability to respond so well to this difficult environment. This is especially true since our team has been able to deliver quarter after quarter of record-breaking results. I can assure you it has been anything but easy. And our track record of consistency doesn't diminish the massive undertaking by Team O'Reilly to protect our customers and fellow team members while driving the highest sales and transaction volumes in the history of our company. So thank you, Team O'Reilly for your outstanding performance in the third quarter.

在過去一年半的時間裡，我們的團隊展現了驚人的韌性，克服了重重挑戰。我們很容易將他們如此出色地應對如此艱難的環境視為理所當然。尤其值得一提的是，我們的團隊每季都取得了破紀錄的表現。我可以向你們保證，這一切絕非易事。我們始終如一的優異表現，絲毫不能掩蓋奧萊利團隊為保護客戶和團隊成員所付出的巨大努力，他們同時也創造了公司歷史上最高的銷售額和交易量。因此，奧萊利團隊，感謝你們在第三季的出色表現！

I'd now like to take a few minutes and provide some color around our sales performance for the quarter. Our comparable store sales performance has continued to track well ahead of our expectations, and we have been very pleased with both the consistency and broad-based nature of the strength of our top line.

現在我想花幾分鐘時間，簡單介紹一下我們本季的銷售業績。我們的同店銷售業績持續遠超預期，我們對營收成長的穩定性和廣泛性都非常滿意。

From a cadence perspective, our sales results were fairly consistent throughout the quarter with solid positive comparable store sales growth each month. September was the strongest month of the quarter but the variability from month-to-month throughout the quarter was not significant on a 2- or 3-year stack basis. These very steady elevated sales levels continued to trend we drove in the second quarter despite not having a tailwind from government stimulus payments we saw in previous quarters. This top line sales strength has continued thus far in October and we continue to be pleased with the durable nature of the strong sales volumes we've been able to achieve.

從銷售節奏來看，本季我們的銷售業績相當穩定，每個月同店銷售額均達到了穩健的正成長。 9 月是本季表現最強勁的月份，但從過去兩三年的平均值來看，本季各月之間的波動並不顯著。儘管沒有像前幾季那樣受益於政府刺激性補貼，但我們依然延續了第二季以來穩定成長的銷售動能。 10 月至今，這一強勁的銷售勢頭依然保持，我們對所取得的持續強勁的銷售業績感到非常滿意。

The components of our comparable store sales growth in the third quarter are consistent with our second quarter results with strong growth on the professional side of our business, paired with solid growth from DIY. While our professional business faced easier comparisons from the prior year than the DIY business, we were still up against a challenging comparison and are very pleased with our team's ability to drive historically strong comparable store sales on a 1- and 2-year stack basis. We also continue to be very happy with the performance of our DIY business as this side drove the greater outperformance as compared to our expectations against extremely difficult comparison in the prior year.

第三季同店銷售成長的組成與第二季業績一致，專業業務強勁成長，DIY業務也維持穩健成長。雖然專業業務的年比基數低於DIY業務，但我們仍面臨嚴峻的挑戰。我們對團隊在過去一年和兩年內實現歷史最佳同店銷售業績的表現感到非常滿意。此外，DIY業務的表現也令我們十分滿意，在去年同期基數極高的情況下，該業務的業績表現遠超預期。

Total ticket count comp for the third quarter were better than our expectations, but slightly negative as a result of pressure to DIY transaction counts due to the difficult comparisons and rising prices, which were partially offset by the growth in professional ticket counts. On last quarter's call, we commented that we expected to see incremental -- I'm sorry, we expected to see increased inflation in the back half of the year. However, third quarter inflation was even higher than our expectations.

第三季總票數優於預期，但由於去年同期基數較高以及價格上漲，導致自助交易量承壓，實際同比數據略有下降，但專業票數的成長部分抵消了這一影響。在上個季度的電話會議上，我們曾表示預計下半年通膨率將有所上升——抱歉，應該是「預計下半年通膨率將有所上升」。然而，第三季的通貨膨脹率甚至高於我們的預期。

Our third quarter average ticket increase was aided by an increase in same SKU selling prices of approximately 5.5% as acquisition cost increases were passed along in selling price. As price levels have risen in the broader economy, demand in our industry has been resilient, and we continue to see strength in average ticket on a 1- and 2-year stack basis beyond the impact of same SKU inflation. However, we remain cautious in regard to our inflation outlook as we would expect some partial offsets same-SKU benefit as continued rising prices may cause more economically challenged customers to defer noncritical maintenance or trade down the product value spectrum.

第三季平均客單價成長得益於同款產品售價上漲約5.5%，這是由於採購成本上漲已轉嫁至售價。儘管整體經濟價格水準上漲，但我們行業的需求依然強勁，即使不考慮同款產品價格上漲的影響，我們仍然看到平均客單價在1年和2年周期內保持強勁增長。然而，我們對通膨前景仍持謹慎態度，因為我們預期價格持續上漲可能會部分抵銷同款產品價格上漲帶來的收益，導致經濟狀況較為緊張的客戶推遲非必要的維護或選擇價格更低的產品。

Finally, we drove solid sales volumes across all of our product categories with especially strong performance in undercar hard part categories, offsetting some of the pressure in appearance and accessory categories, which are up against extremely strong comparisons after growing at historically high levels in 2020.

最後，我們所有產品類別的銷售量都實現了穩健成長，其中底盤硬零件類別的表現特別強勁，抵消了外觀和配件類別的部分壓力。外觀和配件類別在 2020 年實現了歷史性高成長，但今年面臨著非常強勁的同比變化。

On a year-to-date basis, for the first 9 months of 2021, our comparable store sales growth of 12.9% and our 2-year stack comp of 23.6% were well above our expectations coming into this year. As the pandemic recovery has progressed, we remain cautious as to the lasting effect of demand tailwinds of our industry has experienced and candidly, had anticipated more moderation of the historically high growth rates we generated in 2020.

2021年前9個月，我們的同店銷售額年增12.9%，兩年累計年增23.6%，均遠超年初預期。隨著疫情後經濟復甦的推進，我們對產業先前經歷的需求成長動能能否持續保持謹慎，坦白說，我們原本預期2020年創下的歷史性高成長率將會有所放緩。

Each month, as we move further past the significant government stimulus and enhanced unemployment benefits, the stability of demand in our business is very encouraging and reflects the continued willingness for consumers to invest in repairing and maintaining their vehicles in the face of an overall shortage of new and used vehicles and continued economic uncertainty.

每個月，隨著政府的大規模刺激措施和提高失業救濟金的逐步結束，我們業務的需求穩定性令人鼓舞，這反映出，在新車和二手車整體短缺以及經濟持續不確定的情況下，消費者仍然願意投資維修和保養他們的車輛。

Similarly, we believe our strength of our professional business reflects the return to more daily commutes for many of the vehicle owners who professional customers serve. And we expect the gradual improvement in miles driven trends to continue and provide a benefit to the aftermarket as the recovery moves forward.

同樣，我們認為，我們專業業務的強勁成長反映了許多我們專業客戶所服務的車主恢復了日常通勤。我們預計，隨著經濟復甦的推進，行駛里程的逐步改善趨勢將持續下去，並為售後市場帶來益處。

Beyond the macroeconomic tailwinds in our industry, it is also clear to us that we are taking share and capitalizing on the opportunities to meet our customer needs in a very challenging environment.

除了我們所在行業的宏觀經濟利好因素之外，我們也清楚地認識到，我們正在不斷擴大市場份額，並抓住機遇，在充滿挑戰的環境中滿足客戶的需求。

As we discussed in our earnings release yesterday, we are increasing our full year comparable store sales guidance to a range of 10% to 12% from our previous range of 5% to 7%. This increase reflects our year-to-date performance through our press release and also anticipate solid business trends through the end of the year. As I've already indicated, we've seen a high degree of consistency in our top line sales volume for several months now, and we feel it appropriate to revise our expectations as we near the completion of the fiscal year. However, the fourth quarter can be a volatile period, especially in light of possible further impacts from the pandemic, rising price levels, variability in winter weather and the holiday shopping season and potential economic shock from the higher gas prices.

正如我們在昨天發布的財報中所討論的，我們將全年同店銷售額成長預期從先前的5%至7%上調至10%至12%。此次上調反映了我們年初至今的業績表現（詳見新聞稿），同時也預示著年底前業務將保持穩健成長。正如我之前提到的，近幾個月來，我們的營收一直保持著高度穩定，因此，隨著財年即將結束，我們認為有必要調整預期。然而，第四季市場波動較大，尤其考慮到疫情可能帶來的進一步影響、物價上漲、冬季天氣變化無常、假日購物季以及油價上漲可能造成的經濟衝擊等因素。

Now I'd like to move on to the gross margin performance for the quarter. Our third quarter gross margin of [$52.3 million] was a 13 basis point decrease from our third quarter 2020 gross margin and was in line with our expectations we discussed on the second quarter call. While the stronger performance of our professional business put mix pressure on the gross margin percentage, I want to spend a little time walking through 2 other dynamics that drove our gross margin results.

現在我想談談本季的毛利率表現。我們第三季的毛利率為5,230萬美元，較2020年第三季下降了13個基點，與我們在第二季電話會議上討論的預期一致。雖然專業業務的強勁表現對毛利率構成了一定的壓力，但我還想花點時間分析影響我們毛利率結果的另外兩個因素。

First, we have seen higher-than-normal broad-based increases in acquisition and input costs in our industry. One of the defining features of the automotive aftermarket throughout our history is the ability of the industry to leverage pricing power to pass through cost increases to end-user consumers with minimal impact to demand due to the essential nondiscretionary nature of the products we sell. The cost increases we've seen during the current inflationary environment represent broader-based inflation than we've seen for some time. However, we did see significant inflation during 2018 and 2019 on certain product lines caused by tariffs.

首先，我們看到汽車後市場產業的採購和投入成本普遍出現高於正常水準的成長。綜觀汽車後市場的發展歷程，其顯著特點之一便是能夠利用定價權將成本上漲轉嫁給終端消費者，而對需求的影響卻微乎其微，這得益於我們所售產品的必需性。在當前的通膨環境下，我們看到的成本上漲比以往任何時候都更為普遍。然而，我們也看到，由於關稅的影響，某些產品線在2018年和2019年也出現了顯著的通膨。

Consistent with the 2018-2019 time period, we've continued to see rational pricing in our industry and are very confident this will continue moving forward. Our pricing philosophy over time is to attempt to achieve consistent gross margin rates as a percentage of sales and higher gross profit dollars in line with the sales growth, which serves to offset similar cost pressures and SG&A expenses. However, as we've discussed in the past, similar to the 2018-2019 period of rising acquisition costs, we are currently benefiting from an enhanced gross margins as a result of increased pricing -- increased prices on the sell-through of products purchased prior to the cost increases.

與2018-2019年期間的情況一致，我們持續看到行業定價保持合理，並且我們非常有信心這一趨勢將持續下去。我們的定價理念是力求實現穩定的毛利率（佔銷售額的百分比）和與銷售成長相符的更高毛利，從而抵銷類似的成本壓力和銷售、管理及行政費用。然而，正如我們之前討論過的，與2018-2019年收購成本上升的情況類似，我們目前正受益於更高的毛利率，這主要得益於價格的提高——即在成本上漲之前採購的產品的銷售價格上漲。

The second gross margin dynamic I want to discuss today is the continued pressure we're seeing on distribution costs. As we discussed on last quarter's call, our distribution infrastructure is facing inefficiencies due to the massive sales spikes over the past 6 quarters, the difficult labor environment and global logistics challenges. We operate a high-service, high-touch distribution model, and we are fully committed to protecting and enhancing our competitive advantage in industry-leading parts availability.

今天我想討論的第二個毛利率動態是分銷成本持續面臨的壓力。正如我們在上個季度的電話會議上所討論的，由於過去六個季度銷售額的激增、嚴峻的勞動力市場環境以及全球物流挑戰，我們的分銷基礎設施效率低下。我們採用高服務、高觸達的分銷模式，並致力於維護和提升我們在業界領先的零件供應方面的競爭優勢。

Our dedicated supplier partners, corporate supply chain team, an extraordinarily hard working distribution [set of] team members continue to do an amazing job navigating one of the most challenging supply chain environments we've seen in our careers. And we have taken specific targeted steps and incurred incremental expense to respond to the hurdles we're facing. Ultimately, we do believe these pressures will abate and conditions will normalize and be more conducive to driving appropriate leverage of our distribution cost. But we'll continue to prioritize inventory availability and take necessary steps to ensure excellent customer service, which is a fundamental driver of our long-term success.

我們敬業的供應商合作夥伴、公司供應鏈團隊以及極其勤奮的配送團隊成員，在應對我們職業生涯中遇到的最具挑戰性的供應鏈環境之一時，始終表現出色。為了應對當前面臨的挑戰，我們已採取了具體的應對措施，並承擔了額外的費用。我們相信，這些壓力最終會緩解，市場環境將恢復正常，並更有利於我們合理地利用配送成本。但我們將繼續優先保障庫存供應，並採取必要措施確保卓越的客戶服務，因為這是我們長期成功的根本驅動力。

As a result of these puts and takes, we are maintaining our gross margin guidance of 52.2% to 52.7% for the full year but we now anticipate finishing the year in the bottom half of that range. Before handing the call off to Brad, I'd like to highlight our third quarter earnings per share increase of 14% to $8.07 with a year-to-date increase of 29% to $23.45.

受這些交易的影響，我們維持全年毛利率預期在52.2%至52.7%之間，但預計最終毛利率將處於該區間的下半部。在將電話會議交給布拉德之前，我想重點介紹一下我們第三季每股收益成長14%至8.07美元，年初至今每股收益成長29%至23.45美元。

Our third quarter EPS growth comes on top of our growth of 39% in the third quarter of 2020, resulting in a 2-year compounded quarterly growth rate of 26%. We are raising our full year earnings per share guidance to $29.25 to $29.45, which at the midpoint now represents an increase of 25% compared to 2020 and a 2-year compounded annual growth rate of 28%. This increase in full year guidance is driven by our strong year-to-date results, updated sales expectations for the remainder of 2021 and excellent operating profit flow-through, which Brad will provide more detail on shortly. As a reminder, our EPS guidance includes the impact of shares repurchased through this call, but does not include any additional share repurchases.

我們第三季每股收益成長是在2020年第三季39%的成長基礎上實現的，使得過去兩年的複合季度成長率達到26%。我們將全年每股收益預期上調至29.25美元至29.45美元，其中數值較2020年成長25%，過去兩年的複合年增長率達到28%。此次全年預期上調主要得益於我們強勁的年初至今業績、更新後的2021年剩餘時間銷售預期以及出色的營運利潤流出情況，Brad稍後將對此進行更詳細的闡述。需要提醒的是，我們的每股盈餘預期已包含本次電話會議期間回購的股票的影響，但不包括任何額外的股票回購。

To conclude my comments, I want to again thank Team O'Reilly for their tremendous hard work and dedication to delivering our culture and taking care of our customers every day.

最後，我要再次感謝奧萊利團隊，感謝他們為傳承我們的企業文化和每天照顧好我們的客戶所付出的巨大努力和奉獻精神。

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'd like to begin today by echoing Greg's comments and congratulating Team O'Reilly on another outstanding quarter. As I stepped into Jeff's role on this call and provide commentary on our operating performance, I consider it a huge privilege to represent our team of over 80,000 dedicated professionals in our stores field operations, distribution centers and offices.

謝謝格雷格，大家早安。今天首先，我想重申格雷格的觀點，並祝賀奧萊利團隊又一個季度取得了卓越的成績。我今天代替傑夫在電話會議上發言，對我們的營運業績進行點評，我深感榮幸能夠代表我們遍布門市、配送中心和辦公室的8萬多名敬業的專業人員。

Team O'Reilly has established a tremendous history of consistently excellent performance, building on the foundation established by the O'Reilly family beginning in 1957 but the last year plus of record-breaking results has been truly amazing. The single biggest driving factor of these results is the quality of our team and our unrelenting commitment to excellent customer service.

奧萊利團隊擁有輝煌的歷史，業績始終卓越，這得益於奧萊利家族自1957年創立以來奠定的基礎。而過去一年多來，團隊更是取得了令人矚目的突破性成就。這些成績取得的最大動力在於我們團隊的卓越素質以及我們對優質客戶服務的不懈追求。

As Greg previously discussed, our sales growth was very consistent throughout the quarter and solid on both sides of our business. Our team's commitment to our dual market strategy and our culture of excellent customer service has us well positioned to capitalize on the strong industry backdrop.

正如格雷格之前所說，本季我們的銷售成長非常穩定，業務部門兩方面都表現穩健。我們團隊對雙市場策略的堅持以及我們卓越的客戶服務文化，使我們能夠充分利用強勁的產業情勢。

We have been able to leverage our competitive advantages to meet the challenges of our operating -- of operating in an extremely difficult environment and deliver an attractive value proposition to our customers, including many customers who are new to O'Reilly. As strong as our results have been, we know we still have significant opportunities to enhance the great service we provide to customers and gain additional market share, and our teams are dedicated to improving our business every day.

我們充分利用自身競爭優勢，應對營運挑戰——在極其艱難的環境下運營，並為客戶提供極具吸引力的價值主張，其中包括許多歐萊利的新客戶。儘管業績表現強勁，但我們深知仍有很大的發展空間，可以進一步提升客戶服務水平，並擴大市場佔有率。我們的團隊致力於每天改進業務。

I'd now like to provide some color on our SG&A expenses and operating profit for the quarter. Operating profit dollars in the third quarter grew by 4% compared to the third quarter of 2020 and are up an incredible 41% above our operating profits we generated 2 years ago in 2019. Our SG&A dollar spend per store for the third quarter was up 8% over 2020, which is significantly higher than our typical growth in operating expenses. This is a result of the cost reduction measures we executed last year in response to the uncertainty around the pandemic as well as expenses incurred in 2021 in store payroll, incentive compensation and variable operating expenses to drive our sales growth. While our third quarter 2021 SG&A expense of 30.6% of sales represented a 78 basis point increase over 2020, it significantly outperformed our expectations as a result of our robust sales performance and solid expense control.

現在我想就本季的銷售、管理及行政費用 (SG&A) 和營業利潤做個簡要說明。第三季營業利潤較 2020 年同期成長 4%，較兩年前（2019 年）的營業利潤更是實現了驚人的 41% 的成長。第三季單店 SG&A 支出較 2020 年同期成長 8%，遠高於我們通常的營業費用成長水準。這主要得益於我們去年為應對疫情帶來的不確定性而實施的成本削減措施，以及 2021 年為推動銷售成長而產生的門市工資、激勵性薪酬和可變營運費用。儘管 2021 年第三季 SG&A 支出佔銷售額的 30.6%，較 2020 年同期增長 78 個基點，但由於我們強勁的銷售業績和有效的費用控制，這一數字遠超預期。

As a reminder, last year's third quarter SG&A expense levered 344 basis points and generated a level of profitability that was unique to the specific circumstances that we're facing -- we were facing at the point in the pandemic and was not sustainable nor appropriate for our long-term business. While this unusually difficult comparison created pressure on our year-over-year SG&A expense rate, we are very pleased with the improvement in our profitability on a 2-year stack. On this basis, our SG&A percentage is 266 basis points lower than our third quarter 2019 SG&A rate as our team was able to drive significantly higher top line sales growth than the rate of our SG&A increases.

需要提醒的是，去年第三季的銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）成長了344個基點，其獲利水準是當時疫情期間特有的，既不可持續，也不符合我們長期業務發展的需求。雖然這一異常嚴峻的同比數據對我們的SG&A費用率造成了壓力，但我們對過去兩年盈利能力的提升感到非常滿意。基於此，我們目前的SG&A費用率比2019年第三季降低了266個基點，這得益於我們團隊實現了遠高於SG&A費用成長率的營收成長。

Based upon our results year-to-date and our expectations for the fourth quarter, we are now estimating our full year increase in SG&A per store to be approximately 8%, which is below our comparable store sales guidance despite the extremely difficult comparisons. We are also increasing our operating profit guidance by 50 basis points to a range of 21% to 21.4%. Expense control is a core value of our culture, and we manage operating expenses on a store-by-store month-to-month basis. While all levels of SG&A growth and our improvements in operating profitability are larger than we've seen in recent history, our priorities for how we deploy operating expenses remain unchanged.

根據我們年初至今的業績以及對第四季度的預期，我們目前預計全年單店銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）增幅約為8%，儘管面臨極其嚴峻的同比基數，但仍低於我們此前的同店銷售額預期。同時，我們將營業利益率預期調高50個基點，至21%至21.4%。費用控制是我們企業文化的核心價值觀，我們按門市逐月管理營運費用。雖然銷售、管理及行政費用的各項成長幅度以及營運獲利能力的提升均高於近期水平，但我們對營運費用分配的優先事項保持不變。

Our top priority is to ensure we are providing excellent customer service and ensuring we lead the industry in the value we provide to our customers. We have a very high standard for service, and we are relentless in developing long-term and loyal customer relationships through consistent daily execution of our business model. These relationships are the foundation of our business and the key to future growth. We also prudently manage our expenses to capitalize on opportunities to grow market share and operating profit dollars through enhancements to the customer service tools we provide our teams.

我們的首要任務是確保提供卓越的客戶服務，並在客戶價值方面保持行業領先地位。我們對服務有著極高的標準，並透過日常業務模式的持續有效執行，不懈地致力於建立長期忠誠的客戶關係。這些關係是我們業務的基石，也是未來發展的關鍵。同時，我們也審慎管理支出，透過改善客戶服務工具，抓住機遇，提升市場佔有率和營業利潤。

Next, I'd like to provide an update on our store growth during the quarter. During the third quarter, we opened 30 new stores, bringing our year-to-date total to 146 net new store openings across 40 states. This pace sets us up well to achieve our plan of 165 to 175 net new stores for 2021. Logistical supply and governmental challenges continue to make new store development difficult but our teams are diligently grinding away to open great new store locations with outstanding teams, and we continue to be pleased with our new store performance and our opportunities for future growth. For 2022, we expect to open between 175 and 185 net new stores in the U.S. and Mexico. And these store openings will again be in both new and existing markets as we have capacity to support profitable growth across our distribution footprint.

接下來，我想報告本季門市成長。第三季度，我們新開了30家門市，使今年迄今的淨新增門市總數達到146家，遍布40個州。這一成長速度為我們實現2021年淨新增165至175家門市的目標奠定了良好的基礎。物流供應和政府方面的挑戰仍然給新店開發帶來困難，但我們的團隊正努力不懈地在優質地段開設新店，並組建優秀的團隊。我們對新店的業績以及未來的成長機會感到滿意。 2022年，我們預計將在美國和墨西哥淨新增175至185家門市。這些新店將再次分佈在新市場和現有市場，因為我們擁有足夠的產能來支持整個分銷網絡的獲利成長。

In addition to investments we're making to grow our business with expansion into new markets, we continue to reinvest in our existing stores and distribution infrastructure with a particular focus on supporting and enhancing our industry-leading inventory availability. Our ability to provide our customers all the parts they need to complete their repair faster than our competitors is critical to earning repeat business and gaining new market share. The vast number of different parts needed to service the U.S. light vehicle fleet means no store could ever stock enough parts to service any given trade area. Every store in our chain has a unique inventory tailored to that store specific trade area that we deploy to provide immediate access to those products with the highest demand.

除了投資拓展新市場以促進業務成長外，我們還持續投資於現有門市和配送基礎設施，尤其註重支持和提升我們行業領先的庫存可用性。我們能夠比競爭對手更快地為客戶提供完成維修所需的所有零件，這對於贏得回頭客和拓展市場份額至關重要。美國輕型車輛所需的零件種類繁多，這意味著任何一家門市都無法儲備足夠的零件來滿足特定區域的需求。我們連鎖店的每家門市都擁有根據其所在區域量身定制的獨特庫存，以便客戶能夠快速獲得需求量最大的產品。

To further enhance our availability, we are pursuing ongoing initiatives to aggressively add incremental dollars to our store level inventories above the typical annual investment for new stores and product updates. During the strong sales environment this year, rolling out the full scope of these initiatives had to take a backseat to the replenishment needs of our stores but we still see significant opportunities to increase our market share by beefing up the inventory that sets closest to our customers and will execute on a larger investment in 2022.

為了進一步提升供貨能力，我們正積極推動各項舉措，在常規年度新店開幕和產品更新投資之外，加大對門市庫存的投入。今年銷售情況強勁，我們不得不優先滿足門市的補貨需求，從而暫時擱置了這些舉措的全面實施。但我們仍然看到，透過增加最貼近客戶的門市庫存，我們擁有龐大的市佔率提升空間。我們將在2022年加大投資力度。

To support the demand for less requested parts, our stores receive overnight deliveries from 1 of our 28 regional distribution centers, supplemented by multiple deliveries per day, 7 days a week if the store is located in the market area of one of our DCs. For stores that aren't located in close proximity to a DC, including stores in a very large metro area with a longer drive time to the DC, we utilized a hub and spoke network with hub store stocking additional parts depth to support surrounding stores through multiple daily deliveries. Hub stores carry between 2 and 4x the SKU count of a normal store depending on the market area. We continue to aggressively enhance our hub network with not only upgrades but the addition of new hubs, which are typically of the larger variety. These large investments are critical to support our store team's ability to provide exceptional customer service.

為了滿足部分需求量較小的零件，我們的門市會從28個區域配送中心之一接收隔夜送達的貨物。如果門市位於某一配送中心的覆蓋區域內，則每天還會進行多次配送，每週7天不間斷。對於距離配送中心較遠的門市，包括位於大型都會區、前往配送中心車程較長的門市，我們採用中心輻射式網絡，透過中心門市增加零件庫存，並每日多次配送，為週邊門市提供支援。中心門市的庫存量是一般門市的2到4倍，具體倍數取決於所在區域。我們持續積極地增強中心網絡，不僅對現有中心進行升級改造，還新建了規模更大的中心。這些巨額投資對於提升門市團隊提供卓越客戶服務的能力至關重要。

Before I turn it over to Tom, I want to thank Team O'Reilly for their continued dedication to our company's success. With 1 quarter left in 2021, we've had an amazing year so far, but we will continue to stay focused on finishing the year strong. As always, the key to our success is providing unwavering customer service that surpasses expectations and continues to earn our customers' business, and I am confident in our team's ability to continue our tremendous success.

在把發言權交給湯姆之前，我要感謝奧萊利團隊一直以來對公司成功的貢獻。 2021年還剩最後一個季度，我們今年迄今取得了令人矚目的成績，但我們將繼續專注於以強勁的勢頭結束這一年。一如既往，我們成功的關鍵在於提供一致、超越客戶期望的優質服務，從而贏得客戶的持續信賴。我對我們的團隊充滿信心，相信他們能夠繼續保持輝煌的表現。

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 thank all of Team O'Reilly for their continued hard work and commitment to excellent customer service, which drove our tremendous third quarter and year-to-date performance. Now we'll take a closer look at our third quarter results and add some additional color to our updated 2021 guidance.

謝謝布拉德。我也要感謝奧萊利團隊的所有成員，感謝他們持續的辛勤工作和對卓越客戶服務的執著追求，正是他們的努力和付出成就了我們第三季度和年初至今的出色業績。接下來，我們將更深入分析第三季的業績，並為我們更新後的2021年業績預期提供更多細節。

For the quarter, sales increased $272 million comprised of a $210 million increase in comp store sales, a $58 million increase in noncomp store sales, a $4 million increase in noncomp nonstore sales. For the full year of 2021, we now expect our total revenue to be between $12.9 billion and $13.2 billion, up from our previous guidance of $12.3 billion to $12.6 billion based on our strong year-to-date top line performance and our continued confidence in our team.

本季銷售額成長2.72億美元，其中同店銷售額成長2.1億美元，非同店銷售額成長5,800萬美元，非同店非門市銷售額成長400萬美元。鑑於年初至今強勁的營收表現以及我們對團隊的持續信心，我們預計2021年全年總營收將在129億美元至132億美元之間，高於此前123億美元至126億美元的預期。

Greg covered our gross margin performance earlier, but I want to provide additional details on our positive LIFO impact. For the third quarter, the LIFO impact was $43 million compared to no material benefit 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 cost. And we elected the conservative approach to not write up inventory value beyond our replacement cost.

Greg之前已經介紹了我們的毛利率表現，但我想就後進先出法（LIFO）帶來的正面影響提供更多細節。第三季度，LIFO帶來的正面影響為4,300萬美元，而去年同期則沒有產生任何實質收益。需要再次強調的是，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。我們選擇了保守的做法，即不將存貨價值計入超過重置成本的帳面價值。

As a result of this accounting, we've seen a benefit from rising cost 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 benefit from the final sell-through of the remaining lower cost inventory will hit primarily in the fourth quarter of 2021 and will no longer be a tailwind beyond that. We will provide gross margin guidance for 2022 on our fourth quarter earnings call, but I wanted to outline this switch back to a LIFO credit since it will have the impact of being a declining benefit moving forward, which we anticipate will in part be offset by expected future normalization and distribution costs.

由於採用了這種會計方法，我們受益於成本和價格上漲，因為在近期成本上漲之前購入的低成本庫存得以售出。然而，在2021年第三季度，由於通貨膨脹和採購成本的上升，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，我們預期剩餘低成本庫存的最終售出所帶來的收益將主要在2021年第四季顯現，此後將不再構成利多因素。我們將在第四季度財報電話會議上提供2022年的毛利率指引，但我想在此概述一下重新採用後進先出貸方會計方法的情況，因為其收益將隨著時間推移而遞減，我們預計未來預期的正常化和分銷成本將部分抵消這一影響。

Our third quarter effective tax rate was 22.5% of pretax income comprised of a base rate of 24.2%, reduced by a 1.7% benefit for share-based compensation. This compares to the third quarter of 2020 rate of 23.2% of pretax income, which was comprised of a base tax rate of 24.4%, reduced by a 1.2% benefit for share-based compensation. The third quarter of 2021 base rate was in line with our expectations. And for 2021 full year, we continue to expect to see a lower fourth quarter base tax rate due to the expected tolling of certain tax periods and realizing benefits from renewable energy tax credits.

我們第三季的實際稅率為稅前利潤的22.5%，基本稅率為24.2%，並扣除了1.7%的股權激勵收益。相較之下，2020年第三季的實際稅率為稅前利潤的23.2%，基本稅率為24.4%，並扣除了1.2%的股權激勵收益。 2021年第三季的基本稅率符合我們的預期。對於2021年全年，我們預計第四季度的基本稅率將有所下降，這主要得益於部分稅期的預期中止以及可再生能源稅收抵免的實現。

For the full year of 2021, we continue to expect an effective tax rate of approximately 23%. 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 tax rate.

我們預計2021年全年實際稅率仍約為23%。這項預期是基於現有稅法不會發生重大變化的假設。此外，股權激勵帶來的稅收優惠的變化也可能導致稅率波動。

Now we'll move on to free cash flow and the components that drove our results as well as our updated expectations for 2021. Free cash flow for the first 9 months of 2021 was $2.2 billion, up from $1.9 billion for the first 9 months of 2020. With the improvement driven by an increase in net income, a larger benefit from our net inventory investment and a larger prior investment in solar projects, partially offset by a reduced benefit from accrued tax withholdings resulting from the ability to defer certain payroll tax payments in 2020 under the provisions of the CARES Act. We do anticipate additional investments in solar projects in the fourth quarter of 2021.

接下來，我們將討論自由現金流及其構成要素，以及我們對2021年的最新預期。 2021年前9個月的自由現金流為22億美元，高於2020年前9個月的19億美元。這一成長主要得益於淨利潤增加、淨存貨投資收益擴大以及先前對太陽能專案投資的增加，但部分被《新冠病毒援助、救濟和經濟安全法案》（CARES Act）允許公司在2020年延期繳納部分工資稅而導致的應計稅款抵扣收益減少所抵消。我們預計將在2021年第四季對太陽能專案進行更多投資。

For the full year of 2021, we now expect free cash flow to be in the range of $2 billion to $2.3 billion, up $500 million at the midpoint from our previous guidance based on our strong year-to-date operating profit and cash flow performance and our net inventory performance. Inventory per store at the end of the third quarter was $633,000, which was down 3% from the beginning of the year but up 1% from this time last year, driven by the extremely strong sales volumes and supply chain constraints. Our AP to inventory ratio at the end of the third quarter was 126%, which matched the all-time high our company set at the end of the second quarter and was heavily influenced by the extremely strong sales volumes and inventory turns over the last year.

鑑於年初至今強勁的營業利潤和現金流表現以及淨庫存表現，我們預計2021年全年自由現金流將在20億至23億美元之間，較先前預期中位數增加5億美元。第三季末，單店庫存為63.3萬美元，較年初下降3%，但較去年同期成長1%，主要受強勁的銷售量和供應鏈限制的影響。第三季末，應付帳款與庫存比率為126%，與公司在第二季末創下的歷史最高紀錄持平，這主要得益於過去一年強勁的銷售量和庫存週轉率。

We now anticipate our year-end AP to inventory ratio to finish near a similar level. However, over time, as we increase inventory levels, we expect to see moderation in this ratio.

我們預計年底應付帳款與存貨比率將與今年同期水準相近。然而，隨著存貨水準的提高，我們預計該比率將逐漸趨於平穩。

Capital expenditures for the first 9 months of 2021 were $341 million, which was down $23 million from the same period of 2020, primarily driven by the timing of expenditures for new store and DC development activities and strategic initiatives. As we look to the remainder of the year, we still see tremendous opportunity to deploy capital to enhance our service offerings and capitalize on growth opportunities. But we would now expect for some of those investments to be pushed into 2022. As a result, we're revising our CapEx forecast to come in between $450 million and $550 million for the year.

2021年前9個月的資本支出為3.41億美元，較2020年同期減少2,300萬美元，主要原因是新店和配送中心開發活動以及策略性措施的支出時間安排有所調整。展望今年剩餘時間，我們仍看到龐大的投資機會，可以藉此提升服務水準並掌握成長機會。但我們現在預計部分投資將延後到2022年。因此，我們將全年資本支出預測調整為4.5億美元至5.5億美元之間。

Moving on to debt. We finished the third quarter with an adjusted debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 1.75x as compared to our end of 2020 ratio of 20.3x. With the reduction driven by a decrease in adjusted debt, including the redemption of $300 million of senior notes in the second quarter as well as substantial growth in our trailing 12-month EBITDAR. We continue to be below our leverage target of 2.5x, and we'll approach that number when appropriate.

接下來談談債務情況。第三季末，我們調整後的負債與EBITDA比率為1.75倍，而2020年底的比率為20.3倍。這項降幅主要得益於調整後債務的減少，其中包括第二季贖回的3億美元優先票據，以及過去12個月EBITDAR的顯著成長。我們目前的槓桿率仍低於2.5倍的目標，並將在適當的時候接近該目標。

We continue to execute our share repurchase program. And during the third quarter, we repurchased 1.6 million shares at an average share price of $595.96 for a total investment of $943 million. Year-to-date, through our press release yesterday, we repurchased 4.1 million shares at an average price of $534.60 for a total investment of $2.2 billion. 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.

我們持續推進股票回購計畫。第三季度，我們以平均每股595.96美元的價格回購了160萬股，總投資額達9.43億美元。截至昨日新聞稿發布之時，今年以來我們已回購了410萬股，平均每股價格為534.60美元，總投資額達22億美元。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。

Before I open up our call to your questions, I'd like to thank the O'Reilly team for their dedication to our customers and our company. 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客戶和公司的盡心盡責。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. At this time, I'd like to ask Adrian to ask -- I'm sorry, I'd like to ask Adrian, the operator, to turn to the line, and we'll be happy to answer your questions.

我們的發言到此結束。現在，我想請接線員艾德里安——抱歉，我想請接線員艾德里安轉到電話那頭，我們很樂意回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) And our first question comes from Brian Nagel from Oppenheimer.

（操作說明）我們的第一個問題來自奧本海默公司的布萊恩·納格爾。

Another nice quarter. So the first question I want to ask. Just you commented -- it was commented in the prepared remarks about pricing and the impact upon demand. And I'm recognizing that there's some conservatism as you look forward. But I guess the question I have is, are you seeing indications now that as prices have risen, the consumers are either shifting away from products or there's some hesitation to buy certain items in your stores?

又是一個不錯的季度。那麼，我想問的第一個問題是，您在準備好的演講稿中提到了定價及其對需求的影響。我理解您展望未來時會保持一定的保守態度。但我想問的是，隨著價格上漲，您是否觀察到消費者正在減少購買某些產品，或者對購買您商店中的某些商品有所猶豫？

Yes, Brian. What I would tell you is we have not seen any significant movement thus far. We called that out as a possibility going forward if fuel prices continue to rise and continue to be challenges within the general economy. But so far, we haven't. What might happen or what has happened historically during times where consumer spending drops off to a degree as consumers may defer things like oil changes out beyond their normal oil change intervals or trade down the value spectrum. We really haven't seen that. We have -- over the last several quarters, we have really done a nice job of promoting some of our proprietary branded products. And we've seen a shift to some of those proprietary brands like, for example, SYNTEC motor oil. And what we've seen is those shifts are more related to us promoting those products than a shift downward in buying habits. Those are really planned shifts. But I would say unpredicted shifts or surprises, we have not seen those thus far.

是的，布萊恩。我想說的是，到目前為止，我們還沒有看到任何顯著的趨勢。我們之前提到過，如果燃油價格持續上漲，並繼續對整體經濟構成挑戰，那麼未來可能會出現這種情況。但到目前為止，我們還沒有看到。歷史上，當消費者支出下降到一定程度時，消費者可能會推遲諸如更換機油之類的保養項目，或者選擇更經濟實惠的產品，這種情況可能會發生。但我們目前還沒有看到這種情況。在過去的幾個季度裡，我們確實在推廣一些自有品牌產品方面做得很好。我們看到消費者轉向了其中一些自有品牌，例如SYNTEC機油。我們發現，這些轉變更與我們推廣這些產品有關，而不是消費者購買習慣的下降。這些都是我們計劃內的轉變。但我想說的是，到目前為止，我們還沒有看到任何意料之外的轉變或意外情況。

That's really helpful. And the second or the follow-up question I have, a separate different topic, but with maybe kind of bigger picture in nature. But with regard to sales, I mean, clearly, the business is performing extraordinarily well here and continuing to perform well from a sales perspective, as we move past, like you said, past the benefits of stimulus, past while COVID still a factor maybe past some of the disruptions or even benefits of COVID. So as you look at your business and then compare it now to say, prepandemic levels, what's really -- what do you think is really driving it? I mean, is there certain factors you can point to that are just kind of underpinning this continued better than prepandemic sales levels?

這真的很有幫助。我的第二個問題，或者說後續問題，雖然涉及不同的主題，但可能更宏觀一些。就銷售而言，很明顯，公司目前的業績非常出色，而且從銷售角度來看，隨著我們逐漸走出疫情刺激政策的影響，以及疫情帶來的部分乾擾甚至益處，銷售業績依然保持良好勢頭。那麼，當您審視公司目前的業績，並將其與疫情前的水平進行比較時，您認為真正推動業績成長的是什麼？我的意思是，您能否指出一些具體因素，來解釋為何目前的銷售水準持續高於疫情前水準？

Yes. I'll start that, and I'll see if Brad might have something to add. Brian, there are several things that are going on right now in the economy that short term are probably impacting that. And a couple of those things I called out is the availability of new cars and the availability and extended pricing on used cars today. It's just -- it's not cost-effective. People are paying as much for a 2-year-old used car as what sticker prices on a new car because new cars are not available. And I think that's driving more people to maintain their existing vehicles more so than perhaps they did prepandemic. Also, I think during the pandemic, we saw a trend of more traditional white collar employees and employers and people in general doing some of the things themselves that historically they may not have done. So that trend may be extending as well, which would support the DIY side of our business. So I think those things in combination are drivers that are positively impacting our sales volume as of recent and throughout the pandemic.

是的，我先開始，看看布萊德有沒有什麼補充。布萊恩，目前經濟情勢下有幾個因素可能會在短期內對銷售產生影響。我之前提到的幾個因素包括新車供應不足以及二手車價格上漲。現在買二手車很不划算。人們花在一輛兩年車齡的二手車上的價格，幾乎和新車的價格一樣，因為新車買不到。我認為這促使更多人比疫情前更注重保養現有車輛。此外，我認為在疫情期間，我們看到一個趨勢，那就是更多傳統的白領員工、雇主以及普通民眾開始自己做一些以前可能不會做的事情。這種趨勢可能還會延續，這將有利於我們業務中的DIY部分。所以我認為這些因素綜合起來，在疫情期間和近期都對我們的銷售產生了正面影響。

Brad, did you want to add anything to that?

布拉德，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

The only other thing I'd add to what Greg said, it's just what I mentioned earlier, just about new customers. When I'm out in the field, and I have been quite a bit here lately seeing our teams and had them on the back and talking to customers on both sides of the business. We're seeing a lot of new customers, Brian. And again, on both sides of the business. And back to your original question, what we're seeing is a huge need. While prices are higher, we're seeing a huge need for value. And as you well know, with the nondiscretionary nature of our business, like Greg mentioned, with us totally focused on our supply chain, executing better than anybody else out there. Our delivery times and turning those base for the customers and all the value that we know we can create on that front counter with our professional parts people highly focused on retention right now. And we just see our teams doing a great job winning those new customers. And then when we win them over, we impress them with our service levels.

我唯一想補充的是格雷格剛才說的，也就是我之前提到的關於新客戶的問題。最近我經常外出，和我們的團隊一起工作，讓他們和客戶（包括銷售和分銷管道）交流。布萊恩，我們看到了許多新客戶。而且，銷售和分銷管道都有新客戶。回到你最初的問題，我們看到的是巨大的需求。雖然價格上漲了，但我們看到客戶對價值的需求非常高。如你所知，我們業務的特殊性在於不可或缺性，就像格雷格所提到的那樣，我們完全專注於供應鏈，執行力遠遠超越其他競爭對手。我們的交貨速度和周轉率都為客戶創造了巨大的價值，我們專業的零件人員現在也高度重視客戶留存。我們看到我們的團隊在贏得新客戶方面做得非常出色。一旦贏得客戶，我們就會用優質的服務給他們留下深刻的印象。

And Brian, one more additional thing. I think part of the growth we're seeing is we're taking some market share. I said that in our prepared comments and you look at industry reporting on our performance across the board against the remainder of market, we continue to outperform in most categories. And I think that we are taking market share. And I think as challenged as our supply chain has been, as large of a company as we are in the buying power that we represent, I have to think that some of these smaller companies are having more supply chain challenges perhaps than we are, which is supporting our market share gains.

布萊恩，還有一點要補充。我認為我們目前取得的成長部分源自於市場佔有率的提升。我在之前的發言稿中已經提到過這一點，如果你查看行業報告，你會發現我們在各個領域的整體表現都優於其他競爭對手。我認為我們正在不斷擴大市場份額。儘管我們的供應鏈面臨許多挑戰，但考慮到我們公司龐大的規模和強大的採購能力，我認為一些規模較小的公司可能比我們面臨更大的供應鏈挑戰，這或許有助於我們提升市場份額。

And our next question comes from Zach Fadem from Wells Fargo.

下一個問題來自富國銀行的紮克法德姆。

So first one for Tom. Your ex-LIFO gross margin was about 51% in Q3, which is about 100 basis point step down versus Q2, if I'm calculating that right. So first question is, how much would you view the step down as transitory due to the supply chain factors today? And then as we look to '22, is it fair to expect the core ex-LIFO gross margin to hover around this 51% level? Or is a return to the 52% level the right way to think about it?

第一個問題問湯姆。你第三季的非後進先出法毛利率約為51%，如果我沒算錯的話，比第二季下降了約100個基點。所以第一個問題是，你認為這種下降在多大程度上是由於目前供應鏈因素造成的暫時性影響？展望2022年，預期核心的非後進先出法毛利率會維持在51%左右嗎？還是應該預期回升到52%？

Well, Zach, there's a lot of moving pieces in margin right now as prices have gone up dramatically in a short period of time. To answer your first question, ex-LIFO would that have been the margin. I think that because we have product that we purchased at a lower cost, it allows us to maybe be a little more prudent in the timing of raising prices and doing that in a smart way with our customers to make sure that we don't have a shock value. So I'm not sure that I would say that, that's how -- absent that ability to leverage that benefit that we may have run prices through a little bit different, not saying we're not going to eventually run all the prices through.

札克，​​目前利潤率受許多因素影響，因為價格在短時間內大幅上漲。回答你的第一個問題，如果採用後進先出法（LIFO），利潤率會是多少？我認為，由於我們之前以較低的成本購入了產品，這讓我們在提價時機上可以更加謹慎，並以更巧妙的方式與客戶溝通，確保價格不會造成衝擊。所以，我不確定——如果沒有利用這種優勢，我們可能會採取不同的定價策略，當然，我並不是說我們最終不會調整所有價格。

The second I might tell you is that when we look at our gross margin, we had a big LIFO benefit, but we also had a similar headwind from distribution. So over time, we will balance those. We feel like we've been pretty consistent in the gross margin percentage we've run over time. Obviously, since over the last 10 years since we purchased CSK and worked on a lot of outsourcing -- I'm sorry, sourcing to the most economical countries in private label, we've increased our gross margin substantially over that period. But over the last couple of years, it's been pretty consistent. And although we're not going to guidance on this call for next year, we wouldn't anticipate dramatic changes in our overall gross margin.

第二點我想說的是，當我們審視毛利率時，雖然後進先出法（LIFO）帶來了顯著收益，但分銷管道也帶來了類似的阻力。因此，隨著時間的推移，我們會平衡這些因素。我們認為，我們目前的毛利率一直相當穩定。當然，自從過去十年我們收購了CSK，並大力推進外包——抱歉，應該說是將自有品牌產品採購到成本最低的國家——以來，我們的毛利率已經大幅提升。但近幾年來，我們的毛利率一直保持穩定。雖然本次電話會議我們不會對明年的業績做出預測，但我們預期整體毛利率不會出現劇烈波動。

Got it. So in terms of the broader laundry list of supply chain inflationary pressures across all retail. You've called out product and DC costs. We're also dealing with higher freight and port delays and labor and product availability issues. So when you think about all these pinch points impacting your business today, could you talk about which ones are most front and center for you? Which aspects have been more manageable? And would you say we've reached peak pressure? Or do you still think there's incremental headwinds from here in the upcoming months?

明白了。那麼，就整個零售業面臨的供應鏈通膨壓力而言，您提到了產品成本和配送中心成本。我們也面臨更高的貨運量、港口延誤以及勞動力和產品供應問題。考慮到所有這些影響您業務的瓶頸，您能否談談哪些對您來說最為緊迫？哪些方面較容易因應？您認為我們已經達到壓力高峰了嗎？還是您認為未來幾個月仍會面臨一些新的挑戰？

Yes. Zach, this is Greg. I'll take this one. I don't think we're near the end of this, unfortunately. Obviously, the backlog -- you watch the news, the backlog of ships in China, at port in the U.S., various ports in the U.S. and on the water continues to be pressured and challenged. When you talk about our supply chain, you have to think about it sequentially. And really, it started -- the pressure started in the DC just based on the sheer volumes that they've experienced over the past several quarters. And to compound that, those volumes came at a time where the supply and demand of human capital was way out of balance. And it's very, very difficult, as everyone knows, to hire in the environment that we've been in the last several months or past few quarters.

是的。札克，​​我是格雷格。我來回答這個問題。很遺憾，我認為我們離結束還很遠。顯然，積壓的貨物——你看新聞就知道了，中國、美國港口、美國各地港口以及海上船舶的積壓問題持續存在，壓力巨大。談到我們的供應鏈，必須按順序來考慮。實際上，壓力是從配送中心開始的，這主要是由於過去幾季他們所經歷的巨大業務量。更糟的是，這些業務量出現的時候，人力資本的供需嚴重失衡。眾所周知，在過去幾個月或幾季的這種環境下招募非常非常困難。

Now we have seen some improvement since some of the government stimulus and unemployment benefits have subsided but we're still having some challenges staffing up in some of our DCs. The good news is, from a DC perspective, we're showing continued improvement, and our DCs are getting caught up and we're working hard to make sure we're positioned to be prepared for future growth in 2022 and make sure that our staffing levels are adequate and we're working on continued productivity gains and get our distribution costs more in line with where they were. So that was really the initial component of the supply chain crisis, but then you compound that with increased freight charges, I think most everyone has heard the variation in container shipping cost from as low as $3,000 in 2021 up to recently as high as $18,000 to $20,000 per container equivalent. And that has been a challenge. And then just everything that we face seems to compound. Now there's rationing of electricity in China. So all these things have compounded the issues and the timing has been a challenge the way these things have layered on.

現在，隨著政府部分刺激措施和失業救濟金的逐步取消，情況有所好轉，但我們在一些配送中心仍然面臨人員配備方面的挑戰。好消息是，從配送中心的角度來看，我們的營運狀況持續改善，各個配送中心正在逐步恢復正常運作。我們正努力確保為2022年的未來成長做好準備，確保人員配備充足，並致力於持續提高生產效率，使配送成本更接近先前的水準。這確實是供應鏈危機的最初組成部分，但隨後運費上漲更是雪上加霜。我想幾乎每個人都聽說過貨櫃運輸成本的波動，從2021年的低至3000美元，到最近的每貨櫃18000至20000美元不等。這確實是一個挑戰。而且，我們面臨的所有問題似乎都在疊加。現在，中國也開始實施電力配給。所有這些因素都加劇了問題，而這些因素疊加在一起，使得時機變得非常棘手。

What I will tell you is that we, from a distribution perspective, we're in much better shape than we were this time last quarter as recently as then. From a supply chain perspective, we continue to work on -- our strategy is to have multiple suppliers for most of our major product categories to mitigate any risk, and we're leveraging current suppliers and additional suppliers in order to try to get product. And we're seeing improvement on product flow, but it's still a lot longer tail from order to delivery than what it typically is.

我可以告訴大家的是，從分銷的角度來看，我們目前的狀況比上個季度同期好得多。從供應鏈的角度來看，我們仍在努力——我們的策略是為大多數主要產品類別配備多個供應商，以降低風險，並且我們正在利用現有供應商和新增供應商來確保產品供應。我們看到產品流通有所改善，但從下單到交付的周期仍然比通常情況要長得多。

And we have a question coming from Greg Melich from Evercore.

我們還有一個來自 Evercore 的 Greg Melich 的問題想問。

Really 2 questions. One, first on the pricing. You mentioned that you came in stronger than you thought for all the cost reasons. And Tom, it would be fair to say that, that 5.5%, if that's what was realized in the third quarter, it should actually be more than that year-over-year as we look into the fourth quarter and beyond, just given the way pricing flows through?

其實有兩個問題。第一個是關於定價的。您提到由於成本方面的原因，你們的業績比預期要好。湯姆，如果第三季實際實現了5.5%的成長，那麼考慮到價格的走勢，展望第四季及以後，同比增速應該會更高，對嗎？

Well, we would expect it to be a strong number again in the fourth quarter. Optimistic that some of the supply chain items will write themselves, but we will have more view on that on our fourth quarter call for next year.

我們預計第四季業績將再次強勁成長。我們樂觀地認為部分供應鏈問題會迎刃而解，但我們會在今年第四季財報電話會議上對此進行更詳細的闡述。

Got it. And then I think you mentioned that your second quarter EBIT margin was unsustainable and really not good for the long-term health of the company or something like that. So [here] ends up at 21%, 21.5%. I guess that's a new range. Is that a good healthy level to grow from?

明白了。然後我想您提到過，第二季的息稅前利潤率不可持續，對公司的長期健康發展非常不利，或類似的意思。所以最終結果是21%到21.5%。我想這應該是一個新的區間。這個水準對於未來的成長來說是否合理？

Greg, just for clarification. The prepared comments on were related to the third quarter of 2021, where we let 344 basis points. That's not the right SG&A leverage level for the company long term. We said that then, and we're back more in SG&A spend that's appropriate for the sales we're generating.

格雷格，澄清一下。先前準備好的評論是關於2021年第三季的，當時我們允許銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）槓桿率為344個基點。從長遠來看，這並非公司合適的SG&A槓桿水準。我們當時就說過，現在我們的SG&A支出已經恢復到與我們銷售額相符的水平。

Okay. So I would say, given that, that was unusual, would you say now we're at a right base this year's margin at 21%, 21.5%?

好的。所以，鑑於這種情況很不尋常，您認為我們今年的利潤率在 21% 或 21.5% 是否是一個合理的基準線？

Given the comp levels that we are at? Yes. We're a multi-unit specialty retailer with a high fixed cost base, and we're able to generate exceptionally high sales volumes and increases, we see great leverage.

鑑於我們目前的同店銷售水準？是的。我們是一家擁有多家門市的專業零售商，固定成本較高，但我們能夠創造極高的銷售額和成長率，因此我們看到了巨大的槓桿效應。

Got it. And I guess my last on this is just to make sure I got the math right. If the comp was 6.7% in the quarter, and price was 5.5% and traffic was slightly down or tick accounts. Is the difference just mix and units in the basket?

明白了。我最後想確認一下我的計算是否正確。如果季度同店銷售額增加了 6.7%，價格是 5.5%，流量略有下降或新用戶數量略有減少，那麼差額僅僅是產品組合和每籃子商品數量的變化嗎？

Well, we have a long-term trend of increasing average ticket as the technology and complexity of parts on newer vehicles become more expensive, and that trend has continued.

嗯，隨著新型車輛零件的技術和複雜性不斷提高，平均車費呈現長期上漲趨勢，而且這種趨勢仍在繼續。

And our next question comes from Simeon Gutman from Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的西蒙古特曼。

Tom, is there a way to think about or how we should think about the impact of higher distribution cost, the weight of it on the gross margin?

湯姆，有沒有辦法思考或我們應該如何思考更高的分銷成本的影響，以及它對毛利率的佔比？

And then I guess, the second question on that is the gross came in at, I think, 53.1% pre-COVID, and I'm sure there was a LIFO impact in there. Now that your volumes are much higher, once supply chain things get back to normal, and I don't know when that is, why shouldn't your gross margin end up being higher than where we were prepandemic since there's just more volume in the system.

那麼，關於這一點，我想問的第二個問題是，疫情前毛利率是53.1%，我確定這其中受到了後進先出法（LIFO）的影響。現在你們的銷售量大幅提升，一旦供應鏈恢復正常（我不知道具體時間），既然系統內的銷售量增加了，為什麼毛利率最終不會高於疫情前的水平？

Simeon, would you repeat your first question again?

西蒙，你能再重複一次你的第一個問題嗎？

It's basically, can you help us quantify the impact on gross margin from higher distribution or supply chain costs or inefficiency?

基本上，您能否幫助我們量化更高的經銷或供應鏈成本或效率低下對毛利率的影響？

Got you. In the previous question, I commented that the LIFO benefit and the distribution headwinds were similar. And on the second question, when we look at our distribution centers. They're primarily a variable cost item. There is some leverage from having higher volumes to a point, and I think Greg talked about that on the last call in this call, if we get too much volume within our system, we end up with inefficiencies. So and the other part I would add to that is we are already one of the major suppliers of auto parts. So increased volumes don't necessarily mean a lower cost in the products we purchase at this point in our company's life cycle.

明白了。在上一個問題中，我提到後進先出法（LIFO）的優勢和分銷方面的挑戰是類似的。關於第二個問題，當我們審視配送中心時，它們主要屬於變動成本。銷量增加確實能帶來一定的槓桿效應，但這種效應是有上限的。我想格雷格在上次電話會議中也提到過，如果我們的系統內銷量過大，最終會導致效率低下。另外，我想補充一點，我們已經是汽車零件的主要供應商之一。因此，在公司生命週期的現階段，銷售量增加並不一定代表我們購買的產品成本會降低。

Okay. And maybe just a follow-up, maybe to Greg Johnson. Should market share gains continue at this outsized rate or now that there's so much that has happened, it's just going to be hard to maintain the level of outsized market share gains.

好的。或許可以補充一點，也許是針對格雷格·約翰遜的。如果市佔率繼續以如此驚人的速度成長，或者說鑑於現在發生了很多事情，維持這種驚人的市佔率成長水準將會非常困難。

Yes, Simeon, that's a great question. I wish I had a great crystal ball answer for you. I mean, I think that first of all, this year, when we started the year, we projected flat to negative comps. We certainly didn't expect for our comp growth to continue to be as strong as they have been in 2022. Considering that a lot of the stimulus and benefits have subsided and our sales have remained strong. Our expectation would be for the aftermarket as a whole to continue to perform well going forward. And we'll certainly continue to be a consolidator and continue to try to grow our market share going forward as well.

是的，西蒙，這是一個很好的問題。我真希望我能給你一個完美的答案。我的意思是，首先，今年年初的時候，我們預測同店銷售額會持平甚至下降。我們當然沒有預料到2022年同店銷售額的成長會像現在這樣強勁。考慮到許多刺激措施和福利已經結束，而我們的銷售額仍然保持強勁，我們預計整個售後市場未來將繼續保持良好的表現。當然，我們也會繼續整合資源，並努力擴大我們的市場佔有率。

The next question comes from Mike Baker from D.A. Davidson.

下一個問題來自 D.A. Davidson 的 Mike Baker。

I suspect I know the answer to this question, but when you do the implied sort of fourth quarter comp in your full year guidance, you get somewhere -- I was -- I get somewhere at the midpoint around 2% or 3%, which would be a pretty big slowdown on both a 2- and a 3-year basis relative to the first few quarters, which saw a remarkably consistent trends on a 2- and 3-year basis. And your commentary is suggesting that things are continuing. So why the lower guidance? Is it just conservatism? Is it just the unknown of not having the government stimulus, even though that doesn't seem to be impacting your business? Or is it something else that I'm not thinking about?

我估計我知道這個問題的答案，但如果你把第四季度的業績與全年預期進行對比，你會得到一個結果——我算了一下——大概在2%到3%之間，這相對於前幾季來說，無論從兩年還是三年的角度來看，都是相當大的放緩。而前幾季的業績在兩年和三年的周期內都保持著非常穩定的成長趨勢。而你的評論也暗示這種情況仍在持續。那麼，為什麼你的預期會下調呢？僅僅是出於保守考量嗎？是因為政府刺激政策尚未推出帶來的不確定性嗎？儘管這似乎並沒有對你們的業務造成影響。還是有我沒想到的其他原因？

Well, I guess I'd better answer that one because it sounds like a math question. We kept the 2% full year guidance range because that's what we had given all year and at 10% to 12%. So the math for what the variability for the fourth quarter needs to be to reach those is pretty extensive. So we'll have to look at whether we want to do that next year, tighten the range. I'd say the math for us works out a little different that it works out 1% to 9%. Obviously, we don't anticipate that side of a range of outcomes.

嗯，我想我最好回答一下這個問題，因為它聽起來像個數學題。我們維持了全年2%的成長預期區間，因為我們之前給出的預期範圍是10%到12%。所以，要計算第四季的波動幅度才能達到這些預期，計算過程相當複雜。因此，我們需要考慮明年是否要縮小預期範圍。我認為，我們計算出的波動幅度範圍略有不同，應該是1%到9%。顯然，我們預期實際結果不會達到預期範圍的9%。

Okay. So you're saying you're -- just to clarify, I got an implied range of somewhere around down 1% to plus 6% and 2% to 3% at the midpoint. You're saying that the better math would be somewhere around 1% to 9% or about what is that, about 5% at the midpoint. A, is that what you're saying, just so we're all clear? And then b, again, that does imply a pretty big slowdown on a 2-year basis. Just conservatism in that?

好的。所以你的意思是──為了確認一下，我之前算出的隱含區間大概是下降1%到上升6%，中間值是2%到3%。你的意思是比較合理的計算應該是1%到9%，或是中間值大概是5%左右。 A，你的意思就是這樣嗎？這樣我們都清楚了吧？ B，再說一遍，這確實意味著未來兩年經濟成長將大幅放緩。你是不是比較保守了？

The implied range is 1% to 9%. The range was unintended. It was more based on continuing -- giving annual guidance in the same fashion we gave it in the first 3 quarters.

隱含區間為1%至9%。這個區間並非預期。我們這樣做更多是基於延續前三個季度的年度業績指引方式。

And our next question comes from Bret Jordan from Jefferies.

下一個問題來自傑富瑞集團的布雷特喬丹。

On the topic of share gain, I mean, it sounded as if you guys were picking up some share in undercar hard parts last quarter, which I think you guys called out as a strong category. Could you talk maybe about the cadence? Are you seeing the smaller or larger competitors seeing increasing difficulties or are things getting better in the supply chain that's allowing that than to hold share better as the quarter progressed?

關於市佔率成長，我的意思是，聽起來你們上個季度在底盤硬零件領域取得了一些市佔率成長，我記得你們也把這個領域列為強勁成長的品類。能否談談成長的節奏？你們是否觀察到規模較小或較大的競爭對手面臨越來越大的困難，還是供應鏈狀況的改善使得你們能夠更好地維持市場份額？

Yes, Bret, I would -- I'll say a few things here and then let Brad comment on what he's hearing from the field. He's closer to the store operators than I am on a day-to-day basis. But generally, as I said, I -- while we really have no way of knowing other than the more macro view by category on industry reporting. The perception is, and we feel pretty strongly that this is the case that considering the supply chain pressures that we're facing, the smaller players would have to be facing at least equal to, if not much greater pressures, which would be impacting their in-stock position and their ability to comp as strongly as we have.

是的，布雷特，我會——我先說幾句，然後讓布拉德說他從一線了解到的情況。他比我更了解門市營運人員的日常情況。但總的來說，正如我所說，除了行業報告中按類別劃分的宏觀視角之外，我們確實沒有其他途徑了解情況。我們普遍認為，考慮到我們目前面臨的供應鏈壓力，規模較小的零售商所面臨的壓力至少與我們相當，甚至可能更大，這將影響他們的庫存狀況以及他們像我們一樣強大的競爭力。

Brad, you want to add anything to that?

布拉德，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

Yes. As you well know, we have a tremendous respect for all our competitors. I've been here 25 years this year, and I grew up competing against some very strong independents and the independents that are still alive and well in the United States are pretty tough competitors and very tough on the professional side, as you know, better than anybody, and we have equal amount of respect for our larger retail competitors that have gotten better in some areas of professional. But when I think of share gains, I definitely think there's something to what Greg mentioned in terms of some of maybe the struggling independents and maybe some of the mediocre or weaker independent competitors. But again, as you know, the big strong independence in the United States are very tough. But Bret, me and my team, what we spend our time on is a little bit less of where the share gains are coming from and more about what we know works and what we're doing right now that is equaling share gains. And those things are just around some of the things we mentioned earlier.

是的。如您所知，我們對所有競爭對手都非常尊重。我今年在這裡工作25年了，我從小就和一些實力強勁的獨立零售商競爭。如今在美國依然活躍的獨立零售商都是非常難纏的對手，他們在專業方面更是出類拔萃，正如您所知，他們比任何人都強。我們也同樣尊重那些在某些專業領域有所進步的大型零售競爭對手。但說到市場佔有率的成長，我確實認為格雷格提到的那些可能正在苦苦掙扎的獨立零售商，以及一些實力平庸或較弱的獨立零售商，確實有一定道理。但正如您所知，美國那些實力雄厚的大型獨立零售商仍然非常強大。布雷特、我和我的團隊，我們花在尋找市場份額成長點上的時間，更多的是關注哪些方法行之有效，以及我們目前正在採取哪些措施來提升市場份額。這些措施和我們之前提到的一些面向差不多。

We talked about supply chain struggles. But as you well know, the supply chain struggles are a level playing field for everybody, us and our competitors in the United States, and it's about who's going to step up and execute better under the conditions. And I'm just extremely proud of our supply chain team from distribution to merchandise inventory control that gives my team in the stores not many excuses. They've done a tremendous job backing stuff when it comes to what Greg said earlier. They're getting better every month, even though we still do have challenges in there ensuring we have the right part at the right place at the right time. And we feel like that's a big part of the gains. We also feel like that as you've always heard us talk, our professional parts people, what we're doing with our shops, creating value, better delivery times, helping them get a car off the rack and just really our professional parts people. And everything we focus on in our stores is really what's equaling those gains.

我們談到了供應鏈的挑戰。但如您所知，供應鏈的挑戰對所有人來說都是公平的，包括我們和我們在美國的競爭對手，關鍵在於誰能在這種環境下挺身而出，執行得更好。我為我們的供應鏈團隊感到無比自豪，從分銷到商品庫存控制，他們的出色表現讓我的門市團隊幾乎沒有任何藉口。正如格雷格之前所說，他們在支持各項工作方面做得非常出色。儘管我們仍然面臨著確保在正確的時間將正確的零件送到正確的地點的挑戰，但他們每個月都在進步。我們認為這是取得進步的重要因素。正如您一直聽到我們所說，我們專業的零件人員，我們與門市的合作，創造價值，縮短交貨時間，幫助他們快速提車，以及我們專業的零件人員，所有這些，以及我們在門市關注的一切，都真正促成了這些進步。

Appreciate that. And I guess, last quarter, you guys talked about some standout suppliers that -- or issues with suppliers in certain categories that were material challenges. Are you seeing, I guess, the supply chain issues moderating? I mean, are there big holes in in-stocks? Or is it just sort of tough across the board, but no real areas to call out?

非常感謝。我想，上個季度你們提到了一些表現突出的供應商，或者某些品類的供應商存在一些重大挑戰。你們覺得供應鏈問題是否有所緩解？我的意思是，庫存方面是否有嚴重缺口？還是說整體情況比較艱難，但沒有特別突出的領域？

Yes, Bret. I mean some of the categories we talked about last quarter, we're still having challenges with. Maybe some of those challenges have changed or evolved. Some of those challenges may have been labor-related for domestic suppliers last quarter and it's transitioned more to raw material or component challenges now coming from China. But our suppliers, as a whole, are doing a good job. We've got some suppliers, especially those with products coming out of China that continue to struggle.

是的，布雷特。我的意思是，我們在上個季度討論的一些類別，我們仍然面臨挑戰。也許其中一些挑戰已經改變或演變。上個季度，國內供應商面臨的一些挑戰可能與勞動力有關，而現在更多是來自中國的原材料或零件問題。但總體而言，我們的供應商表現良好。我們有一些供應商，特別是那些產品來自中國的供應商，仍然面臨困境。

Another challenge, and I keep sounding like a broken record here of all the woes and challenges we're facing. But it has been the most challenging supply chain year in my 40-year career in the industry is on top of everything else, some of the things we haven't talked about was simple things that you might not consider like the freeze in Houston earlier this year that's impacted the production of plastic bottles and additives for oil. And some of those things still linger within the industry. So some of the issues have subsided or lessened. Some of them have become more material.

又一個挑戰，我感覺自己像個複讀機一樣，一直在重複我們面臨的各種困境和挑戰。但今年是我40年從業生涯中供應鏈最具挑戰性的一年。除此之外，還有一些我們沒提到的問題，例如今年稍早休士頓的嚴寒天氣，它影響了塑膠瓶和石油添加劑的生產，而這些問題的影響至今仍然存在。有些問題已經緩解或減輕，但有些問題變得更加棘手。

So I think on a category-by-category basis, supplier-by-supplier, as a whole. We're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's just how much further is the track to get us to that light what we're trying to determine now.

所以我覺得，從各個類別、各個供應商，甚至整體來看，我們已經開始看到隧道盡頭的曙光。我們現在正在努力確定的是，距離那曙光還有多遠。

And our next question from Katie McShane from Goldman Sachs.

接下來，我們向高盛的凱蒂·麥克沙恩提出一個問題。

Tom, you had mentioned towards the end of the prepared comments about reducing the CapEx and pushing some investments out. Is there a way to quantify or not quantify, but list what some of those investments would be?

湯姆，你在準備好的評論結尾提到要減少資本支出，並將一些投資推遲到以後進行。有沒有辦法量化（或不量化）列出一些具體的投資項目？

Well, so when we look at our store DC growth, just getting some of the work done has been a challenge. We look at updating our over-the-road truck fleet and our store fleet to more fuel-efficient vehicles with safety features. That was a big initiative this year, obviously, getting new small, like cars and trucks have been tough this year. Some of our store development isn't quite as far ahead as we would like, there are supply chain issues within construction materials and there's a lot of construction going on. So those are the general items that have been pushed into next year.

嗯，就我們門市配送中心的成長而言，完成一些工作本身就頗具挑戰性。我們正在考慮更新長途貨車和門市車隊，換裝更節能、更安全的車輛。這顯然是今年的一項重要舉措，但採購小型新車和卡車今年卻很困難。此外，我們的一些門市開發項目進展不如預期，建築材料的供應鏈也存在問題，目前還有很多建築項目正在進行中。因此，這些項目都被推遲到了明年。

Okay. Great. And if we could just go back to the question on what the comp guidance implies for Q4. I wondered if you could tell us what you're thinking with regards to how much price would influence that comp range in Q4?

好的，太好了。我們回到剛才關於第四季同店銷售預期的問題。我想請您談談，您認為價格因素會對第四季度的同店銷售預期產生多大影響？

We would expect that it would be at least as much as this quarter.

我們預計至少會和本季一樣多。

We have reached our allotted time for questions. I'll now turn the call back over to Mr. Greg Johnson for closing remarks.

提問環節時間已到。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, Adrian. We'd like to conclude our call today by again thanking the 80,000 team members of Team O'Reilly for their hard work and dedication to our ongoing success. You have proven time and time again that the relentless focus on providing consistent, excellent customer service is the key to long-term profitable growth. I'd like to thank everyone for joining our call today, and we look forward to reporting our fourth quarter earnings and full year results in February. Thank you.

謝謝艾德里安。今天電話會議的最後，我們再次感謝奧萊利團隊的8萬名成員，感謝你們的辛勤付出和對我們持續成功的奉獻。你們一次又一次證明，始終如一地提供卓越的客戶服務是實現長期獲利成長的關鍵。感謝各位今天參加我們的電話會議，我們期待在二月份公佈第四季度收益和全年業績。謝謝。

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

謝謝各位。今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝各位的參與。現在可以掛斷電話了。