O'Reilly Automotive Inc (ORLY) 2020 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the O'Reilly Automotive, Inc. Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2020 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Gigi, and I will be your operator for today's call. (Operator Instructions)

歡迎參加歐萊利汽車公司2020年第四季及全年財報電話會議。我是Gigi，將擔任本次電話會議的接線生。 （接線生操作說明）

I will now turn the call over to Tom McFall. Mr. McFall, you may begin.

現在我將把電話交給湯姆·麥克福爾先生。麥克福爾先生，您可以開始了。

Thank you, Gigi. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. During today's conference call, we'll discuss our fourth quarter 2020 results and our outlook for 2021. After our prepared comments, we'll host a question-and-answer period.

謝謝Gigi。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2020年第四季的業績以及2021年的展望。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, 2019 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2019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 Jeff Shaw, our Chief Operating Officer and Co-President; and Tom McFall, our Chief Financial Officer. David O'Reilly, our Executive Chairman; and Greg Henslee, our Executive Vice Chairman, 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財報電話會議。今天早上與我一同參加會議的有：營運長兼聯席總裁傑夫·肖，財務長湯姆·麥克福爾。執行董事長大衛·歐萊利和執​​行副董事長格雷格·亨斯利也出席了會議。

To begin today's call, I would like to congratulate Team O'Reilly on delivering a truly remarkable year in 2020. At this time last year, when we first provided our outlook for 2020, we could never have anticipated the challenges we would face during the year. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted every facet of daily life in the United States and has required our teams to show tremendous flexibility in executing our business model and taking care of our customers. There simply aren't words to describe the selfless dedication, hard work and sacrifices our team members in our stores, distribution centers and offices demonstrated during 2020.

首先，我要祝賀奧萊利團隊在2020年取得了令人矚目的成就。去年這個時候，當我們首次發布2020年展望時，我們絕對無法預料到這一年將面臨的挑戰。新冠肺炎疫情擾亂了美國日常生活的各個層面，也要求我們的團隊在執行業務模式和照顧客戶方面展現出極大的靈活性。我們門市、配送中心和辦公室的團隊成員在2020年所展現出的無私奉獻、辛勤工作和無私犧牲精神，實在難以用語言來形容。

From the onset of the pandemic, we have closely monitored and quickly adapted to evolving information, recommendations and requirements issued by public health agencies and state and local governments, as we continually update our protocols and procedures to ensure best practices are followed. Our top priority continues to be the protection of health and safety of our team members and customers, while meeting the critical needs of our customers as an essential service provider.

自疫情爆發以來，我們密切關注並迅速調整應對措施，響應公共衛生機構、州政府和地方政府發布的最新資訊、建議和要求，並持續更新我們的規程和流程，以確保遵循最佳實踐。作為一家提供必要服務的機構，我們始終將保障團隊成員和客戶的健康與安全放在首位，同時竭力滿足客戶的關鍵需求。

Before I move on to the rest of our prepared comments today, I want to thank Team O'Reilly for your amazing dedication and performance during an incredibly challenging and successful 2020. The bedrock of our company's success sets our founding 63 years ago has been providing excellent customer service, and never has the value we provide to our customers been more evident than during the past year. Our team consistently stepped up to the plate to meet our customers' critical needs in the midst of extremely challenging circumstances and delivered record-breaking results in 2020, highlighted by full year comparable store sales growth of 10.9% and an annual operating profit of 26%.

在開始今天的其他發言之前，我要感謝奧萊利團隊在充滿挑戰卻又豐碩的2020年裡所展現出的卓越奉獻和出色表現。我們公司成功的基石，也是我們63年前創立之初就秉持的理念，就是提供卓越的客戶服務。而過去一年，我們為客戶創造的價值更是得到了淋漓盡致的展現。在極其艱難的環境下，我們的團隊始終挺身而出，滿足客戶的關鍵需求，並在2020年取得了破紀錄的業績，其中最引人注目的是全年同店銷售額增長10.9%，以及年度營業利潤率達到26%。

2020 represents our 28th consecutive year of comparable store sales growth, record revenue and operating income, and none of the 27 preceding years was anything like 2020.

2020 年是我們連續第 28 年實現同店銷售額成長、創紀錄的收入和營業利潤，而之前的 27 年中沒有一年能與 2020 年相提並論。

Now we will cover our fourth quarter results and the full year expectations supporting our 2021 guidance. Our comparable store sales for the fourth quarter grew at 11.2%. As we discussed on the last 2 quarters calls, we anticipated that sales would return to a level, which was closer to our expectations from the record-setting pace we saw in the middle of the year, but we remain very pleased at how steady and elevated our sales have been.

接下來，我們將介紹第四季業績以及支撐我們2021年業績指引的全年預期。第四季同店銷售額成長了11.2%。正如我們在前兩個季度的電話會議上所討論的，我們預計銷售額會從年中創紀錄的增速回落到更接近我們預期的水平，但我們對銷售額的穩定增長感到非常滿意。

From a cadence perspective, after starting the quarter on a strong trend, as noted on our last conference call, we saw sales moderate somewhat in November but finished December with the strongest performance of the quarter, as we saw our robust underlying sales trend supplemented by a benefit from cold weather categories. The composition of our strong sales performance in the fourth quarter continue the trends we've experienced in the past 2 quarters, with our DIY business being the stronger contributor during the quarter, driven by robust increases in both ticket comp counts, ticket count comps and average ticket comps. However, our professional business also performed well and strengthened as we progressed through the quarter.

從銷售節奏來看，正如我們在上次電話會議上提到的，本季開局強勁，11月份銷售額略有回落，但12月份的業績達到本季度最佳水平。這得益於我們強勁的潛在銷售趨勢，以及冬季品類帶來的成長。第四季強勁的銷售業績組成延續了過去兩個季度的趨勢，其中DIY業務貢獻最大，這主要得益於同店消費額、同店消費額和平均同店消費額的顯著增長。此外，我們的專業服務業務也表現出色，並隨著季度的推進而持續走強。

Our average ticket growth in the quarter and full year 2020 exceeded our expectations despite a limited benefit from inflation, indicating a continued ability and willingness of our customers to work on larger projects. From a category standpoint, we continue to see broad-based, robust sales trends across all categories with very strong performance in our DIY outfront categories and batteries. Even in an environment of pressure on total miles driven, as a result of the pandemic, we saw continued brisk sales in our undercar and Car Parc categories.

儘管通膨帶來的利多有限，但我們2020年季度和全年的平均客單價成長仍超出預期，這表明我們的客戶仍然有能力且願意開展更大規模的專案。從品類來看，所有品類均呈現全面強勁的銷售趨勢，其中DIY前部產品和電池類產品表現特別突出。即使在疫情導致總行駛里程承壓的情況下，我們的底盤和汽車配件品類依然保持了旺盛的銷售動能。

As we look forward to 2021, we remain very confident about the health of the automotive aftermarket, and we are monitoring several potential tailwinds and headwinds that affect our outlook for the coming year. While it is impossible to quantify the exact impact of the various factors that drove the surge in volume we experienced in 2020, we believe our industry benefited from several positive tailwinds that contributed to our extremely strong performance.

展望2021年，我們對汽車售後市場的健康發展依然充滿信心，並密切關注可能影響來年前景的諸多利好和不利因素。雖然我們無法量化2020年推動銷量激增的各種因素的具體影響，但我們相信，我們所在的行業受益於多項積極的利好因素，這些因素共同促成了我們極其強勁的業績。

In the early stage of pandemic, government stimulus payments and enhanced unemployment benefits under the CARES Act provided immediate demand in our markets and have helped shore up the U.S. consumer even in the face of increased unemployment. However, the strength of demand in our industry has stayed very strong throughout 2020, and it is also clear that we benefited from an increased willingness by DIY consumers to invest in repairing and maintaining their vehicles for a number of reasons.

在疫情初期，政府發放的刺激性補貼和《新冠病毒援助、救濟和經濟安全法案》（CARES Act）規定的提高失業救濟金，迅速提振了市場需求，即使在失業率上升的情況下，也幫助支撐了美國消費者的消費能力。然而，2020年全年，我們產業的需求依然強勁。此外，由於多種原因，DIY消費者更願意投資維修和保養車輛，這也讓我們受益匪淺。

As we've seen repeatedly in previous economic cycles, the current economic uncertainty drives consumers to defer new car purchases and invest in keeping their existing vehicles on the road. The trend in 2020 for DIYers to take on larger jobs reflects this renewed focus on addressing underperformed maintenance. We also believe the strength we've seen in what have typically been more discretionary appearance and accessory categories reflects a shift in consumers allocating more of their time and spend to their vehicles and away from spending on other activities not possible during the pandemic.

正如我們在以往的經濟週期中反覆看到的那樣，當前的經濟不確定性促使消費者推遲購買新車，轉而投資現有車輛的維護保養。 2020年，DIY愛好者紛紛承擔更複雜的維修工作，反映了消費者重新關注車輛保養不足的問題。我們也認為，以往屬於非必需品的外觀和配件類別的強勁銷售，也反映出消費者正在將更多的時間和金錢投入到車輛保養上，而不是用於疫情期間無法進行的其他活動。

As we evaluate the staying power of increased demand and we've seen on the DIY side of our business in 2020, we remain cautious, knowing that some of those tailwinds to automotive aftermarket demand may soften as we move further past the economic disruption brought on by the pandemic. However, we have been encouraged by how resilient the strong sales trends have been as we move past the injection of additional dollars into the economy and remain confident that consumers will continue to see value in repairing and maintaining their vehicle in a difficult economic environment as we've seen during similar periods in our history.

鑑於2020年DIY業務領域的需求成長勢頭，我們評估其持續性時仍保持謹慎，因為我們知道，隨著疫情帶來的經濟衝擊逐漸消退，汽車售後市場需求的某些利好因素可能會有所減弱。然而，令人鼓舞的是，在經濟擺脫額外資金注入的影響後，強勁的銷售趨勢仍保持穩定。我們仍然相信，正如以往類似時期一樣，消費者在當前經濟環境下仍然會重視車輛的維修和保養。

We've also been pleased with our performance even in the face of declines in miles driven in the U.S., driven by decreased employment and increased work-from-home arrangements as well as a slower pace of economic activity. The performance of our professional business took longer to stabilize after the initial pandemic shutdowns due to the consumers' initial reluctance to take their vehicle to a professional installer shop for repairs and the demographics of the consumers on this side of the business, making them more likely to work from home and drive less. The professional business began to turn around in May and delivered solid above-plan results for the third and fourth quarter. However, for the full year, our professional business was below our expectations. While sustained pressure to miles driven as a long-term negative to our business, we're encouraged that we've performed well in the current environment and believe we will benefit as miles driven returns to historical norms postpandemic.

儘管受就業減少、居家辦公室增多以及經濟活動放緩的影響，美國汽車行駛里程有所下降，但我們對自身的業績表現依然感到滿意。疫情初期，由於消費者不願將車輛送至專業維修店進行維修，加上該領域消費者的構成特徵（他們更傾向於居家辦公，減少駕車出行），我們的專業業務在疫情初期停擺後恢復穩定的時間較長。專業業務在5月開始好轉，並在第三季和第四季實現了超乎預期的穩健業績。然而，全年來看，我們的專業業務表現低於預期。雖然汽車行駛里程的持續下降對我們的業務構成長期不利影響，但我們對當前環境下的良好表現感到鼓舞，並相信隨著疫情後汽車行駛里程恢復到歷史正常水平，我們將從中受益。

While it is evident that these positive tailwinds we have experienced have also benefited the entire automotive aftermarket, our extremely strong results in 2020 were also driven by significant share gains. We offer a compelling value proposition to our customers, providing excellent customer service through a well-equipped, technically proficient team of professional parts people leveraging industry-leading parts availability. The strength of this business model and our team who worked tirelessly to keep our stores open, stocked and supplied, wise and continues to be a huge advantage in an incredibly difficult environment and differentiates us from the experience offered by some of our competitors in big box stores. Each new customer is hard one, and our team remains committed to deliver on the promise of outstanding customer service in each store every day. We're confident the goodwill we've created for meeting our customers' essential needs during this crisis will drive customer loyalty and earn their repeat business.

顯而易見，我們所經歷的這些積極利好因素也惠及了整個汽車售後市場，而我們在2020年取得的卓越業績也得益於市場份額的顯著增長。我們為客戶提供極具吸引力的價值主張，透過一支配備精良、技術嫻熟的專業零件團隊，以及業界領先的零件供應能力，提供卓越的客戶服務。這種強大的商業模式，以及我們團隊為確保門市正常營業、庫存充足和供應穩定而不懈努力，在極其艱難的環境下依然是我們的巨大優勢，也使我們區別於一些大型連鎖商店的競爭對手。每位新客戶都至關重要，我們的團隊始終致力於在每家店每天兌現提供卓越客戶服務的承諾。我們相信，在此次危機期間，我們為滿足客戶基本需求而建立的良好聲譽，將提升客戶忠誠度，並贏得他們的再次光顧。

As we have thought through the dynamics of demand in our industry and our performance over the last several quarters with a focus in looking forward to 2021, we remain confident in the strength of our industry and the ability for our team to continue to produce strong top line sales. However, we have experienced a tremendous surge in our business after the initial onset of the pandemic, and we remain cautious as we plan for the coming year in anticipation of continued significant uncertainty and the potential for volatility in our results.

過去幾個季度，我們一直在深入思考產業需求動態和自身業績，並著眼於2021年的發展。我們對產業的強勁勢頭以及團隊持續創造強勁銷售業績的能力充滿信心。然而，疫情初期，我們的業務經歷了巨大的成長，鑑於未來一年仍存在諸多不確定因素，業績也可能出現波動，我們在製定未來計劃時仍保持謹慎。

On the professional side of our business, we expect solid performance throughout the year as we anticipate our current momentum to continue, as miles driven continues to rebound. However, on the DIY side of the business, we face extremely difficult comparisons beginning in April, as we lap the biggest surge in demand in a short period of time in our company's history.

在專業服務業務方面，我們預計全年業績穩健，並有望延續目前的成長動能，因為行駛里程數將持續回升。然而，在自助服務業務方面，我們將從四月開始面臨極其嚴峻的業績對比，因為我們將應對公司歷史上短時間內最大的需求激增。

As a result, we are guiding to a comparable store sales range of down 2% to flat versus comparable store sales growth of 10.9% in 2020, with the most significant pressure in that outlook expected for the second and third quarters, as we lap the record volumes. Thus far in 2021, we have been pleased with our results, as our strong sales trends have continued, and we benefited from additional government stimulus and favorable winter weather.

因此，我們預計2020年同店銷售額將下降2%至持平，而2020年同店銷售額預計將成長10.9%。由於銷量已接近歷史最高水平，預計第二季和第三季將面臨最大的壓力。 2021年至今，我們對業績感到滿意，強勁的銷售動能得以延續，並受益於政府的額外刺激措施和有利的冬季天氣。

For 2021, we are reinstating our practice of providing selected annual guidance. As we move through 2021, we anticipate we'll face significant quarter-to-quarter uncertainty as the broader impact of recovery from the pandemic is difficult to predict. The potential volatility, coupled with dramatic different comparisons to the unique business trends we saw play out in 2020, makes it extremely difficult to project the timing and cadence of our business with a high degree of certainty. As a result, we are limiting our guidance to expectations for the full year of 2021 and not providing guidance for individual quarters.

2021年，我們將恢復提供部分年度業績指引的做法。隨著2021年的推進，我們預期季度業績將存在顯著的不確定性，因為疫情後經濟復甦的整體影響難以預測。潛在的波動性，加上與2020年獨特的商業趨勢截然不同的比較，使得我們很難高度確定地預測業務的時間安排和節奏。因此，我們將業績指引限定為2021年全年預期，不再提供各季度業績指引。

As a final note on our outlook, our guidance doesn't incorporate any further benefits from additional government stimulus or unemployment benefits since the timing and ultimate impact of these measures is difficult to project. As we move through 2021, we will update our annual guidance as appropriate as we could see more significant volatility than we have historically as our industry and the U.S. economy charts a course out of this pandemic.

最後，關於我們的展望，由於政府額外刺激措施或失業救濟金的出台時間和最終影響難以預測，我們的業績指引並未納入這些措施帶來的任何額外收益。隨著2021年的推進，我們將根據實際情況更新年度業績指引，因為我們預計，隨著產業和美國經濟逐步走出疫情陰霾，市場波動可能會比以往更加劇烈。

Moving on to gross margin. For the fourth quarter, our gross margin of 52% was a 131 basis point decrease from the fourth quarter of 2019 gross margin. The reduction from last year was driven by a reduced LIFO benefit from the impact of merchandise purchased in 2019 before tariff-related cost increases as well as the planned expected dilution from Mayasa. Both impacts are consistent with the pressure experienced in the third quarter and in line with our expectations.

接下來是毛利率。第四季度，我們的毛利率為52%，較2019年第四季下降了131個基點。年比下降的主要原因是，由於2019年採購的商品在關稅相關成本增加之前受到影響，導致後進先出法（LIFO）收益減少，以及預期中Mayasa的股權稀釋。這兩項因素均與第三季面臨的壓力一致，也符合我們的預期。

As a reminder, on the tariff cost impact, through 2019, we received a gross margin benefit from the sell-through of on-hand inventory that was purchased prior to the tariff-driven acquisition price increases in 2018 and 2019, and we have experienced headwinds in the back half of 2020, as we compared against this 2019 benefit. We also experienced headwinds to gross margin in the fourth quarter related to the expiration of certain tariff exclusions we had received in the back half of 2019 that expired in 2020.

再次提醒，關於關稅成本的影響，2019 年，我們因售出在 2018 年和 2019 年關稅上漲導致的採購價格上漲之前購入的庫存而獲得了毛利率收益。但與 2019 年的收益相比，我們在 2020 年下半年遭遇了不利影響。此外，由於我們在 2019 年下半年獲得的部分關稅豁免於 2020 年到期，我們在第四季也面臨毛利率下降的風險。

For the full year, gross margin came in at 52.4%. And for 2021, we expect our gross margin to be in the range of 52.2% to 52.7%. For the quarter, earnings per share of $5.40 represents an increase of 27% over $4.25 in the fourth quarter of 2019. For the full year, earnings per share were $23.53, which represents a 32% increase over 2019. For 2021, our guidance is $22.70 to $22.90, representing a decrease of 3% versus 2020 at the midpoint. However, on a 2-year compounded annual growth rate basis compared to 2019, our expected 2021 diluted earnings per share represents a forecasted annual increase of 12.9%. Our EPS guidance includes the impact of shares repurchased through this call but does not include any additional share repurchases.

全年毛利率為52.4%。我們預計2021年毛利率將在52.2%至52.7%之間。本季每股收益為5.40美元，較2019年第四季的4.25美元成長27%。全年每股收益為23.53美元，較2019年成長32%。我們預計2021年每股收益為22.70美元至22.90美元，中位數較2020年下降3%。然而，若以2019年為基準計算，2021年稀釋後每股盈餘預計年增率為12.9%。我們的每股盈餘預期已包含本次電話會議回購股票的影響，但未包含任何額外的股票回購。

To finish my comments, I want to, again, offer my appreciation to Team O'Reilly for an outstanding year. We truly have the best team in the country, and we couldn't be proud of your hard work and dedication to our customers in 2020.

最後，我要再次感謝奧萊利團隊過去一年來的出色表現。我們擁有全國最優秀的團隊，我們為你們在2020年為客戶服務所付出的辛勤努力和奉獻精神感到無比自豪。

I'll now turn the call over to Jeff Shaw. Jeff?

現在我把電話轉給傑夫·肖。傑夫？

Thanks, Greg, and good morning, everyone. I want to start by adding my congratulations and expressing my sincere appreciation to Team O'Reilly for another incredible quarter and an amazing full year performance in 2020. 2020 has presented wave after wave of changes, and our teams have consistently stepped up to the challenge to run our business and take care of our customers.

謝謝格雷格，大家早安。首先，我要向奧萊利團隊表示祝賀和衷心的感謝，感謝他們又一個季度取得了令人矚目的成績，並在2020年全年取得了令人矚目的成就。 2020年充滿了各種變化，但我們的團隊始終迎難而上，努力經營業務，服務好客戶。

Challenges remain in 2021, and our team remain committed as ever to delivery an exceptional service and value to our customers. At this time of the year, we would normally be retiring from our leadership conference, which is a huge in-person gathering of all of store, field and DC leadership, where we enhanced our product knowledge and technical proficiency, showcase new tools and strategies to improve our customer service and take market share and to recognize outstanding achievement throughout our company.

2021年挑戰依舊存在，但我們的團隊將一如既往地致力於為客戶提供卓越的服務和價值。往年這個時候，我們通常會結束領導力大會。這是一場盛大的線下聚會，所有門市、現場和配送中心的領導層都會齊聚一堂，共同提升產品知識和技術水平，展示用於改善客戶服務和擴大市場份額的新工具和策略，並表彰公司各部門的傑出成就。

Even though this year's event had to take on a new format as our first ever virtual conference, we had an extremely successful event, and no slogan could be more on target than our conference theme of O'Reilly Strong. That O'Reilly's strength was on full display throughout 2020, and we're especially proud of the daily sacrifices our team made to go the extra miles to take care of our customers' critical needs while also ensuring that the health and safety of our team members and customers remain the top priority.

儘管今年的活動不得不採用全新的形式——首次舉辦線上會議——但我們依然取得了巨大的成功，而「O'Reilly 堅強」這一會議主題可謂恰如其分。 O'Reilly 的這種強大實力在 2020 年得到了充分展現，我們尤其為團隊成員每天為滿足客戶的關鍵需求而付出的努力感到自豪，同時，他們始終將團隊成員和客戶的健康與安全放在首位。

Now I'd like to spend some time covering our SG&A and operating profit performance in 2020 and our outlook for 2021. For the fourth quarter, we generated an impressive increase in operating margin of 111 basis points and an operating profit dollar growth of 21%. For the full year, the improvements were 193 basis points and 26% of operating profit dollar growth, yielding a record 20.9% operating margin. This increase in operating profit results for 2020 was driven by the combination of a robust 10.9% comparable store sales growth and very limited per store SG&A growth of 1.2% after adjusting for Leap Day, resulting in leverage of SG&A of 263 basis points.

現在我想花點時間談談我們2020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2021年的展望。第四季度，我們的營業利潤率實現了令人矚目的成長，提升了111個基點，營業利益額成長了21%。全年來看，這兩項指標分別提升了193個基點和26%，營業利益率達到了創紀錄的20.9%。 2020年營業利潤的成長主要得益於同店銷售額強勁增長10.9%，以及經閏日調整後，單店銷售、管理及行政費用僅增長1.2%，從而實現了263個基點的銷售、管理及行政費用槓桿效應。

As we've discussed since our second quarter, 2020 was a very unique year in our industry as the onset and progression of the pandemic created extreme, short-term sales volatility in our business. Our corresponding actions to execute significant cost control measures to protect the company at the onset of the pandemic and our caution in adding back SG&A dollars created a situation where very strong sales generated levels of profitability that far exceeded historical performance and are not sustainable nor healthy for the long-term success of our business.

正如我們在第二季度討論的那樣，2020年對我們所在的行業來說是極其特殊的一年，疫情的爆發和蔓延給我們的業務帶來了極端的短期銷售波動。為了在疫情初期保護公司，我們採取了相應的成本控制措施，並在重新計入銷售、管理及行政費用時保持謹慎，這導致銷售額大幅增長，利潤水平遠超歷史水平，而這種增長既不可持續，也不利於公司的長期發展。

As we move through 2020, we've redeployed more SG&A dollars back in our stores to adjust to the current sales environment. We have continued to see sales outrun the growth of our SG&A and drive significant leverage. In establishing our operating margin guidance for 2021, we're projecting an increase in SG&A per store of approximately 2.5% after adjusting for Leap Day in 2020. This outlook reflects our plans to continue to actively manage our cost structure to provide excellent customer service to match the sales environment and ensure we're allocating sufficient resources to the image and appearance of our stores and the training and development of our team members. Even with the continued prudent outlook on managing SG&A, we'll face very challenging comparisons in the middle of 2021 to the deliberate significant cost reductions we executed in 2020.

隨著2020年的推進，我們已將更多銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）重新投入門市營運中，以適應當前的銷售環境。銷售額的成長持續超過SG&A的成長，並顯著提升了槓桿效應。在製定2021年營業利潤率預期時，我們預計在扣除2020年閏日的影響後，每家店的SG&A將成長約2.5%。這項預期反映了我們繼續積極管理成本結構的計劃，旨在提供與銷售環境相匹配的卓越客戶服務，並確保我們為門市形象和外觀以及團隊成員的培訓和發展投入充足的資源。即使我們繼續保持謹慎的SG&A管理策略，但到2021年年中，我們將面臨與2020年實施的大幅成本削減措施相比的巨大挑戰。

As we've evaluated our forecast for 2021, we've looked in the rearview mirror to not only last year but 2019 as well. As compared to 2019, our current expectations per store SG&A growth drive solid incremental leverage, reflecting lessons learned as we've navigated through the high levels of sales and productivity gains in 2020, especially as we capitalize on the quality and experience of our team. As always, we don't manage our business for short-term results, but we'll invest the dollars necessary to provide the excellent customer service that drives our long-term success.

在評估2021年預測時，我們不僅回顧了去年，也回顧了2019年。與2019年相比，我們目前對單店銷售、管理及行政費用成長的預期將帶來穩健的增量槓桿效應，這反映了我們在2020年實現高銷售額和生產力提升的過程中汲取的經驗教訓，尤其是在我們充分利用團隊的素質和經驗方面。一如既往，我們不會為了短期業績而經營業務，而是投入必要的資金來提供卓越的客戶服務，從而推動我們的長期成功。

Our assumptions for operating costs include anticipated wage pressures, in line with existing minimum wage statutes currently scheduled but does not include potential further increases at a federal, state or local level, nor does it include any incremental top line inflation assumptions that we believe would result from new legislation.

我們對營運成本的假設包括預期的工資壓力，這與目前已製定的最低工資法規一致，但不包括聯邦、州或地方層級可能進一步的成長，也不包括我們認為新立法將導致的任何增量收入通膨假設。

Based on relatively flat gross margin and increasing operating expenses, we expect operating profit to decline between 150 and 200 basis points from 2020's phenomenal results. However, our operating profit guidance range of 19% to 19.5% of sales represents solid growth from the 18.9% operating profit that we achieved in 2019.

鑑於毛利率相對持平，而營運費用卻不斷上漲，我們預期營業利潤將較2020年的亮眼業績下降150至200個基點。然而，我們給出的營業利潤率預期為銷售額的19%至19.5%，較2019年18.9%的營業利潤率實現了穩健成長。

Our capital expenditures for 2020 were $466 million, which was lower than our typical capital expend and was below our original plan coming into 2020. At the onset of the pandemic, in the second quarter, we prioritized financial stability and flexibility. And as we move forward in a COVID-19 world, we reset our expectations for new store, DC and capital project development. Our #1 priority is to drive strong returns on our investments by ensuring our new stores start with a great store team to provide excellent customer service from day one, and our projects are completed successfully to enhance our service and drive efficiencies.

2020年我們的資本支出為4.66億美元，低於往年同期水平，也低於2020年初的計畫。疫情爆發初期，在第二季度，我們優先考慮財務穩定性和靈活性。隨著疫情持續蔓延，我們調整了對新店、配送中心和資本項目開發的預期。我們的首要任務是確保新店從一開始就擁有優秀的門市團隊，從開業第一天起就能提供卓越的客戶服務，並確保所有項目順利完成，從而提升服務品質並提高營運效率，最終實現投資回報最大化。

We resumed our capital deployment plan in the back half of 2020. And in line with our revised plans, we were successful in opening 156 net new stores in 2020, including our first greenfield new store opening in Mexico during the fourth quarter. We've been very pleased with our team's ability to successfully open great new store locations in a very difficult year, and our 2020 stores are off to a great start.

我們在2020年下半年恢復了資本部署計畫。根據修訂後的計劃，我們在2020年成功淨增加156家門市，其中包括第四季在墨西哥開設的首家全新門市。我們對團隊在如此艱難的一年中成功開設如此優質的新店感到非常滿意，2020年的新店也取得了良好的開局。

For 2021, we're setting our capital expenditure guidance at $550 million to $650 million. We've also established a target of 165 to 175 new store openings. Our new store target is higher than our new store openings in 2020, but is still restrained by expected delays in regards to design and permitting approvals. We feel confident that we can achieve our target and open another strong class in new stores, but will be dependent on local market conditions and municipal agencies for us to stay on our development schedule.

2021年，我們的資本支出目標設定在5.5億美元至6.5億美元之間。同時，我們也設定了開設165至175家新店的目標。雖然新店目標高於2020年，但仍受到設計和審批流程預期延誤的限制。我們有信心實現目標，並開設更多優質新店，但能否按計劃推進開發，取決於當地市場狀況和市政機構的配合。

After the successful opening of our newest distribution facility in 2020 in Lebanon, Tennessee, we have another major distribution project on the horizon for 2021, with the completion and opening of our new DC in Horn Lake, Mississippi, which is just south of Memphis, in the second quarter of this year. This new DC will be approximately 580,000 square feet, and our initial plan is to build out capacity to service 250 stores, servicing over 220 stores at start-up. The new DC will provide us with additional capacity for store growth in this region of the country and provide flexibility for the surrounding DCs while also accommodating a broader SKU capacity, increasing our breadth of hard-to-find parts and allowing us to provide an even higher level of service through the Memphis metropolitan area markets.

繼2020年在田納西州黎巴嫩成功啟用最新配送中心後，我們將在2021年啟動另一個重要的配送項目－位於密西西比州霍恩湖（孟菲斯以南）的新配送中心，預計今年第二季竣工並投入使用。該配送中心佔地約58萬平方英尺，初步計畫建成後可服務250家門市，初期服務門市數量將超過220家。新配送中心將為該地區門市的成長提供額外的配送能力，並為週邊配送中心提供更大的彈性，同時還能容納更廣泛的SKU，擴大我們稀缺零件的供應範圍，從而使我們能夠為孟菲斯都市區市場提供更高水準的服務。

Our distribution teams are very experienced at planning, designing, building and opening our new DCs, and we're looking forward to another successful project in 2021. Outside of our new store and distribution growth, we've also identified several exciting projects and initiatives in 2021 to enhance the service we provide our customers and drive strong returns. Several of these projects were included in our 2020 plan but were delayed as we monitored our business to ensure a successful rollout while prioritizing the immediate needs of our customers during the pandemic.

我們的配送團隊在規劃、設計、建造和營運新的配送中心方面經驗豐富，我們期待在2021年再創佳績。除了新店和配送中心的擴張之外，我們還在2021年制定了幾個令人振奮的項目和計劃，旨在提升客戶服務水平並實現強勁的盈利增長。其中一些項目原本就包含在我們2020年的計畫中，但由於疫情期間我們密切關注業務動態，以確保專案順利推進，同時優先滿足客戶的迫切需求，因此這些專案被推遲了。

Finally, we continue to invest heavily in enhancing our omnichannel capabilities to meet our customers on their terms with solutions that meet their specific needs, whether they visit a store, call us or click.

最後，我們將繼續大力投資，增強我們的全通路能力，以便按照客戶的方式，提供滿足其特定需求的解決方案，無論他們是到店訪問、致電我們還是點擊訪問。

As it relates to our operations in Mexico, our new store growth target includes 5 new stores that we have slated to open towards the end of 2021, but we're still in the early stages of our expansion plans and don't expect a meaningful capital spend in Mexico this year. Our collaboration with our Mayasa team members was excellent in 2020, and we continue to learn these new markets and lay a strong foundation for future growth.

就我們在墨西哥的業務而言，我們計劃在2021年底前開設5家新店，但我們的擴張計劃仍處於早期階段，預計今年在墨西哥不會有大規模的資本支出。 2020年，我們與Mayasa團隊成員的合作非常出色，我們將繼續了解這些新市場，並為未來的成長奠定堅實的基礎。

Before I turn the call over to Tom, I want to once again thank Team O'Reilly for their dedication and hard work in 2020.

在將電話交給湯姆之前，我想再次感謝奧萊利團隊在 2020 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, Jeff. I would also like to thank all of Team O'Reilly for their continued commitment to our customers, which drove our record-setting performance in the fourth quarter and full year of 2020.

謝謝傑夫。我也要感謝奧萊利團隊的所有成員，感謝他們對客戶的持續投入，正是這種投入推動了我們在2020年第四季和全年創紀錄的業績。

Now we'll take a closer look at our quarterly results and our guidance for 2021. For the quarter, sales increased $346 million, comprised of a $273 million increase in comp store sales, a $51 million increase in noncomp store sales, a $25 million increase in noncomp nonstore sales and a $3 million decrease from permanently closed stores. For 2021, we expect our total revenues to be between $11.5 billion and $11.8 billion.

現在我們將詳細分析季度業績以及2021年的業績展望。本季，銷售額成長3.46億美元，其中同店銷售額成長2.73億美元，非同店銷售額成長5,100萬美元，非同店非門市銷售額成長2,500萬美元，永久關閉門市導致銷售額減少300萬美元。我們預計2021年總收入將在115億美元至118億美元之間。

As Greg previously mentioned, gross margin for the fourth quarter decreased 131 basis points to 52%, which was driven by the year-over-year comparison to significant gross margin benefits we captured in the fourth quarter of 2019 related to sell-through of pre-tariff on-hand inventory and tariff exclusions on certain product lines as well as dilution from the acquisition of Mayasa. Looking at the fourth quarter stand-alone, we had a positive impact from LIFO of $6 million, down from $23 million in 2019.

正如格雷格先前提到的，第四季毛利率下降131個基點至52%，這主要是由於與2019年第四季相比，毛利率大幅上升。 2019年第四季度，我們受惠於關稅前庫存的銷售、部分產品線的關稅豁免以及收購Mayasa帶來的稀釋。單獨來看，第四季後進先出法（LIFO）帶來的正收益為600萬美元，低於2019年同期的2,300萬美元。

Included within our guidance for 2021 is the larger anticipated positive impact from LIFO, which will offset pressure to our POS margins from the expiration of tariff exclusions we benefited from in the first half of 2020. We received a very minor benefit from same SKU inflation in the fourth quarter 2020, in line with our expectations, and our outlook for 2021 for sales and gross margin includes a muted expectation for same SKU inflation of 1%. The pricing environment remains rational, and we expect that to continue.

我們對2021年的業績指引中包含了預期中後進先出法（LIFO）帶來的更大積極影響，這將抵消2020年上半年我們受益的關稅豁免到期後對銷售點利潤率造成的壓力。 2020年第四季度，我們僅從同店商品價格上漲中獲得了微弱的收益，符合預期。我們對2021年銷售額和毛利率的展望中包含了對同店商品價格上漲1%的保守預期。目前的定價環境依然合理，我們預期這種情況將持續下去。

Our fourth quarter effective tax rate was 21.4% of pretax income, comprised of a base rate of 21.8%, reduced by a 0.4% benefit from share-based compensation. This compares to the fourth quarter of 2019 rate of 20.6% of pretax income, which was comprised of a base rate of 23.8%, reduced by a 3.2% benefit for share-based compensation. The fourth quarter of 2020 base rate, as compared to 2019, benefited from renewable energy tax credits, in line with our expectations.

我們第四季的實際稅率為稅前利潤的21.4%，其中基本稅率為21.8%，並扣除了0.4%的股權激勵收益。相較之下，2019年第四季的實際稅率為稅前利潤的20.6%，其中基本稅率為23.8%，並扣除了3.2%的股權激勵收益。與2019年相比，2020年第四季的基本稅率受益於再生能源稅收抵免，符合我們的預期。

For the full year, our effective tax rate was 22.7% of pretax income comprised of a base rate of 23.4%, reduced by 0.7% benefit for share-based compensation. For the full year of 2021, we expect an effective tax rate of 23%, comprised of a base rate of 23.4%, reduced by a benefit of 0.4% for share-based compensation. 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 in the fourth quarter. These expectations assume no significant changes to existing tax codes. Also, variations in the tax benefit for share-based compensation can create fluctuations in our quarterly tax rate.

全年實際稅率為稅前利潤的22.7%，基本稅率為23.4%，並扣除0.7%的股權激勵優惠。 2021年全年，我們預計實際稅率為23%，基本稅率為23.4%，並扣除0.4%的股權激勵優惠。由於再生能源稅收抵免和部分稅期中止的預期生效時間，我們預計第四季的稅率將低於其他三個季度。以上預期是基於現有稅法未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季度稅率出現波動。

Now we'll move on to free cash flow and the components that drove our results and our expectations for 2021. Free cash flow for 2020 was $2.2 billion versus $1 billion in 2019. The significant increase of $1.2 billion or 115% was driven by an increase in operating income, a reduction in net inventory and deferral of tax payments under the CARES Act and a reduction in CapEx. In 2021, we expect free cash flow to be in the range of $1 billion to $1.3 billion with the year-over-year decrease due to increased net inventory investment, lower operating profit and slower sales growth and a more normal SG&A spend, increased CapEx, as Jeff previously outlined and an increase in cash payroll taxes paid, as half of the taxes deferred in the 2020 CARES Act will be paid at the end 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年的預期。 2020年自由現金流為22億美元，而2019年為10億美元。 12億美元的顯著成長（增幅達115%）主要得益於營業收入增加、淨存貨減少、根據《新冠病毒援助、救濟和經濟安全法案》（CARES Act）延期繳納稅款以及資本支出減少。我們預計2021年自由現金流將在10億至13億美元之間，同比下降的原因包括淨存貨投資增加、營業利潤下降、銷售增長放緩、銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）支出恢復正常、資本支出增加（如Jeff之前所述）以及現金支付的工資稅增加（因為根據2020年《新冠病毒援助

Inventory per store at the end of the quarter was $650,000, which was up 2.8% from the end of last year. I want to touch briefly on our per store inventory growth in 2020 and our plans for 2021. We came into 2020 and have developed a plan to further enhance our store-level inventory position and build on our industry-leading parts availability and had targeted of per store inventory growth of 5%. This increase was driven by just over $100 million of additional inventory in our store and hub network, above and beyond our normal new store and typical product additions. As we move through 2020, we needed to refocus our priorities to support the extremely sound sales volumes and replenishment needs of our stores and had to delay some of the inventory initiatives we have planned and finished the year below our original plan at an inventory increase of 2.8%. For 2021, we plan to complete our 2020 inventory expansion plan and expect per store inventory to increase approximately 4%.

本季末，單店庫存為 65 萬美元，較去年年底成長 2.8%。我想簡要談談我們 2020 年的單店庫存增長情況以及 2021 年的計劃。 2020 年初，我們制定了一項計劃，旨在進一步提升門市庫存水平，並鞏固我們行業領先的零件供應能力，目標是實現單店庫存增長 5%。這一成長主要得益於我們在門市和配送中心網路中新增了超過 1 億美元的庫存，這還不包括我們正常的新店開業和常規產品新增庫存。隨著 2020 年的推進，我們需要重新調整工作重點，以支持門市強勁的銷售量和補貨需求，因此不得不推遲一些原計劃的庫存擴張項目，最終年末庫存增長低於原計劃，僅為 2.8%。 2021 年，我們計劃完成 2020 年的庫存擴張計劃，預計單店庫存將成長約 4%。

Our AP to inventory ratio at the end of the quarter was 114.5%, which was significantly higher than our normal ratio and heavily influenced by the extremely strong sales volumes and inventory turns in the last 9 months of the year. We anticipate our AP to inventory ratio to come back off of these historic highs as we complete our inventory initiatives and our sales growth moderates. Our current expectation is to finish 2021 at a ratio of approximately 109%.

本季末，我們的應付帳款與庫存比率為114.5%，遠高於正常水平，主要受今年最後9個月強勁的銷售量和庫存週轉率的影響。我們預計，隨著庫存管理計畫的完成和銷售成長放緩，應付帳款與庫存比率將從歷史高點回落。我們目前的預期是，2021年底該比率將約為109%。

Moving on to debt. We finished the fourth quarter with an adjusted debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 2.03x as compared to the end of 2019 of 2.34x, with the reduction driven by the significant growth in our EBITDA during 2020. We continue to be below our leverage target 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2.03倍，而2019年底為2.34倍，此降幅主要得益於2020年EBITDA的顯著成長。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這個目標。

After a brief pause at the onset of the pandemic, we have continued to execute our share repurchase program. And for 2020, based on the strength of our business, we were able to repurchase 4.8 million shares at an average share price of $431.93 for a total investment of $2.1 billion. Subsequent to the end of the year and through the date of our press release, we repurchased 0.7 million shares at an average share price of $447.40. We remain very confident that the average repurchase price is supported by 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 shareholders. As we evaluate our liquidity, leverage, use of capital and share repurchase program moving forward, we'll continue to prioritize maintaining our strong financial position, including the investment-grade rating on our public debt. We have a long history of conservatively managing our balance sheet, and we'll continue to take prudent steps to ensure the long-term health and stability of our company.

在疫情初期短暫暫停後，我們繼續執行股票回購計畫。 2020年，基於公司強勁的業務表現，我們以平均每股431.93美元的價格回購了480萬股股票，總投資額達21億美元。在2020年末至本新聞稿發布之日，我們又以平均每股447.40美元的價格回購了70萬股股票。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，我們繼續將股票回購計畫視為向股東返還剩餘資本的有效途徑。在評估公司流動性、槓桿率、資本運用以及股票回購計畫的未來發展時，我們將繼續優先維護公司穩健的財務狀況，包括維持公司公共債務的投資等級。我們一直以來都秉持保守的資產負債表管理原則，並將繼續採取審慎的措施，以確保公司的長期健康和穩定發展。

Before I open up our call to your questions, I'd like to congratulate the O'Reilly team on a great 2020 and thank them for their continued dedication to our company and our customers.

在正式開始回答大家的問題之前，我想祝賀 O'Reilly 團隊在 2020 年取得了巨大的成功，並感謝他們對我們公司和客戶的持續奉獻。

This concludes our prepared comments. And at this time, I'd like to ask Gigi, 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，請接線生吉吉回到電話線，我們很樂意回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Simeon Gutman from Morgan Stanley.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自摩根士丹利的西蒙古特曼。

My first question is on the sales line. Can you talk about in the outlook the minus 2% to 0% comp? Can you talk about your assumption for industry growth versus market share? And if there's any commentary you can provide looking backwards on the 11% comp that you did in 2020.

我的第一個問題是關於銷售方面的。您能否談談展望中提到的-2%到0%的同業成長率？您能否談談您對產業成長與市場佔有率的假設？另外，您能否回顧一下2020年11%的同業成長率預測，並對此做出一些解釋？

And I know -- I think Greg Johnson mentioned in his prepared remarks that undercar was doing well in -- despite miles driven being down. Can -- does that -- should that make us more tempered about how the industry should recover as miles driven resumes starts to grow again?

我知道——我想格雷格·約翰遜在他的演講稿中提到過——儘管行駛里程下降，但底盤汽車市場表現良好。這是否應該讓我們在考慮隨著行駛里程恢復成長，汽車產業應該如何復甦時更加謹慎？

Tom, do you want to take that one off?

湯姆，你想把那件衣服脫下來嗎？

Okay. So on the guidance for the comps of negative 2% to flat, we break that into two pieces. We didn't see the incredible upside on the professional side of the business that we saw on the DIY side of the business. And consumers have more time on their hands, they had government money in their pocket book. And as we talked about tick on larger projects, some of which are very atypical for economic downturns where they were working on projects and making sure their vehicles were maintained.

好的。關於同比數據下滑2%至持平的預期，我們將其分為兩部分。我們沒有看到專業服務業務像DIY業務一樣顯著成長。消費者現在有更多空閒時間，而且手頭上還有政府補貼。正如我們之前提到的，一些大型專案（其中一些在經濟低迷時期非常罕見）的完成，例如消費者在進行專案的同時，還要確保車輛得到維護。

So when we look at the professional side of the business, we continue to see growth on that side of the business. On the DIY side of the business, much more cyclical. And after the huge gains in 2020, we'd expect them to be pressured in 2021.

因此，當我們審視專業服務業務時，我們看到業務持續成長。而DIY業務則較為週期性。在經歷了2020年的巨大增長之後，我們預計在2021年將面臨壓力。

On the miles driven, it kind of feeds off of that same comment. We would expect as miles driven to increase, that our business will see a positive impact from that with the caveat that we saw a lot of DIY projects during the year. Ultimately, for our business to be up that much, consumers were being more proactive in maintaining their vehicles, and the amount underperformed or unperformed maintenance decreased.

關於行駛里程，這與先前的評論不謀而合。我們預計隨著行駛里程的增加，我們的業務也會從中受益，但需要注意的是，我們注意到今年有很多車主自行進行車輛維護。最終，我們業務能夠實現如此大幅度的成長，是因為消費者更積極主動地維護車輛，而那些維護不到位或未進行的維護項目則有所減少。

Yes. To add to that, Simeon, on the category question, we were pleased with our performance across the board. I did call out undercar. Really, the only categories that underperformed were weather and miles driven-related. Things like lighting and wipers were softer than what we would have liked to have seen. But one of the shifts that we saw during the quarter, and I also called this out, is the willingness and ability of the DIY customer to take on larger jobs than perhaps they would have historically.

是的。西蒙，關於類別方面的問題，我們總體上對錶現感到滿意。我確實提到了底盤部分。實際上，只有與天氣和行駛里程相關的類別表現不佳。像照明和雨刷之類的項目比我們預期的要差一些。但我們在本季觀察到的一個變化（我也提到了這一點）是，DIY客戶比以往更願意也更有能力承擔一些規模更大的維修項目。

And for example, some of our undercar lines, like brakes, really performed well and better than expected on the DIY side of the business that were typically that would be a stronger category for the DIFM side.

例如，我們的一些底盤產品線，如煞車系統，在 DIY 業務方面表現非常出色，甚至超出了預期，而通常來說，DIFM 業務方面表現會更好。

Okay. My follow-up is on incremental margins, and I guess maybe more for Tom. If you look back pre-COVID, and you mentioned some '19 -- 2019 stats, your incrementals were closer to 20%. I don't know when we'll get to a new normal, and I appreciate we're not going to give '22 guidance at this time. But is there any reason why we can't get back to that level when the business can grow again? Is the leverage point of the business higher? Or is -- or can we look back at '19 and '18 levels of incremental margin and use that as a normal level going forward?

好的。我的後續問題是關於增量利潤率的，我想這可能對湯姆來說更重要。在回顧新冠疫情之前，你提到了一些2019年的數據，當時的增量利潤率接近20%。我不知道我們何時才能恢復到新的常態，我也理解我們目前不會給予2022年的業績指引。但是，當業務能夠再次成長時，我們是否有理由無法回到先前的水平？業務的槓桿點是否更高了？或者，我們是否可以參考2019年和2018年的增量利潤率水平，並將其作為未來的正常水平？

I don't think that the incremental leverage points for our business have changed. 2020 was such a dramatic year with sales being softer at the beginning of the year and then down significantly at the onset of the pandemic that protect the health of the business. We made dramatic cuts in our expenses, and then mid-April sales turned directly north. So it was a very unusual circumstance. We weren't sure how long that was going to last, and we're very prudent on adding back SG&A. And obviously, sales continue to be exceptionally strong. So comparison to the 2020 metrics is very difficult. That said, I don't think that the core underlying economics of our business have changed, and I think that we will go back to continuing to execute the very similar business model.

我認為我們業務的增量槓桿點並沒有改變。 2020年是充滿變數的一年，年初銷售額疲軟，疫情爆發初期更是大幅下滑，這在一定程度上保障了公司的健康發展。我們大幅削減了開支，然後在4月中旬銷售額迅速回升。所以當時的情況非常特殊。我們不確定這種情況會持續多久，因此在重新計入銷售、管理及行政費用方面非常謹慎。顯然，目前的銷售額依然非常強勁。所以很難將現在的業績與2020年的指標做比較。即便如此，我認為我們業務的核心經濟效益並沒有改變，我們將繼續執行類似的商業模式。

Our next question comes from the line of Michael Lasser from UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的麥可·拉塞爾。

How have you thought about using this period of remarkable comp strike to take a look at your pricing and make any investments in your pricing that might be necessary to ensure you're competitive with both your traditional and online competitors? Because you did not call out pricing as an impact to your gross margin during the period. And one might think that given some of the competitive factors out there, especially with one of your large competitors talking about price investments that, that would have been the case.

您有沒有考慮過利用這段競爭激烈的時期來審視您的定價策略，並進行必要的投資，以確保您在傳統通路和線上通路的競爭中保持優勢？因為您並沒有提到定價對毛利率的影響。考慮到當前的競爭形勢，尤其是您的一家大型競爭對手正在討論價格方面的投資，人們可能會認為您應該考慮定價因素。

Yes, Michael, this is Greg. Really, 2020 was no different than any other year. We have competitors out there, both on the professional side of the business and the retail side of the business that there's price movement based on cost inputs, there's price input based on commodities. They go into the product. There's price inputs based on trying to grow sales, changing suppliers. It's an ongoing battle, and it's something that we face year-over-year. And really, we work hard, both on the professional side of the business and the retail side of the business to make sure we're priced competitively. And frankly, I don't see 2020 as being any different than any other year in that respect. We did the same things. We passed along cost increases where we could, as we always do, and we closely monitored our competitor pricing trends. So really, I don't think we did anything any different in 2020 than we would do any other year.

是的，邁克爾，我是格雷格。其實，2020年和其他年份沒什麼兩樣。我們在專業領域和零售領域都面臨競爭對手，價格波動受到成本投入和商品價格的影響。這些成本最終都會反映在產品價格上。此外，為了提升銷售量、更換供應商，價格也會有所調整。這是一場持續不斷的競爭，也是我們年復一年都要面對的挑戰。事實上，無論是在專業領域還是零售領域，我們都竭盡全力確保價格具有競爭力。坦白說，我認為2020年在這方面和其他年份並無二致。我們採取了同樣的做法。我們像往常一樣，盡可能地將成本上漲轉嫁給客戶，並密切注意競爭對手的價格走勢。所以，我認為我們在2020年所做的一切，和往年並無二致。

And just to confirm, there were no price investments that were a significant contributor to your gross margin being down more in the fourth quarter than it was in the third quarter.

另外，再次確認一下，沒有價格方面的投資對第四季毛利率比第三季下降幅度造成重大影響。

When we look at our fourth quarter gross margin versus our third quarter, it was pretty consistent except for on the distribution side. We have lower volumes, so we have less leverage on our distribution costs. And quite frankly, our distribution centers have worked tirelessly all year. And some of the normal maintenance and inventory maintenance had to be put aside as we work to fulfill record volumes, and we had some catching up to do on our distribution side and had to spend additional payroll there.

當我們比較第四季和第三季的毛利率時，除了配送環節外，其他方面都保持穩定。由於銷售量下降，我們在配送成本方面的槓桿作用也相應降低。坦白說，我們的配送中心全年都在全力運作。為了因應創紀錄的銷售量，我們不得不暫時擱置一些常規的維護和庫存管理工作，同時，配送環節也需要進行一些必要的調整，因此增加了額外的薪資支出。

Okay. My follow-up question is as you look out to 2021, if sales are weaker than you expect because there's more demand that was pulled forward than what you anticipated, how would you manage your SG&A in response to that? Will it still be up 2.5%? Otherwise, might you have underinvested in operating expenses in 2021 and need to catch up this year, which might limit some of your flexibility?

好的。我的後續問題是，展望2021年，如果由於提前釋放的需求超出預期，導致銷售額低於預期，您將如何應對銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）？它還能維持2.5%的成長嗎？或者，您是否在2021年營運支出方面投入不足，需要在今年進行彌補，這可能會限制您的靈活性？

Jeff, do you want to start that off? And maybe Tom will add to it.

傑夫，你想先開始嗎？湯姆也許會補充一些內容。

Yes. Michael, I'd just say that we always have managed our SG&A to our business, and we manage our payroll store-by-store and really adjust to the sales demand in the market. And if sales are a little softer, we adjust accordingly. Maybe it's less hours, it's less over time. Maybe less headcount and vice versa, like we've seen last year. It's the most dramatic swing we'd ever seen in having to ramp down in a period we would normally ramp up going into season and then had to immediately try to ramp back up the best we could to meet the incredible sales demand. So it's always fluid. Last year was incredibly volatile, but we adjust accordingly for the long-term health of our business and what's best for our customer service.

是的。邁克爾，我想說的是，我們一直以來都根據業務狀況來管理銷售、管理及行政費用，並且我們逐個門市地管理員工薪資，真正根據市場銷售需求進行調整。如果銷售略顯疲軟，我們會做出相應的調整。也許會減少工時，減少加班，或減少員工人數，反之亦然，就像我們去年看到的那樣。去年是我們經歷過的最劇烈的波動，我們不得不在通常的旺季到來之際縮減規模，然後又必須立即盡最大努力恢復規模以滿足驚人的銷售需求。所以情況總是在不斷變化。去年的市場波動非常劇烈，但我們會根據業務的長期健康發展以及客戶服務的最佳利益做出相應的調整。

Michael, what I'd add to that is as a multiunit retailer, we have a relatively high fixed cost to operate the stores. But what I think you saw in 2020 is that if we had the expectation, we're going to have a significant downturn in volumes that we can and will take very active steps to address our SG&A.

邁克爾，我想補充的是，作為一家擁有多家門市的零售商，我們的門市營運固定成本相對較高。但我認為，正如你在2020年所看到的，如果我們預料到銷量會大幅下滑，那麼我們能夠也將會採取非常積極的措施來應對銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）。

Our next question comes from the line of Chris Horvers from JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的克里斯霍弗斯。

Tom, can you talk about that the LIFO benefit of $6 million here in the fourth quarter on an absolute basis? Is that a fair base assumption as you look into 2021 on a quarterly basis? Or are you expecting that to rise as there are some parts inflation -- price inflation coming through? And then more broadly, can you provide some color on sort of gross margin cadence over the year?

湯姆，你能談談第四季600萬美元的後進先出（LIFO）收益的絕對值嗎？你認為這個數字在展望2021年各季度業績時是否合理？還是你預期隨著部分通膨因素（例如物價上漲）的出現，收益還會上升？此外，你能否更廣泛地介紹一下全年的毛利率走勢？

So from a LIFO standpoint, $6 million in the fourth quarter, we'd expect to be around that number, maybe just a little bit higher, looking at the price increases. We're aware of currently in our expectation from moderate inflation rate of 1% throughout the year. So hopefully, that covers our LIFO number. It obviously was significantly different and lower in 2020 than it was 2019 after the 2018 and 2019 tariff price increases. That could change based on the tariffs. But as you know, we plan to continue to exist in the current tariff tax world. And as those change, we make the appropriate changes within our business. When we look at gross margin for next year, I'd tell you that absent any of those significant shifts, we would expect to be relatively flat throughout the year.

因此，從後進先出法（LIFO）的角度來看，第四季度600萬美元的利潤，我們預計會在這個數字附近，考慮到價格上漲，可能會略高一些。我們目前預計全年通膨率將維持在1%左右。所以，希望這能涵蓋我們基於後進先出法計算的利潤。顯然，由於2018年和2019年的關稅價格上漲，2020年的利潤與2019年相比顯著下降。這種情況可能會根據關稅政策的變化而改變。但正如您所知，我們計劃繼續在當前的關稅環境下運作。隨著關稅政策的變化，我們將對業務進行相應的調整。展望明年的毛利率，如果沒有這些重大變化，我們預計全年毛利率將保持相對穩定。

Okay. Got it. Okay. Understood. And then I guess more broadly on the balance sheet and share repurchases, you seem to be sticking to this very consistent buyback, which has always been the hallmark of O'Reilly. But at the same time, you are below your long-term leverage target, and your valuation has dislocated relative to history. As you think about that and think about the opportunity to maybe add some debt to the balance sheet to fuel some extra buyback, do you want to see what happens in the middle part of the year as you lap through these tremendous stimulus fuel DIY comps? Is there some prudence there that you're just trying to play out given that uncertainty?

好的，明白了。好的，理解了。然後，我想更廣泛地來說，關於資產負債表和股票回購，您似乎一直堅持這種非常穩定的回購策略，這始終是奧萊利的標誌性做法。但同時，您的槓桿率低於長期目標，而且您的估值相對於歷史水平已經失衡。考慮到這一點，以及您或許可以考慮增加一些債務來支持額外的股票回購，您是否想看看年中時，在經歷了這些巨額刺激措施帶來的同店銷售額增長之後會發生什麼？鑑於這種不確定性，您是否出於謹慎考慮而採取了這種策略？

So when we look at our leverage and we look at our plan in 2021 with the lower EBITDA rate, we will have some fluctuations, and our rate will go up as some of those quarters roll off.

因此，當我們審視我們的槓桿率，並審視我們 2021 年較低的 EBITDA 比率計劃時，我們將面臨一些波動，隨著一些季度的結束，我們的比率將會上升。

In relation to the buyback, we evaluate where we think the stock is trading in relation to our discounted cash flows, and we're going to continually buy back shares. And when we feel that there's that dislocation you talked about, we're going to buy back more shares.

關於股票回購，我們會根據折現現金流評估股票的當前交易價格，並持續回購股票。當您提到的價格錯位出現時，我們會追加回購。

When we look at 2020, we suspended our buyback at the onset of the pandemic for an abundance of caution and to make sure that liquidity is king in those situations. And I think our results show that in good times and bad, our model generates significant cash. And to the extent that we can't deploy that in a way within the business that creates the right ROI, we'll consistently buy back shares and try to buy back more when we think the market isn't perceiving the value of the stock right.

回顧2020年，出於謹慎考慮，我們在疫情初期暫停了股票回購，以確保在當前情況下流動性至關重要。我認為我們的業績表明，無論經濟狀況好壞，我們的模式都能產生可觀的現金流。如果這些現金流無法在業務營運中達到理想的投資報酬率，我們將持續回購股票，並在市場對股票價值認知不足時加強回購力道。

Our next question comes from the line of Scot Ciccarelli from RBC Capital.

我們的下一個問題來自 RBC Capital 的 Scot Ciccarelli。

Scot Ciccarelli. Okay, I think we all recognize that e-commerce historically hasn't been a very big part of your business. But just given the broader acceleration that we've seen in e-com penetration this year, even across sectors where it's never really been prevalent, can you update us on the size of your e-commerce business today? And how much of that is focus versus ship to home?

史考特·西卡雷利：好的，我想我們都明白，電子商務在貴公司歷史上並非業務的重點。但鑑於今年電子商務滲透率的整體加速成長，即使在一些以往電子商務並不盛行的行業也是如此，您能否介紹一下貴公司目前的電子商務業務規模？其中有多少是專注於線上銷售，又有多少是送貨上門？

Scot, here's what I would tell you. Our sales overall grew at an incredible pace this year, and our e-com sales grew at an incredible pace this year. But the end result is that e-commerce is still a very, very small percentage of our overall sales number. When you break it down by buy online, pick up in-store or ship to store versus ship -- purchase in store, our growth was substantially higher, pick up in store, ship to store, just demonstrating that the consumer, again, sees tremendous value and coming to our brick-and-mortar business, whether it's curbside pickup or they actually come into our stores in lieu of buy online, ship to home where they actually get additional discounts. So we're very pleased with our e-com results. Although, again, it's a very, very small percentage of our total overall sales.

史考特，我想跟你說的是，我們今年的整體銷售額成長迅猛，電商銷售額的成長也同樣驚人。但最終結果是，電商銷售額在我們總銷售額中所佔的比例仍然非常非常小。如果以線上購買、門市自提或送貨到店與線上購買、送貨到店這兩種方式細分，就會發現門市自提或送貨到店的成長率高很多。這再次證明，消費者看到了實體店的巨大價值，他們更願意光顧我們的實體店，無論是路邊取貨還是到店購物，而不是選擇線上購買、送貨到家，因為到店購物還能享受額外的折扣。所以我們對電商業績非常滿意。儘管如此，它在我們總銷售額中所佔的比例仍然非常非常小。

Got it. Very helpful. And then just a second quick question here. We are still hearing about product shortages in the category. Can you help us start to understand how you guys are thinking about product availability and whether you think that your ability to obtain product has potentially played a role in some of the share gains you referenced today?

明白了，很有幫助。還有一個小問題。我們仍聽說該品類的產品短缺。您能否幫我們了解貴公司是如何看待產品供應問題的，以及您認為產品供應能力是否對您今天提到的市佔率成長起到了一定作用？

Yes. I mean, Scot, the strength of our supply chain, I think, really has been one of our competitive strengths forever, and I think it really shined through in 2020 and just demonstrated that true strength. We -- one of the things that we elected to do years ago was to require our international suppliers to keep products stateside here in the U.S., and that helped us early in the pandemic, and we were very aggressive with our ordering on the onset because we could see as sales began to trend upward.

是的。我的意思是，史考特，我認為我們強大的供應鏈一直是我們的競爭優勢之一，而且我認為它在2020年真正發揮了作用，展現了我們真正的實力。幾年前，我們選擇採取的措施之一就是要求我們的國際供應商將產品留在美國境內，這在疫情初期對我們幫助很大。疫情初期，我們積極加緊訂購，因為我們看到銷售開始呈現上升趨勢。

That said, our supply chain was definitely pressured in 2020, and we did have supply -- some suppliers that underperformed. We still have a handful of suppliers that are not performing at the level that we would like for them to, and we're working very aggressively to ensure that they get back up to speed. Some of that -- much of that is related to the pandemic, whether domestic or international. We have one domestic supplier that has challenges with COVID right now, and the market that they're doing their manufacturing and distribution is really being hit hard right now. But that's a short-term pain.

話雖如此，我們的供應鏈在2020年確實面臨巨大壓力，而且我們確實有供貨——只是部分供應商的表現不盡如人意。目前仍有一些供應商的表現未達到我們的預期水平，我們正在積極努力確保他們盡快恢復正常。其中一部分——或者說很大一部分——與疫情有關，無論是國內還是國際疫情。我們有一家國內供應商目前正受到新冠疫情的衝擊，他們進行生產和分銷的市場也遭受了重創。但這只是暫時的陣痛。

And then there's a couple of suppliers that we're having issues with. It's more of an industry-wide event where we lost a supplier in the category early on this year. But what I would tell you generally is things have improved from a supply standpoint, and we feel good about the very few suppliers that we have that are not performing well.

此外，還有幾家供應商出現了一些問題。這其實是整個產業普遍存在的問題，今年年初我們失去了一家該品類的供應商。但總的來說，從供應角度來看，情況已經有所改善，我們對目前少數幾家表現不佳的供應商也感到滿意。

Our next question comes from the line of Chris Bottiglieri from Exane BNP Paribas.

我們的下一個問題來自法國巴黎銀行Exane的Chris Bottiglieri。

So I guess the first one, I wanted to do is just kind of clerical thing to go through gross margins. So if I heard you right, it sounds like relative to Q3, the gross margin have to Q4 or the LIFO compared with similar. The DC pressure was in totality worse than Q3. Tariff was something new. My ask is something similar. I guess is there anything else in that gross margin headwind, like ocean freight? Was that an impact? And then how about tariffs? Is that just a onetime event? Or is this something we'll see throughout '21 as well until you anniversary it? The tariff exclusion I'm referring to.

所以，我想問的第一個問題，其實就是一些文書工作，像是核對一下毛利率。如果我理解沒錯的話，毛利率是相對於第三季度，與第四季度或採用後進先出法（LIFO）計算的類似季度進行比較的。配送中心的壓力總體上比第三季更嚴重。關稅是新出現的因素。我的問題也類似。我想問的是，除了關稅之外，還有其他因素對毛利率有不利影響嗎？比如海運？海運費用有影響嗎？關稅呢？這只是一次性事件嗎？還是說這種情況會持續到2021年，直到你們週年紀念日？我指的是關稅豁免。

The tariff items are ongoing and have more to do with them being consistent with last year as comparing to 2019 when they were at new items. The tariff exclusions, I think we talked to occurred in end of 2019 and 2020 and produce premium margins when those prices went -- when the acquisition price went down but the selling prices didn't go down. So hopefully, that addresses that laundry list of questions.

關稅項目仍在持續進行，其主要目的是與去年保持一致，而不是與2019年的新項目進行比較。我們之前討論過的關稅豁免政策發生在2019年底和2020年，當收購價格下降但銷售價格沒有下降時，這些豁免政策帶來了更高的利潤率。希望這些解答能解決您提出的許多問題。

On the ocean freight, I don't think that we have seen -- I think we've all read that, that is an area of pinch point right now, and prices are going up. I don't think that we've seen at this point, a meaningful impact of that. But obviously, we're keeping a close eye on that. To the extent that, that rises within our industry, we tend to all acquire the similar parts from similar areas, and we view that as an input cost that should hit all of the retailers and wholesalers.

關於海運，我認為我們目前還沒有看到——我想大家都已經了解到，海運目前是一個瓶頸領域，價格正在上漲。但我認為目前為止，我們還沒有看到價格上漲帶來的顯著影響。當然，我們會密切關注這一情況。如果海運價格上漲，由於我們行業內採購的零件往往來自相似的地區，我們認為這會成為一項投入成本，最終會影響到所有零售商和批發商。

Got you. That makes sense. Okay. Then just kind of one bigger picture question. Obviously, it's been a tremendous year for the industry in terms of a behavioral shift from your customer base in terms of the projects they're tackling, in terms of the channels that they're shopping at. Do you say this -- like you see this being kind of -- once the economy reopens, do you think any of this can stick? Like are people going to continue to tackle some of these hobbies? Do you think there's a chance they want to continue staying at auto part stores rather than the big box? But I guess anything that O'Reilly specifically is doing proactively to kind of retain those sales would be helpful.

明白了。這很有道理。好的。那麼，還有一個更宏觀的問題。顯然，就客戶群的行為轉變而言，今年對整個行業來說是意義非凡的一年，無論是他們正在做的項目，還是他們購物的管道，都發生了巨大的變化。您認為，一旦經濟重啟，這些變化還能持續下去嗎？例如，人們還會繼續從事這些嗜好嗎？您認為他們還有可能繼續光顧汽車零件商店而不是大型超市嗎？我想，如果歐萊利（O'Reilly）採取任何積極措施來留住這些客戶，那肯定會有所幫助。

Yes, Chris, as we talked about, there are several levers, several tailwinds that benefited us in 2020. And we certainly hope some of those dynamics carry over into 2021, obviously, not the pandemic itself, but some of the other trends.

是的，克里斯，正如我們之前討論過的，2020年有很多有利因素和順風讓我們受益。我們當然希望其中一些因素能夠延續到2021年，顯然不是指疫情本身，而是指其他一些趨勢。

When you look at where we feel like we made the most progress from a share gain perspective in 2020, we feel like it was some of the smaller WD players out there that maybe don't have the supply chain strength we did and have the product availability that we had. I think that shift, assuming that our stores did a good job servicing those customers, which we all know they did, we hope that some of that is sticky business, and we're in a relationship business. And hopefully, some of those customers on both sides, both professional on the retail side, continue to come into our stores.

回顧2020年我們在市佔率成長方面取得最大進展的領域，我們認為主要集中在一些規模較小的WD零售商身上，這些零售商可能不像我們那樣擁有強大的供應鏈和充足的產品供應。我認為，假設我們的門市服務周到（我們都知道他們做得很好），這種轉變是關鍵。我們希望這些客戶能夠保持忠誠度，畢竟我們從事的是關係型業務。我們希望零售端的專業客戶和零售商都能繼續光顧我們的門市。

The other area where we feel like we took some share is a big box retailers. And when you think about what you experience when you walk into a big box store, today, there's a little more apprehension with a lot of consumers about going into that environment for fear of contracting disease, you're masked and obviously all of those things. I think some of the consumers rather than walk to the back of the store to pick up a battery or wiper blades or what have you, fight the crowd, take that risk and then go home and install those products themselves, they came to O'Reilly. And they saw is, hey, we've got quality products. We've got competitive pricing, and guess what, we'll install those products for you there in the parking lot. So those customers that experienced that shift in 2020, we certainly hope a lot of that carries over 2021 and beyond.

我們感覺搶佔市場份額的另一個領域是大型零售商。想想你現在走進大型超市的感受，很多消費者都有些顧慮，害怕感染疾病，畢竟大家都戴著口罩等等。我認為，與其走到商店後面去拿電池、雨刷之類的東西，擠進人群，冒著風險回家自己安裝，有些消費者不如來歐萊利汽車配件店。他們發現，我們不僅產品品質好，價格也很有競爭力，還能在停車場現場安裝。所以，那些在2020年經歷了這種轉變的顧客，我們當然希望這個趨勢能延續到2021年及以後。

Our next question comes from the line of Daniel Imbro from Stephens, Inc.

我們的下一個問題來自 Stephens, Inc. 的 Daniel Imbro。

Greg, I want to start on a longer-term question. Obviously, another outcome of the pandemic has been a bit of deurbanization, maybe increased used vehicle ownership. We've seen a lot of headlines around that from the dealers and the other auto names. Should that become a tailwind to your business as we think through '21 and longer-term into '22 and '23 as there's more older vehicles on the road? Or how should that impact your business in the coming years?

格雷格，我想先問一個更長遠的問題。顯然，疫情帶來的另一個後果是都市化進程有所放緩，二手車保有量可能增加。我們看到很多經銷商和其他汽車媒體都報導了這一點。考慮到2021年以及更長遠的2022年和2023年，隨著路上老舊車輛的增多，這是否會成為貴公司業務的利多因素？或者說，這會對貴公司未來幾年的業務產生怎樣的影響？

Yes, it should definitely be favorable to our business. For every consumer that buys a used vehicle as opposed to a new vehicle, which would be under warranty and the first few years of repairs may go back to the dealer. When those consumers elect to buy a used vehicle rather than a new vehicle, typically, those are out of the warranty cycle, which brings more of that volume into our stores sooner.

是的，這肯定對我們的生意有利。對於每位購買二手車而非新車的消費者來說，新車通常還在保固期內，前幾年的維修保養費用可能都得找經銷商。而當這些消費者選擇購買二手車時，這些車輛通常已經過了保固期，這意味著我們能更快獲得更多二手車銷售。

To add to Greg's comments, we'll have to see how it plays out long term. Obviously, the new vehicle sales were down due to the economic concerns and production concerns and then have bounced back. To the extent that consumers move more to the suburbs and rural and drive more miles, that's good for our business long term. To the extent that people decide they want to control more of their own transportation and the vehicle count per household goes up, that's another good item for us from a long-term perspective. Early in that cycle, we'll see how it trends out.

補充一下格雷格的觀點，我們需要觀察長期的發展趨勢。顯然，由於經濟和生產方面的擔憂，新車銷量有所下降，但之後已經反彈。如果消費者更多地搬到郊區和鄉村，增加駕駛里程，這對我們公司的長期業務發展是有利的。如果人們希望更多地掌控自己的交通工具，導致每個家庭的車輛數量增加，從長遠來看，這對我們也是有利的。在這個週期的初期，我們會觀察其發展趨勢。

Got it. That's helpful. And then just as a quick follow-up to your last answer on the big box market share. Is there anything you're seeing from those mass merchant or big box customers that's different from your core customer? Are they more price-sensitive? Are they using loyalty rewards or discounts more frequently? And do you think you've done enough during the pandemic to make that customer market share sticky as big box maybe reopen some of their online or auto offering that they took off-line during the pandemic?

明白了，這很有幫助。關於您上次提到的大型零售商的市場份額，我還有一個問題想補充一下。您發現這些大型零售商的客戶與您的核心客戶有什麼不同嗎？他們對價格更敏感嗎？他們使用會員獎勵或折扣的頻率更高嗎？您認為在疫情期間，您採取的措施是否足以讓這些客戶保持忠誠度，尤其是在大型零售商可能重新開放一些疫情期間暫停的線上或汽車服務之後？

Yes. Daniel, although that we've looked at it from a loyalty perspective. I don't know that when a customer walks in our store if we really know if they were previously a big box shopper or not. So from a loyalty perspective, a lot of the demographic that shops in the big box stores, you would think would be loyalty customers. They're definitely price-sensitive customers that were coming -- that came into our store. As far as sticky transactions, it was a challenging year for us, as Jeff said in his prepared comments. And store team members just did a heck of a job working long hours to take care of customers, meeting them in the parking lot, doing curbside delivery. We upped our service level in 2020, and we certainly hope that, that pays off from a relationship standpoint to maintain a lot of that volume in 2021 and beyond.

是的，丹尼爾，雖然我們是從顧客忠誠度的角度來看這個問題的。我不確定當顧客走進我們的店時，我們是否真的知道他們之前是否經常光顧大型連鎖超市。所以從顧客忠誠度的角度來看，你可能會認為在大型連鎖超市購物的那部分人應該是忠誠顧客。他們肯定是對價格比較敏感的顧客，而且他們也確實光顧過我們的店。至於高留存率，正如傑夫在事先準備好的演講稿中所說，今年對我們來說是充滿挑戰的一年。我們的門市團隊成員為了服務顧客付出了巨大的努力，長時間工作，在停車場迎接顧客，提供路邊取貨服務。我們在2020年提升了服務水平，我們當然希望這能從客戶關係的角度帶來回報，從而在2021年及以後保持較高的客流量。

Our next question comes from the line of Seth Sigman from Crédit Suisse.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞士信貸的塞思·西格曼。

I wanted to follow up on the quarter-to-date performance. You mentioned December was the strongest of Q4 and that January had remained strong. I assume the implication here is that Q1 is tracking ahead of that 11% in Q4. But if you could give us a little bit more on that.

我想就本季迄今的業績做進一步說明。您提到12月是第四季表現最強勁的月份，1月也維持了強勁勢頭。我理解您的意思是第一季的業績已經超過了第四季的11%。如果您能再詳細解釋一下就更好了。

And then weather was talked about a little bit. You alluded to some favorability. Are you seeing extreme conditions that beyond just the short term can provide some sort of tailwind looking out over the next few quarters?

然後我們稍微聊了聊天氣。你提到了一些有利因素。你認為未來幾季會出現一些極端天氣狀況，這些狀況不僅在短期內，而且可能帶來某種順風嗎？

So the -- Seth, the first part of your question, I think you can infer what you said from our data points that we gave. On the second part of the question, cold weather is good for us. Cold weather brakes cars. To the extent that we have very cold weather, especially on the electrical and battery system, it will weaken those faster and should provide support in the middle of the year when it gets really hot, those weaker batteries will fail at a higher rate.

所以——塞思，關於你問題的第一部分，我認為你可以從我們提供的數據點推斷出你所說的內容。關於問題的第二部分，寒冷天氣對我們有利。寒冷天氣會加速汽車的煞車。如果天氣非常寒冷，尤其是對電氣和電池系統而言，寒冷會加速這些系統的損耗，從而在年中氣溫真正升高時起到一定的保護作用，因為那些原本就比較弱的電池會更快地失效。

Got it. Okay. And then just a follow-up on the gross margin, we had a few questions on this. It has come down modestly in recent years. You're basically saying it's stabilizing in '21. Fully appreciating your focus on gross profit dollars. But just wondering, is this the right run rate to be thinking about long term for gross margin rate? Or are there incremental gross margin initiatives. And I'm talking about gross margin rate initiatives that should help long term. Like how should we be thinking about the long-term outlook?

明白了。好的。關於毛利率，我們收到了一些後續問題。近年來毛利率略有下降。您基本上是說它在2021年趨於穩定。我完全理解您對毛利的關注。但我想問的是，從長遠來看，目前的毛利率水準是否合理？或者是否有其他提升毛利率的措施？我指的是那些有助於長期提高毛利率的措施。我們該如何看待毛利率的長期前景？

I think if you look back to our comments, especially in 2019, we were pretty direct that we were making premium margin on many products because of the shifts in the tariffs and the LIFO impact of having bought product before the tariffs but having raised prices when the tariffs kicked in and then having premium pricing on items where the tariffs came off from an exclusion but the selling prices didn't change. I think we were pretty clear that 2019 was an abnormally high year.

我認為，回顧我們先前的評論，尤其是在2019年，我們非常明確地指出，由於關稅政策的變化以及後進先出法（LIFO）的影響，我們許多產品的利潤率都高於市場平均水平。我們之所以能獲得如此高的利潤率，是因為我們在關稅生效前購入了產品，但在關稅生效後提高了價格；此外，對於那些關稅不再享受豁免但售價未變的商品，我們也採取了溢價策略。我認為我們當時已經非常清楚地表明，2019年是一個異常高的年份。

So if we take that year out, I think if you look over time, our goal is to incrementally improve margins 10 to 20 basis points through better buying and through more efficient distribution. Obviously, and Greg talked about it earlier, pricing is very dynamic in our market. And to the extent that we have a lot of acquisition price changes, creates the opportunity for better or worse margin. But as we've been in the last 10 years outside of -- end of 2018 to 2019, a pretty consistent acquisition cost, very low same SKU inflation, gives you a more consistent margin. So I guess in short, what I'd tell you is that end of 2018, 2019 presented some opportunities to charge a premium margin in our industry those who have run their course. And I think we're back to an appropriate margin with incremental increases at a small level over time.

所以，如果我們排除那一年的影響，我認為從長遠來看，我們的目標是透過更優化的採購和更有效率的分銷，逐步提高利潤率10到20個基點。顯然，正如格雷格之前提到的，我們市場的定價非常不穩定。採購價格的頻繁變動，既有可能帶來利潤率的提升，也可能帶來利潤率的下降。但正如過去十年（2018年底到2019年除外）的情況一樣，相對穩定的採購成本和極低的同SKU價格通膨，帶來了更穩定的利潤率。簡而言之，我想說的是，2018年底到2019年為那些已經走到盡頭的品牌提供了收取溢價的機會。我認為，我們現在已經回到了合理的利潤率水平，並且隨著時間的推移，利潤率會逐步小幅增長。

We have reached our allotted time for questions. I will 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, Gigi. We would like to conclude our call today by thanking the entire O'Reilly team once again for their continued selfless dedication to our customers and for their incredible performance in 2020. We look forward to another strong year in 2021. I'd like to thank everyone for joining our call today, and we look forward to reporting our 2021 first quarter results in April. Thank you.

謝謝Gigi。今天電話會議的最後，我們再次感謝O'Reilly團隊全體成員，感謝他們一直以來對客戶的無私奉獻，以及他們在2020年取得的卓越成績。我們期待2021年再創佳績。感謝各位今天參加我們的電話會議，我們期待在四月公佈2021年第一季業績。謝謝。

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes today's conference. Thank you for participating. 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。