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AutoZone (AZO) Surpasses Market Returns: Some Facts Worth Knowing

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In the latest trading session, AutoZone (AZO - Free Report) closed at $3,179.52, marking a +0.31% move from the previous day. The stock outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a daily gain of 0.25%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.29%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.97%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the auto parts retailer had gained 6.32% over the past month. This has lagged the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 6.74% and outpaced the S&P 500's gain of 3.51% in that time.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of AutoZone in its upcoming release. The company is slated to reveal its earnings on December 10, 2024. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $33.60, reflecting a 3.23% increase from the same quarter last year. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $4.3 billion, indicating a 2.61% upward movement from the same quarter last year.

Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $158.09 per share and revenue of $18.8 billion, indicating changes of +8.18% and +1.69%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for AutoZone. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Our research suggests that these changes in estimates have a direct relationship with upcoming stock price performance. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, stretching from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a noteworthy track record of outperforming, validated by third-party audits, with stocks rated #1 producing an average annual return of +25% since the year 1988. Over the past month, there's been no change in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Currently, AutoZone is carrying a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that AutoZone has a Forward P/E ratio of 20.05 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 28.11, which means AutoZone is trading at a discount to the group.

Also, we should mention that AZO has a PEG ratio of 1.6. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Automotive - Retail and Wholesale - Parts industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.71.

The Automotive - Retail and Wholesale - Parts industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 227, placing it within the bottom 10% of over 250 industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.


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