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AutoZone (AZO) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: Here's Why

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AutoZone (AZO - Free Report) ended the recent trading session at $3,239.62, demonstrating a -0.36% swing from the preceding day's closing price. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.16%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.86%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq decreased by 0.38%.

The the stock of auto parts retailer has fallen by 3.53% in the past month, leading the Retail-Wholesale sector's loss of 4.64% and undershooting the S&P 500's loss of 2.2%.

Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of AutoZone in its upcoming earnings disclosure. On that day, AutoZone is projected to report earnings of $29.16 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 0.93%. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $3.98 billion, indicating a 3.13% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $153.09 per share and a revenue of $18.79 billion, indicating changes of +4.76% and +1.63%, respectively, from the former year.

It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for AutoZone. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the company's business operations and its ability to generate profits.

Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.45% lower. Currently, AutoZone is carrying a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that AutoZone has a Forward P/E ratio of 21.24 right now. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 23.69.

We can also see that AZO currently has a PEG ratio of 1.8. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. The average PEG ratio for the Automotive - Retail and Wholesale - Parts industry stood at 1.82 at the close of the market yesterday.

The Automotive - Retail and Wholesale - Parts industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 157, this industry ranks in the bottom 38% of all industries, numbering over 250.

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

Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.


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