AutoZone (AZO) closed at $3,430.45 in the latest trading session, marking a -3.32% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.11%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.56%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.35%.
Coming into today, shares of the auto parts retailer had lost 1.83% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector gained 1.33%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.51%.
Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of AutoZone in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company is expected to report EPS of $36.09, up 2.06% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $4.86 billion, up 8.8% from the year-ago period.
For the annual period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates anticipate earnings of $149.27 per share and a revenue of $20.53 billion, signifying shifts of +3.04% and +8.38%, respectively, from the last year.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for AutoZone. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the business outlook.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-term stock moves. 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 0.1% higher. Right now, AutoZone possesses a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that AutoZone has a Forward P/E ratio of 23.77 right now. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 19.08.
Also, we should mention that AZO has a PEG ratio of 1.81. 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. The Automotive - Retail and Wholesale - Parts industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.49 as trading concluded yesterday.
The Automotive - Retail and Wholesale - Parts industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 198, positioning it in the bottom 19% of all 250+ industries.
The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these 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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AutoZone, Inc. (AZO): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).