AutoZone Tops Q4 Earnings Forecasts as Revenue Falls Short

AutoZone posted fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $56.05 per share, beating the $54.30 analyst consensus, while $6.6 billion in net sales fell short of the $6.71 billion expected on Wall Street.

Shares of the Memphis-based automotive parts retailer rose 2% in premarket trading following the release for the quarter ended 29 August 2026.

Net sales climbed 5.6% from $6.2 billion a year earlier. Net income reached $931.6 million, up from $837.0 million in the prior-year period.

What did same-store sales look like?

Domestic comparable sales rose 1.6% on a constant-currency basis. Company-wide comparable sales increased 1.5%.

President and CEO Phil Daniele attributed the late-quarter improvement to disciplined execution: "In spite of a difficult selling environment the first eight weeks of our quarter, we remained committed to executing on our strategies to grow both our domestic and international businesses."

He added: "Over the last eight weeks of our quarter our sales results strengthened, and we feel we are well positioned for sales growth in fiscal 2027."

How did margins move?

Gross margin expanded 182 basis points to 53.3%. The retailer credited a 145-basis-point benefit from tariff refunds and a 105-basis-point non-cash LIFO inventory accounting effect. A heavier mix of commercial sales partially offset those gains.

Operating expenses rose to 33.4% of sales, up from 32.4% a year earlier. AutoZone pinned the increase on spending tied to growth initiatives.

What did the full fiscal year deliver?

Annual sales reached $20.3 billion, up 7.4% year over year. AutoZone opened 374 new stores across its domestic and international footprint during the period.

The results closed a fiscal year in which AutoZone continued absorbing tariff cost flows and shifting more of its revenue toward commercial accounts, a higher-volume but lower-margin channel that pressured the operating expense ratio even as profitability per dollar improved.

For fiscal 2027, Daniele's framing points to a recovery built on the back half of fiscal 2026 momentum, contingent on the selling environment stabilizing and new-store cohorts ramping. The $110 million revenue gap to consensus, however, leaves the buy-side watching whether margin gains can continue to compensate for the top-line shortfall.