AutoZone (AZO) ended the recent trading session at $3,742.00, demonstrating a -3.01% change from the preceding day's closing price. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.1%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.07%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.14%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the auto parts retailer had gained 9.54% outpaced the Retail-Wholesale sector's loss of 5.35% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.43%.
Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of AutoZone in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings report is set to go public on March 3, 2026. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $27.59, indicating a 2.47% decline compared to the equivalent quarter last year. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $4.3 billion, indicating a 8.82% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.
Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $149.02 per share and revenue of $20.47 billion, indicating changes of +2.86% and +8.07%, respectively, compared to the previous year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for AutoZone should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. Hence, positive alterations in estimates signify analyst optimism regarding the business and profitability.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-term stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
The Zacks Rank system, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has shifted 0.04% downward. AutoZone is currently a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
In the context of valuation, AutoZone is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 25.89. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 19.81, so one might conclude that AutoZone is trading at a premium comparatively.
It's also important to note that AZO currently trades at a PEG ratio of 1.84. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Automotive - Retail and Wholesale - Parts was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.46 at yesterday's closing price.
The Automotive - Retail and Wholesale - Parts industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 193, which puts it in the bottom 22% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Keep in mind to rely on Zacks.com to watch all these stock-impacting metrics, and more, in the succeeding trading sessions.
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AutoZone, Inc. (AZO): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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