O'Reilly Automotive Q4 Profit Up 15%, Results Beat View

(RTTNews) - Auto-parts retailer O'Reilly Automotive, Inc. (ORLY) on Wednesday reported a 15 percent increase in profit for the fourth quarter from last year, reflecting higher sales and margins.

Both revenue and earnings per share for the quarter beat analysts' estimates. Looking ahead, the company forecast financial results for the first quarter as well as for fiscal 2014 in line with Street expectations.

The company's net income for the fourth quarter was $152.35 million or $1.40 per share, up from $132.80 million or $1.14 per share in the year-ago period. On average, 23 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $1.32 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Sales for the quarter grew 9 percent to $1.62 billion from $1.49 billion in the year-ago period. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $1.60 billion for the quarter.

Comparable store sales for the quarter increased 5.4 percent, compared to an increase of 4.2 percent in the same period last year.

Gross margin edged up to 50.5 percent from 50.4 percent in the year-ago period, while operating margin expanded to 15.8 percent from 15.0 percent.

For fiscal 2013, O'Reilly's net income increased to $670 million or $6.03 per share from $586 million or $4.75 per share in the previous year. Sales for the year rose 8 percent to $6.65 billion from $6.18 billion in the prior year.

Street expected the company to earn $5.96 per share for the year on revenues of $6.63 billion.

Comparable store sales for the year increased 4.3 percent, compared to an increase of 3.8 percent for the previous year.

Looking ahead to the first quarter, O'Reilly forecasts earnings per share of $1.53 to $1.57 and comparable store sales to increase 4 percent to 6 percent. Analysts expect the company to report earnings of $1.55 per share for the quarter.

For fiscal 2014, the company forecasts earnings per share of $6.74 to $6.84 on revenues of $7.0 billion to $7.20 billion, and comparable store sales growth of 3 percent to 5 percent. Street expects the company to earn $6.78 per share for the year on revenue of $7.06 billion.

ORLY closed Wednesday's trading at $134.56, up $0.07 or 0.05 percent on a volume of 1.40 million shares. In after-hours, the stock further gained $0.44 or 0.33 percent to $135.00.