AutoZone's Stock Gains After Earnings Beat Helps Offset Sales Miss

Shares of AutoZone Inc. rose 0.8% in premarket trade Tuesday, after the auto parts retailer reported fiscal first-quarter earnings that beat expectations, but sales that came up a bit short. Earnings for the quarter to Nov. 19, rose to $278.1 million, or $9.36 a share, from $258.1 million, or $8.29 a share, in the same period a year ago. The FactSet consensus for earnings per share was $9.31. Revenue increased 3.4% to $2.47 billion from $2.39 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $2.49 billion. Domestic same-store sales grew 1.6%, missing the FactSet consensus of 2.1%. Total auto parts sales, excluding domestic commercial, rose to $1.93 billion from $1.87 billion, matching the FactSet consensus of $1.93 billion. The stock gained 4.7% year to date through Monday, while the S&P 500 has climbed 7.9%.