O'Reilly Automotive Q3 Profit More Than Doubles

10/28/2009 8:05 PM ET

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(RTTNews) - Auto parts retailer O'Reilly Automotive, Inc. (ORLY: News ) said Wednesday after the markets closed that its third quarter profit more than doubled from last year, helped by strong same-stores sales growth and improved gross margins. The company's quarterly earnings per share also came in above analysts' expectations. At the same time, the company raised its earnings outlook for the full year 2009.

The company reported net income for the third quarter of $87.2 million to $0.63 per share, compared to $41.4 million or $0.31 per share for the year-ago quarter.

Excluding items, adjusted net income for the third quarter was $87.9 million or $0.63 per share, compared to $53.1 million or $0.40 per share in the prior year quarter.

On average, 23 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.56 per share for the third quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Gross profit for the third quarter increased to $610.6 million or 48.5% of sales from $507.2 million or 45.6% of sales in the third quarter of last year.

Sales for the third quarter rose 13% to $1.26 billion from $1.11 billion in the same quarter last year. Eighteen analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $1.23 billion for the third quarter.

The company's consolidated same-store store sales for the quarter rose 5.3%. Same-store sales for stores operating on the O'Reilly systems increased 5.3% in the third quarter, while same-store sales for stores operating on the legacy CSK systems grew 5.2%. O'Reilly Automotive acquired rival CSK Automotive, Inc. in July last year.

The company opened 32 new stores in he third quarter, taking its total store count to 3,415 stores. Total new store growth through the end of the quarter reached 140 stores, which brings the company within ten stores of its goal of 150 new store openings for the year.

For the first nine months of 2009, the company reported net income of $235.6 million or $1.71 per share, compared to $143.5 million or $1.18 per share for the same period last year.

Adjusted net income for the nine-month period was $238.8 million or $1.74 per share, compared to $155.2 million or $1.27 per share in the prior year period.

Sales for the nine-month period rose 49% to $3.67 billion from $2.46 billion in the corresponding year-ago period.

Looking forward, the company said it expects fourth quarter earnings to be in the range of $0.47 to $0.51 per share.

For the full year 2009, the company now expects earnings of $2.18 to $2.22 per share and adjusted earnings of $2.21 to $2.25 per share, which excludes the estimated impact of acquisition charges for trade names and trademarks related to the acquisition of CSK of $0.03 per share.