Stocks · Consumer Cyclical · Specialty Retail
AutoZone, Inc. AZO
$2,792.03 -0.96% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $45.58B
Weak trendLow risk
Next earnings report: Dec 8, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- The shares trade at 18.3× trailing earnings, lower than 90% of the company's own readings over the past five years.
- The stock is in a downtrend: below its 200-day average, with the 50-day average below the 200-day.
- Over the past year the stock returned -34.3%, behind the S&P 500 by 49.3 percentage points.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Consumer Cyclical sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 36%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 48%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 22%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 34%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 26%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 6%
- Gross marginTop 19%
- Operating marginTop 12%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Bottom 11%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 7%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 50%
- Interest coverTop 35%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 39%
- Free-cash-flow yieldBottom 29%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueBottom 44%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 19%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Top 19%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 17%
- 6-month returnBottom 23%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 21%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 36%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 18%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 31%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 38%
- Share of analysts rating BuyTop 15%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 46%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 11%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 16%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 4%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 50%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 5.7% | 7.4% | ↑ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | -1.6% | 5.3% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 52.6% | 52.3% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | 19.1% | 18.3% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | 9.5% | 5.5% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 7.4% | 5.7% | ↑ | Top 36% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 5.3% | -1.6% | ↑ | Top 48% |
| Gross margin | 52.3% | 52.6% | ↓ | Top 19% |
| Operating margin | 18.3% | 19.1% | ↓ | Top 12% |
| Net margin | 12.6% | 13.2% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 5.5% | 9.5% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 24.7% | — | Top 6% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 5.2% | — | Top 34% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 0.82×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- 2.1%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.5%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -107.4 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 2.89×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 7.9×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.00%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 2.75%
- Shareholder yield
- 2.75%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -1.8%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -3.2%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Aug 29, 2026 (filed Sep 22, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 3
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 3 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +1.3%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -2.8%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 1 of 7
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $3,600.25
- Target vs current price
- +28.9%
- Analysts with a rating
- 45
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 73%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 22, 2026 | +3.6% | +3.3% | +3.9% | — | — |
| May 26, 2026 | +5.1% | -9.0% | -11.3% | -10.6% | -9.7% |
| Mar 3, 2026 | +1.8% | -6.3% | -5.4% | -13.9% | -22.0% |
| Dec 9, 2025 | -5.2% | -7.2% | -7.4% | -11.9% | -3.3% |
| Sep 23, 2025 | -4.0% | -0.0% | +3.7% | -3.7% | -17.1% |
| May 27, 2025 | -4.7% | -3.4% | -2.0% | -6.5% | +8.7% |
| Mar 4, 2025 | -2.6% | -0.1% | +6.1% | +9.6% | +7.7% |
| Dec 10, 2024 | -3.1% | +0.7% | +0.8% | -0.6% | +11.0% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 22, 2026 | $0.56 | $0.54 | +3.6% | $6.59B |
| May 26, 2026 | $38.07 | $36.22 | +5.1% | $4.84B |
| Mar 3, 2026 | $27.63 | $27.15 | +1.8% | $4.27B |
| Dec 9, 2025 | $31.04 | $32.75 | -5.2% | $4.63B |
| Sep 23, 2025 | $48.71 | $50.73 | -4.0% | $6.24B |
| May 27, 2025 | $35.36 | $37.11 | -4.7% | $4.46B |
| Mar 4, 2025 | $28.29 | $29.05 | -2.6% | $3.95B |
| Dec 10, 2024 | $32.52 | $33.56 | -3.1% | $4.28B |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 18.3× | 20.0× | 10th | Top 39% |
| P/E (forward) | 16.4× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 13.8× | — | — | Bottom 44% |
| EV / Sales | 2.84× | — | — | Bottom 19% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 2.46% | — | — | Bottom 29% |
| Earnings yield | 5.46% | — | — | Top 39% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 17.7× – 26.3× since Aug 28, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- -34.3%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +5.3%
- Change in P/E multiple
- -27.9%
Most of the move came from a change in the valuation multiple.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✗ Price above 200-day average
- ✗ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -2.4%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -2.6%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -5.8%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -15.3%
- RSI (14)
- 38.9
- Relative volume
- 0.41×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 26.3%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 72th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.31
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.20
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -34.4%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -35.9%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 11, 2025 | Oct 2, 2026 | -35.9% | 266 days | Not yet recovered |
| Apr 20, 2022 | May 20, 2022 | -21.4% | 22 days | 57 days (Aug 12, 2022) |
| May 10, 2023 | Jun 7, 2023 | -15.6% | 19 days | 155 days (Jan 19, 2024) |
| Mar 22, 2024 | May 29, 2024 | -15.4% | 46 days | 133 days (Dec 6, 2024) |
| Dec 29, 2021 | Feb 23, 2022 | -14.7% | 38 days | 31 days (Apr 7, 2022) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $45.58B
- P/E (TTM)
- 18.3
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $152.55
- Revenue (TTM)
- $20.34B
- 52-week range
- $2,756.13 – $4,293.03
| FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $16.25B | $17.46B | $18.49B | $18.94B | $20.34B |
| Gross profit | $8.47B | $9.07B | $9.82B | $9.97B | $10.64B |
| Operating income | $3.27B | $3.47B | $3.79B | $3.61B | $3.72B |
| Net income | $2.43B | $2.53B | $2.66B | $2.50B | $2.57B |
| EPS (diluted) | $117.19 | $132.36 | $149.55 | $144.87 | $152.55 |
| Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | Q3 2026 | Q4 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $4.28B | $3.95B | $4.46B | $6.24B | $4.63B | $4.27B | $4.84B | $6.59B |
| Net income | $564.9M | $487.9M | $608.4M | $837.0M | $530.8M | $468.9M | $641.5M | $931.6M |
| EPS (diluted) | $32.52 | $28.29 | $35.36 | $48.71 | $31.04 | $27.63 | $38.07 | $55.81 |
| FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $3.21B | $2.94B | $3.00B | $3.12B | $0 |
| Capital expenditure | -$672.4M | -$796.7M | -$1.07B | -$1.33B | $0 |
| Free cash flow | $2.54B | $2.14B | $1.93B | $1.79B | $0 |
| Dividends paid | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net share buybacks | -$4.25B | -$3.52B | -$2.96B | -$1.41B | $0 |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $326.1M
- Total assets
- $21.63B
- Total liabilities
- $24.13B
- Total debt
- $12.45B
- Net debt
- $12.12B
- Shareholders’ equity
- -$2.50B
As of Aug 29, 2026 (filed Sep 22, 2026).
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 496,329
- Days to cover
- 1.51
- Change vs previous report
- +14.2%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Apr 21, 1994
- 2-for-1
- Feb 3, 1992
- 2-for-1