O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (Nasdaq: ORLY) stock shot up over the $200 mark for the first time in its public history today after the company yesterday reported fourth-quarter and year-end earnings growth.
ORLY shares traded as high as $214.15 this morning, compared to yesterday’s closing price of $193.28. The company, which has a 52-week stock price low of $131.84, went public in
April 1993.
The Springfield-based auto parts retailer produced fourth-quarter net income of $181.7 million, a 19.3 percent boost over $152.3 million a year earlier. Diluted share earnings for the three-month period ended Dec. 31 rose 36 cents to $1.79, according to a news release.
The latest earnings contributed to an auspicious year for O’Reilly Auto, during which the company recorded $778.2 million profits, beating 2013’s $670.3 million by 16.1 percent.
Fourth-quarter sales rose 8.8 percent to $1.8 billion, pushing full-year sales to $7.2 billion, an 8.5 percent jump, according to the release.
2014 financial notes:
- Comparable store sales rose 6 percent during the year, compared to 4.3 percent growth in 2013.
- The company repurchased 1.2 million shares of its common stock, for $179 million, during the fourth quarter, contributing to an annual repurchase of 5.7 million shares and $866 million in investment. The company yesterday announced its board approved the repurchase of an additional $500 million in shares.
- O’Reilly Auto closed seven stores but opened 207 during 2014 to finish the year with 4,366 stores in operation, 200 more than the end of 2013.
- Assets were $6.5 billion at year’s end.
“We finished 2014 with a record operating margin of 17.6 percent and a 22 percent increase in earnings per share, which is our sixth consecutive year of 21 percent or greater EPS growth,” O'Reilly President and CEO Greg Henslee said in the release. “Based on our belief in the continued strength of the long-term drivers for demand in our industry and, more importantly, in our team’s commitment to providing consistently high levels of customer service, we are establishing our first-quarter and full-year 2015 comparable store sales guidance at a range of 3 percent to 5 percent.”[[In-content Ad]]
