O’Reilly Automotive hits $10B sales benchmark

Springfield-based auto parts retailer O’Reilly Automotive Inc. (Nasdaq: ORLY) crossed the $10 billion revenue mark for the first time in its history.

Sales climbed 6.4% to $10.1 billion in 2019, hitting the guidance identified earlier in the year by company officials, according to a news release. Comparable store sales were up 4%, compared with 3.8% growth in 2018.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank our team for their continued dedication, hard work and commitment to O’Reilly’s ongoing success,” co-President and CEO Greg Johnson said in the release.

Springfield Business Journal’s newsroom previously identified O’Reilly Automotive’s quest for $10 billion in sales as the No. 7 business story of 2019.

2019 financial notes for O’Reilly Automotive:
• Net income was $1.4 billion, a 5% increase from $1.3 billion in 2018. Contributing to the total, fourth quarter profits were up roughly 8% to $324.9 million.
• O’Reilly Automotive operated 5,460 stores at the end of 2019, up from 5,219 as of Dec. 31, 2018.
• The company invested $1.4 billion buying back 3.9 million of its shares in 2019. O’Reilly Automotive also announced in the release the board authorized an additional $1 billion for its repurchase program, which is now at $13.75 billion.

As of Dec. 31, O’Reilly Automotive’s assets were $10.7 billion, according to the release.

ORLY shares were trading at $410.89 as of 10:57 a.m., compared with a 52-week range of $349.71 to $454.31.