O’Reilly Auto’s earnings fall short of expectations

O’Reilly Automotive Inc.’s top executive (Nasdaq: ORLY) says unusual weather patterns are to blame for the company missing its quarterly earnings expectations.

Greg Johnson, CEO and co-president, said in a news release that diluted share earnings were 4 cents below O’Reilly Automotive’s second-quarter guidance.

“For the quarter, our comparable stores sales growth was 3.4%, which was in the lower end of our 3% to 5% guidance range, as unseasonably cool and rainy weather in many of our markets was a headwind to summer, heat-related categories,” Johnson said in the release. “The challenging weather also caused significant delays in construction and new store openings, resulting in lower-than-planned noncomparable store sales volumes for the quarter.”

Net income was roughly flat at $353.7 million. Despite the decrease cited by Johnson, O’Reilly Automotive’s diluted share earnings rose to $4.51 from $4.28 a year earlier.

Second-quarter financial notes:
• Sales were up 5.4% to $2.6 billion.
• The company repurchased 1.6 million of its shares at an investment of $599 million.
• Forty-three stores opened during the quarter, bringing the company’s count to 5,344.

As of June 30, the Springfield-based auto parts retailer’s assets were $10.2 billion, according to the release.

ORLY shares were trading at $398.17 as of 9:58 a.m., compared with a 52-week range of $297.83 to $414.63.