O’Reilly same-store sales slide

Net income for the quarter totaled $46.3 million, down from $48.4 million in first quarter 2007. Diluted earnings per common share decreased 4.8 percent to 40 cents.

Comparable store sales – sales for stores open at least one year – decreased 0.4 percent for the quarter, compared to a 6.8 percent increase in 2007. Total sales reached $646 million, up 5.4 percent from a year earlier.

“With softer sales resulting from a very challenging (economic) environment, our first quarter results were short of our expectations,” said CEO and Co-President Greg Henslee in the report. “Although customer demand in our markets during the first quarter was sluggish, we continue to see opportunity to expand our market share.”

The company did show a 7.1 percent increase in gross profit in the quarter, up to $288 million from $269 million in 2007.

The outlook for the second quarter is more optimistic; assuming no significant change in the macroeconomic environment, O’Reilly estimates diluted earnings per share for the second quarter of approximately 47 cents to 51 cents, with an expected comparable store sales increase of 3 percent to 5 percent.

O’Reilly is also in the process of getting regulatory approval for its acquisition of Phoenix-based CSK Auto Corp. The $1 billion transaction would add 1,350 stores to O’Reilly’s current total of around 1,830.

CSK Auto announced its quarterly results Friday; in its fourth quarter, which ended Feb. 3, the company lost $12.3 million, or 28 cents per share compared with the previous year, and revenue fell 10 percent to $427 million.

Shares of O’Reilly Automotive (Nasdaq: ORLY) closed April 22 at $27.55, and were trading down at $27.25 as of 9:30 a.m. The 52-week range is $24.08 to $38.84.