ORLY shares hit 52-week high, near $700 benchmark

As the year comes to a close, O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (Nasdaq: ORLY) appears poised to hit a new stock benchmark.

The auto parts retailer's most recent 52-week stock high was $683.19 per share, which hit on Dec. 8. Only five months ago, the stock crossed the $600 threshold.

For the third quarter, O'Reilly Automotive reported an 8.5% increase in revenue to $3.5 billion and a 6% jump in net income to $527.3 million. For the nine-month period that ended Sept. 30, sales were up to $10 billion from $8.8 billion in the same period of 2020. Net income for the nine months rose to $1.6 billion from $1.4 billion.

After exceeding $10 billion in revenue for the first time in 2019, the auto parts retailer in 2020 recorded sales of $11.6 billion. Springfield Business Journal previously reported the company's next annual sales goal is $15 billion by 2027.

O’Reilly Automotive's stock in recent days has received recommendations from stock market analysts, such as Investor's Business Daily, MarketGauge.com and Yahoo Finance.

Additionally, O'Reilly Automotive last month announced a high-profile board appointment in Fred Whitfield, an executive of the Charlotte Hornets professional basketball organization and a longtime friend and business colleague of Michael Jordan.