ROANOKE, Va. Advance Auto Parts announced its financial results for the first fiscal quarter ended April 23. First quarter earnings per diluted share (EPS) were $1.35, which was a 13.4 percent increase over the first quarter last year.
“I would like to thank our 52,000 team members for their hard work and dedication to serving our customers and for navigating through a challenging first quarter. We entered this year with considerable momentum and expected that our first quarter would be a continuation of a very strong 2010,” said Darren Jackson, CEO. “While this quarter’s financial performance was below our expectations, we are committed to delivering on our full year earnings per share outlook. A combination of our record customer satisfaction trends and our growth plans through our Service Leadership and Superior Availability strategies position us for another strong 2011.”
Total sales for the first quarter increased 3.7 percent to $1.9 billion, compared with total sales of $1.83 billion during the first quarter of fiscal 2010. The sales increase reflected the net addition of 138 new stores during the past 12 months and a comparable store sales gain of 1.4 percent compared to a 7.7 percent comparable store sales gain during the first quarter of fiscal 2010. The company’s gross profit rate was 50.5 percent of sales during the first quarter as compared to 49.8 percent during the first quarter last year.