O’Reilly Automotive reported fourth-quarter revenue of $2.48 billion, up 7% from fourth-quarter 2018.
Net income for the quarter, which ended Dec. 31, increased increased $25 million to $325 million. Diluted earnings per common share for the fourth quarter increased 14% to $4.25, versus $3.72 on 81 million shares in fourth-quarter 2018.
The results represent 27 consecutive years of comparable store sales growth and record revenue and operating income for O’Reilly since becoming a public company in April 1993.
“We are pleased to once again report another profitable quarter, highlighted by a 4.4% increase in comparable store sales and a 14.2% increase in diluted earnings per share,” O’Reilly’s CEO and Co-President Greg Johnson said in a news release. “While our comparable store sales results for the fourth quarter were in the top half of our expected range, we continued to see ongoing inflationary pressures in our expense structure, and primarily due to an unexpected surge in health benefit costs, our operating profit for the fourth quarter did not meet our expectations.”
Full-year sales were $10.15 billion, up 6% from full-year 2018.
“Team O’Reilly’s commitment to providing the highest level of customer service in the industry, along with our relentless focus on profitable growth, resulted in full-year comparable stores sales growth of 4%, a 5.8% increase in full-year operating profit and an 11.1% increase in 2019 diluted earnings per share,” Johnson said. “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, highlighted by 2019 marking our 11th consecutive year of 10% or greater diluted earnings per share growth.”
