O’Reilly Automotive, Inc., a eading retailer in the automotive aftermarket industry, announced record revenue for its fourth quarter and full-year ended December 31, 2024, and provided an outlook for store growth across North America.

Brad Beckham, O’Reilly’s CEO, commented, “We are pleased to report a strong finish to 2024 in the fourth quarter highlighted by 4.4% growth in comparable store sales, driven by solid growth in both professional and DIY. Our Team is relentlessly focused on executing our industry-leading model at a high level, which we believe continues to generate market share gains on both sides of our business. I would like to take this opportunity to commend Team O’Reilly on their performance in the fourth quarter and thank each of you for your hard work and continued commitment to providing excellent customer service.”

Sales for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2024, increased $264 million, or 7%, to $4.10 billion from $3.83 billion for the same period one year ago. Gross profit for the fourth quarter increased 7% to $2.10 billion (or 51.3% of sales) from $1.97 billion (or 51.3% of sales) for the same period one year ago. Selling, general and administrative expenses (“SG&A”) for the fourth quarter increased 9% to $1.36 billion (or 33.3% of sales) from $1.25 billion (or 32.6% of sales) for the same period one year ago. Operating income for the fourth quarter increased 3% to $739 million (or 18.0% of sales) from $719 million (or 18.8% of sales) for the same period one year ago.

SG&A expenses for the fourth quarter included a charge of $35 million to adjust reserves relating to our self-insurance liabilities for historic auto liability claims. The adjustment relates to claims that occurred prior to 2024 and reflects adverse claim development experience and revised assumptions used to estimate future liabilities for these claim years.

Net income for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2024, decreased $1 million to $551 million (or 13.5% of sales) from $553 million (or 14.4% of sales) for the same period one year ago. Diluted earnings per common share for the fourth quarter increased 3% to $9.50 on 58 million shares versus $9.26 on 60 million shares for the same period one year ago. The self-insurance reserve adjustment, net of tax, impacted fourth quarter net income and diluted earnings per share by $27 million and $0.46, respectively.

Outlook includes more stores in Canada

During the results call, Beckham spoke about plans for expanding store count, and that discussion included Canada. In 2024, O’Reilly acquired the Quebec-based Groupe Del Vasto and has since introduced its Parts City Auto Parts and Certified Auto Service programs.

“We disclosed on last quarter’s call our target of 200 to 210 net new store openings for 2025. The increase in new store openings reflects our continued strong new store performance and our confidence in our ability to successfully balance our organic growth with greenfield growth across our North American footprint. For domestic US store growth, our projected new store openings are spread across over 35 different states, balanced between expansion in newer markets in the Northeast, the Mid-Atlantic, and Puerto Rico, as well as backfill in existing markets coast to coast.

“Our plans also include continued growth in Mexico. In 2024, we opened 25 new stores in Mexico, bringing our store count to 87 stores and expect to open a similar number of stores in 2025. We are still in the early innings of our expansion in Mexico, but we are gaining momentum and capitalizing on the opportunity to spread new store growth over several market areas while at the same time also beginning to increase density in markets outside of our core historical base in Guadalajara.

“We are also building the development muscle necessary for greenfield new store growth in Canada. Our 2025 target does not yet include a substantial number of new stores in Canada, but the coming year will be an important one to build out the organic capabilities and advance the development of the new store pipeline that will fuel our growth in the coming years.

“Beyond the increase in our new store targets, we are also expected to increase our growth capital spend as a result of two additional factors, a continuing shift to owned new store growth versus leased stores and incremental investments in our hub store network. Our ability to successfully open stores that increasingly generate higher sales volumes and stronger cash flows is driving enhanced returns on capital invested in our new store growth.

“In light of these strong returns, we are planning 2025 new store openings to include a projected 60%, 40% mix of owned versus leased stores,” added Beckham. “We are also pleased with the returns we have generated through our ongoing expansion and enhancement of our hub store network. Our ability to support our stores with quick access to broad localized SKU availability is an important factor in our ability to effectively compete and take market share on both sides of the business.”

Full-Year Financial Results

Beckham continued, “Our strong performance in the fourth quarter lifted our full-year comparable store sales growth to 2.9%, at the high end of our revised guidance range of 2% to 3%. While our 2024 results were below our expectations entering the year, we are pleased with our Team’s ability to deliver solid comparable store sales growth despite tough market conditions. 2024 represents our 32nd consecutive year of annual comparable store sales growth and record earnings, and I want to congratulate

Team O’Reilly on their consistent performance and unwavering commitment to our customers. Our Team also delivered a strong finish to our expansion efforts in 2024, meeting our new store opening target with the successful opening of 198 net, new stores and completing our planned distribution expansion with the relocation of our Atlanta, Georgia distribution center to a larger, modern facility in the fourth quarter.”

Sales for the year ended December 31, 2024, increased $896 million, or 6%, to $16.71 billion from $15.81 billion for the same period one year ago. Gross profit for the year ended December 31, 2024, increased 6% to $8.55 billion (or 51.2% of sales) from $8.10 billion (or 51.3% of sales) for the same period one year ago. SG&A for the year ended December 31, 2024, increased 8% to $5.30 billion (or 31.7% of sales) from $4.92 billion (or 31.1% of sales) for the same period one year ago. Operating income for the year ended December 31, 2024, increased 2% to $3.25 billion (or 19.5% of sales) from $3.19 billion (or 20.2% of sales) for the same period one year ago.

Net income for the year ended December 31, 2024, increased $40 million, or 2%, to $2.39 billion (or 14.3% of sales) from $2.35 billion (or 14.8% of sales) for the same period one year ago. Diluted earnings per common share for the year ended December 31, 2024, increased 6% to $40.66 on 59 million shares versus $38.47 on 61 million shares for the same period one year ago.

4th Quarter and Full-Year Comparable Store Sales Results

Comparable store sales are calculated based on the change in sales for U.S. stores open at least one year and exclude sales of specialty machinery, sales to independent parts stores, and sales to Team Members, as well as sales from Leap Day for the year ended December 31, 2024. Online sales for ship-to-home orders and pick-up-in-store orders for U.S. stores open at least one year are included in the comparable store sales calculation. Comparable store sales increased 4.4% for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2024, on top of 3.4% for the same period one year ago. Comparable store sales increased 2.9% for the year ended December 31, 2024, on top of 7.9% for the same period one year ago.