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2024 ANNUAL REPORT Notice of Annual Meeting of Stockholders and Proxy Statement
orkorate Pro le AutoZone is the leading retailer and distributor of automotive replacement parts and accessories in the Americas. Each store carries an extensive product line for cars, sport utility vehicles, vans and light duty trucks, including new and remanufactured automotive hard parts, maintenance items, accessories and non-automotive products. In the vast majority of our domestic stores and our stores in Mexico and Brazil, we have a commercial sales program that provides prompt delivery of parts and other products and commercial credit to local, regional and national repair garages, dealers, service stations, eet owners and other accounts. :e also sell automotive hard parts, maintenance items, accessories and non-automotive products through www.autozone.com, and our commercial customers can make purchases through www.autozonepro.com. Additionally, we sell the ALLDATA brand of automotive diagnostic, repair, collision and shop management software through www.alldata.com. :e also provide product information on our Duralast branded products through www. duralastparts.com. :e do not derive revenue from automotive repair or installation services. 7,353 stores (6,432 stores in 50 states in the U.S., 794 stores in Mexico, and 127 stores in Brazil) 5,898 domestic Commercial programs 14 Distribution centers (11 in the U.S., two in Mexico and one in Brazil) 126,000 AutoZoners Selected Financial Highlights 2024* 2023 2022 2021 2020 $18,490 $17,457 $16,252 $14,630 $12,632 $3,789 $3,474 $3,271 $2,945 $2,418 $149.55 $132.36 $117.19 $95.19 $71.93 After-Tax Return on Invested Capital 49.7% 55.4% 52.9% 41.0% 35.7% Domestic Same Store Sales Growth 0.4% 3.4% 8.4% 13.6% 7.4% International Same Store Sales Growth** 10.2% 17.5% 19.2% 20.7% 4.7% Operating Margin 20.5% 19.9% 20.1% 20.1% 19.1% $3,004 $2,941 $3,211 $3,519 $2,720 (Dollars in millions, except per share data) Net Sales %perating -ro t Diluted Earnings per Share Cash Flow from Operations * FY2024 includes a 53rd week of results ** Based on constant currency. Excludes impacts from uctuations of foreign exchange rates.
AutoZone s Pledge, est. 1986 AutoZoners always put customers first! We know our parts and products. Our stores look great! We ve got the best merchandise at the right price. We Dear Customers Customers, AutoZoners and Stoc Stockholders, On behalf of the 126,000 AutoZoners, I am excited to update you on our progress during fiscal 2024 ( FY24 ) and to review our plans for fiscal 2025 ( FY25 ) and beyond. For FY25, AutoZone launched our new operating theme focused on great customer service with the operating theme, Great People, Great Service . Great People, Great Service is an action plan and a commitment to doing the right things for our Customers and AutoZoners. This theme is an outcome of our culture, our Pledge, and our Values. Our theme is not a new one, but essential to remain focused on our customers, AutoZoners and our strategies. In FY25, we will continue to invest in our culture, in training AutoZoners, improving inventory assortments, building on our supply chain, and deploying technology investments implemented in FY24 to allow more AutoZoners than ever to say Yes to more customers. This past year marked our 45th anniversary, and my first year serving as President and Chief Executive Officer ( CEO ). After working nearly 40 years in the automotive aftermarket, thirty-one of those years at AutoZone, I am honored that Bill Rhodes, our Executive Chairman, and our entire Board of Directors had confidence in me to name me the fifth CEO in AutoZone s rich history. AutoZone is a very special organization, and our culture is second to none. I want to thank Bill Rhodes, our Board of Directors and our management team for such a successful leadership transition. What made the transition smooth was the years of leadership experience we have at AutoZone. While I started working in a store 31 years ago, a majority of our leadership team has a similar degree of experience. Our officers average more than 18 years of experience with the Company! This is an amazing statistic and wonderful benefit to the organization when it comes to leading the Company. As a member of the leadership team the last several years, I am proud of what we ve accomplished but even more excited about what we will accomplish. By focusing on developing our AutoZoners skill, talents, and striving to always say Yes to our customers, we are strengthening our founder s vision and positioning ourselves well for continued success.
Fiscal Year 2024 While FY24 was not an easy one for us, it was transformative. Our domestic same store sales of 0.4% were the lowest we ve had since 2017, but that number doesn t tell the real story. With negative transaction counts and lower ticket growth, our DIY business experienced slightly negative same store sales. Similar to DIY, our Domestic Commercial business experienced lower traffic and ticket growth than we d seen in more than 10 years. As we were coming off very strong domestic sales the last few years, customers were challenged in FY24. Specifically, over the last few years, they ve faced higher inflation across just about everything they buy, which negatively impacted their discretionary purchases. While many of our parts and products are purchased due to failure and maintenance needs, discretionary purchases represent approximately 15% of our auto parts sales. Domestically, discretionary sales were meaningfully negative for the year. However, on the international front, we experienced another solid year. We grew same store constant currency sales 10.2% and opened 81 new stores. A time for prudent investment With a tougher macro environment, we decided this is the time to invest our capital for future years growth. We have confidence in our industry with the average age of light vehicles over 12.6 years, more vehicles on the road, and miles driven continuing to increase. We began with an investment in our largest Supply Chain initiative to date, which we call Supply Chain 2030. This investment is focused on improving our supply chain network to support our store growth through the year 2030. As part of this initiative, we started construction on two new distribution centers in the U.S. and doubled the size of one of our distribution centers in Mexico while working to relocate to a much larger distribution center in Monterey, Mexico. We also began construction on a new distribution center in Brazil which is expected to open in late calendar 2025. On the technology front, we invested more in our proprietary systems that support the Commercial business across all countries. Our other systems investments are focused on making AutoZone easier to do business with. As we have begun to implement these upgrades in markets, we saw our sales increase. We are making one of the largest commitments to store growth that we ve ever made. We have established an annual target of opening 500 stores globally by fiscal 2028 ( FY28 ). We are targeting approximately 300 domestic stores, and 200 international stores annually. As these are significant goals, considering we have been opening around 200 stores globally, we ramped up our store development efforts. This year, we opened, 213 net new stores with plans to open more each year as we strive for our stated goal in FY28. As part of these new store openings, we are extremely excited to share that we will also ramp up our hub and mega hub openings. We plan to have approximately 285 Mega Hubs and over 300 hubs domestically at maturity. Lastly, we ve continued to invest in
ALLDATA, our subsidiary, that is second to none in the global marketplace for original equipment ( OE ) diagnostic and repair information. With these upgrades, we expect to grow ALLDATA domestically and internationally in the coming years. These are all very exciting initiatives, but they will take time to develop, and they come with some near-term cost headwinds. Our capital expenditures in FY24 were at an all-time high, exceeding $1 billion. We expect to have similar levels of capital spend in FY25. What was different in Fiscal Year 2024 While our story continues to be one of evolution and not revolution, we believe we are well positioned to begin FY25. With one of the best brands of products in the automotive aftermarket, Duralast, we have expanded lines of coverage. In addition to the capital and inventory investments we made in FY24, we made sizable investments in operating expenses. We focused on what we call Flawless Execution . Specifically, our store level turnover improved, our customer service is noticeably better, we increased our efforts toward training, and our in-stock is back to prepandemic levels. Regarding Commercial, we opened 216 net new programs, and now have programs in 92% of our U.S. stores. With less than 5% share of the overall Commercial market, we feel we are well positioned to continue gaining share in FY25. We also continued accelerating our international store growth, opening more stores outside the U.S. than ever before. We continue to see our products and service offerings being well received by our customers in Mexico and Brazil. Just as in the U.S., our biggest growth opportunity internationally is growing our commercial capabilities. We remain committed to expanding our internet offerings. We believe www.autozone.com is well positioned to help with the ever-increasing demands of online shoppers. We are proud of what we ve accomplished, and we believe FY24 laid a strong foundation for an even better FY25. While FY24 was clearly a more challenging year, our initiatives are beginning to drive sales and will for years to come. Lastly, we continue to invest in our information systems infrastructure at increasing levels, as these investments will be core to our customer service offerings. Looking forward, FY25 will be a very busy year for us as we remain focused on sustainable growth.
 • shareholder letter icon 10/30/2024 Letter Continued (Full PDF)
 • stockholder letter icon 10/26/1999 AZO Stockholder Letter
 • stockholder letter icon 10/27/2000 AZO Stockholder Letter
 • stockholder letter icon 11/16/2001 AZO Stockholder Letter
 • stockholder letter icon 10/30/2023 AZO Stockholder Letter
 • stockholder letter icon More "Auto Dealerships" Category Stockholder Letters
 • Benford's Law Stocks icon AZO Benford's Law Stock Score = 91


AZO Shareholder/Stockholder Letter Transcript:

2024 ANNUAL REPORT
Notice of Annual Meeting of Stockholders and Proxy Statement

orkorate Pro  le
AutoZone is the leading retailer and distributor of automotive
replacement parts and accessories in the Americas. Each store
carries an extensive product line for cars, sport utility vehicles, vans
and light duty trucks, including new and remanufactured automotive
hard parts, maintenance items, accessories and non-automotive
products. In the vast majority of our domestic stores and our stores in
Mexico and Brazil, we have a commercial sales program that provides
prompt delivery of parts and other products and commercial credit to
local, regional and national repair garages, dealers, service stations,
  eet owners and other accounts. :e also sell automotive hard parts,
maintenance items, accessories and non-automotive products
through www.autozone.com, and our commercial customers can
make purchases through www.autozonepro.com. Additionally, we sell
the ALLDATA brand of automotive diagnostic, repair, collision and shop
management software through www.alldata.com. :e also provide
product information on our Duralast branded products through www.
duralastparts.com. :e do not derive revenue from automotive repair
or installation services.
    7,353 stores (6,432 stores in 50 states in the U.S.,
794 stores in Mexico, and 127 stores in Brazil)
    5,898 domestic Commercial programs
    14 Distribution centers (11 in the U.S., two in Mexico
and one in Brazil)
    126,000 AutoZoners
Selected Financial Highlights
2024*
2023
2022
2021
2020
$18,490
$17,457
$16,252
$14,630
$12,632
$3,789
$3,474
$3,271
$2,945
$2,418
$149.55
$132.36
$117.19
$95.19
$71.93
After-Tax Return on Invested Capital
49.7%
55.4%
52.9%
41.0%
35.7%
Domestic Same Store Sales Growth
0.4%
3.4%
8.4%
13.6%
7.4%
International Same Store Sales Growth**
10.2%
17.5%
19.2%
20.7%
4.7%
Operating Margin
20.5%
19.9%
20.1%
20.1%
19.1%
$3,004
$2,941
$3,211
$3,519
$2,720
(Dollars in millions, except per share data)
Net Sales
%perating -ro  t
Diluted Earnings per Share
Cash Flow from Operations
* FY2024 includes a 53rd week of results
** Based on constant currency. Excludes impacts from   uctuations of foreign exchange rates.

AutoZone   s Pledge, est. 1986
AutoZoners always put customers first!
We know our parts and products.
Our stores look great!
We   ve got the best merchandise at the right price.
We
Dear Customers
Customers, AutoZoners and Stoc
Stockholders,
On behalf of the 126,000 AutoZoners, I am excited to update you on our progress during fiscal 2024 (   FY24   ) and to
review our plans for fiscal 2025 (   FY25   ) and beyond. For FY25, AutoZone launched our new operating theme focused
on great customer service with the operating theme,    Great People, Great Service   .    Great People, Great Service    is an
action plan and a commitment to doing the right things for our Customers and AutoZoners. This theme is an outcome
of our culture, our Pledge, and our Values. Our theme is not a new one, but essential to remain focused on our
customers, AutoZoners and our strategies. In FY25, we will continue to invest in our culture, in training AutoZoners,
improving inventory assortments, building on our supply chain, and deploying technology investments implemented
in FY24 to allow more AutoZoners than ever to say    Yes    to more customers.
This past year marked our 45th anniversary, and my first year serving as President and Chief Executive Officer (   CEO   ).
After working nearly 40 years in the automotive aftermarket, thirty-one of those years at AutoZone, I am honored that
Bill Rhodes, our Executive Chairman, and our entire Board of Directors had confidence in me to name me the fifth CEO
in AutoZone   s rich history. AutoZone is a very special organization, and our culture is second to none. I want to thank
Bill Rhodes, our Board of Directors and our management team for such a successful leadership transition. What
made the transition smooth was the years of leadership experience we have at AutoZone. While I started working in
a store 31 years ago, a majority of our leadership team has a similar degree of experience. Our officers average more
than 18 years of experience with the Company! This is an amazing statistic and wonderful benefit to the organization
when it comes to leading the Company. As a member of the leadership team the last several years, I am proud of
what we   ve accomplished but even more excited about what we will accomplish. By focusing on developing our
AutoZoners    skill, talents, and striving to always say    Yes    to our customers, we are strengthening our founder   s vision
and positioning ourselves well for continued success.

Fiscal Year 2024
While FY24 was not an easy one for us, it was transformative. Our domestic same store sales of 0.4% were the
lowest we   ve had since 2017, but that number doesn   t tell the real story. With negative transaction counts and
lower ticket growth, our DIY business experienced slightly negative same store sales. Similar to DIY, our Domestic
Commercial business experienced lower traffic and ticket growth than we   d seen in more than 10 years. As we were
coming off very strong domestic sales the last few years, customers were challenged in FY24. Specifically, over the
last few years, they   ve faced higher inflation across just about everything they buy, which negatively impacted their
discretionary purchases. While many of our parts and products are purchased due to failure and maintenance needs,
discretionary purchases represent approximately 15% of our auto parts sales. Domestically, discretionary sales were
meaningfully negative for the year. However, on the international front, we experienced another solid year. We grew
same store constant currency sales 10.2% and opened 81 new stores.
A time for prudent investment
With a tougher macro environment, we decided this is the time to invest our capital for future years    growth. We
have confidence in our industry with the average age of light vehicles over 12.6 years, more vehicles on the road,
and miles driven continuing to increase. We began with an investment in our largest Supply Chain initiative to date,
which we call Supply Chain 2030. This investment is focused on improving our supply chain network to support
our store growth through the year 2030. As part of this initiative, we started construction on two new distribution
centers in the U.S. and doubled the size of one of our distribution centers in Mexico while working to relocate to
a much larger distribution center in Monterey, Mexico. We also began construction on a new distribution center in
Brazil which is expected to open in late calendar 2025. On the technology front, we invested more in our proprietary
systems that support the Commercial business across all countries. Our other systems investments are focused on
making AutoZone easier to do business with. As we have begun to implement these upgrades in markets, we saw
our sales increase. We are making one of the largest commitments to store growth that we   ve ever made. We have
established an annual target of opening 500 stores globally by fiscal 2028 (   FY28   ). We are targeting approximately
300 domestic stores, and 200 international stores annually. As these are significant goals, considering we have
been opening around 200 stores globally, we ramped up our store development efforts. This year, we opened, 213
net new stores with plans to open more each year as we strive for our stated goal in FY28. As part of these new store
openings, we are extremely excited to share that we will also ramp up our hub and mega hub openings. We plan to
have approximately 285 Mega Hubs and over 300 hubs domestically at maturity. Lastly, we   ve continued to invest in

ALLDATA, our subsidiary, that is second to none in the global marketplace for original equipment (   OE   ) diagnostic and
repair information. With these upgrades, we expect to grow ALLDATA domestically and internationally in the coming
years. These are all very exciting initiatives, but they will take time to develop, and they come with some near-term
cost headwinds. Our capital expenditures in FY24 were at an all-time high, exceeding $1 billion. We expect to have
similar levels of capital spend in FY25.
What was different in Fiscal Year 2024
While our story continues to be one of evolution and not revolution, we believe we are well positioned to begin
FY25. With one of the best brands of products in the automotive aftermarket, Duralast, we have expanded lines of
coverage. In addition to the capital and inventory investments we made in FY24, we made sizable investments in
operating expenses. We focused on what we call    Flawless Execution   . Specifically, our store level turnover improved,
our customer service is noticeably better, we increased our efforts toward training, and our in-stock is back to prepandemic levels.
Regarding Commercial, we opened 216 net new programs, and now have programs in 92% of our U.S. stores. With less
than 5% share of the overall Commercial market, we feel we are well positioned to continue gaining share in FY25.
We also continued accelerating our international store growth, opening more stores outside the U.S. than ever
before. We continue to see our products and service offerings being well received by our customers in Mexico and
Brazil. Just as in the U.S., our biggest growth opportunity internationally is growing our commercial capabilities.
We remain committed to expanding our internet offerings. We believe www.autozone.com is well positioned to help
with the ever-increasing demands of online shoppers.
We are proud of what we   ve accomplished, and we believe FY24 laid a strong foundation for an even better FY25.
While FY24 was clearly a more challenging year, our initiatives are beginning to drive sales and will for years to come.
Lastly, we continue to invest in our information systems infrastructure at increasing levels, as these investments will
be core to our customer service offerings. Looking forward, FY25 will be a very busy year for us as we remain focused
on sustainable growth.



shareholder letter icon 10/30/2024 Letter Continued (Full PDF)
 

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