Net income for the quarter increased to $82.09 million from $76.10 million, while earnings per share advanced 21% to $0.86 from $0.71 in the first quarter of 2007. On average, 15 analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial expected earnings of $0.78 per share.
The Roanoke, Virginia-based Advance Auto Parts recorded net sales of $1.53 billion for first quarter, up 4%, compared to $1.47 billion in the year-ago quarter. A consensus of 10 analysts expected revenues of $1.51 billion for the quarter.
First quarter comparable store sales, or stores open for the past one year, increased 0.6% from last years.
Operating income for the recent quarter increased to $144.28 million from $134.69 million in the same quarter a year earlier. Quarterly gross profit rose to $743.45 million or 48.7% of sales from $709.40 million or 48.3% of sales in the prior-year quarter.
The company reported selling, general and administrative expenses of $599.17 million for the fiscal quarter, compared to $574.71 million in the prior-year quarter.
As on April 19, 2008, the company had cash and cash equivalents of $19.13 million, compared to $16.98 million in the corresponding quarter last year.
Mike Norona, Chief Financial Officer of Advanced Auto Parts commented, "We are in a turnaround and our financial results will not be linear. The turnaround approach will entail an in-depth assessment of all parts of the business. Correspondingly, I expect short-term earnings volatility while we position the Company to increase long-term value."
For the fourth quarter, Advance Auto Parts reported a slight decline in earnings, primarily due to higher operating expenses. However, earnings per share rose to $0.35 from $0.33 in the year-ago quarter, mainly due lower share count. Fourth quarter sales increased to $1.05 billion from $1.02 billion last year.
Amongst peers, O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY | news | PowerRating | PR Charts ) reported 4.3% decline in its first quarter profit, citing softer sales resulting from the challenging macro environment. O'Reilly's sales increased 5.4% to $646 million from $613 million in the same quarter last year.
Advanced Auto Parts also repurchased 4.6 million shares at an average price of $34.04 for a total amount of $155 million. During the quarter, the company authorized a $250 million share repurchase program, replacing the $500 million authorized in 2007, which had $105 million remaining.
Additionally, the company declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.06 per share, payable on July 3, 2008 to stockholders of record as of June 20, 2008.
The company also appointed John Bergstrom to its Board of Directors. Bergstrom has been serving as chairman and chief executive officer of Bergstrom Corp. for the past five years.
AAP closed Thursday's trading at $34.64, up $0.12 or 0.35%, on a volume of about 953 thousand shares. In after-hours, the stock further gained $3.03 or 8.75% and traded at $37.67. AA has been trading in the range of $29.51 to 42.60 for the past twelve months, with a three-month average volume of around 887 thousand shares.
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