08:15 AM EDT, 05/21/2024 (MT Newswires) -- CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:

We boost our 12-month price target to $3,250 from $3,200, based on a FY 25 (Aug.) P/E of 19.2x, a justified premium to its 5-year average forward P/E of 18.0x. We raise our EPS estimates to $155.00 from $154.85 for FY 24 and to $169.25 from $168.00 for FY 25. AZO posts May-Q EPS of $36.69 vs. $34.12 (+8%), well ahead of the $36.01 consensus. The beat was mostly driven by stronger-than-expected margins, as revenue rose 3.7% to $4.24B ($60M below consensus) on a 1.9% same store sales increase and gross margin expanded 100 bps to 53.5% (30 bps ahead of consensus). Notably, AZO's international same store sales jumped a staggering 18.1%, as domestic same store sales growth was flat. AZO continues to boast one of the strongest earnings track records of any publicly traded company, as the quarter marked its 25th consecutive bottom line beat. We particularly like AZO's stock buybacks and robust international growth and see the record-high average U.S. vehicle age (12.5 years) helping support domestic same store sales.