AI interpretation based on checked source excerpts. Issuer assertions and evidence limitations remain explicit.
Policy quality-scores-2: six equally weighted categories. The overall score requires full coverage. Missing inputs are not zero. Qualitative grades are sourced interpretations, not probabilities. 3/6 · 28/10/2026
Moat—
Awaiting a sourced assessment under the current scoring policy and financial basis.
Pricing power—
Awaiting a sourced assessment under the current scoring policy and financial basis.
Predictability100
Five consecutive annual periods. Equal weights: nondeclining revenue frequency; revenue-growth volatility (5–40pp); positive FCF frequency; FCF-margin volatility (3–20pp). Stability indicator, not a growth forecast.
- Nondeclining revenue years (%)
- 100.00
- Revenue growth volatility (pp)
- 2.03
- Positive FCF years (%)
- 100.00
- FCF margin volatility (pp)
- 2.42
Financial strength42
Equal-weight grades: debt/FCF (1–8x), net debt/earnings before interest and tax (0–5x), interest service (1–12x), current ratio (0.75–2x). Earnings use reported operating income, or reported pretax profit plus reported interest expense when operating income is unavailable. Interest service uses earnings/interest expense; if unavailable, it uses reported operating cash flow/cash interest paid, without relabeling cash paid as accrued expense. Nonpositive cash flow/earnings score 0 for their service component; reported zero interest with a positive numerator scores 100. Net cash scores 100 for net leverage. Missing disclosures remain unavailable. General nonfinancial-company rubric, not a credit rating; exceptional and nonoperating gains are not normalized out. IFRS finance-cost and cash-flow classifications retain their reported scope.
- debtFcfGrade
- 42.48
- netDebtEbitGrade
- 52.74
- interestCoverageGrade
- 59.95
- currentRatioGrade
- 12.08
- Debt / FCF (x)
- 5.03
- Net debt / operating income (x)
- 2.36
- Interest coverage (x)
- 7.59
- Current ratio (x)
- 0.90
Capital allocation93
Three-year equal-weight indicators: pretax return on average invested capital (0–25%; equity + debt − cash, each year and its prior year), share-count growth (0–5%, lower better), share-based cost/revenue (2–20%, lower better), consolidated FCF/net income (0–1x). Return uses reported operating income or, if unavailable, EBIT calculated from reported pretax profit plus reported interest expense; exceptional/nonoperating gains are not normalized out. Share-based cost uses the reported cash-flow add-back or, if absent, separately reported recognized compensation expense; the latter never becomes an FCF adjustment. Nonpositive net income scores 0 for cash conversion; absent income/FCF stays unavailable. Nonpositive invested capital has no defined return and remains unavailable. Does not establish acquisition quality or buyback timing.
- 3-year pre-tax operating return (%)
- 83.34
- 3-year average dilution (%)
- -3.78
- 3-year average SBC / revenue (%)
- 0.64
- cashConversionGrade
- 71.60
Management—
Awaiting a sourced assessment under the current scoring policy and financial basis.
Evidence
Stores are replenished primarily by the nearest distribution center but also typically have same-day access to one of our 367 domestic and 53 international hub stores’ expanded inventory assortment.
Item 1, Store Operations: same-day access to hub inventory · Filed 27/10/2025
Hub stores carry approximately 40,000 to 50,000 unique SKUs and mega hub stores carry approximately 80,000 to 110,000 unique SKUs with 70% to 85% of their space utilized for hard parts.
Item 1, Store Formats: hub and mega hub assortment · Filed 27/10/2025
Z-net provides parts information based on year, make, model and engine type of a vehicle and also tracks inventory availability at the store, at other nearby stores and through special order.
Item 1, Store Automation: inventory visibility · Filed 27/10/2025
As a subset of our domestic hub stores, we ended fiscal 2024 with 109 mega hub stores, an increase of 11 since the end of fiscal 2023.
Item 1, Store Operations: fiscal 2024 mega hub count · Filed 28/10/2024
As a subset of our domestic hub stores, we ended fiscal 2025 with 133 mega hub stores, an increase of 24 since the end of fiscal 2024.
Item 1, Store Operations: fiscal 2025 mega hub count · Filed 27/10/2025
We had an accounts payable to inventory ratio of 111.1% at May 9, 2026, and 115.6% at May 10, 2025.
MD&A, Liquidity and Capital Resources: accounts payable to inventory · Filed 12/06/2026
With the increasing use of digital tools, our customers often begin their shopping experience online and are quickly able to compare prices, product assortment, product availability and feedback from other customers before purchasing products.
Item 1A, Competition: online comparison · Filed 27/10/2025
Although we believe we compete effectively, our competitors may have greater financial resources allowing them to invest more in their business, greater sourcing capabilities allowing them to sell merchandise at lower prices, larger stores with more merchandise, longer operating histories with deeper customer relationships, more frequent customer visits, more effective advertising and more successful utilization of data analytics, artificial intelligence and other new and emerging technologies.
Item 1A, Competition: possible competitor capabilities · Filed 27/10/2025
Net inventory, defined as merchandise inventories less accounts payable, on a per store basis, was negative $107 thousand versus negative $131 thousand last year and negative $107 thousand last quarter.
Fiscal 2026 earnings release: net inventory per store · Filed 22/09/2026
(203,281
(190,588
Adjusted after-tax return
$
3,342,130
$
3,246,514
Average debt(3)
$
8,884,947
$
8,948,381
Average stockholders' deficit(3)
(2,967,742
(4,253,805
Add: Rent x 6(1)
3,000,120
2,778,186
Average financing lease liabilities(3)
415,701
396,323
Invested capital
$
9,333,026
$
7,869,085
Adjusted After-Tax ROIC
35.8
%
41.3
%
(1)The table below outlines the calculation of rent expense and reconciles rent expense to total lease cost, per ASC 842, the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure, for the 52 weeks ended August 29, 2026, and August 30, 2025.
Fiscal 2026 earnings release: adjusted ROIC reconciliation · Filed 22/09/2026
For the fiscal year ended August 29, 2026, net sales were $20.3 billion, an increase of 7.4% from the prior year.
Fiscal 2026 earnings release: annual net sales · Filed 22/09/2026
Operating profit increased 3.1% to $3.7 billion, net income increased 3.0% to $2.6 billion and diluted earnings per share increased 5.3% to $152.55 from $144.87.
Fiscal 2026 earnings release: annual operating profit and earnings · Filed 22/09/2026
Gross profit, as a percentage of sales, was 52.3% versus last year at 52.6%.
Fiscal 2026 earnings release: annual gross margin · Filed 22/09/2026
The decrease in gross margin was impacted by a 61 basis point net non-cash LIFO impact, partially offset by a 48 basis point benefit from tariff refunds.
Fiscal 2026 earnings release: LIFO and tariff refund effects · Filed 22/09/2026
The increase in gross margin was driven by a 145 basis point impact from tariff refunds and a 105 basis point net non-cash LIFO impact, partially offset by higher commercial mix.
Fiscal 2026 earnings release: fourth-quarter gross margin drivers · Filed 22/09/2026
All this while we built upon our exceptional prior-period performance by delivering $18.9 billion in sales, domestic same store sales growth of 3.2%, international same store sales growth (on a constant currency basis) of 9.33% and total company same store sales growth (on a constant currency basis) of 3.9%.
2025 proxy, operating review: same-store sales results · Filed 28/10/2025
Same store sales are impacted both by customer demand levels and by the prices we are able to charge for our products, which can also be negatively impacted by economic pressures.
Item 1A, Growth: demand and pricing contributions to same-store sales · Filed 27/10/2025
Other Selected Financial Information
(in thousands)
August 29, 2026
Cumulative share repurchases ($ since fiscal 1998)
$
40,543,302
$
38,517,689
Remaining share repurchase authorization ($)
1,606,698
632,311
Cumulative share repurchases (shares since fiscal 1998)
156,208
155,629
Shares outstanding, end of quarter
16,173
16,665
16 Weeks Ended
16 Weeks Ended
52 Weeks Ended
52 Weeks Ended
August 29, 2026
August 29, 2026
Depreciation and amortization
$
220,139
$
197,412
$
684,265
$
613,199
Cash flow from operations
1,183,259
990,819
3,302,846
3,155,401
Capital spending
498,769
479,698
1,496,255
1,365,321
Selected Operating Highlights
Store Count & Square Footage
16 Weeks Ended
16 Weeks Ended
52 Weeks Ended
52 Weeks Ended
August 29, 2026
August 29, 2026
Domestic:
Beginning stores
6,766
6,537
6,627
6,432
Stores opened
97
91
236
196
Stores closed
(1
(1
Ending domestic stores
6,863
6,627
6,863
6,627
Relocated stores
Stores with commercial programs
6,443
6,098
6,443
6,098
Square footage (in thousands)
45,934
44,138
45,934
44,138
Mexico:
Beginning stores
933
838
883
794
Stores opened
68
45
118
Fiscal 2026 earnings release: cash generation, capital spending, shares and domestic commercial programs · Filed 22/09/2026
For the fiscal year, the Company repurchased 579 thousand shares of its common stock, at an average price of $3,496, for a total investment of $2.0 billion.
Fiscal 2026 earnings release: completed annual repurchases · Filed 22/09/2026
Our adjusted debt to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, rent and share-based compensation expense (“EBITDAR”) ratio, which is a non-GAAP measure, was 2.5:1 as of May 9, 2026, and May 10, 2025.
MD&A, Capital Resources: realized adjusted leverage · Filed 12/06/2026
Most Important Financial Performance Measures: Economic Profit; Return on Invested Capital; Adjusted Earnings Before Interest and Taxes; and Stock Price.
2025 proxy, Pay versus Performance: measures linking compensation to performance · Filed 28/10/2025
Performance Hurdle. The annual incentive plan is subject to a pre-established threshold or hurdle such that no annual incentive awards are paid out unless the Company achieves 90% of target Economic Profit.
2025 proxy, Annual Incentive Plan: economic profit payout hurdle · Filed 28/10/2025
Option-vesting periods range from four to five years, with the majority of options vesting ratably over four years.
Share-based Payments: actual option vesting terms · Filed 12/06/2026
The Compensation Committee may (but is not required to) adjust for the effect of one-time charges and extraordinary events such as asset write-downs, litigation judgments or settlements, changes in tax laws, accounting principles or other laws or provisions affecting reported results, accruals for reorganization or restructuring, and any other extraordinary non-recurring items, acquisitions or divestitures and any foreign exchange gains or losses on the calculation of performance.
2025 proxy, Annual Incentive Plan: committee adjustment discretion · Filed 28/10/2025
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE ● Board Leadership consists of Executive Chairman and Lead Independent Director ● Intentional Board refreshment and succession planning resulted in two new independent candidates to further enhance the Board’s diverse skillset ● Disciplined CEO succession planning resulted in appointment of new President and Chief Executive Officer in FY24 ● Audit, Compensation and Nominating & Corporate Governance Committees (the “Standing Committees”) made up entirely of Independent Directors ● Use of Third-Party Firm for 2021 and 2024 Board Evaluations ● Review and update of Corporate Governance Principles in FY24 and Committee Charters in FY25 For more information, see: Corporate Governance beginning on page 7.
2025 proxy summary: independent committees and governance practices · Filed 28/10/2025
Our Corporate Governance Principles provide our Lead Independent Director with clearly defined responsibilities as follows: ● Presides at all executive sessions of the independent directors of the Board (without management present) at every regularly scheduled Board meeting; ● Chairs Board meetings when the Chairman is not present; ● Works with management to determine the information and materials to be provided to the Board; ● With Executive Chairman, approves Board meeting agendas, schedules, and other information to be provided to the Board; ● Consults with the Executive Chairman and the CEO on such other matters as are pertinent to the Board and the Company; ● Has the authority to call meetings of the independent directors; ● Is available for direct communication and consultation with stockholders upon reasonable request; and ● Serves as a liaison between the Executive Chairman and the independent directors.
2025 proxy, Governance Framework: lead independent director authority · Filed 28/10/2025
In response to shareholder feedback, the individual modifier component of the annual incentive plan has been eliminated effective FY25.
2025 proxy, Annual Incentive Plan: implemented response to shareholder feedback · Filed 28/10/2025
The Board may consider any factors it deems relevant in deciding whether to accept a director’s resignation.
2025 proxy, Director Elections: discretion over resignation acceptance · Filed 28/10/2025
While international performance has been below our plan, we believe our market share continues to grow as we outpace our competition in both international marketplaces.
Fiscal 2026 third-quarter release: international underperformance and management market-share belief · Filed 26/05/2026
Based on the data we have, we continued to gain share and we expect sales in each of the three countries in which we operate to accelerate in the new fiscal year.
Fiscal 2026 fourth-quarter release: management market-share claim and growth expectation · Filed 22/09/2026
prevalence of electric vehicles. Increased prevalence of electric vehicles, whether due to changes in consumer preferences or regulatory actions incentivizing the purchase of electric vehicles, can result in less frequent parts failures and reduced need for parts.
Item 1A, Demand: potential electric vehicle effects · Filed 27/10/2025
restrictions on access to telematics and diagnostic tools and repair information imposed by the original vehicle manufacturers or by governmental regulation.
Item 1A, Demand: potential diagnostic information restrictions · Filed 27/10/2025
