AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Jamere Jackson: Yeah. So, clearly, used cars are still in tight supply and prices are up. We have seen prices moderate a little bit year-over-year, but they are still up 24% or so over a two-year basis. I think the second dynamic associated with that is, the fact that financing costs have gone up fairly significantly as well. So you have got interest rates that have made financing a vehicle, whether it’s new or used, significantly more expensive. I think the combination of those two dynamics puts tremendous pressure on consumers and what we have seen historically is that when the consumer is under pressure, whether it’s a recessionary cycle or it’s a cycle where new and used car prices spike, they tend to hang on to their vehicles longer, invest in repairing those vehicles and ride to the other side of tougher market conditions and we certainly think that, that’s going to be the case.

So while the prices have come down, we still see a very tight market that’s out there today, and quite frankly, a market that’s significantly more expensive than what consumers experience prior to the pandemic.

Jackie Sussman: Got it. That’s really helpful. Thanks. And just quickly, another on the wage inflation, I guess, that kind of feels like the most stubborn cost pressure, as you mentioned in your prepared remarks. Is the way to think about it that the cost of business seems structurally higher as a result or are there efficiencies within the labor and fulfillment model you have that you could focus on as an offset?

Bill Rhodes: There’s no question that the cost of doing business are structurally higher. And I just want to make sure I amplify this point, our wage rates are up double, more than double what they normally are and that is stick to your ribs inflation. It will be with us forever. But that’s going to continue. And it’s been going on for five years, not at this level, but we had acceleration before the pandemic and once the pandemic hit, it went up significantly more. But we have been able to manage it. We are looking for creative ways like always to be more and more efficient. But we can’t drive that level of efficiency in a 43-year-old business without some kind of structural change, which we will be looking for, but we haven’t identified at this point in time.

Jamere Jackson: And I just think from a macro standpoint, if you look at unemployment being at 3.4% or so and wage rates being in the — with a five handle on them, I mean we are in a dynamic where the combination, as Bill said in his remarks, the combination of market pressures and regulatory pressures, which is an increasing push to raise minimum wage rates, this is an environment that we have to plan for in the future. The good news, again, about our industry is that, as we have seen inflationary impacts, whether it’s product cost or it’s wages or it’s freight, I mean, we have typically seen this be an industry that is very disciplined about passing those costs along to consumers and given the relative inelasticity of the demand for our bread and butter products, we expect that to not cause our business to wobble at all.

Operator: Your next question for today is coming from David Bellinger at Roth MKM.

David Bellinger: Hey. Good morning. Thanks for taking the question. First one on the sequential improvement in discretionary categories. Why do you think that’s happening now, was there anything unique within the Q2 period? And are you seeing differences across demographics, meaning is the discretionary improvement also occurring with your lower or, call it, the lowest income customer base as well?