Auto parts are getting pricier, but they are in a sweet spot for the retailers that sell them. They still aren’t close to generating the kind of sticker shock that fully assembled cars can set off these days.
Advance Auto Parts said in its earnings call on Tuesday that comparable-store sales increased 8.2% in its fourth quarter compared with a year earlier, trouncing the 5.7% figure analysts polled by FactSet had expected. For the full year, the retailer saw comparable sales grow 10.7%, topping its own guidance and quite the step-up compared with the 2.4% growth it saw in 2020. Its larger peer O’Reilly Automotive saw comparable sales grow 13.3% in 2021 after seeing 10.9% growth in 2020.
