Citi Maintains Hold on AutoZone

Citi is out with its report today on AutoZone AZO, maintaining Hold. In a note to clients, Citi writes, "AutoZone appears to have side stepped some of issues that have weighed on competitors recently. We believe that as industry headwinds continue to mount, effective sales execution in DIFM, inventory management, and cost discipline will remain critical to continued share gains and outperformance for AZO relative to peers. Comments from management sounded upbeat today, but we remain neutral on AZO on valuation discipline (currently trading at 14x NTM forward earnings, vs. 5 year average of 12.3x). We believe that recent industry trends, competitive dynamics and prospects for earnings growth are baked in at current levels." Citi maintains a $300 PT on AZO. Shares of AZO closed Thursday at $296.61, down 0.46% from Wednesday's close.