O'Reilly Automotive - 10-Q quarterly report FY2015 Q2

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).

The Company uses the fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used to measure the fair value of certain of its financial instruments. The hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1 measurement) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3 measurement). The Company uses the income and market approaches to determine the fair value of its assets and liabilities. The three levels of the fair value hierarchy are set forth below:

The accompanying Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets include other financial instruments, including cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, amounts receivable from suppliers and accounts payable. Due to the short-term nature of these financial instruments, the Company believes that the carrying values of these instruments approximate their fair values.

The Company provides warranties on certain merchandise it sells with warranty periods ranging from 30 days to limited lifetime warranties. The risk of loss arising from warranty claims is typically the obligation of the Company's suppliers. Certain suppliers provide upfront allowances to the Company in lieu of accepting the obligation for warranty claims. For this merchandise, when sold, the Company bears the risk of loss associated with the cost of warranty claims. Differences between supplier allowances received by the Company in lieu of warranty obligations and estimated warranty expense are recorded as an adjustment to cost of sales. Estimated warranty costs, which are recorded as obligations at the time of sale, are based on the historical failure rate of each individual product line. The Company's historical experience has been that failure rates are relatively consistent over time and that the ultimate cost of warranty claims to the Company has been driven by volume of units sold as opposed to fluctuations in failure rates or the variation of the cost of individual claims.

The following table identifies shares of the Company's common stock that have been repurchased as part of the Company's publicly announced share repurchase program (in thousands, except per share data):

The Company recognizes share-based compensation expense based on the fair value of the grants, awards or shares at the time of the grant, award or issuance. Share-based compensation includes stock option awards issued under the Company's employee incentive plans and director stock plan, restricted stock awarded under the Company's employee incentive plans, performance incentive plan and director stock plan, stock issued through the Company's employee stock purchase plan and stock awarded to employees through other benefit programs.

The Company's stock-based incentive plans provide for the granting of stock options for the purchase of common stock of the Company to directors and certain key employees of the Company. Options are granted at an exercise price that is equal to the closing market price of the Company's common stock on the date of the grant. Director options granted under the plans expire after seven years and are fully vested after six months. Employee options granted under the plans expire after ten years and typically vest 25% per year, over four years. The Company records compensation expense for the grant date fair value of the option awards, adjusted for estimated forfeitures, evenly over the minimum required service period.

The fair value of each stock option award is estimated on the date of the grant using the Black-Scholes option pricing model. The Black-Scholes model requires the use of assumptions, including the risk free rate, expected life, expected volatility and expected dividend yield.

The Company's forfeiture rate is the estimated percentage of options awarded that are expected to be forfeited or canceled prior to becoming fully vested. The Company's estimate is evaluated periodically and is based upon historical experience at the time of evaluation and reduces expense ratably over the vesting period or the minimum required service period.

O'Reilly is currently involved in litigation incidental to the ordinary conduct of the Company's business. The Company records reserves for litigation losses in instances where a material adverse outcome is probable and the Company is able to reasonably estimate the probable loss. The Company reserves for an estimate of material legal costs to be incurred in pending litigation matters. Although the Company cannot ascertain the amount of liability that it may incur from any of these matters, it does not currently believe that, in the aggregate, these matters, taking into account applicable insurance and reserves, will have a material adverse effect on its consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows in a particular quarter or annual period.

As previously reported, the Company received a subpoena from the District Attorney of the County of Alameda, along with other environmental prosecutorial offices in the state of California, seeking documents and information related to the handling, storage and disposal of hazardous waste. Management has an ongoing and open dialogue with these agencies regarding this matter and is cooperating fully with the request; however, at this time a prediction of the ultimate outcome of these efforts cannot be determined.

In May of 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (the "FASB") issued Accounting Standard Update ("ASU") No. 2014-09, "Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606)" ("ASU 2014-09"). Under ASU 2014-09, an entity is required to follow a five-step process to determine the amount of revenue to recognize when promised goods or services are transferred to customers. ASU 2014-09 offers specific accounting guidance for costs to obtain or fulfill a contract with a customer. In addition, an entity is required to disclose sufficient information to understand the nature, amount, timing, and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows arising from contracts with customers. Originally, for public companies, ASU 2014-09 was effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2016, including periods within that reporting period, and can be adopted either retrospectively or as a cumulative effect adjustment at the date of adoption, with early adoption not permitted. In July of 2015, the FASB voted to approve amendments that would defer the effective date by one year to be effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017. The amendment allows early adoption, but not before the original effective date of December 15, 2016. The Company will adopt this guidance beginning with its first quarter ending March 31, 2018. The Company is in the process of evaluating the potential future impact, if any, of ASU 2014-09 on its consolidated financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

Unless otherwise indicated, "we," "us," our" and similar terms, as well as references to the "Company" or "O'Reilly," refer to O'Reilly Automotive, Inc. and its subsidiaries.

In Management's Discussion and Analysis, we provide a historical and prospective narrative of our general financial condition, results of operations, liquidity and certain other factors that may affect our future results, including:

The review of Management's Discussion and Analysis should be made in conjunction with our condensed consolidated financial statements, related notes and other financial information, forward-looking statements and other risk factors included elsewhere in this quarterly report.

We are a specialty retailer of automotive aftermarket parts, tools, supplies, equipment and accessories in the United States. We are one of the largest U.S. automotive aftermarket specialty retailers, selling our products to both do-it-yourself ("DIY") customers and professional service providers – our "dual market strategy." Our stores carry an extensive product line consisting of new and remanufactured automotive hard parts, maintenance items, accessories, a complete line of auto body paint and related materials, automotive tools and professional service provider service equipment. Our extensive product line includes an assortment of products that are differentiated by quality and price for most of the product lines we offer. For many of our product offerings, this quality differentiation reflects "good," "better," and "best" alternatives. Our sales and total gross margin dollars are highest for the "best" quality category of products. Consumers' willingness to select products at a higher point on the value spectrum is a driver of sales and profitability in our industry. Our stores also offer enhanced services and programs to our customers, including:  used oil, oil filter and battery recycling; battery, wiper and bulb replacement; battery diagnostic testing; electrical and module testing; check engine light code extraction; loaner tool program; drum and rotor resurfacing; custom hydraulic hoses; professional paint shop mixing and related materials; and machine shops.

Operating within the retail industry, we are influenced by a number of general macroeconomic factors including, but not limited to, fuel costs, unemployment rates, consumer preferences and spending habits, and competition. During challenging macroeconomic conditions, we believe that the average consumer's tendency has been to defer maintenance on their vehicles or "trade down" to lower quality products. We have ongoing initiatives aimed at tailoring our product offering to adjust to customers' changing preferences; however, we also continue to have initiatives focused on marketing and training to educate customers on the advantages of ongoing vehicle maintenance, as well as "purchasing up" on the value spectrum.

We believe the key drivers of current and future demand of the products sold within the automotive aftermarket include the number of U.S. miles driven, number of U.S. registered vehicles, new light vehicle registrations, average vehicle age and unemployment.

We remain confident in our ability to gain market share in our existing markets and grow our business in new markets by focusing on our dual market strategy and the core O'Reilly values of hard work and excellent customer service.

We believe the increased sales achieved by our stores are the result of store growth and the high levels of customer service provided by our well-trained and technically proficient Team Members, superior inventory availability, including same day and over-night access to inventory in our regional distribution centers, enhanced services and programs offered in our stores, a broader selection of product offerings in most stores with a dynamic catalog system to identify and source parts, a targeted promotional and advertising effort through a variety of media and localized promotional events, continued improvement in the merchandising and store layouts of our stores, compensation programs for all store Team Members that provide incentives for performance and our continued focus on serving both DIY and professional service provider customers.

Our comparable store sales increases for the three and six months ended June 30, 2015, were driven by increases in average ticket values and customer transaction counts for both DIY and professional service provider customers. The improvement in average ticket values was the result of the continued growth of the more costly, hard part categories as a percentage of our total sales. The overall growth in our hard part categories continues to be driven by our faster growing professional service provider sales, which are primarily comprised of hard parts categories and by the increasing complexity and cost of replacement parts necessary to maintain the current population of better engineered and more technically advanced vehicles. These vehicles require less frequent repairs and the component parts are more durable and last for longer periods of time; however, when repairs are required, the cost of replacement parts is, on average, greater. While the less frequent repairs required by these better engineered vehicles does create pressure on transaction counts, both DIY and professional service provider customer transaction counts were positive. Transaction counts for both DIY and professional service provider customers benefited from a positive macroeconomic environment during the three and six months ended June 30, 2015, including lower gas prices and declining levels of unemployment, which led to increased miles driven and a corresponding increase in vehicle maintenance. The increases in DIY transaction counts were also driven by our continued focus on staffing our stores with knowledgeable parts professionals to assist our DIY customers during high DIY traffic periods, including nights and weekends. The increases in professional service provider customer transaction counts were driven by the continued growth of less mature stores.

was primarily due to product acquisition cost improvements and a smaller impact from non-cash LIFO charges, as compared to the same period in the prior year. During the six months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, our LIFO cost was written down by approximately $19 million and $28 million, respectively, to reflect replacement cost.

Our long-term business strategy requires capital to open new stores, fund strategic acquisitions, expand distribution infrastructure, operate and maintain existing stores and may include the opportunistic repurchase of shares of our common stock through our Board-approved share repurchase program. The primary sources of our liquidity are funds generated from operations and borrowed under our unsecured revolving credit facility. Decreased demand for our products or changes in customer buying patterns could negatively impact our ability to generate funds from operations. Additionally, decreased demand or changes in buying patterns could impact our ability to meet the debt covenants of our credit agreement and, therefore, negatively impact the funds available under our unsecured revolving credit facility. We believe that cash expected to be provided by operating activities and availability under our unsecured revolving credit facility will be sufficient to fund both our short-term and long-term capital and liquidity needs for the foreseeable future. However, there can be no assurance that we will continue to generate cash flows at or above recent levels.

The senior notes are guaranteed on a senior unsecured basis by each of our subsidiaries ("Subsidiary Guarantors") that incurs or guarantees obligations under our Credit Agreement or under other credit facility or capital markets debt of ours or any of our Subsidiary Guarantors. The guarantees are joint and several and full and unconditional, subject to certain customary automatic release provisions, including release of the Subsidiary Guarantor's guarantee under our Credit Agreement and certain other debt, or, in certain circumstances, the sale or other disposition of a majority of the voting power of the capital interest in, or of all or substantially all the property of, the Subsidiary Guarantor.  Each of the Subsidiary Guarantors is 100% owned, directly or indirectly, by us and we have no independent assets or operations other than those of our subsidiaries. Our only direct or indirect subsidiaries that would not be Subsidiary Guarantors would be minor subsidiaries. Neither we, nor any of our Subsidiary Guarantors, are subject to any material or significant restrictions on our ability to obtain funds from our subsidiaries by dividend or loan or to transfer assets from such subsidiaries, except as provided by applicable law.

Free cash flow, the consolidated fixed charge coverage ratio and consolidated leverage ratio discussed and presented in the tables above are not derived in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"). We do not, nor do we suggest investors should, consider such non-GAAP financial measures in isolation from, or as a substitute for, GAAP financial information. We believe that the presentation of our free cash flow, consolidated fixed charge coverage ratio and consolidated leverage ratio provides meaningful supplemental information to both management and investors and reflects the required covenants under our credit agreement. We include these items in judging our performance and believe this non-GAAP information is useful to investors as well. Material limitations of these non-GAAP measures are that such measures do not reflect actual GAAP amounts. We compensate for such limitations by presenting, in the tables above, a reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP measures.

The following table identifies shares of our common stock that have been repurchased as part of our publicly announced share repurchase program (in thousands, except per share data):

We have been successful, in many cases, in reducing the effects of merchandise cost increases principally by taking advantage of supplier incentive programs, economies of scale resulting from increased volume of purchases and selective forward buying. To the extent our acquisition cost increased due to base commodity price increases industry-wide, we have typically been able to pass along these increased costs through higher retail prices for the affected products. As a result, we do not believe inflation has had a material adverse effect on our operations.

To some extent, our business is seasonal primarily as a result of the impact of weather conditions on customer buying patterns. While we have historically realized operating profits in each quarter of the year, our store sales and profits have historically been higher in the second and third quarters (April through September) than in the first and fourth quarters (October through March) of the year.

In May of 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (the "FASB") issued Accounting Standard Update ("ASU") No. 2014-09, "Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606)" ("ASU 2014-09"). Under ASU 2014-09, an entity is required to follow a five-step process to determine the amount of revenue to recognize when promised goods or services are transferred to customers. ASU 2014-09 offers specific accounting guidance for costs to obtain or fulfill a contract with a customer. In addition, an entity is required to disclose sufficient information to understand the nature, amount, timing, and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows arising from contracts with customers. Originally, for public companies, ASU 2014-09 was effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2016, including periods within that reporting period, and can be adopted either retrospectively or as a cumulative effect adjustment at the date of adoption, with early adoption not permitted. In July of 2015, the FASB voted to approve amendments that would defer the effective date by one year to be effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017. The amendment allows early adoption, but not before the original effective date of December 15, 2016. We will adopt this guidance beginning with our first quarter ending March 31, 2018. We are in the process of evaluating the potential future impact, if any, of ASU 2014-09 on our consolidated financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

As of the end of the period covered by this report, our management, under the supervision and with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, evaluated the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures pursuant to Rule 13a-15(b) and as defined in Rule 13a-15(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended ("the Exchange Act"). Based on that evaluation, the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered by this report are functioning effectively to provide reasonable assurance that the information required to be disclosed by us (including our consolidated subsidiaries) in reports filed under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the Securities and Exchange Commission's rules and forms and is accumulated and communicated to management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

O'Reilly is currently involved in litigation incidental to the ordinary conduct of the Company's business. The Company records reserves for litigation losses in instances where a material adverse outcome is probable and the Company is able to reasonably estimate the probable loss. The Company reserves for an estimate of material legal costs to be incurred in pending litigation matters. Although the Company cannot ascertain the amount of liability that it may incur from any of these matters, it does not currently believe that, in the aggregate, these matters, taking into account applicable insurance and reserves, will have a material adverse effect on its consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows in a particular quarter or annual period.

As previously reported, the Company received a subpoena from the District Attorney of the County of Alameda, along with other environmental prosecutorial offices in the state of California, seeking documents and information related to the handling, storage and disposal of hazardous waste. Management has an ongoing and open dialogue with these agencies regarding this matter and is cooperating fully with the request; however, at this time a prediction of the ultimate outcome of these efforts cannot be determined.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.