AutoZone, Inc. (AZO) has reported an 1.28 percent rise in profit for the quarter ended May 06, 2017. The company has earned $331.70 million, or $11.44 a share in the quarter, compared with $327.52 million, or $10.77 a share for the same period last year.

Revenue during the quarter went up marginally by 0.98 percent to $2,619.01 million from $2,593.67 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter contracted 21 basis points over the previous year period to 52.63 percent. Total expenses were 79.78 percent of quarterly revenues, up from 79.32 percent for the same period last year. That has resulted in a contraction of 46 basis points in operating margin to 20.22 percent.

Operating income for the quarter was $529.57 million, compared with $536.37 million in the previous year period.

"I would like to thank all AutoZoners across the organization for their dedication to serving our customers throughout a very challenging spring sales season. Our sales performance for the first five weeks of our quarter was significantly below our expectations, challenged by the well-publicized timing delays in IRS tax refunds. The last seven weeks of sales demonstrated improvement, but not enough to make up for our soft start. While this quarter's results were below our expectations, our AutoZoners' ongoing commitment to providing customers with Trustworthy Advice has us well positioned for the summer ahead. Notwithstanding macro headwinds, including increasing wage pressures, we are confident in our long term positive fundamentals for sales growth, and we remain committed to driving shareholder value," said Bill Rhodes, chairman, president and chief executive officer.