AZOAutoZone
Is it safe?
Solid, nothing alarming. Balance sheet to watch, no accounting flags, quality moderate.
Mixed, watch the balance sheet Altman Z-score, a bankruptcy-risk model from five balance-sheet ratios.
Reported earnings show no manipulation flags Beneish M-score, a forensic model that detects earnings-manipulation patterns (receivables outrunning sales, margins slipping, accrual-heavy profit).
Mixed fundamental signals Piotroski F-score, nine pass/fail tests of year-over-year financial health across profitability, balance sheet and efficiency. 7 to 9 is strong, 0 to 3 weak.
Insiders were net sellers (-$4.5M, 90 days to Oct 8, 2026), selling is often routine.
Investment-grade balance sheet. A rule of thumb on leverage, not a credit rating.
Moderate price swings, typical volatility. Worst drawdown -42% · now 31% below its 52-week high.
Unless marked, from SEC EDGAR, as of Aug 30, 2025.
Against the whole market›
Percentile against every name Ryufin tracks. Higher is better; the tick marks the middle of the market. Context, not one of the checks above.
Where this answer is blind. Altman sits structurally low for utilities and pipelines; Beneish runs high for fast growers, since sales growth alone lifts it; banks and REITs are excluded.
Can AZO take a bad year?
AutoZone carries $8.76B of net debt at 2.26× EBITDA: a load its earnings can carry.
Net debt · as at Q3 2026 · under two and a half years of EBITDA, comfortable
- Net debt / EBITDA
- 2.26×
Net debt / EBITDA · 2.35× a year ago · the load is coming down
- Altman Z-score
- 2.58
Altman Z-score · grey zone, between 1.8 and 3
- Annualised volatility
- 25%
Annualised volatility · about as steady as the market itself
Details›
- Total debtQ3 2026
- $9.02B
- Cash and short-term investments
- $254M
- Net debt
- $8.76B
- EBITDA, trailing twelve months
- $3.88B
- Operating profit, trailing twelve months
- $3.27B
- Total debt / EBITDA
- 2.32×
- Annualised volatilitytwo years of daily moves
- 25%
- Worst drawdown on file
- −42%
- Below its 52-week high
- 32%
Balance sheet from SEC filings; drawdown and volatility from end-of-day closes; Altman Z from the filed statements.
Auto Parts
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