Genuine Parts Co. grows sales 3.3% in Q4-24
Genuine Parts Company, a global service provider of automotive and industrial replacement parts and value-added solutions, announced sales of $5.8 billion for the fourth quarter of 2024 and $23.5 billion for the full year.
"I would like to thank our global GPC teammates for their hard work and dedication to serving our customers throughout 2024," said President and CEO Will Stengel. "While the year presented challenges due to macroeconomic conditions and softer end-market demand, we remained focused on controlling what we could—advancing our strategic initiatives to strengthen the business and effectively managing our operations."
Fourth Quarter 2024 Results
Sales increased 3.3% year over year, improvement they attribute to a 3.2% benefit from acquisitions, a net 0.6% favorable impact of foreign currency and other, partially offset by a 0.5% decrease in comparable sales. The fourth quarter included one additional selling day in the U.S. versus the same period of the prior year, which positively impacted sales growth by approximately 1.1%.
Gross profit was $2.1 billion, (or 35.9% of sales), an increase of 1.8% compared to gross profit of $2.0 billion (or 36.4% of sales) in the same period of the prior year. Net income was $133 million, or $0.96 per diluted earnings per share. This compares to net income of $317 million, or $2.26 per diluted share in the prior year period.
Adjusted net income was $224 million, or $1.61 per diluted earnings per share.
Fourth Quarter 2024 Segment Highlights
During the fourth quarter of 2024, the company changed its segment profit measure to segment earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization ("EBITDA"). The company believes that segment EBITDA and segment EBITDA margin are useful measures because they allow management, analysts, investors, and other interested parties to evaluate the profitability of the company's business operations before the effects of certain net expenses that directly arise from its capital investment decisions (depreciation, amortization), financing decisions (interest) and tax strategies (income taxes). In addition, EBITDA is a metric included in certain long-term incentive compensation plans.
Automotive Parts Group ("Automotive")
Global Automotive sales were $3.7 billion, up 6.1% from the same period in 2023, consisting of a 4.6% benefit from acquisitions, a 1.3% favorable impact of foreign currency and other and a 0.2% increase in comparable sales. The additional selling day in the U.S. positively impacted Global Automotive sales growth by approximately 0.9%. Segment EBITDA of $285 million decreased 6.2%, with segment EBITDA margin of 7.8%, down 100 basis points from the same period of the prior year.
Industrial Parts Group ("Industrial")
Industrial sales were $2.1 billion, down 1.2% from the same period in 2023, consisting of a 1.7% decrease in comparable sales and a 0.3% unfavorable impact of foreign currency, slightly offset by a 0.8% benefit from acquisitions. The additional selling day in the U.S. positively impacted Global Industrial sales growth by approximately 1.5%. Segment EBITDA of $271 million decreased 4.3% with segment EBITDA margin of 12.9%, down 40 basis points from the same period of the prior year.
Full-Year 2024 Results
Sales for the 12 months ended December 31, 2024 were $23.5 billion, up 1.7% from the same period in 2023. Net income was $904 million, or $6.47 per diluted share, compared to $9.33 per diluted share in 2023. Adjusted net income for 2024 was $1.1 billion, or $8.16 per diluted share, a decrease of 12.5% compared to $9.33 per diluted share in 2023.
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