AutoZone vs Murphy USA
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The short version
- Murphy USA is the larger business, with $19.4B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $18.9B for AutoZone.
- AutoZone grew revenue faster (2.4%, against −4.3%).
- AutoZone kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (19.1% operating margin, against 3.7%).
- AutoZone turned more of its sales into free cash flow (9.5% FCF margin, against 1.9%).
- AutoZone earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (58.2%, against 20.5%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of AutoZone’s earnings: a P/E of 22.0x against 16.3x for Murphy USA.
| Latest fiscal year | AZO · FY25 | MUSA · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $54.1B | $9.9B |
| Revenue | $18.9B | $19.4B |
| Free cash flow | $1.8B | $374M |
| Net income | $2.5B | $471M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 2.4% | −4.3% |
| 5-year growth | 8.4% | 11.5% |
| Share count change | −3.1% | −6.3% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 52.6% | — |
| Operating margin | 19.1% | 3.7% |
| Net margin | 13.2% | 2.4% |
| FCF margin | 9.5% | 1.9% |
| Return on capital | 58.2% | 20.5% |
| Return on equity | — | 64.3% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $8.9B | $2.2B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 2.1x | 2.2x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $1.6B | $691M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 22.0x | 16.3x |
| Piotroski F-score | 6 | 5 |
Revenue
FY16
AZO $10.6B
MUSA $11.6B
FY17
AZO $10.9B
MUSA $12.8B
FY18
AZO $11.2B
MUSA $14.4B
FY19
AZO $11.9B
MUSA $14.0B
FY20
AZO $12.6B
MUSA $11.3B
FY21
AZO $14.6B
MUSA $17.4B
FY22
AZO $16.3B
MUSA $23.4B
FY23
AZO $17.5B
MUSA $21.5B
FY24
AZO $18.5B
MUSA $20.2B
FY25
AZO $18.9B
MUSA $19.4B
AZO
MUSA
Operating margin
FY16
AZO 19.4%
MUSA 3.4%
FY17
AZO 19.1%
MUSA 2.2%
FY18
AZO 16.1%
MUSA 2.3%
FY19
AZO 18.7%
MUSA 1.9%
FY20
AZO 19.1%
MUSA 5.0%
FY21
AZO 20.1%
MUSA 3.5%
FY22
AZO 20.1%
MUSA 4.1%
FY23
AZO 19.9%
MUSA 3.8%
FY24
AZO 20.5%
MUSA 3.7%
FY25
AZO 19.1%
MUSA 3.7%
AZO
MUSA
Free cash flow
FY16
AZO $1.2B
MUSA $75.3M
FY17
AZO $1.0B
MUSA $25.3M
FY18
AZO $1.6B
MUSA $194M
FY19
AZO $1.6B
MUSA $109M
FY20
AZO $2.3B
MUSA $333M
FY21
AZO $2.9B
MUSA $463M
FY22
AZO $2.5B
MUSA $689M
FY23
AZO $2.1B
MUSA $448M
FY24
AZO $1.9B
MUSA $390M
FY25
AZO $1.8B
MUSA $374M
AZO
MUSA
Return on capital
FY16
AZO —
MUSA 19.8%
FY17
AZO 43.9%
MUSA 21.3%
FY18
AZO 44.7%
MUSA 17.3%
FY19
AZO 53.7%
MUSA 13.5%
FY20
AZO 58.9%
MUSA 26.6%
FY21
AZO 81.8%
MUSA 23.0%
FY22
AZO 99.2%
MUSA 31.1%
FY23
AZO 93.1%
MUSA 25.7%
FY24
AZO 78.5%
MUSA 22.3%
FY25
AZO 58.2%
MUSA 20.5%
AZO
MUSA
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.