Advance Auto Parts vs Valvoline
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The short version
- Advance Auto Parts is the larger business, with $8.6B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $1.7B for Valvoline, about 5.0 times as much.
- Valvoline grew revenue faster (5.6%, against −5.4%).
- Valvoline kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (22.8% operating margin, against −0.5%).
- Valvoline turned more of its sales into free cash flow (2.2% FCF margin, against −3.5%).
- Valvoline earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (18.9%, against −1.5%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Valvoline’s earnings: a P/E of 39.5x against 34.2x for Advance Auto Parts.
| Latest fiscal year | AAP · FY25 | VVV · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $2.9B | $4.1B |
| Revenue | $8.6B | $1.7B |
| Free cash flow | −$298M | $38.0M |
| Net income | $44.0M | $211M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | −5.4% | 5.6% |
| 5-year growth | −3.2% | 18.7% |
| Share count change | 1.2% | −1.8% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 43.4% | 38.5% |
| Operating margin | −0.5% | 22.8% |
| Net margin | 0.5% | 12.3% |
| FCF margin | −3.5% | 2.2% |
| Return on capital | −1.5% | 18.9% |
| Return on equity | 2.0% | 80.4% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $289M | $1.3B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.3x | 2.5x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $60.0M | $76.8M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 34.2x | 39.5x |
| Piotroski F-score | 5 | 7 |
Revenue
FY16
AAP $9.6B
VVV $1.9B
FY17
AAP $9.4B
VVV $2.1B
FY18
AAP $9.6B
VVV $2.3B
FY19
AAP $9.7B
VVV $2.4B
FY20
AAP $10.1B
VVV $727M
FY21
AAP $11.0B
VVV $1.0B
FY22
AAP $9.1B
VVV $1.2B
FY23
AAP $9.2B
VVV $1.4B
FY24
AAP $9.1B
VVV $1.6B
FY25
AAP $8.6B
VVV $1.7B
AAP
VVV
Operating margin
FY16
AAP 8.2%
VVV 20.5%
FY17
AAP 6.1%
VVV 18.9%
FY18
AAP 6.3%
VVV 17.3%
FY19
AAP 7.0%
VVV 16.7%
FY20
AAP 7.4%
VVV 22.0%
FY21
AAP 7.5%
VVV 23.2%
FY22
AAP 5.7%
VVV 17.8%
FY23
AAP 0.4%
VVV 17.1%
FY24
AAP −7.8%
VVV 22.7%
FY25
AAP −0.5%
VVV 22.8%
AAP
VVV
Free cash flow
FY16
AAP $264M
VVV $245M
FY17
AAP $411M
VVV −$198M
FY18
AAP $617M
VVV $227M
FY19
AAP $597M
VVV $217M
FY20
AAP $702M
VVV $278M
FY21
AAP $817M
VVV $301M
FY22
AAP $338M
VVV $152M
FY23
AAP $61.0M
VVV −$221M
FY24
AAP −$96.0M
VVV $40.7M
FY25
AAP −$298M
VVV $38.0M
AAP
VVV
Return on capital
FY16
AAP 13.2%
VVV —
FY17
AAP 13.5%
VVV 46.7%
FY18
AAP 12.1%
VVV 23.6%
FY19
AAP 13.6%
VVV 34.8%
FY20
AAP 14.9%
VVV 8.1%
FY21
AAP 17.3%
VVV 11.7%
FY22
AAP 11.4%
VVV 8.3%
FY23
AAP 0.8%
VVV 12.2%
FY24
AAP −19.1%
VVV 20.8%
FY25
AAP −1.5%
VVV 18.9%
AAP
VVV
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.