What Is the Highest O’Reilly Automotive Stock Has Ever Been?
O'Reilly Automotive hits peak valuation—auto parts giant revs past traditional retail performance.
Market Mechanics
The stock's all-time high reflects relentless demand for aftermarket parts—consumers keeping vehicles longer amid economic pressures. No fancy tech buzzwords needed when your business thrives on real-world necessity.
Investor Pit Stop
While crypto traders chase memecoins, O'Reilly quietly compounds gains through actual revenue. A refreshing contrast to speculative assets that crash faster than a DIY engine repair.
Finance Reality Check
Another reminder that boring businesses often outperform flashy trends—unless you think swapping brake pads is as exciting as predicting Bitcoin's next move.
Image source: Getty Images.
Experienced investors know that high-growth businesses usually outperform the market as O'Reilly Automotive stock has. But in this case, the company has only averaged about 9% annual top-line growth over the last five years. That's positive, but it's also somewhat modest for a stock that has performed so well.
The difference-maker for O'Reilly Automotive's shareholders is its stock buyback program. At the start of 2020, the company had about 76 million shares outstanding. But at the end of 2024, it had only 58 million -- a reduction of 24%.
By dropping its share count at a steady rate, O'Reilly's earnings per share (EPS) have increased enough to carry the stock to a strong market-beating performance.
What's next?
O'Reilly Automotive operates a retail chain of nearly 6,500 locations selling automotive repair and maintenance products. And there's really not much reason to believe that the stock won't continue to perform well for shareholders. Even in a somewhat slower sales environment, management expects to report a full-year increase for same-store sales in 2025.
O'Reilly Automotive also continues to expect strong profit margins, and management will continue to buy back stock. This has been a winning combination in the past and will likely keep driving positive returns for investors from here.
