The Corona crisis has upset many markets.

One consequence of COVID-19 is the worldwide delivery difficulties.

The tight supply in the semiconductor market is particularly in focus.

Digitization was already boosting demand for chips before Corona, and this has received an additional boost in the course of the pandemic.

Many automotive companies in particular are suffering from the shortage of chips, and fewer cars are being produced and sold.

In the EU, the industry association ACEA found January and February 2022 to be the weakest first two sales months of a year for new passenger car registrations.

In America, too, the number of car sales in February fell by 4.6 percent to 14.1 million vehicles compared to the previous month.

It's not like there isn't a demand for it.

But it remains difficult for customers to get new cars, and longer waiting times have to be accepted.

If there are no new cars ...

Accordingly, many consumers – especially in the United States – are shifting their focus to used vehicles.

Used car prices have risen sharply.

In America, this development, together with higher energy prices, contributes to a large extent to the sharp rise in inflation.

Used car prices climbed 41.2 percent in February compared to the same month last year.

In such an environment, many car owners are realizing that they need to do even more to look after their vehicles.

This in turn strengthens the aftermarket and reflects positively on the balance sheet of a big player in the industry: Autozone.

The Memphis, Tennessee-based company started out as Auto Shack in 1979, but quickly had to change its name due to a name dispute with electronics retailer RadioShack.

Today, the group offers auto and truck parts, chemicals and accessories in every American state as well as Puerto Rico, Mexico and Brazil.

The more than 6,200 Autozone stores carry a wide range of products for cars, SUVs, vans, trucks and electric vehicles.

More and more electrification

The second quarter of the 2021/22 financial year (as of February 12) showed how much Autozone is benefiting from the current developments on the automotive market.

Group-wide sales were $3.4 billion, an increase of 15.8 percent over the previous year.

Comparable sales – i.e. for branches that are at least one year old – increased by 13.8 percent.

During the same period, net income climbed 36.4 percent to $471.8 million.

To ensure that the company continues to be successful in the future, Autozone is increasingly focusing on the topic of electrification - and not just on Tesla spare parts.

A cooperation with Lectron was recently concluded for this purpose.

The company was founded in 2017 with the goal of eliminating range fears and compatibility issues.

Chargers, charging stations and adapters for electric cars from Lectron are now offered online via Autozone.

Exciting stock with moderate valuation

Autozone is a company that has seen good returns for shareholders over the past several years.

After Autozone stock recorded a sharp price correction to $685 in March 2020, prices soared.

The price has roughly tripled by the end of 2021 and reached a new record high of 2110 dollars in December.

With a view to the long-term stock market development, further record prices are very realistic for the Autozone share in terms of chart technology.

Over a ten-year period, the price has increased by an average of around 19 percent per year.

The result was significantly better than that of the S&P 500 index, in which Autozone is listed.

During the same period, the stock index recorded average annual price growth of around 13 percent.

The comparatively moderate valuation, as the price-earnings ratio (P/E) of currently 16 shows, speaks for the Autozone share, which is largely unknown among German investors.

Autozone is therefore significantly cheaper than the shares of its competitors Advance Auto Parts (P/E: 25) and O'Reilly Auto Parts (P/E: 23).