Earnings Labs

Genuine Parts Company (GPC)

Q1 2013 Earnings Call· Fri, Apr 19, 2013

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good morning. My name is Brooke, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Genuine Parts Company First Quarter 2013 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference will be recorded. Thank you. I will now turn the conference over to Sid Jones, Vice President, Investor Relations. Mr. Jones, you may begin your conference.

Sidney G. Jones

Analyst

Thank you. Good morning, and thank you for joining us today for the Genuine Parts first quarter conference call to discuss our earnings results and outlook for 2013. Before we begin this morning, please be advised that this call may involve forward-looking statements regarding the company and its businesses. The company's actual results could differ materially from any forward-looking statements due to several important factors described in the company's latest SEC filings. The company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made during this call. We begin this morning with comments from Tom Gallagher, our Chairman and CEO. Tom?

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst

Thank you, Sid, and I would like to add my welcome to each of you on the call today and to say that we appreciate you taking the time to be with us this morning. Now earlier this morning, we released our first quarter 2013 results. And hopefully, you've had an opportunity to review them. For those who may not have seen the numbers as yet, a quick recap shows that sales for the quarter of $3,199,000,000, which was up 0.6%. Net income was $144.4 million, which was down 1%, and earnings per share were $0.93 this year, which is even with the $0.93 reported for the first quarter last year. As we covered in our year-end conference call, we felt that the first quarter of this year would be our most challenging, largely due to the fact that Q1 of 2012 was our strongest of the year, when sales were up 7% and earnings per share were up 16%, and then partly due to the slowing revenue trend that we saw develop over the second half of last year. Additionally, we have 1 less sales day in Q1 of this year, which equates to about 1.6% of revenue growth. And it's interesting to look at our average daily sales performance over the quarter. We got off to a decent start, with January and February average daily sales being up mid single digit, but then the March average daily sales was relatively flat, consistent with the moderation in overall retail sales, and we ended the quarter with an average daily sales increase of just over 2%. And looking at the sales results by segment, our strongest performance came from Automotive at plus 3.4%. And Paul will cover this in more detail in a moment. Industrial, Electrical and Office Products each…

Paul D. Donahue

Analyst

Thank you, Tom. I'd like to add my welcome to each of you this morning. I'm pleased to join Carol and Tom and have the opportunity to provide an update on the first quarter performance of our North American Automotive business. Automotive continues to be the company's largest business segment, and we ended the first quarter with a 3% increase with 1 less day in the month. On a per day basis, it puts us up approximately 5%. Given that the first quarter of 2012 was our strongest sales quarter of the year, then you add in the fact that the Easter holiday fell in the month of March this year, we were not surprised by our results. The 3% revenue growth in the first quarter includes flat comp store sales and continued positive sales contribution from our acquisition of Quaker City Motor Parts. Sales to our commercial accounts, the dominant segment of our business, continued to outpace our retail sales. Once again, in the first quarter, our results varied by region of the country, with the traditional cold-weather regions lagging the other regions in the U.S. These cold-weather regions did narrow the gap in the first quarter, and they continue to gain positive momentum as we move through the second quarter. We are approaching our 1-year anniversary of the acquisition of Quaker City Motor Parts. Their first quarter sales contributions were in line with our expectations. And we continue to be excited with the growth opportunities the Quaker City team will provide to us in the future. As we mentioned earlier, our commercial business continued to outperform our retail business in the first quarter. Within our company-owned store group, the commercial side of our business ended the quarter up 1%, consistent with our growth in this segment in the…

Carol B. Yancey

Analyst

Thank you, Paul. We'll start this morning with a review of the first quarter income statement and the segment information, and then we'll review some balance sheet items and other financial items. Tom will come back up to wrap it up, and then we'll open the call up to your questions. As we review the income statement, as Tom mentioned, total sales were $3.2 billion for the first quarter, an increase of 0.6% from last year. The sales environment remained challenging for us throughout the quarter. And that said, we remain confident in our growth initiatives and expect to see improving market conditions as the year progresses, which will support stronger sales for us over the balance of the year. Gross profit for the first quarter was 28.8% of sales, down slightly from the first quarter last year, and primarily attributable to the competitive sales environment across all of our businesses. In addition, we're not seeing much of an impact from inflation. Cumulative pricing for the first quarter of 2013 was down 0.4% for Automotive, up 0.5% for Industrial, up 0.4% for Office Products and up 1.2% for Electrical. We recognize the need to improve our gross margins over the balance of the year, and we're committed to this effort. Our ongoing initiatives to effectively manage supply chain costs, increase distribution efficiencies and maximize our pricing potential offer us opportunities to make the progress that we need to see here. This is a high priority for our management team across all of our businesses. Turning to SG&A. Total expenses were $700 million in the first quarter, up 1% from 2002 (sic) [2012], and 21.9% of sales. Our operating expenses as a percentage of sales are up about 15 basis points from the first quarter last year, as we lost some…

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst

Thank you, Carol and Paul, for your updates. So that's a recap of our first quarter performance. As mentioned earlier, going back to the beginning of the year, we felt that the first quarter was going to be a challenge for us, and that certainly proved to be the case. However, with that said, we continue to feel good about our prospects over the remainder of the year. And in fact, would like to reaffirm the guidance that was provided in our March 11 call. And our expectation for the full year is revenue increase in the 10% to 12% range and earnings per share to be in the $4.45 to $4.60 range. As a reminder, these figures include the recent completion of our Exego acquisition. And achieving these results would be a solid performance from the GPC team, in our opinion, and we look forward to updating these figures as the year progresses. At this point, I would like to address your questions and will turn the call back over to Brooke.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from John Murphy, Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

John Murphy - BofA Merrill Lynch, Research Division

Analyst

I was just curious, can we look at the CapEx for the first quarter? It was relatively low versus the run rate you were looking at for the full -- your full year. And $140 million to $160 million might be a little bit higher than we were modeling. And I'm just curious, is that a step up that could step down in the coming years? I'm just trying to understand where that might be in out years.

Carol B. Yancey

Analyst

Well, we do. With our business, we do look at stepping that number down if we need to. And we were going to have an increase even without Exego this year because we do have several technology projects that are helping our distribution centers and our stores be more productive. So originally, we had stepped that number up from about $100 million to $115 million to $130 million. And then with Exego, we stepped it up just a little bit more. So that's probably a pretty good run rate. But again, we can adjust that number as need be. But we will continue to reinvest in our businesses with technologies.

John Murphy - BofA Merrill Lynch, Research Division

Analyst

Okay. And then a second question. I mean, it looks like auto is doing -- is performing pretty well. But if we look at the other 3 segments -- I know we're looking at some tough comps. But as we progress through the year, you clearly have some sort of comfort and confidence that things are going to improve. I'm just curious if there's anything you're seeing in the market right now or what you saw in January and February that made March an aberration, makes you comfortable sticking with your current guidance of some small improvement through the course of the year?

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst

John, we do in fact see some improvement. It's early in April yet, but the mid-month figures are more in line on a per day basis with what we saw in January and February. And as I said, it is early, but we're hoping that what we saw in March truly was an aberration. And with that said, also, each of our management teams has got some very specific and focused initiatives to try to continue to drive revenue improvements.

John Murphy - BofA Merrill Lynch, Research Division

Analyst

Okay. And then lastly, as we look at pricing and your ability to pass through price increases and pricing sort of in the end market. I'm just wondering if you could comment on that in the first quarter, and what you're expecting through the remainder of the year?

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst

We saw, as Carol mentioned, we saw some deflation in the Automotive side of the business in the first quarter. We saw a very modest inflation in both Office Products and in Industrial. And we saw just over 1% in the Electrical side. As far as our ability to pass them on, you may recall that in Automotive, when we get a price increase, we implement a price increase. In the case of Industrial, we do have some contractual arrangements, so where we have a pricing window is where we can implement those price increases. But I think, as a general statement, it would be fair to say that we're comfortable with the fact that we can pass any price increase along as long as we adhere to those pricing windows that are contractually negotiated. As far as the remainder of the year, our outlook right now would be for very modest price increases over the remainder of the year. We don't see any indication at this point that there's going to be a significant push for price increases from our vendor community across each of the businesses. And certainly, we're not going to take one if we don't feel we can maintain our competitive positioning in the marketplace.

John Murphy - BofA Merrill Lynch, Research Division

Analyst

Okay. And then truly, just the last question. Carol, I mean, as we look at the balance sheet, I mean, 25% debt to cap, as you indicated you'd be once Exego is fully closed and consolidated, really does not appear that aggressive at all and still fairly conservative. But it sounds like you still kind of want to step back on that debt to cap number over time. I mean, is your philosophy going to be, as the CFO, and Tom, obviously, as the CEO, you're weighing in on this too, is of course -- but that you could potentially run with a little bit more debt than you have historically? Or do you want to get back to sort of that mid-teens debt to cap number? Is that sort of your target? I'm just trying to understand sort of your thought process on the debt that you're taking on here.

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst

Well, John, I'll take the first stab at that, and then Carol can help me out. And I would say that -- keep in mind that at one point, we were in the low-to-mid 30s with debt to total cap. And while we are not uncomfortable at that level, we found that it made more sense for us to pay that down and to use the cash to remove that debt. As we go forward, we'll pay the debt down unless we find a higher and better use of the money for shareholder value creation. So we're not adverse to carrying more debt than we have the last few years. But at the same time, we think it has to make good long-term sense for the shareholders of Genuine Parts Company.

Carol B. Yancey

Analyst

And I guess we're going to continue -- as we continue to support our priorities for cash, as we talked about, our cash flows have been just really strong lately, and we still see some improvement there. So if we can continue to support our dividends, share repurchases, strategic bolt-on acquisitions and our CapEx and then still be able to work on paying down that debt, then that's what we plan to do.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Chris Horvers with JPMorgan. Christopher Horvers - JP Morgan Chase & Co, Research Division: Focus on the auto side of the house. Can you just clarify how you think about, x the day shift, what the trend looked in January, February and March? You mentioned that April is better. Do you think, with the northern regions and some of the cold-weather categories, I mean, do think that could simply be an anniversary of easier compares? Or do you think that some of the fundamentals are improving as well?

Paul D. Donahue

Analyst

Chris, I'll take a shot at it. This is Paul. The -- and I'll start with your last question first. When you talk about the -- our northern divisions, which for us is comprised pretty much of the Eastern, the Central and the Midwestern, we have seen improvement in the first quarter of about 300 basis points from where they were tracking in Q3 and Q4. So we are pleased to see some progress with those groups. And we're seeing it even hold as we go into April, as well. So we're feeling better about that group. And then you asked, Chris, about the average daily sales, or 1 less day. Certainly, that had an impact in the first quarter, as did how the Easter holiday fell coming into March this year versus April of a year ago. And as we look forward, Chris, we -- certainly, it's early yet in April, but we are seeing a bit of a lift. We're hoping for a bit of normalization of weather at some point, which we all talk a good bit about. But certainly, hoping for a bit of normalization on the weather side. And the comps do get easier, no doubt. But there's an awful lot of -- still an awful lot of deferred maintenance that's sitting out there that at some point has to come into the market. Christopher Horvers - JP Morgan Chase & Co, Research Division: And so when you say it's better in April, that's average daily sales, right? Because you would have had an Easter shift being, I guess, a positive in April?

Paul D. Donahue

Analyst

That's correct. Christopher Horvers - JP Morgan Chase & Co, Research Division: Okay. And so if the northern areas or the cold-weather regions improve 300 basis points sequentially in the quarter, given that the comps stayed flat, does that suggest that the other areas of the country actually slowed down?

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst

No.

Paul D. Donahue

Analyst

No.

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst

It doesn't. I think what Paul is talking about is the delta between the northern operations and the rest of the operations. So the northern operations are still trailing the performance of the remaining operations. But the degree of change has narrowed in the first quarter. if that helps explain that. Christopher Horvers - JP Morgan Chase & Co, Research Division: I think it did. I guess if -- sort if the north improves sequentially on a relative basis, but the comp -- but if the comps remain flat, doesn't -- I guess, doesn't that mean that the -- the total remained flat, doesn't it mean that the other areas had to actually slow down?

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst

Well, they haven't. But what's happened is, if we go back to the third and fourth quarters of last year, the relative difference between the northern operations and the southern operations and the remaining operations, the difference in performance would have been 500 to 600 basis points. In the first quarter, the difference in performance was closer to 300 basis points. I guess the point we're trying to make is that we see the northern operations narrowing the gap with the remaining operations. And if that continues, we would think that, that will continue to enhance the overall performance of the Automotive operations. Christopher Horvers - JP Morgan Chase & Co, Research Division: Okay. And so is there any way to think about how much maybe the spring pull forward? I mean, I would assume on the DIY side of the business that the pull forward last year because of the weather, how much that impacted comps maybe to the positive in 1Q last year and to the detriment in the second quarter?

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst

No, that's a hard number to get to, and we wouldn't hazard a guess on that. We do know it was a positive influence in the first quarter results last year. And we saw evidence of that as we get into the second quarter. And perhaps that's a possible contributor to the fact that we're seeing the comps improve in April back to more what they were in January and February. Christopher Horvers - JP Morgan Chase & Co, Research Division: Okay. And then last one, just on that sort of sequential improvement. Is that on the DIY side of the business as well?

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst

Improving, but the DIY is still the weakest part of our business.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Matthew Fassler with Goldman Sachs.

Matthew J. Fassler - Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Research Division

Analyst · Goldman Sachs.

First question, and I just want to understand, I guess, the sales growth in Automotive slowed, for my belief, 4.9% to 3.4%. That's in the context of a same-store sales growth that were at the same level, and presumably the acquisition contribution from Q4 to Q1 was pretty consistent. Is that 1.4 percentage point slowdown related to the calendar? Or are there any other moving pieces to understand?

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst · Goldman Sachs.

Matt, I'd think it would be more related to the fact that we were short the day in the...

Matthew J. Fassler - Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Research Division

Analyst · Goldman Sachs.

So the 1 day loss?

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst · Goldman Sachs.

Yes.

Matthew J. Fassler - Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Research Division

Analyst · Goldman Sachs.

Understood. And then I do want to address the question that Chris asked again because I'm having a hard time understanding it. Presumably, if the gap between 2 segments of your business starts to narrow and the aggregate trend is unchanged, then presumably one got better and the other softened up a bit. So is there another way to get to that outcome?

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst · Goldman Sachs.

Well, I'll tell you, rather than get hung up on it here, we could -- I'm going to have Sid do some work on it. And he can follow up directly with you or you can follow up -- and anybody on the call can follow up with Sid, and we'll try to give you a clearer understanding of it.

Matthew J. Fassler - Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Research Division

Analyst · Goldman Sachs.

Understood. And then one other question, please. So you indicated that -- it sounds like there was this soft patch in March. And I think you were talking about the Industrial business, in particular, but perhaps you saw it elsewhere as well. And I'm wondering, if you think about -- and you gave us great segment information for the quarter overall. What are the parts of the economy or the kinds of customers that you saw participate in that slowdown towards the end of the quarter and to the extent that April looks a lot more like January and February. Is it those same segments that recovered? Just interested in some of the moving pieces that are driving that movement.

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst · Goldman Sachs.

Matt, I can't parse it in such a way that I can tell you specifically which customer segments in the month of March. I can tell you for the quarter that we saw comparative weakness in what we call equipment and machinery, which is a big category for us. And they would be largely OEM-type manufacturers. And then we continued to see some softness in the mining and aggregate and coal segments. And that was offset some by strength in automotive, and we were encouraged by the fact that lumber and wood products continued to show some improving trends, I guess following what we're all reading about the housing sector. And then pulp and paper held up well for us in the quarter. So -- but I can't address March specifically.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Keith Hughes with SunTrust.

Keith B. Hughes - SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc., Research Division

Analyst · SunTrust.

My question is on Automotive in the commercial space. Your more retail-focused competitors continue to talk about moving in that space, now we've seen this for some time. Can you give us kind of a strategic landscape where you think you are right now in terms of share versus the others and what it's going to look like several years from now?

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst · SunTrust.

I'll take the first stab at that, Keith, and maybe Paul can help out. I would suggest that based upon the results we've seen with our 2 primary commercial initiatives, which would be NAPA AutoCare and major account, and the fact that we continue to grow those businesses and those businesses experienced, I think, pretty good growth for us in the quarter. And I think based upon what we can gather anecdotally, our growth in the commercial side of the business might have exceeded the growth of the overall commercial market through the quarter. I think it would suggest to us that, at a minimum, we've held our own share and perhaps we even gained some. And that's a continuation of a trend that we've seen for several years now. Sometimes, we get asked who's the share gainer, who's the share donor? And we can't answer that categorically. We can only base our comment on what we see that's publicly disclosed. And I think it would suggest that the publicly-traded companies, perhaps, are gaining share. And maybe it's coming from some non-publicly-traded companies. As far as what happens going forward, it's going to continue to be a very, very competitive marketplace. So there's no doubt in our minds about that, and it's going to be a matter of who executes most consistently and most crisply going forward. And I think trends in the industry would favor some of the larger players just because of the demands that are out there in terms of the overall investments in inventory, the service levels, the training you give people, the technology, all of the things that are important to a commercial account. So I think they play to the favor of those who have the balance sheet and the logistical capabilities to meet those demands.

Keith B. Hughes - SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc., Research Division

Analyst · SunTrust.

And looking out in the future, is consolidation, in your opinion, going to play a big role here, given that we probably have too many retail auto parts stores in the United States right now?

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst · SunTrust.

Well, I think the industry overall will probably experience some consolidation. And I think the market dynamics and circumstances will force some of that over time. It's not a new phenomenon. We've seen quite a bit of that going on over the past several years. So our sense is that, that will continue.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Bret Jordan with BB&T Capital Markets. Bret David Jordan - BB&T Capital Markets, Research Division: Yes, a quick question, I guess sort of following-up on the last question. And you commented that non-fleet commercial was up, while fleet commercial was down somewhat. Is there anything going on in the competitive landscape on fleet commercial?

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst

No, I don't think there's anything necessarily competitive. I think it more directly ties to what we see happening with freight movement. If you look at the TSI, the Transportation Services Index, it actually was down. I think it was down 1.2% or 1.8% in Q4. We don't have Q1 numbers as yet, but my guess is it was probably somewhere in that range. So I think there's just been some modest slowdown in the amount of freight that's being moved. Bret David Jordan - BB&T Capital Markets, Research Division: Okay. And then a follow-up question on DIY. You commented it's being the weakest category. Are you seeing any correlation to improving weather to improving DIY? Does that seem to be a catalyst, or is DIY just generally soft across the board?

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst

Well, we are seeing some evidence of it in those parts of the country where we are having more normal weather. If you go up into the Midwest, we've got the issue with flooding that's going on there. We just had another snowstorm that moved through there. So that's an impediment to the DIY business there. But if we come into the warmer climate states, we do see DIY business a little bit better than what it has been. But I would also say that we think the DIY business, overall, is probably off a bit from where we'd all like to see it, just general economic circumstances.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Dave Gober with Morgan Stanley.

Shaun Kolnick - Morgan Stanley, Research Division

Analyst · Morgan Stanley.

This is Shaun Kolnick on for Dave. Sorry to stick to the Automotive side again, but some of your peers have called out the impact of the delay in tax refunds and the increase in payroll taxes on the DIY business. Are you seeing those factors impacting the business in Q1? And if so, has that started normalizing in April so far?

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst · Morgan Stanley.

I don't think we can pinpoint it that precisely. But logic would suggest that the delay in payroll tax refunds could have an impact. And certainly, the higher payroll tax could have an impact. If you think of a household that has a $75,000 household income, let's say, and they have to get by on $1,500 less in take-home pay, they're going to have to adjust disposable income and spending patterns. And I think, yes, that would be a contributor for sure. The payroll tax refunds will normalize here. But the impact of the increased payroll tax is something we're going to have to work our way through over an extended period.

Shaun Kolnick - Morgan Stanley, Research Division

Analyst · Morgan Stanley.

And just one follow-up on a kind of bigger picture view on the auto business. The store base has been fluctuating over the last few years, but 2012 did see a pickup there. Can we expect store growth over the next couple of years to continue? And what markets do you really see the most opportunity?

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst · Morgan Stanley.

Well, we would suggest that you will see store growth, at least from the NAPA side of the business. And we've got some specific plans. I don't think we'd want to necessarily disclose where we think the best opportunities are, but I think you can look for us going forward to expand our store footprint something between 1% and 2% per year.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Greg Melich with ISI.

Gregory S. Melich - ISI Group Inc., Research Division

Analyst · ISI.

I had 2 questions. First, I just want to make sure on the guidance that I got it right. You said that it's unchanged and that -- I thought I heard you say that the sales was unchanged as well as part of that. So could you just update us to whether those ranges by category that you gave earlier in the year, I think it was 5% to 7% in auto and one of the biggest...

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst · ISI.

Yes, what we had when we gave segment guidance, I think what we said, Greg, was Automotive 5% to 7%, Industrial and the Electrical 4% to 6% and Office Products 1% to 3%. And then, when we came out on March 11, we included contribution that we anticipated from Exego. And that's when we raised it to the 10% to 12% overall. I would say that the guidance we gave by segment, the Industrial and the Electrical, we would have a bias toward the low end of the ranges that we gave only because of what we saw through the first quarter. We still think that Office Products can get into their range. And again, a bias toward the low end of it. And I think we're comfortable with our Automotive guidance that we gave. Does that answer your question?

Gregory S. Melich - ISI Group Inc., Research Division

Analyst · ISI.

That does. That's perfect. And then a second on the inflation/deflation front. I guess it ties into gross margin a bit. Auto deflation, if I remember, last year was down a little bit, maybe 0.3%, something like that.

Carol B. Yancey

Analyst · ISI.

That's correct.

Gregory S. Melich - ISI Group Inc., Research Division

Analyst · ISI.

What's driving the continued deflation in auto either by category? And then does that mean that in your gross margin, which actually looked decent in the quarter, all things considered, is it fair to say that auto gross margins would have been up and the others may have been down some, or how should we think about that?

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst · ISI.

We don't breakout gross margin by segment. The -- what's driving deflation right now, I think, in Automotive are competitive circumstances. And I think manufacturers are having to meet the competitive situations, and it's resulting in deflation, modest deflation but deflation all the same, in our Automotive business.

Gregory S. Melich - ISI Group Inc., Research Division

Analyst · ISI.

So that could influence your top line negatively, but does it -- is it fair to say that, that means you can get continued sourcing cost savings to help gross margin in the auto business? I guess that's what I'm trying to figure out. Not give us the numbers, but just directionally speaking.

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst · ISI.

I think directionally, you could say that -- let me back up. Our expectation right now is that we will see gross margin improvement for Genuine Parts Company as we work our way through the year. And in order to get that, we're going to have to get contribution from each of our businesses. But we do, in fact, think that we will show some gross profit improvement as the year progresses. We went through -- just as a reminder, we went through a several-year period where we actually had some gross margin degradation. And we were able to offset it with some good SG&A work. Last year, we had modest gross margin improvement. And our expectation is that we will, in fact, see some gross profit improvement again in 2013.

Gregory S. Melich - ISI Group Inc., Research Division

Analyst · ISI.

Okay. So that auto deflation seems to -- can you confirm that's a trend now? It's been around for at least 5 quarters.

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst · ISI.

Well, it's been around for a while. I don't know how many quarters, but it's not a new phenomenon.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Brian Sponheimer with Gabelli & Company. Brian Sponheimer - Gabelli & Company, Inc.: So I just want to talk about Exego for a couple of minutes here. As far as the strategy going forward, any plans to bring the NAPA brand to the region and perhaps use it as a premium branded product within the region?

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst

Brian, I'll take the first stab at that. At this point, no, there is not a plan to do that. And the reason why is that the business operates under the name of Repco. And Repco is a name that's been around actually 2 years longer than Genuine Parts has been around, and they are the #1 brand over there. It's an iconic brand in their home markets. So our plan would be to use our sourcing leverage, combined sourcing leverage, to enable them to continue to do what they do. And they've got their own private label brand in addition to some manufacturer brands. And we're going to continue to let them operate as Repco because they are, in fact, the most highly recognized brand in that marketplace. Brian Sponheimer - Gabelli & Company, Inc.: Okay. And just a question on the states within auto. What can you tell me about maybe this quarter versus Q4 and Q3 from a product mix standpoint? I think you mentioned that average ticket was still up, account was down. Are you seeing consumers go back at all -- or some of your customers go back at all to the mid-grade and potentially high-grade products?

Paul D. Donahue

Analyst

Brian, this is Paul. We're seeing some shift, but not that significant. If you look at it by product category, I think I mentioned earlier, we're seeing strong growth out of our battery categories, strong growth out of some of our electrical products, wiper, some of the winter-type related products, which is a good thing. The brake business continues to be challenging for us, as it has been, and I think for many in the industry, but we are starting to show signs of some improvement in that product category as well. Brian Sponheimer - Gabelli & Company, Inc.: And there's still -- there is still a reticence by your customer base, though, to move up market?

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst

I think that's a fair statement, Brian.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Scott Ciccarelli with RBC Capital Markets.

Patrick Palfrey - RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets.

This is Patrick Palfrey on for Scott. Earlier in the call, you mentioned that it's just a more competitive sales environment. And I was just wondering if you're seeing that environment more pronounced in one of your segments over the other?

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets.

I think it's probably the same across all. And look, we've been through different cycles before. And things tend to get a bit more competitive when we see end market demand slow up some. And everybody's trying to find ways to improve their relative positioning in markets like this. So I don't think it's any more pronounced than what we've seen in other cycles, but it hasn't diminished at all, either.

Operator

Operator

Our final question comes from Efraim Levy with S&P Capital. Efraim Levy - S&P Equity Research: Last quarter, you said you thought that Q1 would be down, and it was. And then there was some thoughts that possibly -- and this may be specifically to EIS or, I'm not sure, it could be broader than that, that it would be weak. So firstly, has your Q2 view changed?

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst

Well, no. We knew that -- actually, what I think we said was that we thought the first half of the year would be more challenging than the back half of the year, with the first quarter being the most challenging. As we look toward the remainder of the year, I think that if we look at the Industrial-related businesses, their recovery will be a little slower than what we would expect in our Automotive business. And frankly, our Automotive business, I think, held up pretty well under the circumstances and considering the fact that we had all of the variables at play there. So I think Automotive should fare well going forward. I think the others will all improve their position as the year progresses. But I think it will take -- it will be one extra quarter for Industrial and Electrical to probably get back to where they think they'll be. Efraim Levy - S&P Equity Research: Okay. And you have your guidance for CapEx. But I wasn't clear exactly what the reason was why it was down so sharply as a percentage in the first quarter versus last year?

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst

It's a timing difference.

Carol B. Yancey

Analyst

It's a timing thing of projects. So usually in the beginning of the year and dependent on weather and things like that, you may have fewer building projects and things like that. So it's really just a timing thing. We're usually a little lighter in the first quarter. And then honestly, with the slowdown in business, they may have delayed starting some things to start those in Q2 or Q3. Efraim Levy - S&P Equity Research: Okay. And just one more. In the past, you've sometimes differentiated the aftermarket, auto versus tire trends. Is there anything to highlight in that segment?

Thomas C. Gallagher

Analyst

No, I don't think we have any data that we could update you with

Operator

Operator

Thank you. That was our final question. I will now turn the call back to management for closing remarks.

Carol B. Yancey

Analyst

We thank you for your time and interest and your support of Genuine Parts Company, and we look forward to talking to you in our second quarter release. And if you need anything else, please let us know. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. That concludes today's Genuine Parts Company First Quarter 2013 Earnings Conference Call. You may now disconnect.