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Ryan Grimsland

Thank you, Shane, and good morning, everyone. I would also like to thank the Advance team for their commitment to serving our customers while continuing to make meaningful strides in our turnaround efforts.
For the first quarter, net sales from continuing operations were $2.6 billion, a 7% decrease compared to last year. This decline is mainly attributed to the store optimization activity completed in March. Comparable store sales declined 60 basis points during the 16-week period in Q1 and and excludes locations closed during the quarter, which generated $51 million in liquidation sales.
During Q1, sales started off soft, declining in the low single-digit range in the first 8 weeks. Demand started to recover in late February, aided by weather volatility, normalization of tax refunds and consistent positive performance in our Pro business. Initiatives to improve inventory in stocks and service levels for customers led to 8 consecutive weeks of the quarter. Separately, Q1 also benefited a shift in timing of Easter into our fiscal Q2, which we estimate at approximately 20 basis points to comps.
In terms of channel performance, Pro grew in the low single-digit range, which is an acceleration compared to Q4 and outperformed the DIY channel which declined in the low single-digit range. Our Pro comp also accelerated on a 2-year basis and was positive for the third consecutive quarter. Transactions declined in the low single-digit range during Q1, and with Pro down only slightly. Average ticket grew in a low single-digit range and was positive in both channels.
From a category perspective, we saw strength in batteries, wipers and fluids and chemicals. Gross profit from continuing operations was $1.11 billion or 42.9% of net sales, resulting in a gross margin contraction of 50 basis points compared to last year. The year-over-year deleverage was largely driven by approximately 90 basis points of margin headwind in associated with liquidation sales related to our store optimization activity.
During the quarter, gross margin also benefited from favorability on capitalized warehouse costs related to a pull forward of some inventory purchases ahead of tariffs. We estimate this added approximately 80 basis points of margin and is expected to normalize during the year.
Adjusted SG&A from continuing operations was $1.12 billion or 43.2% of net sales, resulting in deleverage of 180 basis points compared to last year. A portion of the deleverage was driven by the comparison to a gain on asset sale from last year. Adjusting for this, SG&A would have deleveraged approximately 110 basis points, mainly due to higher labor-related expenses.
As a result, adjusted operating loss from continuing operations came in at $8 million or negative 30 basis points of net sales. A healthier top line performance helped us deliver better-than-expected operating margins with operating losses narrowing significantly compared to last quarter.
Adjusted diluted loss per share from continuing operations was $0.22 compared with earnings per share of $0.33 in the prior year. On a GAAP basis, we reported earnings per share of $0.40 due to a net discrete tax benefit of $126 million associated with capital loss deductions following the Worldpac transaction, which was factored into our forecast for the year.
We ended the quarter with negative free cash flow of $198 million compared with negative $49 million in the prior year. Free cash flow includes approximately $90 million of cash expenses associated with the store optimization project and approximately $100 million of additional inventory investments, which was planned for later in the year, to support the accelerated rollout of our store-based assortment framework that Shane referenced earlier.
For fiscal 2025, we have reaffirmed the guidance established in February. We remain focused on executing and tracking the progress of our strategic initiatives to develop a strong foundation for the long term. Before discussing items within the guidance, let me provide our perspective on the current tariff environment and how that is influencing our outlook for the year. We are collaborating with our vendor partners to address the challenges posed by elevated product costs. and evaluating each cost drive before accepting any increases from vendors.
Our approach to negating tariffs is expected to be measured as we make tariff-related price adjustments. We'll continually assess inflation and demand elasticity who will monitor competitive response while executing our plan this year. Within the current tariff landscape, we are planning for a range of scenarios and feel strongly at our ability to navigate through the rising cost environment.
These scenarios are in alignment with our full year guidance, reinforcing our expectations for the balance of the year. The complexities of the current economic landscape also warrant an appropriate sensitivity to financial flexibility through the turnaround.
We will continue to monitor and assess our debt capital structure with the goal of enjoying maximum financial flexibility for the business. We believe we have the right strategy, routing core retail mental to achieve our financial objectives and the benefits of our strategic actions is expected to build steadily over the next 3 years.
Next, let's discuss our expectations for this year. Starting with net sales. We expect net sales in the range of $8.4 billion to $8.6 billion. Comparable sales is expected to grow in the range of 50 to 150 basis points on a 52-week basis. We expect sequential improvement in comparable sales during 2025, with stronger growth in the second half, supported by our focus on improving parts availability and elevated service levels.
For Q2, we currently estimate flattish comparable sales growth, including the impact of the Easter shift from Q1. During the quarter, we will also fully cycle through the $100 million of price investments from last year. Net sales also include contribution from new stores planned to be opened this year and we expect the 53rd week to contribute approximately $100 million to $120 million into net sales.
Moving to margins. Adjusted operating income margin is expected in the range of 2% to 3%, we expect sequential progress in operating margins this year, with Q2 expected to track in line with the full year range and further improvement expected in the second half. Gross margin is expected to be the primary driver of operating margin this year, driven by a combination of product cost savings and supply chain cost leverage with an improvement in sales.
We expect SG&A expenses to be down year-over-year, with margin in the range of flat to slightly down. SG&A includes the impact of annual wage inflation and other field investments offset by favorability from labor productivity and indirect cost savings.
Additionally, we expect to save approximately $70 million in annual operating costs related to our store and DC optimization activity. These savings will begin in Q2 and contribute to margin favorability for the balance of the year.
Moving to the other items and guidance. Adjusted diluted EPS is expected in the range of $1.50 and $2.50. We expect free cash flow in the range of negative $85 million to negative $25 million at the end of the year. Our guidance now includes cash expenses of approximately $150 million associated with store and DC optimization activity, which is below our prior estimate of $200 million. reflecting favorability in lease dispositions. This benefit was offset by opportunistic inventory purchases ahead of the tariff implementation earlier this year.
In summary, we are pleased with our progress thus far and remain resolute in controlling the aspect of our business within our control while navigating a volatile macro environment. I will now hand the call back to Shane. Thank you.

Shane O'Kelly

Thank you, Ryan. Before closing today's call, I would like to thank all our team members who are listening on the call today. I am incredibly proud of your efforts this quarter. Our team not only managed to deliver results that exceeded expectations but also completed the store footprint optimization within an accelerated time line while driving progress on our strategic priorities.
Thank you. With that, let's open the call for questions. Operator?

Question and Answer Session

Operator

(Operator Instructions)
Simeon Gutman, Morgan Stanley.

Simeon Gutman

Hey, good morning. Maybe my first question, if you think about the 0.5% to 1.5% comp, you have an implicit mix of DIY versus DIFM performance within that. I don't think you've shared with that with us. But can you tell us now that the first quarter is in the bag, can you tell us what that expectation, how it's changed? Do you have any difference in how you think the year will play out based on how it's performing so far? And then I have one follow-up. Thanks.

Ryan Grimsland

Yes. Simeon, this is Ryan. I'll jump in here real quick. So far, it's played out similar to what we expect. We haven't seen any change in trend on DIY and our expectations. But what we have stated is that we expect the DIFM to be the driver of our performance. The DIY will still be somewhat pressured. I think it's still early in this tariff environment to really understand if that will change going forward, though we did model out different scenarios that are reflected in our range of guidance. But as of right now, we expect the trends to -- our guidance -- expects the trends to continue where DIFM will lead and DIY will still be slightly pressured.

Shane O'Kelly

Sim, it's Shane here. Let me build on that. So you've seen the pro trend, 12 weeks positive comp DIY, I think the volatility of the situation, and you see that in consumer sentiment, some of the credit card data default rates suggest there could be some difficulties for the consumer. Although we're controlling what we could control, and we are putting effort against making sure we're relevant for the DIY customer that includes the availability efforts that includes awareness around our marketing campaign promotion fewer bigger, better, leveraging our loyalty program. We have 16 million Perks members, training for the stores in terms of how to present products and [greet]. So we'll look to do things to make sure we're participating with DIY customers.

Simeon Gutman

And the follow-up, if we take full year guidance and look at the complexion with gross margin and SG&A. First quarter was better on gross. It looks like you're going to have some tailwinds because the liquidation goes away you talked, Shane, about the product cost that should improve throughout the year. It feels like that was built into the way you built your outlook, I think. And -- but can you talk about is there more upward pressure than you thought. And then on SG&A, even with some of the cost removal, it doesn't look like there's a lot of upside to the SG&A forecast. Can you just -- I don't know -- I know you're not changing guidance, I'm not trying to put words in your mouth, but it feels like the guidance range still looks relatively appropriate even with some of the upside drivers. It looks like you've kind of captured that in the guidance for the rest of the year. If you can comment on that, please.

Ryan Grimsland

Yes, Simeon, yes, the big driver still remains the same, is that our driver of operating income will mainly be driven by gross profit growth and especially in the back half of the year. And as Shane said earlier, seeing 50 basis points already annualized on that cost out. That's a big one. We've got the headwinds in margins specifically, that there are now tailwinds, but headwinds we faced last year in the back half of the year was about 170 basis points. So if you think about that build on our OI and then there was about $30 million in SG&A.
SG&A is going to be down year-over-year, especially with the store closures, playing those out and then the work that the stores team is doing on productivity, we'll see that. We're also going to see on supply chain with the work the team is doing there, we're going to be able to leverage on the sales volume. So as Shane talked about the lines per hour, the productivity, supply chain is driving that's going to allow us to leverage on the sales increase that we'll see in the back half of the year.
So -- but the big bulk of the growth is going to be on gross margin back half of the year, and we like what our merchant team is doing led by Bruce on our cost out and working with our vendor partners, we like what we're seeing there.

Shane O'Kelly

Just to add that there's a series of puts and takes that goes into how we came to reaffirming the guidance. Ryan described some of them there, know that we've run the scenarios and what the tariffs might look like, what that volatility might look like with consumers and the concatenation of that let us to put guide where it is and keep it there.

Simeon Gutman

Okay, thanks. Good job, guys. Good luck.

Shane O'Kelly

Thanks Simon.

Operator

Seth Sigman, Barclays.

Seth Sigman

Great, thanks. Good morning, everyone. It sounds like progress in a lot of areas. I'm trying to figure out with the improvement in comps this quarter, how much of that was from closing stores that were previously dragging on the comps. Maybe you could give us a sense of how much those stores were under comping previously, so we could try to understand the dynamics there. And then as we think about the closings this quarter, I assume there is some sales transfer to the remaining stores, particularly on the Pro side of the business. So if you could help quantify some of that would be great.

Ryan Grimsland

Absolutely. So back to the first part was the mix of maybe the closing stores. So the comp difference between those closing stores and the remaining stores wasn't material. I think we had talked about that in the past. It was just a lower base and the profitability of those. So they could comp on a lower base sales volume, especially out West. So it didn't really have much of an impact materially on the comp mix. So I wouldn't say that, that was a driver of the comp performance in the quarter.
We did see some transfer sales, mainly in the Pro area, and that was planned and expected, and we achieved what we expected. We were really happy with that. I have to give a shout out to the protein who work diligently to transfer those Pro accounts to the new stores, and they did a very good job doing that. So there's some in there not quantifying that, but there's some in the Pro trend.
We really like to see, I think the comp difference in what we expected was really the first 8 weeks, the weather volatility, the tax refunds trying to understand is there pressure on the consumer that's different. We saw that bounce back in the final 8 weeks of that quarter. We saw that normalize and some of the initiatives we had around Pro and proof time to serve coming out of our stores, I think, really have an impact as well.

Shane O'Kelly

Just so -- and thanks for the question, Seth. Just some contextual flavor to that coming through that process as quickly as we did, there were a number of teams. We talked about supply chain in the prepared remarks, our stores team led by Jason [Hand] our real estate team, Todd Davenport. These guys getting that done as quickly as we did. There's a secondary effect when you're going through these processes.
It creates uncertainty in your organization when you're doing it. And by the way, as you think about how customers think about what your longer-term trajectory looks like. So for us being done with it, and now moving our narrative back to focusing on our strategic pillars, back to creating value back to growth, that's where we're moving the company now. And so we've come through that and now driving forward on strategy for the remainder of the year.

Seth Sigman

Okay. Great. That's very helpful. And then I did want to ask about the guidance, specifically as it relates to tariffs. I get that tariffs are manageable in the sector. What have you embedded here? How does it impact your P&L as we move through the year? And how are you thinking about pricing?

Shane O'Kelly

Yes. No, great question. I'll start and Ryan can add to it. So for tariffs, it's a volatile situation. And think about tariffs as you got the 301s, the 232, [AEPA] and tariff creates variability by product, country of origin, tariff magnitude. By the way, changes to any of the above the stackability of a tariff, whether it's discrete or combined with others. And so as we've looked at that, in aggregate across the company, our blended tariff with currently in effect is about 30%.
And if you think about the applicability to products, about 40% of what we source can have some applicability to tariff. Now some of it might be a subcomponent in a good. So before you just take the 30% times the 40% to say that's the economic impact, know that there's sub componentry there. But importantly, before just moving forward with that math, we've done mitigation strategies broadly across a number of dimensions. And maybe Ryan touched on the mitigation.

Ryan Grimsland

Yes. I'll just touch on how we approach this. So our strategy first is we push back on all cost increases and really work with our vendor suppliers, then we look at alternative sources of supply. So we'll look for that, and I'll touch on that in a second as well. And then finally, anything we can't mitigate between vendors, sources of supply, we're passing that on to price. And it's been fairly constructive, we've been able to pass that along. Ultimately, we think the full value chain should bear some of that, whether it's the vendor, the supplier, the retailer and then ultimately, the consumer are going to bear some of those impacts. But to give you an example of supply, when we think about our China exposure, about 10% from China's direct import or 10% of our overall product is direct import from China.
By the end of the year, more than 50% of that we're direct importing from China will be sourced from other countries. And the team is already making significant progress on that. So we're looking at alternative sources. We're quickly making changes. Our pricing cost team and our merchants are working diligently around the clock to look at alternative sources. And as this dynamic tariff environment shifts, we're shifting and we're adjusting to find the best cost for us.

Shane O'Kelly

Let me just add that we're in a rational industry with rational players. Aspirationally, we would look to hold rate as an objective. If we can't hold rate, then we're going to look to managing operating profit in terms of how we think about elasticity units and margin. And we'll drive forward with that approach. The team, led by Bruce Barnes, they're looking at this, they look at it broadly across the portfolio, and then they look around how we would manage each particular category and product. And that analysis and effort, I think, appropriate given, again, as we started the point of the volatility of the situation.

Seth Sigman

Got it. Alright, thanks so much.

Operator

Chris Horvers, JPMorgan.

Christopher Horvers

Thanks, good morning everybody. So I'll tap Baton on tariffs and what's going on there. At this point, how much inflation was -- did you have on the same SKU basis in the first quarter? Is any of that tariff pricing? And will that accelerate as you move forward from here? And then historically, if I recall, on the LIFO side, prior sort of methodology was you would actually write up inventory, and it would create sort of these LIFO benefits early in the inflation process? So can you also talk about how that influences the P&L on the gross margin side?

Ryan Grimsland

Yes, absolutely. Thanks, Chris. A couple of things. So the inflation impact in Q1 was immaterial. And from a guidance perspective and the scenarios we've played out, we're still mid-single digits on inflation in our scenario. So we've -- that range of outcomes that we put there from a guidance perspective contemplates different scenarios related to tariffs. It's still early and it's still a lot. We're only halfway through the 90-day pause period in some of them. So there's still a lot that needs to play out and we'll get more informed as we go. But the range of outcomes that we booked at really are contemplated in our range in the guidance. .
From a LIFO standpoint, we had a little bit of an impact in Q1, part of the 80 basis points that impacted, but it wasn't only I think about roughly approximately $4 million LIFO favorability in the we'll see. One of the things that we're doing that will impact this is we're looking at our weeks of supply, both for us and what the vendors might have currently in their warehouses here in the US. And we're managing our POs based on that. So we don't have to cut new POs right away, and we can work through the current cost that we've got to minimize the LIFO impact and beyond. So that should have a benefit. We've got decent weeks of supply in some of these categories, and we're working through those. So that's why we haven't seen much of an impact early on. We also talked about, we did a forward buy before the tariffs. And that helps with the the supply that we can work through before we see a big impact on LIFO.

Shane O'Kelly

Just say, Chris, anecdotally, as you think about it, the moves companies make in situations like ours is first year, you're pushing back the vendor and you have inventory on hand. And by the way, I think the volatility in terms of what's in effect and when for how much all played a part in Ryan's depiction of not having an impact in Q1. And he's modeling as is the merchant team, how that flows in terms of the rest of the year.

Christopher Horvers

Got it. That makes a ton of sense. And a couple of margin questions. So first on the gross, if I look at sort of like the underlying trend, it seems like we'll be in this like mid-single-digit range as we -- sorry, mid-40s range as you get towards the end of the year. There -- is there anything that you're seeing or whether it's with tariffs or just the operational side of the business that deters that potential? And then on the SG&A front, that $70 million of cost savings from asset optimization. Is it right to just take the SG&A from 1Q back out to 70 and that's sort of the underlying base that we build from based on seasonality and top line? Thank you.

Ryan Grimsland

Yes, Chris, just on the $70 million, it's not SG&A, it's more COGS related. And Q1 is a tough one because from a liquidation piece, it's more a sales liquidation impact that $70 million and due to the DCs. DCs really follow up into our COGS. So I would put that more on the gross profit line. From an SG&A standpoint, though, the rest of the year, you're going to see that down year-over-year as we get through that cost. And you will see closer to that mid margin rate.
From a tariff standpoint, one thing that Shane alluded to earlier is that while we ultimately want to maintain rate, as the costs come in, we're going to be focused on operating profit improvement as well. So managing the elasticity and the flow-through on the operating income side. So while when we looked at those range of outcomes in our guidance, we looked at all of those from elasticity, what we can pass on COGS price. And so I think our guidance really contemplates the ranges of outcomes that can happen rest of the year from what we know today, and Shane alluded to the complexities of all the different types of tariffs that are in their byproduct category.

Christopher Horvers

Great. Thanks so much. Have a great rest of spring.

Shane O'Kelly

Hey, thanks, Chris.

Operator

Michael Lasser, UBS.

Michael Lasser

Good morning. Thank you so much for taking my question. As you look towards your longer-term goal, can Advance Auto Parts achieve the margin expectations in the 2027 even guidance if DIY sales per store remain relatively flat over that time because that seems to be the area where it's going to be the most difficult to effectuate change and has been the area where Advance has really struggled historically such that there may be deeper investments needed in that area in order to generate improvement.

Shane O'Kelly

Let me start on the DIY front because certainly the -- some of your points are relevant and we touched on what the US consumer might face going forward. But also know that we recognize our relative position and are putting appropriate effort around being a participant with the DIY customer. And I touched on a few of them earlier. But let me add a couple of others that are relevant.
Vendor partnerships. So we've talked about terms and that relationship with vendors. We've touched on our strategic pillar of cost out there's a third component of how we're working with our vendors, which is strategic business planning to create mutual revenue growth. And that's good feedback that we got from the vendors, which is, hey, don't just approach us on the cost side of tariffs and our contracts work with us and we'll work with you on creating growth. And DIY is an area around that. And you see that in terms of what we'll be doing with promotions, but you also see that in terms of our marketing campaign around the corner and ready to help.
Reminder that as the number 1 or number 2 player in 75% of our markets, we're now a more thorough participant where that DIY customer will be closer in proximity and by the way, with our store team members and our services. So before you kind of depict our 27 as not having relevant share in our mix, we're not seeing it that way and know that these initiatives will help keep us in good stead. As to the specifics on the 27 forecast, Ryan?

Ryan Grimsland

Yes. And Michael, I'd just remind you, I think we're looking at low single-digit comp growth to get to our 7%. So we're not looking for a large top line growth here. And by the way, that low single-digit our growth is really led by D IFF. So we're not expecting major DIY growth to get to that 7% or even large top line growth. In fact, I think that's probably even below some look at explanations to get to that 7%. That 7% is really built out the things we control. And that's our merch excellence work that we're doing our supply chain productivity and the store productivity that we're driving. And so we can get to that 7% with low single-digit comp growth in that outlook.

Michael Lasser

Got you, very helpful. My follow-up question, and I apologize for it making being very short term in nature, but you're pointing to a flat comp for the second quarter. sounds like the Pro side continues to perform well or within your expectations, DIY is volatile. Do you need to see an acceleration in the overall business in order to hit that flat for the quarter. And as you think about the back half of the year, are there other drivers to get what would seem to be a low single-digit overall comp it's embedded in the outlook, outside of just lapping some of the price investments and other factors.

Ryan Grimsland

Yes. I'll start and let Shane jump in here. So our exit rate coming out of P4, we're in line with that into Q2. So we're -- and we're in line with our guidance for the quarter. So that flattish is kind of where we're trending today coming out of P4. So that's where we're at. We don't need to see a change necessary. We need to continue the momentum we've got today.

Michael Lasser

Back half from a growth there. One, you see the acceleration in these initiatives. So we've got the DMA work that we're accelerating. You see the market hubs that are going, but also keep in mind or some easier comparisons as well. And in Q1 and the Q2, the change in trends or the similar trends, just remember, we're backing out Easter for that. So if you just adjust for that, it was 20 basis points in Q1, it's a 25 basis point headwind in Q2.

Shane O'Kelly

Now just let me illustrate with kind of a story around the initiatives, the strategic pillars. And it's a turnaround, and we're going down the long road to get this company back on footing. I was in a DC with our DC leader, Steve Szilagyi, and we look at a vendor that has shipped us individual piece parts, and these are small little containers where it costs more to put the container away than what the value of the product is. So Steve goes to the vendor that says, Hey, why are you shipping us like this. And the vendor says, Well, why are you cutting POs like that? And so together, we sit down the table and we say, Hey, if you could send me fewer bigger POs with the right frequency, I can put together bigger orders for you.
By the way, we could start doing case-pack quantities instead of one each, and that's a 7-digit cost takeout. And by the way, we're going sequentially across our vendor base having those discussions. Now you can't do that overnight, when you start to change pick quantities and things like that. But that's just one example of what's going on in supply chain to create lines for hour. By the way, simultaneously, we're closing DCs, Simultaneously, we're open market hubs. Simultaneously, we're refreshing the assortment in the DMA. So there's a lot of activity going on in the company that it's a little bit of a yard at a time that that's what we have as we think about going into the back half of the year. And by the way, into '26 and into '27.

Michael Lasser

Thank you very much that. Quite helpful.

Operator

Zack Fadem, Wells Fargo.

Zachary Fadem

Good morning. Now that the store optimization is largely behind us. Can you walk us through your expectations for non-GAAP adjustments for the rest of the year? It looks like about $100 million on SG&A this quarter. So as you look ahead, is there any color you can give versus non-GAAP operating margins and ES expectations for '25. We're not guiding necessarily GAAP. But I think in Q1, we had the benefit of the tax piece that happened in Q1 from a GAAP standpoint. But from a cash expense standpoint, we had $150 million this year, $90 million is already done.
Okay. And then stepping back on your conversations with vendors, is there a consensus out there on where like-for-like inflation will shake out for the industry this year, both tariff and nontariff driven? And then separately, we've talked in the past opportunities to renegotiate maybe take some vendors off supplier financing, and that could result in some margin improvement for you. Any updates there?

Shane O'Kelly

On the second piece, just on industry specific, there's lots of scenarios that play out on tariffs and what that impact would be. So we don't have exactly where that's going to land. Our guidance has all the different scenarios we think that will happen, and it contemplates those in that range. But going in low single digit is probably somewhere where we're thinking. But that range could obviously change quickly overnight. I mean it's still quite volatile. We're only halfway through the 90-day pause on one of them. So there's a lot that take place over the next 9 months.

Ryan Grimsland

On the second piece, just on an industry specific, there's lots of scenarios to play out on tariffs and what that impact would be. So, we're, we don't have exactly where that's going to land. Our guidance.
It has all the different scenarios we think that will happen, and it contemplates those, in that range, but going in low single digit is probably somewhere, where we're thinking, but that range could obviously change quickly overnight and it's still quite volatile. We're only halfway through the 90 day pause on one of them, so there's a lot that can take place over the next, 9 months.

Zachary Fadem

And on the vendor financing piece?

Ryan Grimsland

The vendor financing piece, nothing material from a change. Supply chain finance, we're sitting at $3.5 billion of capacity we're using an advanced about $3 billion of that. And that's just an uptick in normal seasonal buys. We expect long term to be somewhere [$2.8 billion, $2.6 billion] on that. And that's going to obviously fluctuates quarter-to-quarter as you have buys that go into their and then you run down the payables. So we still use it. There's nothing material where we've had vendors come off, and it's a material impact to our COGS, but we always evaluate supply chain tool, but we evaluate what's the better term for us.

Operator

Scott Ciccarelli, Truist.

Scot Ciccarelli

Good morning, guys. Thanks for the time. So it sounds like the benefits from better procurement costs are expected to be relatively modest, I think, Ryan referenced 50 basis points. I guess I would assume that procurement cost was going to be your biggest gross margin opportunity, and yet you're still expecting gross margins to improve during the course of the year. So can you provide any more color on what specifically and kind of the gross margin line is going to be the driver for the balance of the year? Is it just supply chain savings? Or are there other factors in there? .

Ryan Grimsland

Thanks. Yes. Thanks, Scott. Yes. So procurement cost of 50 plus keep in mind that those are contracts that we sign. And when those contracts go into effect has an impact on the amount, we are seeing SG&A down. We do have some fixed expense that we're leveraging. As we get more volume in the back half of the year. So we are getting significant improvement in SG&A year-over-year. Some of that's coming from the store closures as well to look at the drag that those does had on our business. And then the bulk of our gross margin is going to come in from COGS improvement, and that's both the first cost work that our vendors are doing and also the leverage on supply chain.

Scot Ciccarelli

Is there anything within the gross margin on that procurement side that isn't sustainable or it was onetime-ish? Or is this kind of like an existing run rate here? Thanks.

Ryan Grimsland

The 50 bps is going to be an existing run rate. I mean these are contracts we're signing with our vendors, and those will continue, and that will grow over time as we continue to execute that strategy. It will increase in the future.

Scot Ciccarelli

Got it. Thanks a lot, guys.

Operator

Stephen Zaccone, Citigroup.

Steven Zaccone

Great, good morning. Thanks very much for taking my questions. My question was just on the improvement you've seen in the business. You talked about February being choppy and things have improved. But specifically on the Pro side. How much of that do you think is the industry seeing some better growth after 2024 probably being a reset year versus maybe your own next execution with some of your Pro initiatives?

Shane O'Kelly

Yes. So it's a great question. When I look at the business, I look at what our teams are doing and I look at the initiatives and they say, Hey, does that make sense? Is that what those fundamentals of auto parts in terms of activities. And I absolutely see it in the protein. And so we go to market with Pro with really two major bodies of effort. The first is our outside sales team. We have hundreds of men and women who visit our customers every day.
And then we have thousands of team members in our stores called commercial parts pros. If we look at the activities we're taking and that ranges from making sure we've got the incentive and compensation plans that looks in terms of how we recruit and put people into those roles that looks to training that we've reinitiated at scale to make sure that they're properly equipped.
And then in terms of how we do call planning and who they call on and when they see them, then what do they say when they go see a customer and making sure correspondingly that we've been thoughtful about where relative pricing is for different pros based on what they buy and how much they buy. So there's a lot of analysis there's investment in our people. There's energy. We brought our team together for the first time in a decade earlier this year. So that's certainly having an impact in terms of our ability to get business with pros.
And I hear it as well. I'll go out and visit Pros and they'll say, you guys are now more relevant to me as I think about making the call, not the least of which, by the way, is the DMA availability work. Pros, when they have a car on the lift and they make the call and say, do you have the part we're saying yes more frequently than we were in the past.
And then add to the mix, the first question is, do you have it? Yes or no. And second is when can I get it, we shave minutes off the delivery time. So those two components also make a big difference. So certainly, we're subject to market forces up and down but there's internal things that we control, that we're improving that are making us more relevant with Pro customers.

Steven Zaccone

Okay. Then the follow-up I had, just drilling down in the second quarter with comps expected to be flattish. How should we think about the build of transactions versus ticket in that second quarter?

Ryan Grimsland

Yes, Stephen, so not necessarily guiding specifically on those. But I would say probably expecting the trends in DIFM to continue. And I think it's still early and volatile, we are monitoring the demand elasticity given this tent of environment and understanding the pushes and pulls there as we move price into the market. So not going to guide to those specifics just given the volatile nature of the current environment with tariffs, but we are confident in what we're putting.

Shane O'Kelly

I just want to say -- thanks for the question. I want to say one other thing on the Pro universe that helps us knew whether or not we're doing the right things. And that's our independent owners. So our independent owners they will give you raw feedback on how well they think you're doing on different dimensions. And by the way, they basically index entirely towards the Pro universe. And so we're grateful to have them as part of our network. We think we've got the right number of independents, and they're giving us feedback on how we're doing on our availability in terms of getting products to them. And I talked to one of our independent owners said, Hey, I've seen a I see a noticeable improvement in my ability to get the parts that ultimately, I need to take care of customers. So that's another benchmark that helps us sort of calibrate towards -- are we on the right track for working with Pros?

Steven Zaccone

Thanks.

Operator

Steven Forbes, Guggenheim.

Steven Forbes

Good morning Shane, Ryan. I wanted to expect on the servicing model. I think good. You mentioned in the call, 10% of stores are live with labor scheduling and asset allocation models. It was one of the -- a few things you didn't comment on sort of what you're seeing in terms of improved performance, right, within those stores that have that model. So I was wondering if you can maybe first and foremost, just expand on sort of what you're doing right in the store, what you're seeing in the store and if you're seeing sort of a visible lift in core KPIs in the back of leaning into that servicing model.

Shane O'Kelly

Yes. Great question. So there's a number of things that go into the store operating model. One of the things that you're latching on to is how we look at the asset allocation of vehicles and driver hours. And if you look across our fleet, what we found when we first started this project, is there would be areas in the company where a store would have four vehicles, but really only used three and there'd be another store that had two vehicles and really wanted a third. And usually, GMs will hold on to their vehicles if you leave that in their purview because they're optimistic about what they can do in the future.
So we're being smarter about where do we put a vehicle and then making sure correspondingly, if you have a vehicle and you got the demand, that you have the hours with the driver to operate the vehicle. And so we've been testing multiple parameters and that includes when a vehicle moves over and then how many hours you get with that vehicle.
Does the vehicle come, for example, with 35 hours or 40 hours or 45 hours. We're encouraged by the results in that we know there's -- that as we do this work, there's an unlock for the company. We're not ready to put anything out just yet for everybody here because it's early days, but let us keep working on it and when we've got sort of a crystallized insight and to forward, we'll bring it to you.

Steven Forbes

I appreciate that, Shane. And then just a quick follow-up here. The comment, right, 75% of the store is now in markets where you're number 1 or number 2 in store density. We often get asked, right, what does that mean in terms of market share? And and not that I expect you to sort of flip that for us. But just what's the high-level sort of view or message you're trying to express with that statement, right? Number one, number two, in density, what's sort of the big takeaway that we should leave with today?

Shane O'Kelly

So we've got a right to participate and win in those markets based on the legacy of our company, commonly the duration that we've been in that market the ability to service Pro customers in terms of proximity, the ability to be around the corner for DIY, the ability for our team members to have great career, the ability for our DCs to logistically serve them effectively. So in retail, and I'm going to -- I'll add distribution because that's kind of how you think about some of the product flows and customers. Density matters. And so having that versus -- we participated in markets where we were far thinner and it was much more expensive to serve and on a relative basis, there were many more competitive outlets. That's a tougher trajectory to run as a company versus we're in our core markets now, executing our pillars with the store framework. I mean we've got in the US, 4,100 stores and 750 independents. So we're in the market ready to serve.

Steven Forbes

Thank you.

Operator

With that, I'll hand back to the management team for some closing comments.

Shane O'Kelly

So I want to thank everybody. First and most important members of Advance Auto Parts our continued effort in our turnaround, sticking to our pillars and delivering the quarter that we just delivered. We look forward to seeing everybody in August on our next call, and thank you for participating today. Take care. Bye-bye.

Operator

This concludes today's call. Thank you very much for your attendance. You may now disconnect your lines.