AZO vs ROK Comparison

Founded in 1979, AutoZone is the largest US-based retailer of aftermarket automotive parts and accessories, operating over 7,600 stores and generating over $20 billion in fiscal 2026 sales. Beyond its primary home market (86% of total revenue), the company also maintains a growing presence in Mexico and Brazil. AutoZone caters to two core customer segments: do-it-yourself, which account for roughly two-thirds of its domestic sales, and commercial do-it-for-me customers, which represent the remainder.

With roots tracing back to the early 1900s, Rockwell Automation is the successor to Rockwell International, which spun off its avionics segment in 2001. It is a pure-play industrial automation company that operates through three segments. Its largest segment by revenue, intelligent devices, sells factory floor-level devices such as motors, drives, sensors, relays, and actuators. Its software and control segment sells visualization, simulation, and human-machine interface software and control products such as programmable controllers, computers, and operator terminals. Its smallest segment, lifecycle services, offers digital consulting, engineered-to-order services, and other outsourced services such as remote monitoring, cybersecurity, and asset and plant maintenance and optimization.