NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Jan. 7, 2014--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today it assigned a 'BBB' issue-level rating to AutoZone Inc.'s $400 million senior unsecured notes that mature in 2017. We expect the company to use proceeds to fund an upcoming maturity. The ratings on the Memphis-based AutoZone reflect our view of the company's business risk profile as "strong". This incorporates our expectation that AutoZone will have consistent measured profit growth and will maintain its industry leading market position and operating metrics. The rating also incorporates our view of financial risk profile as "intermediate", which we based mostly on forecast credit ratios, as we expect the company's adjusted debt to EBITDA to be in the 2.5x-2.6x range and
