AAP

AAP's selective expansion, stronger Main Street Pro sales and margin gains support profitability, despite DIY weakness and higher costs.

Advanced Auto Parts NYSE: AAP's August price plunge looks like an opportunity to buy because the causes of the plunge are out of the company's control, while the factors in its control continue to show improvement.

Advance Auto Parts Inc. (NYSE:AAP) on Thursday reported mixed second-quarter results.

High gas prices are forcing consumers to tighten their budgets. Advance Auto Parts is prudently paying down debt.

Advance Auto Parts is upgraded to "Buy" after a 25% share price drop, as margin recovery is underappreciated. Despite DIY channel weakness and flat sales, AAP's gross margin expanded by 240 bps and operating margin nearly doubled to 5.6%. Free cash flow turned positive at $120 million YTD, with net leverage reduced to 2.1x and a highly secure 2.2% dividend yield.

Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (AAP) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Advance Auto Parts NYSE: AAP reported second-quarter 2026 net sales of $2 billion as comparable sales declined slightly, with growth in its professional customer business offset by a larger-than-expected drop in do-it-yourself sales. The company reaffirmed its full-year sales, operating-margin and free-cash-flow outlook while raising its adjusted earnings-per-share guidance.

Shares of Advance Auto Parts (NYSE:AAP | AAP Price Prediction) stock are down 21% to $44.33 Thursday morning after the company posted Q2 2026 results that paired a headline earnings beat with a revenue miss and negative comparable sales.

Although the revenue and EPS for Advance Auto Parts (AAP) give a sense of how its business performed in the quarter ended June 2026, it might be worth considering how some key metrics compare with Wall Street estimates and the year-ago numbers.

The CNBC Business News Update with Peter Schacknow features market numbers & news with CNBC expert analysis and sound from top business names. Updated throughout the business day.