Advance Auto Parts is an automotive aftermarket parts provider in North America, serving both professional installers (Professional), and do-it-yourself (DIY), customers as well as independently owned operators. Co.'s stores and branches provide a selection of brand name, original equipment manufacturer and brand owned automotive replacement parts, accessories, batteries and maintenance items for domestic and imported cars, vans, sport utility vehicles and light and heavy duty trucks. Through its integrated operating approach, Co. serves its Professional and DIY customers through a variety of channels ranging from brick and mortar store locations to self-service e-commerce sites.
When researching a stock like Advance Auto Parts, many investors are the most familiar with Fundamental Analysis — looking at a company's balance sheet, earnings, revenues, and what's happening in that company's underlying business. Investors who use Fundamental Analysis to identify good stocks to buy or sell can also benefit from AAP Technical Analysis to help find a good entry or exit point. Technical Analysis is blind to the fundamentals and looks only at the trading data for AAP stock — the real life supply and demand for the stock over time — and examines that data in different ways. One of those ways is to calculate a Simpe Moving Average ("SMA") by looking back a certain number of days. One of the most popular "longer look-backs" is the AAP 200 day moving average ("AAP 200 DMA"), while one of the most popular "shorter look-backs" is the AAP 50 day moving average ("AAP 50 DMA"). A chart showing both of these popular moving averages is shown on this page for Advance Auto Parts. Comparing two moving averages against each other can be a useful visualization tool: by calculating the difference between the AAP 200 DMA and the AAP 50 DMA, we get a moving average convergence divergence indicator ("AAP MACD"). The AAP MACD chart, in conjunction with the chart of the moving averages, basically helps in visualizing how the moving averages are showing convergence (moving closer together), or divergence (moving farther apart). |