Earnings live updates: Advance Auto Parts stock drops as 'constrained' customer spending weighs on sales growth

Earnings live updates: Advance Auto Parts stock drops as 'constrained' customer spending weighs on sales growth

Updated Thu, August 20, 2026 at 3:06 PM GMT+3 1 min read

Retail earnings are offering a check of consumer health this week as the second quarter earnings season winds down.

Home Depot's (HD) and Lowe's (LOW) results showed that consumers continued to spend, albeit on smaller projects, as geopolitical concerns and inflation weigh on US households. On Thursday, Advance Auto Parts (AAP) also noted that DIY consumer spending was impacted by "tighter household budgets."

Target (TGT) also posted another big earnings beat, while Walmart (WMT), America's largest retailer, reported its slowest pace of US same-store sales growth in six years.

Overall, earnings season showed remarkable strength. According to FactSet data, second quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are on pace to rise 50% year over year, the highest growth rate since 2021. Artificial intelligence has been the growth engine of that broad-based earnings growth, Bank of America strategists noted.