It’s no fun being a contrarian when investors are fleeing retail stocks on worries about the damage Amazon.com is doing to this sector.
Case in point: Late last May I liked Advance Auto Parts AAP, -1.07% at around $134, on weakness that had taken the stock down 21% for the year at that time, compared to a 7% gain for the S&P 500 SPX, -0.30% .
The car parts retailer offers guidance on how to make repairs and loans out specialized tools. These services seemed to offer some Amazon AMZN, -0.88% immunity since they’re tough to replicate online. Moreover, when cars break down, drivers often need parts right away.
