Advance’s year-over-year decline in earnings per share in 4Q06 to $0.33 a share from $0.36 last year (granted if you adjust for stock options it basically was flat year over year) was pretty disappointing for such a highly regarded growth retailer.  And yet the stock was up nearly 5% yesterday.  And you know what?  I actually agree with investors that there is some reason for optimism that came out of the company’s conference call yesterday. 

Now I think most of you know my investment thesis (for the last couple years) on the DIY automotive aftermarket retailers has been that automotive parts are lasting longer than the industry data would lead you to believe, and that the DIY ret ...

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