Advance Auto Parts Dodges Investor Suit Over Accounting, for Now

Advance Auto Parts Inc. escaped, for now, a proposed class action alleging an overhyped strategic pricing plan and accounting errors spawned disappointing 2023 financial guidance and a major stock drop, a federal judge ruled.

Lead plaintiff City of Southfield General Employees’ Retirement System’s “shotgun pleading” didn’t sufficiently allege intent to the level required of securities fraud claims, Judge James C. Dever, III of the US District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina said Thursday. Rather, the allegations fell “within the heartland of securities fraud actions” that the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act intended to stop, he said. ...