American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE: AEO) is scheduled to report its fiscal third-quarter financial results after the markets close on Wednesday. The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters call for $0.34 in earnings per share (EPS) on $927.36 million in revenue. In the same period of the previous year, the retailer posted EPS of $0.22 and $845.29 million revenue.
In the previous report, consolidated comparable sales increased 11%, compared to a 7% decrease in the fiscal second quarter of the previous year. This was the key to American Eagle dominating earnings, and if the company wants to have a strong performance, these numbers will have to come through, along with strong top- and bottom-line numbers.
This top retail stock had acted good all year and earnings have been solid, but the stock still got hit hard in August. American Eagle is a leading global specialty retailer offering high-quality, on-trend clothing, accessories and personal care products at affordable prices under its American Eagle Outfitters and Aerie brands. The company operates more than 1,000 stores in the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom, and it ships to 81 countries worldwide through its websites. American Eagle Outfitters and Aerie merchandise also is available at 119 international stores operated by licensees in 18 countries.
Ahead of the earnings report, a few analysts weighed in on American Eagle:
- Oppenheimer downgraded it to Market Perform from Outperform and lowered the price target to $17 from $19.
- Goldman Sachs lowered its price target to $14 from $16.
- B. Riley reiterated a Buy rating with a $20 price target.
- Sterne Agee CRT reiterated a Hold rating.
- Piper Jaffray upgraded to Overweight from Neutral.
So far in 2015, American Eagle has outperformed the market, with the stock up nearly 15% year to date. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock is up only 14%.
Shares of American Eagle were up 0.8% at $15.70 on Tuesday, with a consensus analyst price target of $19.06 and a 52-week trading range of $11.77 to $18.49.
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