Catch A Soaring Eagle
John Dobosz, 02.17.05, 12:53 PM ET
Related Quotes
AEOS 52.65 + 0.24
ANF 53.54 + 0.23
BEBE 27.85 + 0.08
GPS 20.99 - 0.18
URBN 41.77 - 0.67
2/24/05 1:46:00 PM ET
NEW YORK - Jim Collins, editor of OTC Insight, recommends buying shares of Warrendale, Penn.-based American Eagle Outfitters, the designer and retailer of its own line of clothing for 15-year-olds to 25-year-olds. For the nine months ended Oct. 30, 2004, sales rose 26% to $1.27 billion, and net income was up 458% to $112.8 million from $24.6 million.
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Shares of American Eagle (nasdaq: AEOS - news - people ) are up 135% in the past year and traded as high as $54.61 on Feb. 7. The 12-month gain for AEOS is the highest in the retail apparel category, ahead of number two Bebe Stores (nasdaq: BEBE - news - people ) by 12 percentage points.
Based on Wednesday's close of $52.66, AEOS trades for 18.1 times expected 2005 earnings (year-ended Jan. 30, 2005), 2.1 times sales and 4.6 times book value. AEOS pays an annual dividend of $0.24, for a yield of 0.47%. The company's market capitalization is $3.88 billion, just ahead of the $3.5 billion market cap of Urban Outfitters (nasdaq: URBN - news - people ), but smaller than chief competitor Abercrombie & Fitch (nyse: ANF - news - people ), which has a $4.6 billion market value. The leader in the category is Gap (nyse: GPS - news - people ) with $19 billion.
Analysts look for earnings per share at AEOS to grow about 13% this year, to come in at $3.28 next January. On March 2, investors will get a look at whether the fourth quarter was good for AEOS when the company is scheduled to release its 2005 full-year and quarterly reports...
forbes.com |
