Abercrombie shares drop on weak sales
Shares of the teen retailer sank after the company reported a 17% decline in same-store sales in November.
By Andrea Tse, TheStreet.com
Shares of teen retailer Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) took a beating Thursday after the company reported disappointing November same-store sales.
Abercrombie & Fitch, which operates Abercrombie Kids, Hollister and Ruehl, said same-store sales fell 17% in November from a year earlier. Total net sales decreased 8% to $245.7 million from a year ago. Hollister had the biggest decline at 23%.
Analyst Brian Sozzi of Wall Street Strategies says Abercrombie has been offering clothing that’s "counter-trend," against what's going on in the retail market. He calls its sweaters "a miss" this season. Sozzi has downgraded Abercrombie & Fitch to “sell” from “hold.”
Bing: More on Abercrombie & Fitch
"The [Abercrombie] comps are not there for women," Sozzi says. "They're looking for trends and Abercrombie doesn't have a lot of trend in their business."
Women have been looking for tailored looks created by unique designers without logos, Sozzi says. They prefer to shop at stores like Forever 21 and H&M. "Everything by brand traffic was very weak at Abercrombie and I think this is a function of teens going to American Eagle and Aeropostale," Sozzi says.
Abercrombie shares fell 9.6% to $36.21 a share, trailing behind rivals American Eagle Outfitters,
Gap and J. Crew Group.
Related Articles
Aeropostale shares slide after outlook
Black Friday's revenge: will sales slip?
Black Friday's winners and losers
MORE ON MSN MONEY
DATA PROVIDERS
Copyright © 2013 Microsoft. All rights reserved.
Quotes are real-time for NASDAQ, NYSE and AMEX. See delay times for other exchanges.
Fundamental company data and historical chart data provided by Thomson Reuters (click for restrictions). Real-time quotes provided by BATS Exchange. Real-time index quotes and delayed quotes supplied by Interactive Data Real-Time Services. Fund summary, fund performance and dividend data provided by Morningstar Inc. Analyst recommendations provided by Zacks Investment Research. StockScouter data provided by Verus Analytics. IPO data provided by Hoover's Inc. Index membership data provided by SIX Financial Information.
Japanese stock price data provided by Nomura Research Institute Ltd.; quotes delayed 20 minutes. Canadian fund data provided by CANNEX Financial Exchanges Ltd.
LATEST POSTS
Try as the bears might, they couldn't break U.S. stocks. But investors still face frothy prices and considerable headwinds.
FIDELITY VIEWPOINTS
- How to sell covered calls - Fidelity Investments
- Savvy year-end tax moves to consider now - Fidelity Investments
- Seven ways to prepare for tax changes
- Five reasons an annual review is crucial - Fidelity Investments
- Take a look at mid caps now - Fidelity Investments
- State of the sector: Health care - Fidelity Investments
VIDEO ON MSN MONEY
ABOUT
Top Stocks provides analysis about the most noteworthy stocks in the market each day, combining some of the best content from around the MSN Money site and the rest of the Web.
Contributors include professional investors and journalists affiliated with MSN Money.
Follow us on Twitter @topstocksmsn.
