Abercrombie reaffirmed by Avondale and Zacks

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) was upgraded by research

analysts at Avondale Partners from a ‘market perform’ rating to an ‘outperform’ rating in a report released on Jan, 11. The same day, analysts at Zacks reaffirmed their ‘neutral’ recommendation on the stock.

Abercrombie & Fitch has a 1-year low of 28.64 dollars and a 1-year high of 54.10. The stock’s 50-day moving average is currently 46.64 dollars and, as per the latest fillings, the company has a market cap of 3.814 billion dollars and a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.52.

Also, Abercrombie & Fitch‘s stock had its “neutral” rating restated by Zacks in a report issued on Friday. They currently have a 51 dollars target price on the stock.

Zacks‘ analyst wrote, “Driven by strong top-line growth coupled with improved margins and lower tax rate, Abercrombie’s third-quarter 2012 earnings surged over 52 percent to $0.87 per share and surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 0.59 dollars. Total sales went up 9 percent to 1,170 dollars million and beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 1,115 million dollars. Based on strong quarterly performance, Abercrombie raised its earnings guidance for fiscal 2012 to 2.85-3.00 dollars per share, from its earlier guidance range of 2.50-2.75 dollars. However, despite the solid quarterly result and upbeat outlook, we have maintained our long-term Neutral recommendation on Abercrombie, as we remain concerned about its declining comps, which are weighing upon the company’s performance. Further, we believe that the company’s over-dependence on outside suppliers, intense competition from discount retailers as well as seasonality of business may undermine the growth prospect.”