American Eagle & Ann raise financial outlooks

Wednesday brought news for the apparel market as most

of retailers have a promising holiday season ahead. American Eagle and Ann raised parts of their financial outlooks thanks to the positive results seen in the last quarter.

Express jumped 11 percent, while American Eagle rose 6.9 percent, sending rival Aéropostale Inc.’s stock up 5.9 percent, reported Bloomberg. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. rose 2.1 percent and watch maker Movado added 8.2 percent. Ann climbed 7.9 percent by the time PVH gained 5.4 percent.

Analysts at Trefis anticipated Monday that “as the specialty retailer Ann (NYSE:ANN) releases its Q3 fiscal 2012 earnings on November 28, we expect good results driven by strong brand performance in the U.S. The good response to the fashion newness in the previous quarter inspired the retailer to add the same to its fall collection. Ann signed the actress Kate Hudson as the face of the fall collection. We believe that this will have a positive impact on its revenue growth. Other initiatives such as an increase in the product categories at opening prices, and lower promotional activities will help Ann Taylor in posting good results. “

Net income for Ann Inc. rose to 40.7 million dollars, or 84 cents per share, compared to the 32.3 million dollars (61 cents per share) in the same quarter a year earlier. This marks a rise of 26.2 percent from the year-earlier quarter, stressed analysts at Wall Street. Revenue rose 8.6 percent to 612.5 million dollars from the year-earlier quarter.

Ann Inc. reported adjusted net income of 76 cents per share, beating estimates of 74 cents per share and also surpassing the average revenue estimate of 560.8 million dollars.

Also in Wall Street, American Eagle Outfitters announced its earnings for the third quarter of 2012, with net sales increased by 11 percent to a record 910 million dollars, up from 819 million in the same quarter last year. Gross profit increased 21 percent to 379 million dollars. The company's operating margin expanded to 14.1 percent, their best margin rate in four years.

“Our holiday season and fourth quarter have started off strongly and consistent with our expectations,” said American Eagle Chief Executive Robert Hanson on a conference call with ‘MarketWatch’, adding the teen retailer saw positive comparable sales and record volume on Black Friday after “strong double-digit sales gains last year.” He said demand over the Wednesday-through-Sunday period has “completely” offset the negative impact of Sandy. “We feel well positioned for our success this holiday,” Hanson added, highlighting as well that the company also saw record demand online with “major advancement in mobile and tablet commerce.”