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Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) Stock Slides as Market Rises: Facts to Know Before You Trade

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Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $159.64, moving -1.29% from the previous trading session. The stock trailed the S&P 500, which registered a daily gain of 0.58%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.69%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.05%.

Coming into today, shares of the teen clothing retailer had gained 18.74% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector gained 4.75%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.97%.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Abercrombie & Fitch in its upcoming release. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $3.01, reflecting a 27.54% increase from the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $1.37 billion, up 5.86% from the year-ago period.

For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $11.42 per share and a revenue of $5.52 billion, representing changes of +15.82% and +4.83%, respectively, from the prior year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Abercrombie & Fitch should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-term stock moves. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. At present, Abercrombie & Fitch boasts a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

In the context of valuation, Abercrombie & Fitch is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 14.16. This denotes a discount relative to the industry average Forward P/E of 14.48.

We can additionally observe that ANF currently boasts a PEG ratio of 1.42. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. The Retail - Apparel and Shoes industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.25 as of yesterday's close.

The Retail - Apparel and Shoes industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 160, putting it in the bottom 35% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Remember to apply Zacks.com to follow these and more stock-moving metrics during the upcoming trading sessions.

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