Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) Flat As Market Gains: What You Should Know

Read MoreHide Full Article

In the latest trading session, Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF - Free Report) closed at $19.16, marking no change from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.07% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.65%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 1.71%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the teen clothing retailer had gained 3.51% over the past month. This has outpaced the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 0.66% and the S&P 500's loss of 0.58% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from ANF as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be March 6, 2019. In that report, analysts expect ANF to post earnings of $1.11 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 19.57%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $1.14 billion, down 4.37% from the prior-year quarter.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $0.94 per share and revenue of $3.57 billion. These totals would mark changes of +44.62% and +2.29%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for ANF 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 company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 2.92% higher. ANF is currently a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Digging into valuation, ANF currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 20.36. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 13.33, so we one might conclude that ANF is trading at a premium comparatively.

Also, we should mention that ANF has a PEG ratio of 1.63. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Retail - Apparel and Shoes was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.37 at yesterday's closing price.

The Retail - Apparel and Shoes industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 67, which puts it in the top 27% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

To follow ANF in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Abercrombie & Fitch Company (ANF) - free report >>

Published in