American Eagle Outfitters 2Q income up 19%

08/21/07 - newratings.com

NEW YORK, August 21 (newratings.com) - American Eagle Outfitters Inc (AEO) Tuesday announced that its second-quarter net income increased 19%, driven by rising sales.

The youth clothing retailer said that earnings for the 13 weeks ended August 4, 2007 increased to $81.3 million or $0.37 per diluted share, from $72.1 million or $0.31 per diluted share for the 13-week period ended July 29, 2006. Net sales rose to $703.2 million, from $602.3 million. Same store sales rose 2%, while gross profit margins fell to 45% from 45.7% last year. The company said that strong discounts led to a 0.5% decline in merchandise margins. A Thomson Financial survey of analysts had produced an average expectation of 36¢ per share in earnings on revenues of $698 million for the period.