American Eagle reports flat comparable sales, reiterates EPS guidance

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
Jan 5, 2017

American Eagle Outfitters experienced a difficult holiday season. The retailer announced on Thursday that its fourth quarter comparable sales are flat following a “choppy and highly promotional” holiday season.

 
The company in November first forecast its fourth quarter comparable sales to be flat or increase by low single digits. Despite the flat comparable sales, American Eagle continues to expect its fourth quarter earnings per share to range from $0.37 to $0.39.
 
Jay Schottenstein, Chief Executive Officer commented, “Overall, I’m pleased that we are meeting many of our objectives for the quarter. We had a strong Thanksgiving shopping period, and despite traffic weakness in the malls leading into Christmas, our online sales for both American Eagle and Aerie were strong throughout the season. We remain focused on continuing to deliver our key merchandise and operational initiatives, and I’m confident in our prospects as we look ahead to 2017.”

The retailer was one of many companies to launch chatbots for the holiday season. American Eagle partnered with Pandorabots to develop and launch a chatbot to answer questions and offer gift ideas. Additional companies to launch chatbots this holiday season were Nordstrom and Mall of America.