Stocks · Consumer Cyclical · Apparel - Retail
American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. AEO
$17.71 -1.45% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $2.97B
Inexpensive vs sector
Next earnings report: Dec 1, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $1.96, up 88.5% year over year.
- The stock is in a downtrend: below its 200-day average, with the 50-day average below the 200-day.
- The shares trade at 9.0× trailing earnings, lower than 81% of the company's own readings over the past five years.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Consumer Cyclical sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
Growth77Positive
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 31%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 10%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 21%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 44%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 23%
Quality38Weak
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 30%
- Gross marginTop 48%
- Operating marginTop 38%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Bottom 9%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 6%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 47%
- Interest coverTop 31%
Value90Exceptional
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 8%
- Free-cash-flow yieldBottom 50%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 12%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 33%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Top 29%
Momentum56Neutral
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 50%
- 6-month returnTop 41%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 37%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 33%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 34%
Revisions44Weak
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 15%
- Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 48%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 40%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 20%
Stability32Weak
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 26%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 35%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 34%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 47%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 6.2% | 8.2% | ↑ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 65.3% | 88.5% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 32.9% | 37.2% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 5.7% | 9.3% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 5.4% | 3.0% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 8.2% | 6.2% | ↑ | Top 31% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 88.5% | 65.3% | ↑ | Top 10% |
| Gross margin | 37.2% | 32.9% | ↑ | Top 48% |
| Operating margin | 9.3% | 5.7% | ↑ | Top 38% |
| Net margin | 5.9% | 3.7% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 3.0% | 5.4% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 10.7% | — | Top 30% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 3.3% | — | Top 44% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 0.71×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- 2.3%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 1.7%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -4.9 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 2.56×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 9.3×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 4.28%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 3.54%
- Shareholder yield
- 7.82%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -0.9%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -4.6%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Aug 1, 2026 (filed Sep 10, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 2
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 5 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +66.1%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +0.4%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 3 of 7
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $19.67
- Target vs current price
- +11.1%
- Analysts with a rating
- 52
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 46%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 9, 2026 | +257.3% | -1.9% | -14.0% | — | — |
| May 28, 2026 | +15.6% | +2.1% | -6.9% | +2.8% | -7.9% |
| Mar 4, 2026 | -29.6% | +0.9% | -15.6% | -24.9% | -19.4% |
| Dec 2, 2025 | +21.2% | -2.0% | +5.5% | +25.6% | +15.6% |
| Sep 3, 2025 | +125.0% | +0.8% | +33.2% | +26.6% | +45.5% |
| May 29, 2025 | -16.0% | +0.8% | -7.5% | -13.3% | +15.9% |
| Mar 12, 2025 | +8.0% | -0.3% | +5.4% | -16.0% | -11.7% |
| Dec 4, 2024 | +0.0% | +3.1% | -11.2% | -14.0% | -39.8% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 9, 2026 | $0.79 | $0.22 | +257.3% | $1.38B |
| May 28, 2026 | $0.14 | $0.12 | +15.6% | $1.20B |
| Mar 4, 2026 | $0.50 | $0.71 | -29.6% | $1.76B |
| Dec 2, 2025 | $0.53 | $0.44 | +21.2% | $1.36B |
| Sep 3, 2025 | $0.45 | $0.20 | +125.0% | $1.28B |
| May 29, 2025 | -$0.29 | -$0.25 | -16.0% | $1.09B |
| Mar 12, 2025 | $0.54 | $0.50 | +8.0% | $1.60B |
| Dec 4, 2024 | $0.48 | $0.48 | +0.0% | $1.29B |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 9.0× | 16.1× | 19th | Top 8% |
| P/E (forward) | 8.1× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 6.8× | — | — | Top 12% |
| EV / Sales | 0.83× | — | — | Top 33% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 5.68% | — | — | Bottom 50% |
| Earnings yield | 11.07% | — | — | Top 8% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 7.0× – 26.9× since Jul 31, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- +4.3%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +88.5%
- Change in P/E multiple
- -57.2%
Most of the move came from a change in the valuation multiple.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✓ Price above 20-day average
- ✓ Price above 50-day average
- ✗ Price above 200-day average
- ✗ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✓ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 5
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -1.8%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -2.6%
- Distance from 50-day average
- +5.8%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -7.9%
- RSI (14)
- 60.4
- Relative volume
- 0.67×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 54.9%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 70th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 1.21
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.30
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -37.2%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -64.5%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 23, 2021 | Jun 13, 2025 | -75.4% | 1040 days | Not yet recovered |
| Oct 7, 2020 | Oct 28, 2020 | -13.6% | 15 days | 8 days (Nov 9, 2020) |
| Mar 15, 2021 | Mar 24, 2021 | -13.1% | 7 days | 9 days (Apr 7, 2021) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $2.97B
- P/E (TTM)
- 9.0
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $1.96
- Revenue (TTM)
- $5.70B
- Dividend yield
- 3.53%
- 52-week range
- $14.06 – $28.46
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $5.01B | $4.99B | $5.26B | $5.33B | $5.50B |
| Gross profit | $1.83B | $1.54B | $1.81B | $1.88B | $1.81B |
| Operating income | $607.4M | $273.7M | $368.0M | $450.0M | $327.8M |
| Net income | $419.6M | $125.1M | $170.0M | $329.4M | $192.0M |
| EPS (diluted) | $2.03 | $0.64 | $0.86 | $1.68 | $1.09 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.29B | $1.60B | $1.09B | $1.28B | $1.36B | $1.76B | $1.20B | $1.38B |
| Net income | $80.0M | $104.3M | -$64.9M | $77.6M | $91.3M | $87.9M | $23.5M | $134.1M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.41 | $0.54 | -$0.36 | $0.45 | $0.53 | $0.50 | $0.14 | $0.79 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $303.7M | $406.3M | $580.7M | $476.8M | $456.2M |
| Capital expenditure | -$233.8M | -$260.4M | -$174.4M | -$222.5M | -$260.8M |
| Free cash flow | $69.8M | $145.9M | $406.3M | $254.3M | $195.4M |
| Dividends paid | -$113.9M | -$64.8M | -$83.8M | -$96.5M | -$85.3M |
| Net share buybacks | -$24.0M | -$209.8M | -$30.9M | -$204.7M | -$257.4M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $148.0M
- Total assets
- $4.28B
- Total liabilities
- $2.52B
- Total debt
- $1.92B
- Net debt
- $1.77B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $1.76B
As of Aug 1, 2026 (filed Sep 10, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 9, 2026 | $0.13 | Oct 28, 2026 |
| Jul 10, 2026 | $0.13 | Jul 24, 2026 |
| Apr 10, 2026 | $0.13 | Apr 24, 2026 |
| Jan 9, 2026 | $0.13 | Jan 23, 2026 |
| Oct 10, 2025 | $0.13 | Oct 29, 2025 |
| Jul 11, 2025 | $0.13 | Jul 25, 2025 |
| Apr 11, 2025 | $0.13 | Apr 25, 2025 |
| Jan 10, 2025 | $0.13 | Jan 24, 2025 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 16,904,324
- Days to cover
- 1.63
- Change vs previous report
- -6.5%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Dec 19, 2006
- 3-for-2
- Mar 8, 2005
- 2-for-1
- Feb 26, 2001
- 3-for-2
- May 4, 1999
- 2-for-1
- May 11, 1998
- 3-for-2