AEO Preview: Stuck in the Middle With Youth

American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) the teen / tween / young adult retailer is scheduled to report third-quarter results and conduct its quarterly conference call before the market opens on Tuesday.

The company is expected to earn 21 cents per share on net sales of $748.32 million. In the year-ago quarter, American Eagle earned 30 cents per share on net sales of $754.04 million.

For October, the company reported same-store sales declines of 5%. When making that announcement, American Eagle also said that it expects to earn 20 cents to 21 cents a share for the quarter. At the time, analysts were expecting the company to earn 22 cents a share. In three out of the last four quarters, American Eagle has exactly met consensus EPS estimates while it beat estimates by a penny in the other quarter. It appears that the analysts are just taking their direction from the company's management and hence add little value to the analysis.

When compared to industry leaders Urban Outfitters (URBN) and Aeropostale (ARO), American Eagle is clearly not at the top of heap. The company has had its struggles but is not hurting as much as say Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), which has dug itself into a hole in the U.S.

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At the time of publication, Rothbort was long Urban Outfitters, although positions can change at any time.

Scott Rothbort has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. He is the Founder and President of LakeView Asset Management, a registered investment advisor specializing in customized separate account management for high net worth individuals. In addition, he is the founder of TheFinanceProfessor.com, an educational social networking site; and, publisher of The LakeView Restaurant & Food Chain Report. Rothbort is also a Term Professor of Finance at Seton Hall University's Stillman School of Business, where he teaches courses in finance and economics. He is the Chief Market Strategist for The Stillman School of Business and the co-supervisor of the Center for Securities Trading and Analysis.

Mr. Rothbort is a regular contributor to TheStreet.com's RealMoney Silver website and has frequently appeared as a professional guest on Bloomberg Radio, Bloomberg Television, Fox Business Network, CNBC Television, TheStreet.com TV and local television. As an expert in the field of derivatives and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), he frequently speaks at industry conferences. He is an ETF advisory board member for the Information Management Network, a global organizer of institutional finance and investment conferences. In addition, he is widely quoted in interviews in the printed press and on the internet.

Mr. Rothbort founded LakeView Asset Management in 2002. Prior to that, since 1991, he worked at Merrill Lynch, where he held a wide variety of senior-level management positions, including Business Director for the Global Equity Derivative Department, Global Director for Equity Swaps Trading and Risk Management, and Director for secured funding and collateral management for the Global Capital Markets Group and Corporate Treasury. Prior to working at Merrill Lynch, within the financial services industry, he worked for County Nat West Securities and Morgan Stanley, where he had international assignments in Tokyo, Hong Kong and London. He began his career working at Price Waterhouse from 1982 to 1984.

Mr. Rothbort received an M.B.A., majoring in Finance and International Business from the Stern School of Business, New York University, in 1992, and a B.Sc. in Economics, majoring in Accounting, from the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, in 1982. He is also a graduate of the prestigious Stuyvesant High School in New York City. Mr. Rothbort is married to Layni Horowitz Rothbort, a real estate attorney, and together they have five children.