Abercrombie 3Q profit surges, topping expectations

Abercrombie & Fitch Co.'s third-quarter profit jumped on higher sales nationally and at existing stores, Its performance handily topped Wall Street's expectations.

Shares surged $2.55, or 20.3 percent, to $15.10 in Friday premarket trading on the upbeat results.

The New Albany, Ohio-based company said its profit rose 28 percent to $10.1 million, or 15 cents per share, for the period ended Oct. 28. A year earlier it earned $7.9 million, or 12 cents per share.

Earnings, adjusted for one-time costs, were 30 cents per share. That easily beat the 24 cents per share that analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research were calling for.

The teen retailer's revenue rose 4.5 percent to $859.1 million, with the Hollister brand showing key gains. Wall Street expected $820.3 million in revenue.

Sales at stores open at least a year, a key measure of a retailer's health, increased 4 percent.

Going forward, Abercrombie foresees fourth-quarter revenue up mid- to high-single digits and sales at stores open at least a year up low-single digits.

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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on ANF at https://www.zacks.com/ap/ANF