Abercrombie Sales Surge in September; Stock Soars 8%

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) was one of the big winners in September’s back-to-school sales wars, blowing expectations out of the water on Thursday with double-digit sales growth.

The teen apparel retailer reported a 13% surge in same-store sales for September, compared with forecasts from analysts for a rise of just 3.6%.

Net sales were even more impressive, soaring 25% to $305.3 million.

Wall Street cheered the stronger-than-expected performance, bidding A&F’s stock 8.8% higher Thursday morning to $41.98. The stock has rallied nearly 12% over the past month and is up 18% from a year ago.

A&F said its net sales have climbed 17% year-to-date to $2.09 billion. The retailer also said its direct-to-consumer net merchandise sales increased 45% to $195.5 million.

A number of other retailers reported strong results for September, including Limited Brands (NYSE:LTD), Saks (NYSE:SKS) and Buckle (NYSE:BKE). Same-store sales at U.S. retailers jumped 2.8% last month, solidly topping forecasts from Thomson Reuters for a rise of 2.1%.