Wunderlich: 'Doom Subsides A Bit' At Aeropostale Inc

Aeropostale Inc's

rebranding efforts are looking good, but whether they ultimately can bear fruit remains unknown, an analyst said Friday. "The feeling of impeding doom has subsided a bit," said Wunderlich's Eric Beder, who maintained a Hold rating and $3.50 target on the struggling teen apparel retailer. Shares of the New York-based company are off 22 percent in the year to date, and traded recently at $1.83, up $0.04 cents. Aeropostale fired its design and merchandising chief Emilia Fabricant last week and said her role will be assumed by Chief Executive Julian R. Geiger. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aeropostale-inc-announces-departure-of-emilia-fabricant-executive-vice-president-of-aeropostale-300101814.html The 69-year-old Geiger returned to Aeropostale a year ago, and had previously headed the company in its heyday from 1996 to 2010. Geiger is "more than capable of making the correct merchandising decisions," Beder said, calling the recent development "a key positive" for Aeropostale. Beder called the company's recently unveiled Back-To-School merchandise line-up "impressive" and said the company is poised to boost store traffic. The major unknown in Beder's view: "will the consumer buy the new product?" Aero "faces an incredibly competitive retail environment and an exceptionally apathetic customer," Beder said. The company last month said its first-quarter sales fell 20 percent to $318.6 million, while same-store sales declined 11 percent. "The Back to School period represents the time when all of the disciplines and strategies we have instituted over the last nine months should come to fruition," Geiger said at the time. Other retailers that cater to teens are testing turnaround strategies, including the relatively successful Urban Outfitters, Inc.

, American Eagle Outfitters

and Abercrombie & Fitch Co.

, which Beder said "continues to flounder."