American Eagle Shares Fall On Mixed Q4 Earnings, Aerie Comps Up 23%

American Eagle Outfitters AEO shares are falling despite reporting record fourth-quarter sales on Wednesday.

The retail clothing company reported earnings of 43 cents per share, beating estimates by a penny. Sales came in at $1.24 billion, missing estimates by $20 million. The company issued first-quarter earnings guidance of 19-21 cents, below the 24-cent estimate.

"Strong execution by the teams drove a record fourth quarter and fiscal 2018, as we reached a milestone of $4 billion in annual revenue with increased operating profit," commented Jay Schottenstein, AEO's Chairman and CEO.

"As we head into 2019, we will continue to leverage the strength of our brands, selling channels and the team's commitment to continually raising the bar for our customers. I'm extremely proud of our results over the past several years. The strength of our balance sheet and free cash flow enables us to make important investments in our business to fuel market share gains, future growth and returns to our shareholders."

Highlights

• Comp sales were up 6 percent
• Aerie comps increased 23 percent
• American Eagle comps increased 3 percent
• Aerie saw the 17th consecutive double-digit comp growth quarter

American Eagle shares were down 3.8 percent to $20.50 at time of publication in after-hours trading. Shares closed higher by 4.3 percent at $21.32 in the regular trading session.

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