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American Eagle stock jumped on Wednesday after the retailer boosted its sales forecast as the apparel company continued to see traffic increase following its viral Sydney Sweeney jeans campaign.
The company’s stock is up 136% over the past six months, with a roughly 50% gain in the last month and 19% rise in the last five days. That run was spurred by the release of American Eagle’s “Great Jeans” ad in July that featured Sweeney. It also had a high profile campaign with NFL star Travis Kelce’s Tru Kolors clothing brand.
American Eagle now expects holiday quarter comparable sales to grow between 8% and 9%, well above analysts’ estimates of a 2.2% rise, according to data compiled by LSEG.
“I’m extremely pleased with the significant trend change across our business reflecting decisive steps taken from merchandising to marketing to operations – all having a positive impact,” said American Eagle Outfitters CEO Jay Schottenstein, who leads the brand’s parent company.
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American Eagle’s revenue was up 6% in the third quarter, with total comparable sales up 4%.
The company raised its outlook for the fourth quarter to reflect comparable sales growing in the range of 8% to 9%, up from the low single digits.
The guidance for operating income was also increased to a range of $155 million to $160 million, up from $125 million to $130 million under the previous forecast.
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| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AEO | AMERICAN EAGLE OUTFITTERS INC. | 24.20 | +0.21 | +0.88% |
“Strong momentum has continued into the fourth quarter, including an excellent start to the holiday season,” Schottenstein said.
“We delivered a record-breaking Thanksgiving weekend, led by an acceleration in demand across brands and channels and underscored by outstanding growth at Aerie and Offline,” he added. “We are focused on finishing the season strong and sustaining our success into 2026 and beyond.”
The Sweeney ad featured the star of “Euphoria” saying that, “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color. My jeans are blue.”
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Critics of the ad said it promoted eugenics, claiming it promoted racist and regressive themes.
Schottenstein stood behind the ad and told The Wall Street Journal, “You can’t run from fear. We stand behind what we did.”
He also told the Journal that “we never would’ve done it” if he or his team felt the ad was offensive.
The CEO noted the impact of the ad in comments he made on the company’s quarterly earnings call in early September.
“The iconic fall denim campaign with Sydney Sweeney affirms we are the American jeans brand,” Schottenstein said. “We saw record-breaking new customer acquisition and brand awareness cutting across age demographics and genders.”
Fox News Digital’s Hanna Panreck and Reuters contributed to this report.
