American Eagle Has Great 2nd Quarter

It seems that thy really are the bellcow of back to school retailers after all.

American Eagle Outfitters Inc.'s profit was up 24 percent in its second
quarter, the youth clothing retailer said Tuesday.

For the three months ended July 29, income rose to $72.1 million,
or 47 cents a share, from $58 million, or 37 cents a share, a year
ago.

Sales increased 17 percent to $602.3 million, from $515.9 million last
year.

It is interesting that some of my money is in that sales increase. I recently bought a striped polo shirt from them that is similar to this one but red. This Motley Fool article has some interesting insight into a new store concept for AEOS called Martin + Osa.

Of course, some of that capex is going toward the much-anticipated (by me,
anyway) Martin + Osa chain, American Eagle's clothing concept for 25- to
40-somethings. The company now hopes to have at least 20 of these stores
open by the end of 2007, and with the usual suspects like Gap (Nasdaq: GPS) and
Abercrombie & Fitch's (NYSE: ANF)
Reuhl failing to resonate with this demographic -- it's just a weirder,
louder, darker, Disneyland caricature of Abercrombie, really -- I think
Martin + Osa has some great opportunities ahead.

I have to agree with this author about A&Fs Reuhl store. That place is kind of spooky looking with a fake brick front that gave the place a dark and sinister appearance. They have one in Ala Moana and I thought it was some kind of over-trendy womans store because you can kind of see bags and womens clothing through the murky darkness. I did catch sight of a pretty female salesperson through the gloom but it might have just been a Fell Phantom waiting for some unsuspecting shopper to venture in so she can give them a taste of the Wail of the Banshee. In any case Reuhl certainly didn't scream "25-40 year old please come in and buy some stuff."