American Eagle's Feathers a Little Ruffled: Like a Box of Chocolates, You Never Know What You're Gonna Get!

Uh Oh Trouble in Retail Paradise

Well folks life is like a box of chocolates and this quarter for American Eagle Outfitters? Let's just say some of those chocolates had a real bitter filling. They done announced their quarterly earnings and it seems like they tripped on a root runnin' through the forest. They missed what everyone thought they'd make. Seems they had to write down $75 million worth of spring and summer clothes. That's a lot of Bubba Gump shrimp money gone to waste! And get this they even pulled back their full year predictions. It's like Jenny disappearing all over again you just don't know where she's gone!

CEO Says 'Sh*t Happens'

Mr. Jay Schottenstein the big cheese over there said things were "challenging." He said they're workin' hard to fix things up and make sure they do better next time. He said their brands are still strong. That's good I guess. Reminds me of when Lieutenant Dan lost his legs but he kept on fightin'. Gotta keep swimming right?

The Numbers Don't Lie But Sometimes They Confuse Me

Now I ain't no math whiz but even I could see the numbers weren't lookin' too good. They lost 29 cents a share when everyone thought they'd only lose 22. And revenue? Well it was $1.09 billion which is what folks expected but still...it's like sittin' on a bench waitin' for Jenny expectin' her but she don't arrive at the time you were expectin'. Before all this they thought they'd actually *make* 11 cents a share. What in the world happened?

Aerie's Wings Clipped

Turns out their sales were down 3%. Their Aerie line you know the one with the undies and workout clothes took a bigger hit down 4%. Even the regular American Eagle stuff was down 2%. That's like when Bubba didn't catch enough shrimp...it just ain't good for business.

Blame it on the Discount Bin!

They're blamin' it on too many sales and havin' to write off all those clothes. Seems like they bought too much stuff and nobody wanted it at the price they were askin'. So they had to mark it all down. It's like when I got all that free shrimp and didn't know what to do with it! What a waste!

Other Stores are feeling Blue Too

Turns out American Eagle ain't the only one feelin' a little blue. Other stores are pullin' back their predictions too because of well I don't rightly understand it but it has something to do with what the President is doin'. Anyway American Eagle gets a lot of their stuff from China and they're tryin' to get less so they don't have to pay so much. It's complicated like tryin' to understand why Jenny did the things she did. Sometimes there just ain't no understandin'.