American Eagle (NYSE:AEO): Teen retailers continue to be hammered despite the overall improvement taking place in the retail sector. American Eagle has fortunately bypassed many of the losses of its peers and is well positioned to gain alongside the entire retail industry. Constant efforts to enhance its brand through new offerings have driven both earnings and revenue growth higher in recent quarters. This commitment is largely focused on its Aerie brand which remains the fastest growing portion of the business. American Eagle still faces a host of troubles such as an overdependence on external suppliers and heavy international exposure. Unfavorable currency trends along with weak tourist spending will likely pressure sales volume. That said, the actual print will be less important than forward guidance for the pivotal holiday season.
Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX): Quarterly results have followed a universal theme plaguing the tech sector: mounting losses and decelerating revenue growth. Box has reported double digit revenue growth and unprofitability in each quarter as a publicly traded company. In the year and half since its IPO the stock is down nearly 34% but has slowly recovered. This year shares are shockingly up 11% providing investors with hope for a sustained turnaround. Investment in security, compliance and administrative technology should improve adoption rates. Partnerships with leading enterprise technology companies like Cognizant and Adobe are expected to do the same. Increased investments are likely to taketheir toll on margins as well as profits, which have otherwise struggled
Guess? (NYSE:GES): Guess has withstood its fair share of volatility. After touching three year lows in July, the stock jumped over 20% after its most recent earnings report. The burst of optimism was short lived and has since dragged shares back down to near term lows. The outlook for the retailer doesn’t appear promising given the troubles its peers have already experienced this earnings season. Meanwhile frequent discounting through its factory and full priced stores will continue to put pressure on the bottom line. That said, expectations have edged down dramatically in recent months that even the smallest sign of improvement could send shares soaring.
PVH Corp (NYSE:PVH): PVH has bucked the dismal retail trends for the better part of this year. Its catalogue of brands which include Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger continue to see strong momentum thanks to frequent discounting and a strong reputation. This should continue to improve from investments in Europe, wholesale and direct to consumer avenues, all of which will help PVH reach a wider customer base. Department stores like Macys (NYSE:M) and Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN), which carry PVH clothing, have also played an important role in improving financial performance. Strong fundamentals in recent quarters have certainly played a role in the 45% gains the stock has made this year.
Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG): Data storage solutions are being touted as the next industry on the verge of a breakthrough. Pure Storage is pioneering those efforts with its cutting edge enterprise flash storage products that will replace traditional disk drive systems. In its albeit short history on the market, the stock has lost 10% of its value. This tends to be the case with many new IPOs which suffer from decelerating revenue growth and ongoing quarterly losses. PSTG will likely continue to feel these effects despite its best efforts to release new and innovative products. During the quarter the company released its FlashStack Converged Infrastructure solutions in collaboration with Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) and a Flash Array product line to address growing cloud storage needs. Heavy investment in developing and deploying new products will keep the losses piling up for the foreseeable future.