Shares of American Eagle Outfitters Inc (NYSE:AEO) are surging higher Thursday morning as investor enthusiasm builds around its new advertising campaign. The rally extends a spike from Wednesday's after-hours session, where the stock jumped over 23% following the announcement.
What To Know: The catalyst for the climb is the launch of the apparel retailer's Fall 2025 campaign, titled "Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans." Featuring the globally recognized actress, the initiative aims to solidify American Eagle's position as the leading denim brand for Gen Z consumers by returning to its heritage.
The company is backing the campaign with an aggressive marketing strategy, including a feature on the Las Vegas Sphere and interactive 3D billboards. The collection includes a limited-edition denim jacket and "The Sydney Jean," a collaboration with Sweeney where 100% of the purchase price will be donated to the Crisis Text Line.
The stock's dramatic movement Thursday has fueled social media speculation that AEO could become the latest target of retail traders, coinciding with renewed activity in so-called meme stocks. For now, the blend of a major celebrity partnership and a modern, high-visibility marketing push is providing a significant boost to the retailer's market value.
Benzinga Edge Rankings: According to Benzinga Edge stock rankings, which provide four critical scores to evaluate a stock’s strength, American Eagle Outfitters displays a compelling profile for value and growth investors. The stock earns an exceptional score of 91.23 for Value and a strong 78.71 for Growth.
It also maintains a solid Quality score of 69.97. However, the data reveals a significant weakness in Momentum, with a low score of just 8.04. This is reflected in its price trends, which are positive for the short and medium term following the recent news, but remain negative from a long-term perspective.
Price Action: According to data from Benzinga Pro, AEO shares are trading higher by 9.7% to $11.88 Thursday morning. The stock has a 52-week high of $22.82 and a 52-week low of $9.27.
Read Also: 5 High-Momentum Stocks With A ‘Golden Cross’ Buy Signal
How To Buy AEO Stock
By now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for American Eagle Outfitters – be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.
Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy “fractional shares,” which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share.
In the case of American Eagle Outfitters, which is trading at $11.92 as of publishing time, $100 would buy you 8.39 shares of stock.
If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to “go short” a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading – either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline.
