On Nov. 29, teen fashion retailer Aeropostale (NYSE:ARO) released its third-quarter earnings for the period ended Oct. 28.

  • Sales were up almost 20% for the quarter, on the backs of a 5.6% increase in same-store sales and 70 more stores than last year's quarter.

  • Gross margins improved, but not all the improvement found its way to the bottom line.

  • Only 53 investors have chimed in about Aeropostale in our new CAPS ratings service. Forty-seven of them think it will outperform the S&P 500. What do you think? Bring it to CAPS!

(Figures in millions, except per-share data)

Income Statement Highlights

Q3 2007

Q3 2006

Change

Sales

$385.5

$324.7

18.7%

Net Profit

$32.6

$26.1

24.9%

EPS

$0.61

$0.47

29.8%

Diluted Shares

53.2

55.7

(4.5%)



Get back to basics with a look at the income statement.

Margin Checkup

Q3 2007

Q3 2006

Change*

Gross Margin

32.1%

29.2%

2.9

Operating Margin

13.4%

13%

0.4

Net Margin

8.5%

8%

0.5

*Expressed in percentage points.

Margins are the earnings engine. See how they work.

Balance Sheet Highlights

Assets

Q3 2007

Q3 2006

Change

Cash + ST Invest.

$203.3

$134.4

51.3%

Accounts Rec.

N/A

N/A

N/A

Inventory

$167.5

$159.9

4.8%



Liabilities

Q3 2007

Q3 2006

Change

Accounts Payable

$117.9

$95.1

24%

Long-Term Debt

$0.0

$0.0

N/A



Learn the ways of the balance sheet.

Cash Flow Highlights

There wasn't a cash flow statement in the release. De-nied!

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Related Companies:

  • American Eagle Outfitters (NASDAQ:AEOS)
  • Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF)
  • GAP (NYSE:GPS)

Related Foolishness:

American Eagle Outfitters is a Motley Fool Stock Advisor selection. Gap is a Motley Fool Inside Value and Stock Advisor pick.

Fool by Numbers is designed to give you the raw earnings information in a timely fashion, putting all the numbers you need in one easy-to-read place. But at The Motley Fool, we believe numbers tell only part of the story, so check Fool.com for more of our in-depth discussion of what the numbers mean.

At the time of publication, David Meier did not own shares in any of the companies mentioned. Fool rules for disclosure are here.