Predictions of higher sales have analysts proclaiming an Abercrombie comeback

Abercrombie & Fitch seems to have traveled the long road to a comeback, and the retailer is now being heralded by various Wall Street analysts.

This week, Abercrombie raised its sales prediction for the fourth quarter and now expects comparablestore sales to increase by a percentage in the low teens. That’s a substantial improvement from its previous prediction of an increase in the mid- to high-single digits.

The news had analysts crowing.

In a posting on Seeking Alpha, analysts at L&F Capital Management wrote that “teen retail is bouncing, and at the head of this charge is Abercrombie & Fitch.”

It’s quite a turnaround, the analysts said.

Abercrombie was “left for dead after bad press coupled with (competition from) Amazon and digital retail encroachment (painted) a dour outlook for the brand,” the L&F analysts wrote, noting that shares of the New Albany-based fashion retailer sank to multi-year lows this past summer.

Abercrombie, like other mall-based retailers, has been hurt by slumping sales in recent years because of competition from other teen retailers, fast-fashion chains, off-price chains and online commerce sites such as Amazon.

In addition, the retailer’s once-hip image took a battering in the recent past as use of semi-nude models, T-shirts with insulting phrases and absence of larger-size clothes alienated some shoppers.

The man at the helm at the time, longtime CEO Mike Jeffries, was sent into retirement, and the company hired a new management team and put both of the company’s brands — surf-themed Hollister and Abercrombie — through years-long reboots.