People walk past an Abercrombie & Fitch store on New York’s Fifth Avenue in 2022. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Abercrombie keeps up the comeback with another billion-dollar quarter

Denim, dresses, and diversifying to wedding wear are driving growth, but investors are still "underwhelmed.”

Nia Warfield, Yiwen Lu

8/28/24 11:33AM

Retail’s biggest comeback story is stitching up even more gains: Abercrombie & Fitch reported record second-quarter revenue that beat Wall Street expectations and raised its sales outlook for the full year, despite an “increasingly uncertain environment.”

Sales for the quarter were $1.1 billion, marking A&F’s second billion-dollar quarter in a row. Operating income was $176 million, almost doubling last year’s $90 million, and net income more than doubled. Both the Abercrombie and Hollister brands saw double-digit sales growth in the second quarter, fueled by strong demand for denim and dresses during the summer and back-to-school season.

Despite all those numbers going up, the stock sank 15% after the retailer warned about increasing freight costs and slowing margin growth. Even with today’s decline, shares of A&F have been on a tear – they’re up 58% so far this year. That’s after soaring 285% in 2023 — more than the stock market’s all-star, Nvidia.

Adam Crisafulli, an analyst at Vital Knowledge, wrote in a note to clients that Abercrombie is held to a higher standard than most retailers because of its growth, and “people will probably be modestly underwhelmed” with the results.

Long known as a teen retailer, Abercrombie in recent years has started to diversify its offerings, sparking growth in both its men’s and women’s divisions. Since launching in March, A&F's wedding shop has exceeded expectations, with the company noting it has benefited as weddings turn into multi-day occasions. Last quarter, it added men's suits to the mix.

Abercrombie also expanded its partnership with the NFL to cover all 32 teams and is planning to launch a new range of fall essentials like sweaters, hats, and outerwear.

Abercrombie’s results come during a big week for retail earnings, which could offer more clues to consumer confidence. American Eagle, Birkenstock, and Ulta Beauty all report Thursday.

Max Knoblauch5/29/26

The Trump administration is reportedly planning a 50% made-in-America requirement for USMCA tariff relief

Qualifying for USMCA-related lower tariffs may soon require more US-made vehicle components, according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal.

The Trump administration is reportedly planning to introduce a 50% US content requirement for vehicles covered by the trade pact to receive lower tariffs. The content would be measured by cost, according to the WSJ.

There currently isn’t any US-specific requirement for those lower tariff rates, but in order to receive preferential tariffs, vehicles are must contain at least 75% regional content (components made in North America). Per Reuters reporting, the Trump admin is seeking to raise the regional requirement to 82%.

These reported plans are subject to change as the US negotiates USMCA terms with Mexico over the next few months.

Overall, Tesla will likely have the easiest time qualifying for any stricter requirements. The automaker’s vehicles contained the highest amount of US/Canadian content in 2025, according to American University research. Ford, GM, and Stellantis all scored lower.

Notably: the underlying government data that many domestic content measurements rely on intentionally combines US and Canadian components, so it’s difficult to know exactly how much of any given vehicle is specifically US-made.

Exclusive | Trump Administration Wants Autos Under USMCA to Be at Least 50% Made in America

These reported plans are subject to change as the US negotiates USMCA terms with Mexico over the next few months.

Tom Jones5/29/26

The $640,000 Luce makes the average Ferrari look like a bargain

Put aside the shape; put aside the smoothing out of Ferrari’s iconic sharp edges; put aside, even, the calls from former Chairman and President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo to “take the Prancing Horse off.” On the grounds of price alone, Luce detractors might have a point.

By now, many of us will have read the criticisms of Ferrari’s first fully electric vehicle, as the Luce — which was unveiled to the world earlier this week and promptly saw the company’s shares crash out in New York and Milan — gets subtly shaded by competitors online and not-so-subtly shaded by basically everyone else.

What makes all of this worse for Ferrari is that, even by the luxury car maker’s notoriously high standards, they’ve slapped a pretty hefty price tag on the Luce, and the company’s CEO, Benedetto Vigna, has already been forced to defend the €550,000 ($640,000) price point, saying yesterday that it’s “fair to pay for innovation,” per Reuters.

While Ferrari’s cars have been getting more expensive of late, as recently as 2022, Ferrari’s average revenue per car sold was around $340,000. At nearly twice that price, this new electric model is obviously proving a little much (visually, conceptually, and financially) for many loyal and long-standing fans of the Prancing Horse to stomach.