Brean Murray Carret & Co. Cuts Price Target on Aeropostale (ARO), Maintains Buy Rating

Brean Murray Carret & Co. is reiterating their Buy rating on shares of Aeropostale, Inc. (NYSE: ARO) following the release of their 4Q earnings and future outlook. They are cutting their price target to $28 from $32.

The company did post a 4Q11 EPS of $0.98, which was ahead of the street by $0.01, but stated that comparable store sales fell 3% and net sales rose by 5%. They report that inventories were up 18% y/y at the end of the quarter, while cash equivalents were $265.5 million after repurchase 6.1 million shares for ~$151 million of their $1.15 billion repurchase plan, around $245.3 million of remaining buyback equity.

The company posted a weak 1Q12 guidance with an EPS range of $0.35-$0.38 due to additional markdown liquidations from additional inventories left over from 4Q11. Their FY12 range is $2.20-$2.40 assuming an 84 million share count and a tax rate of 39.5%. The firm is cutting their FY12 EPS estimate to $2.31 from $2.44 and is releasing their FY13 at $2.58.

For more ratings news on Aeropostale, Inc. click here and for the rating history of Aeropostale, Inc. click here.

Shares of Aeropostale, Inc. closed at $24.63 yesterday.

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