Abercrombie & Fitch Soars 37% on a $100M Tariff Refund and Raised Guidance, Ross and Kohl’s Hold Steady

ANF surged 34% after a $100M tariff refund pushed EPS to $4.17, more than doubling estimates and triggering a sharp full-year guidance raise.

Ross Stores priced in its identical tariff refund last week, while Kohl's barely moved as investors rejected the same windfall on a contracting top line.

Even excluding the $1.75 tariff contribution, Abercrombie beat guidance, but flat companywide comps and Hollister's 3% comp decline signal a traffic problem bulls must defend.

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Abercrombie & Fitch ( NYSE:ANF ) stock is surging 37% to $148.91 in mid-morning Wednesday trading after a large earnings beat, a $100 million tariff refund, and a raised full-year guidance. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust ( NYSEARCA:SPY ) is practically unchanged at $765.57, framing this as an idiosyncratic apparel repricing rather than a market move.

For peer context, Ross Stores ( NASDAQ:ROST ) stock is down 0.5% to $240.09 after its own tariff-refund quarter landed last week, while Kohl's ( NYSE:KSS ) stock is up 0.4% to $17.75 after reporting the same catalyst before the open. Also notably, the State Street SPDR S&P Retail ETF ( NYSE ARCA:XRT ) is up 1% to $88.58.

Abercrombie stock had been down 13% year to date through Tuesday's close, so today's session is repricing a name the market had already written down.

Tariff Refund and Raised Guidance Drive the Move

Abercrombie reported adjusted earnings of $4.17 per diluted share, well above the $1.99 consensus and its own prior guide of $1.80 to $2.00. Its net sales rose 5% to $1.27 billion.

Abercrombie's operating margin came in at 19.9%, against 13.9% adjusted a year earlier. Its Abercrombie brand net sales rose 8% and its Hollister brand net sales rose 2%, with both banners setting second-quarter records.

The company received a $100 million pre-tax IEEPA tariff refund booked as a reduction of cost of sales, contributing $1.75 per diluted share. Abercrombie raised its full-year outlook to $13.10 to $13.60 per diluted share from a prior $10.20 to $11.00, with 220 basis points of the margin upgrade tied to the refund.

By region, Abercrombie's Asia Pacific net sales grew 19% and its Americas net sales grew 5%, with EMEA net sales up 2%. APAC comparable sales grew 13%, so the geographic breadth is the piece of the quarter that would survive without the refund.