There's a difference between a CEO that's paid well and one that's raking in loot he clearly doesn't deserve. The former may invoke a bit of ire in this economic climate, but when cooler heads prevail, the cash laid out is usually but a rounding error on the increases in market cap he's driven. An overpaid CEO, on the other hand ... well, it's a bit harder to justify the inflated package.

Kerri Chyka over at CNN Money reports that the Corporate Library sifted through the bloated and legit packages out there to let us know which top dogs are rolling in dough that should probably be left in the company coffers.

1. Michael Jeffries, Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF)
Last year, Michael Jeffries made $71.8 million in total, with a base salary of $1.5 million, according to corporate governance research firm, the Corporate Library. It even included a $6 million retention bonus ... because you want to hang on to a guy who the research firm calls one of the five "Highest Paid Worst Performers" of 2008. If that stings, Jeffries can hop on the Abercrombie corporate jet instead of running away. He's paid better than 75% of rival CEOs, while the share price generally underperformed them.

2. James W. Stewart, BJ Services Company (NYSE: BJS)
James Stewart had a good year in 2008, as it outperformed most of its peers, and he nailed a $34.6 million package. In all fairness, $30 million came from the value realized on stock options. The four years that preceded Stewart's strong performance, on the other hand, were lackluster. The future, it seems, is immaterial, as Baker Hughes picked up BJ Services last month, and Stewart will probably be out the door at the end of the year, when the deal closes.

Last summer we lamented the price of gas. This year, however, there's at least one upside. Retail sales for June were up 0.6% - substantially better than the 0.4% anticipated – with the gas prices leading the charge. A slight tip in the brutalized auto manufacturer sector helped, as well. This was the largest retail sales increase in five months.

Gas stations benefited from the cost of fuel, adding a bit of pep to a beleaguered retail industry: sales were up 5% year over year, after doing the same in May. And, car dealers had their best month since January: the sales of cars and parts climbed 2.3%. Nonetheless, this corner of the retail world is still off 14.5% from last year. It may have helped last month, but we're still pretty far from a cure.

Analyst upgrades:

• Baird upgraded Regal-Beloit (NYSE: RBC) to Outperform from Neutral based on valuation and growth expectations.
• Black & Decker (NYSE: BDK) and Lennar (NYSE: LEN) were upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS based on valuation.
• Kroger (NYSE: KR) and Public Storage (NYSE: PSA) were added to Goldman's Conviction Buy List.
• CIBC upgraded Biovail (NYSE: BVF) to Sector Performer from Sector Underperformer.
• Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Cowen.

Analyst downgrades:

• Merrill downgraded Campbell Soup (NYSE: CPB) to Neutral from Buy and expects marketing and promotional spending to limit earnings growth in 2009 and 2010. The firm lowered their target to $35 from $42.
• Mechel Steel (NYSE: MTL) was cut to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley to reflect declining coal demand.
  
• Friedman Billings downgraded shares of Legg Mason (NYSE: LM) to Underperform from Market Perform on liquidity concerns given the Legg Mason's leveraged balance sheet and falling EBITDA. The firm lowered their target to $7 from $11.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF), the hip clothing store that competes with The Gap, Inc. (NYSE: GPS) and J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE: JCP), is no different than any other retailer. Christmas is going to hurt... hurt bad. Make no mistake. And as far as earnings reports goes, the pattern is in: report a decline, then issue some nasty guidance.

Abercrombie reported Q3 numbers today, and according to the press release, net sales decreased 8%, and earnings per diluted share declined 44% to $0.72. As Melly Alazraki reported this morning, that $0.72 beat analyst estimates. But the market could care less. As Melly pointed out, the full-year outlook was cut. The stock sold off upon the news. In fact, as I write this, the stock is down nearly 15%. By the way, if by the time this is published the market is up and Abercrombie's shares are trading in the green (big if, granted), don't even think it's a buy. Put that out of your mind. Did you see the same-store sales? They were down 14% for the quarter. That figure is grabbing the attention of investors, I'm sure. When you see a downturn like that, well, you know things aren't going to turn around quickly.

Abercrombie's woes will be with it for a while. Management will find it difficult to strike the right balance between staffing the stores properly and increasing marketing activities. All retailers will be in the same boat. The stock hit a new 52-week low today of $18.83. My guess is that the stock will be as volatile as the market, and that it will trend in a downward direction over the next couple months. Obviously I don't think it's a buy. Broken stock and broken fundamentals aren't a great combo. Abercrombie continues to plan for new store openings in fiscal 2008; perhaps those investments will pay off down the line. For now, the retail sector is doing horribly, competition in the sector is becoming cutthroat as consumer confidence loses value, and I continue to look at only two names -- Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Target (NYSE: TGT) -- as possible long-term values. Yep, Abercrombie & Fitch isn't so sexy anymore.

Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change at any time.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) apparently faces some major image issues.

According to a September ChangeWave survey of more than 4,000 consumers, Abercrombie was the store they said they're least likely to shop at in the future.

Consumers primarily objected to the company's risqué self-portrayal. One respondent took them to task for "immoral advertising and the message it sends to teens."

Other disaffected responses include:

• "Seriously disagree with their philosophy."
• "Overly suggestive catalog."
• "Don't like their advertising scheme."
• "Moral values."
• "I don't like the image they project."

Compounding the image issue is the huge pullback in consumer spending and the migration of consumers from mall stores to discounter retailers.

Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO), a retailer whose colleagues include Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF), Pacific Sunwear of California (NASDAQ: PSUN) and Gap (NYSE: GPS), issued its Q2 report on Thursday. The stock didn't do much after the numbers were made public despite reporting a very nice 21% increase in sales during Q2, and a whopping 63% jump in earnings per diluted share to 31 cents. Why such a blasé reaction? Well, the retailer was only able to match the expectations of Wall Street analysts, so that might offer some justification for the lack of a decisive bid.

I felt the same way after reading Aeropostale's earnings release as I did after perusing the stats behind GameStop's (NYSE: GME) recent quarter, thinking the company deserved at least a little excitement, especially when one considers that last year at this time, the mall chain saw a 4% contraction in same-store sales. Of course, there is one understandable difference between the GameStop situation and the Aeropostale scenario. GameStop's stock wasn't trading near a 52-week high, and Aeropostale's shares are. So, perhaps the market is perceiving that a lot of the good news is already priced in.

Aeropostale has done well this year. Its stock is up over 28%. Should that concern potential investors? Perhaps. After all, this is a mall retailer based on fashion and investors must consider that Aeropostale's current hot streak could cool. If that happens, the stock might end up retreating back to the lower end of its 52-week range. While there are any signs that such a retreat will happen, I only want to throw into the discussion the concept of fickleness among the youth.

If you really like Aeropostale and want to buy its stock, it might not be so bad to wait for a better price, in my opinion, to allow at least a little margin for error.

Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change at any time.

Monday, November 19

• Digital Angel (AMEX: DOC) to hold company update conference call at 8:30 a.m.
• Hewlett-Packard (NASDAQ: HPQ) to report Q4 earnings; conference call at 5 p.m.

Tuesday, November 20

• Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) to report Q3 earnings; conference call at 10 a.m.
• Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) to report Q3 earnings; conference call at 10:30 a.m.

Wednesday, November 21

• Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) to report Q3 earnings; conference call at 8:30 a.m.
• Deere (NYSE: DE) to report Q4 earnings; conference call at 10 a.m.
• Gap (NYSE: GPS) to report Q3 earnings; conference call at 10:30 a.m.

Thursday, November 22

• Thanksgiving Holiday

Friday, November 23

• Black Friday
• PDUFA date for Biomarin (NASDAQ: BMRN)'s Kuvan, formerly Phenoptin, for treatment of Phenylketonuria.