Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) is a leading apparel company that primarily targets teens and young adults in the United States. It competes with retailers like Aeropostale (ARO), Gap (GPS), J.Crew Group (JCG) and Urban Outfitters (URBN), and owns apparel brands such as A&F, Hollister and Gilly Hicks.

Our price estimate for Abercrombie & Fitch stock is $60.44, roughly 10% above the current market price. We estimate that A&F stores account for 29% of the company's stock value compared to 25% for Hollister stores. The Internet and catalog orders contribute around 23%.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (ANF) is a leading apparel company that primarily targets teens and young adults in the U.S. It competes with retailers like Aeropostale (ARO), Gap (GPS), J.Crew Group (JCG) and Urban Outfitters (URBN), and owns apparel brands such as A&F, Hollister and Gilly Hicks.

Looking at the Holiday Season

Our price estimate for Abercrombie & Fitch stock is $53.34, roughly 6% above market price. We estimate that A&F Stores account for 37% of the company's stock value compared to 29% for Hollister stores. The Internet & Catalog Orders contribute around 19%.

Analyst Upgrades

• Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) to positive from neutral at Susquehanna.
• tw telecom (TWTC) to outperform from neutral at Cowen.
• Agree Realty (ADC) to buy from neutral at Janney Capital.
• Millicom (MICC) to buy from neutral at Nomura.
• BioMed Realty (BMR) to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.
• Realty Income (O) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.

Did you catch the action in Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) today? The market apparently loved the data in the fourth-quarter report. With a little more than an hour to go before the end of the regular session, I'm seeing a quote of $57.37. That puts the gain in the shares at 7.4%. Volume is quite strong.

The 52-week low for this retailer is $29.94 and the 52-week high is $58.50. The chart shows the upward movement in the stock over the last twelve months. Not the smoothest rise ever plotted on a graph, but a rise nonetheless.

Analyst Upgrades

• Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.
• Trinity Industries (TRN) to buy from hold at BB&T.
• Cameron (CAM) to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• Expedia (EXPE) to positive from neutral at Susquehanna.
• Micron (MU) to buy from hold at Lazard Capital.

Last week, Macy's (M) and JCPenney (JCP) kicked off the retail earnings season by posting better-than-expected earnings for the most recent quarter. Many more quarterly reports from retailers are due this week, and by and large expectations of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are high.

Walmart (WMT), the king of retailers, is expected to buck the trend, though. Analysts anticipate that the Bentonville-based company will report that its third-quarter earnings grew only 6.7% year-over-year to 90 cents per share. During the three months that ended in October, Walmart announced an acquisition in South Africa and kicked-off the holiday shopping season, and revenue for that period is predicted to have risen 3.0% to $102.4 billion. Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, analysts so far expect sequential and year-over-year growth of both earnings and revenue. Walmart results have not fallen short of consensus estimates in the past five quarters.

Analyst Upgrades

• Canaccord believes growth in DigitalGlobe's (DGI) commercial business will be a catalyst for shares. The firm upgraded shares to buy from hold and has a $38 price target on the stock.
• Standpoint upgraded Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) to accumulate from hold based on valuation. The firm has a $47 target on the stock.
• Morgan Keegan upgraded Open Text (OTEX) to outperform from market perform based on the company's strong FY2011 EPS outlook.
• Devon Energy (DVN) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• Magna (MGA) was upgraded to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• EnCana (ECA) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.

As the earnings season begins to wind down, retail earnings move into the spotlight. Already, JCPenney (JCP), Kohl's (KSS) and Macy's (M) have posted earnings that topped consensus estimates, though the former two also offered disappointing guidance, and Nordstrom (JWN) met earnings expectations.

Many more retailers are scheduled to post their second-quarter results this week, including Walmart (WMT), Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), and Dollar Tree Stores (DLTR), whose earnings expectations we'll take a closer look at here.

Trendy retailer Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) has announced that net sales during the four weeks ending July 31 increased 17% to $270.9 million. Same-store sales during the period increased 7%, with direct-to-consumer net merchandise sales increasing 51% to $23.6 million.

Net sales for the fiscal quarter increased 17% compared to a year ago to $745.8 million, with store-sales up 5%. On a year-to-date basis, company sales increased to $1.434 billion from $1.239 billion a year ago, an increase of 16%. Same-store sales increased 3% on the same basis. Turning to the retailer's earnings report on August 17, the company expects to earn 15 cents per share.

It's the Fourth of July. Time to declare your independence from fear. Specifically, the fear of holding risk in your portfolio. Ergo, I list four stocks here that investors should perhaps keep on a watch list. The choice is yours, but maybe you might find something of interest in these four.

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF): This stock is most definitely a risk, make no mistake about it. Being a retailer based on fashion, how can it not be in the current climate? Yet, back in May, the company's first-quarter numbers didn't seem so bad (although they didn't comprise the best data set I've ever seen, either). And the one-year chart shows that Friday's closing price of $31.11 is getting close to recent support levels.