By Barbara Kollmeyer
A revival of meme fever this summer has been spearheaded by retail investors buying Opendoor, GoPro and more
There ain’t no cure for the summertime blues? Well maybe there is as the return of meme-stocks mania has been beefed up by yet another company – American Eagle Outfitters.
Shares of the casual-wear retailer (AEO) rose 6% during Wednesday’s session, after the company announced that A-list actress Sydney Sweeney will head up an autumn promotional campaign – “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans.” Then the stock popped 17% in after-hours trade.
“They have literally been there with me through every version of myself,” Sweeney said in a company press release. The American Eagle campaign will include 3D billboards in which Sweeney interacts with passersby, a Snapchat lens that lets her speak to Snapchatters and AI enabled try-on technology, and will sell jackets and jeans inspired by the actress.
“I think this is potentially one of the biggest gets in American Eagle history,” said Craig Brommers, the company’s chief marketing officer, told Women’s Wear Daily in an interview of “it girl” Sweeney’s participation.
A smattering of comments – most of it is of the not-safe-for-work variety- on the WallStreetBets Reddit channel indicated that Sweeney’s participation in that campaign was indeed inspiring some investors to buy the stock. It was also a no. 5 trending stock on another social-media site, Stocktwits.
Meme-stock mania, which saw its heyday in early 2021, when retail investors shared trading tips and encouraged stock pumping on social-media sites such as Reddit’s WallStreetBets, has been on the cusp of a revival. Opendoor Technologies (OPEN), a heavily shorted online buyer and seller of residential real estate kicked that off, then joined by retailer Kohl’s (KSS), then joined by Krispy Kreme (DNUT) and GoPro (GPRO).
Read: ‘I’m already up $45,000 in about an hour’ – Reddit traders boast about wins as meme-stock mania returns
American Eagle stock is down 35% this year, after a 21% drop in 2024, fitting the profile of many of the above names that saw double-digit losses last year and are mostly still well down this year. GoPro and Opendoor stock shares are now each over up over 40% this year, largely from July rallies.
The next batch of earnings from big retailers is not due until mid August and American Eagle itself not reporting until Sept. 4.
American Eagle swung to a fiscal first-quarter loss in earnings reported late May, after guiding for disappointing sales earlier that month and yanking its 2025 guidance, citing macro uncertainty.
Corey Tarlowe, lead analyst at Jefferies, told clients in June 18, after meeting with some of the company’s management, they “expect ongoing headwinds facing the consumer could impact top-line growth and margin performance over the next 6-12 months.”
Tarlowe, who has a hold rating on American Eagle, noted that the company does plan to “reduce costs from its sourcing vendors and diversify its supply chain,” bringing China sourcing to under 10% this year.
Of six brokers tracked by Visible Alpha that follow American Eagle, 4 rate it a hold, one a sell and just one a buy.
-Barbara Kollmeyer
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