Here are the stocks added to the Zacks #1 Rank ("strong buy") List today:

Aeropostale Inc (ARO) The AES Corp (AES) Anglo American Plc (AAUKY) Big 5 Sporting Goods Corp (BGFV) Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc (BIO) Brasil Telecom Participacoes SA (BRP) Bway Holding Co (BWY) Carmike Cinemas Inc (CKEC) Cognex Corp (CGNX) Computer Sciences Corp (CSC) Ctrip.com International Ltd (CTRP) DeVry Inc (DV) Discover Financial Services (DFS) Dolan Media Co (DM) Dow Chemical Co (DOW) Fossil Inc (FOSL) Gibraltar Industries Inc (ROCK) ...

  Aeropostale Inc.’s (ARO) fiscal second-quarter net income surged 83.3% year over year to $38.6 million. Earnings per share came in at 57 cents, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny. The performance was also higher than the company’s upgraded guidance of 54 cents to 55 cents per share announced earlier this month. The specialty retailer for teenagers recorded a robust 20.1% year-over-year growth in sales to $453 million driven by a 12% expansion in same-store sales. The result was also helped by an 8% growth in weighted square footage as the company added 48 stores across the U.S., Canada and Dubai, compared to the year-ago quarter. Low-priced teen retailers such as Aeropostale and Buckle Inc. (BKE) have been able to negotiate recessionary headwinds successfully by offering value to price conscious customers. On the other hand, a more expensive competitor, Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (...

Analysts have been unanimous in boosting profit expectations on The Gymboree Corporation (GYMB) over the past month.

< ?DART(15);?> The specialty retailer raised its fiscal second-quarter profit guidance in early July and again in early August, and followed through on Wednesday with the official report. Subsequently, a brokerage firm upgraded the company to "outperform" from "perform".

GYMB makes the Zacks #1 Rank Top Performers List for Thursday with a gain of more than 12%. Volume at 2.7 million shares is sharply higher than the daily average of nearly 700,000.

Including GYMB, there are 4 companies from the retail-apparel/shoe industry on today's Zacks #1 Rank List, which includes 234 stocks. The other 3 companies are Aeropostale, Inc. (ARO), Carter's, Inc. (CRI) and The Cato Corporation (CTR).

Fiscal Second Quarter

On Wednesday, GYMB reported earnings per share of 41 cents, compared to 27 cents in

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Here are the stocks added to the Zacks #1 Rank ("strong buy") List today:

3Com Corp (COMS) 51job Inc (JOBS) Actions Semiconductor Co Ltd (ACTS) Aeropostale Inc (ARO) Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (ABV) American Italian Pasta Co (AIPC) American States Water Co (AWR) Amkor Technology Inc (AMKR) Anworth Mortgage Asset Corp (ANH) Asbury Automotive Group Inc (ABG) Ashland Inc (ASH) Associated British Foods Plc (ASBFY) AudioCodes Ltd (AUDC) Baidu Inc (BIDU) Banco Santander SA (STD) Bank of Montreal (BMO) Barnes & ...

There are several retailers on today's Zacks #1 Rank List, but The Children's Place Retail Stores, Inc. (PLCE) is among the top performers with a gain of approximately 4%.

< ?DART(15);?> There are 11 other companies from the Retail - Apparel/Shoe industry on today's 222-stock Zacks #1 Rank List, including fellow top performers Cato Corp. (CTR), Dress Barn, Inc. (DBRN) and Citi Trends (CTRN). The list also includes Aeropostale, Inc. (ARO), Gap, Inc. (GPS) and Gymboree Corp. (GYMB).

Earnings Estimates on the Move

Earnings estimates on PLCE have been moving in the right direction of late, accounting for a 28% rise in the past 2 months for this fiscal year, which ends January 2010.

In the past 30 days, 4 of 8 covering analysts revised higher, marking a gain of 8.2% in that time.

Next fiscal

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Citi Trends, Inc. (CTRN) shares are up almost 7% today on news that JP Morgan upgraded the apparel retailer to "overweight" from "neutral".

< ?DART(15);?> However, even before the upgrade, earnings estimates for CTRN had been trending higher after a solid fiscal first-quarter report, which continued an impressive streak of better-than-expected earnings.

This Zacks #1 Rank Top Performer is moving on heavy volume this afternoon of about 488,000 shares, compared to the daily average of 259,000.

Good Growth Potential

This Southeastern retailer is one of those niche players that are bucking the overall economic trend. As a result, analysts believe the company could continue adding or expanding stores and, therefore, increase its square footage; hence the recent brokerage upgrade.

CTRN expects to increase selling square footage by at least 15% during its fiscal 2009. Also, in its fiscal first quarter, the company opened

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Aeropostale Inc. (ARO) is down about 1.5% today with about 1.4 million shares changing hands, against the daily average of 3.5 million.

On May 21, the company announced fiscal first-quarter profit of 49 cents, which topped estimates by a penny, or 2.1%.

The average estimate for the fiscal year ending January 2010 increased 28 cents, or 11%, to $2.79 per share over the past month, as 20 analysts out of 21 lifted their projections.

Aeropostale is a Zacks #1 Rank ("Strong Buy") stock.

"ARO" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?Zacks Investment Research

Highlighted stocks include Aeropostale, Inc. (...

The Zacks Rank Buys featured in this article are: Aeropostale, Inc. ( Aeropostale is a mall-based, specialty retailer of casual apparel and accessories, principally targeting 14 to 17 year-old young women and men. The Company provides customers with a focused selection of high-quality, active-oriented, fashion and fashion basic merchandise at compelling values.

Pouring it on

After 20 estimate revisions since the last time Aeropostale was featured estimates for 2009 are now averaging $2.55, up 22 cents. This would be year-over-year earnings growth of 15.5%. With

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Aeropostale Inc (ARO) advanced nearly 4% on higher volume of 7.7 million, compared with the daily average of 3.7 million.

Yesterday, Aeropostale announced first-quarter earnings of 49 cents per share, excluding items, topping analysts' expectations by a penny. Revenue climbed 21.3% to $408 million.

For the second-quarter, analysts are expecting earnings of 36 cents per share, up from last month's 32 cents.

The last month has seen upward earnings revisions by 18 analysts out of 22 for the full year, sending the 2009 consensus estimate to $2.55 from $2.33 per share.

Aeropostale is a Zacks #1 Rank ("Strong Buy") stock.

"ARO" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?Zacks Investment Research