Jones Apparel Group Inc.’s (JNY) share price has entered into oversold territory with a stochastic value of 15.69. The Zacks Consensus Estimate on the Zacks #1 Rank (“Strong Buy") company’s full-year earnings has increased by 3 cents over the past week to $1.11 per share. The most accurate estimate is even bullish at $1.16 per share."JNY" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?Zacks Investment Research

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – August 20, 2009 – Zacks.com releases the latest Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks featured in this week’s analysis include Maidenform (MFB), Warnaco Group (WRC), True Religion (TRLG), Polo Ralph Lauren (RL), Hanesbrands (HBI) and Jones Apparel (JNY).

Zacks Industry Rank Analysis is written by Charles Rotblut, CFA, Senior Market Analyst for Zacks.com.

This week: Analysts Too Negative On Apparel Makers

Given that we're in back-to-school season, it is somewhat timely that Textile-Apparel Manufacturing appeared on my radar screen. The group has a strong revisions ratio, a sign that positive estimate revisions significantly outnumber negative revisions.

Behind the positive revisions are relatively better forecasts. Last week, Maidenform (MFB) and Warnaco Group (WRC) both raised their full-year EPS guidance. The week prior, True Religion (TRLG) gave a brighter forecast, while Polo Ralph Lauren (RL)

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Given that we're in back-to-school season, it is somewhat timely that Textile-Apparel Manufacturing appeared on my radar screen. The group has a strong revisions ratio, a sign that positive estimate revisions significantly outnumber negative revisions.

Behind the positive revisions are relatively better forecasts. Last week, Maidenform (MFB) and Warnaco Group (WRC) both raised their full-year EPS guidance. The week prior, True Religion (TRLG) gave a brighter forecast, while Polo Ralph Lauren (RL) predicted a less severe decline in sales than many had expected.

The revisions are notable because they suggest that business conditions are not as bad as feared. Since stocks are valued based on future profits, any increase in earnings estimates should lead to higher stock prices. In the case of the aforementioned stocks, several analysts have raised profit forecasts - a positive change.

Revisions Are Relative

Though the trend in earnings estimate revisions

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Retailers are helping the market get back some of yesterday's losses, including today's Zacks #1 Rank top performer Jones Apparel Group, Inc. (JNY), which is chiming in with a double-digit advance.

< ?DART(15);?> Shares of the apparel, footwear and accessories retailer are up more than 10% on Thursday afternoon with volume at about 1.5 million. The company's average daily volume is in the neighborhood of 2.35 million.

Earnings estimates are moving in the right direction for JNY, which is understandable since the company has put together an impressive streak of meeting or beating Wall Street's quarterly expectations.

Most recently, JNY earned 28 cents per share, excluding items, in its first quarter. The result fell short of the year-ago performance of 37 cents, which isn't a surprise given the difficult environment. More importantly though, EPS was able to easily surpass the consensus of 10 cents

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There’s a Bull Sneaking Around

Quietly, there has been a bull sneaking around the markets over the past three weeks. The S&P 500 index (.INX) technically began a new uptrend on November 20. By climbing 20% from its low on the 8th to the 20th it became a new bull market by definition.

The shortest bull markets for the S&P lasted only 24 days. With today, we are up to 22. To cancel this uptrend, the S&P would have to drop by 20% from its high. So until it hits 727.80 we’ll remain in an uptrend.

Interestingly enough, some of the biggest movers supporting this drive have been from the consumer discretionary spending sector. Representing half of the top ten: Lennar (NYSE: LEN), General Motors (HYSE: GM), Liz Claiborne (NYSE: LIZ), Jones Apparel (NYSE: JNY) and DR Horton (NYSE: DHI) have

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