AEO , JILL , UPBD

This week, we use AAII’s A+ Investor Stock Grades to provide insight into three specialty retail stocks. With the holiday season approaching and shopping increasing, should you consider the three stocks of American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (AEO), J.Jill Inc. (JILL), Upbound Group Inc. (UPBD)?

Specialty Retail Stocks Recent News

Holiday spending is expected to grow this year despite shoppers being more selective about where their dollars go. Deloitte’s annual holiday retail forecast projects sales from the period of November 2026 through January 2027 to total $1.70 trillion to $1.71 trillion, a 4.0% to 4.8% increase from the same period a year earlier. E-commerce is expected to outpace the broader market, with online sales forecasts in the range of $316.1 billion to $318.9 billion, up 7.5% to 8.4% year over year. Deloitte economist Akrur Barua points to disposable personal income as a key driver, projecting it to grow 4.5% to 5.2% over the season while consumers continue to rely on digital tools to research, compare and make purchases across all sales categories.

As the report points out, consumers still want to make the holidays special for friends and family but are making deliberate choices about how they spend. Value-seeking behavior is showing up at income levels, with shoppers switching among brands and retailers and leaning on promotions to stretch their budgets. Given this year’s holiday trends as the busiest retail season begins, should you invest in American Eagle Outfitters, J.Jill, and Upbound?

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Grading Specialty Retail Stocks With AAII’s A+ Stock Grades

When analyzing a company, it is helpful to have an objective framework that allows you to compare companies in the same way. This is why AAII created the A+ Stock Grades, which evaluate companies across five factors that research and real-world investment results indicate to identify market-beating stocks in the long run: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions (and surprises) and quality.

Using AAII’s A+ Stock Grades, the following table summarizes the attractiveness of three specialty retail stocks—American Eagle Outfitters, J.Jill and Upbound Group—based on their fundamentals.

What the A+ Stock Grades Reveal

American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (AEO) is a global specialty retailer operating in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. It offers casual apparel, accessories and intimates for young adults and teens through its stores and digital channels. The company operates two primary brands: American Eagle and Aerie. American Eagle brand is known for its denim and everyday wear, while Aerie focuses on intimates, activewear and swimwear with an emphasis on body positivity. Both brands are sold through company-owned stores, e-commerce sites and licensed partners around the world. The company was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The company has a Value Grade of A. Its Value Score is 83, which is deep value. Higher scores indicate a more attractive stock for value investors and, thus, a better grade. The Value Grade is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales (P/S) ratio, price-earnings (P/E) ratio, price-to-book-value (P/B) ratio, price-to-free-cash-flow (P/FCF) ratio, shareholder yield and the ratio of enterprise value to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). The company’s price-earnings ratio is 11.1, ranking in the 23rd percentile among all U.S.-listed stocks. It also has a shareholder yield of 4.5%, ranking in the 19th percentile.

American Eagle Outfitters currently has a Growth Grade of A, which is very strong. The components of the Growth Composite Score consider a company’s success in growing sales on a year-over-year and long-term annualized basis and its ability to consistently generate positive cash from its core operations. The company has a five-year annualized sales growth rate of 8.1% and has generated year-over-year sales increases in four of the past five years. It has also generated positive annual cash from operations in the past five consecutive years.

The company has a Momentum Grade of A, based on its Momentum Score of 89. This means that the stock’s momentum is very strong in terms of its weighted relative strength over the last four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters, with the most recent quarterly price change given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters given a weight of 20%. The ranks are 95, 56, 9 and 88, sequentially from the most recent quarter, with higher ranks signaling stronger price momentum. The weighted four-quarter relative price strength is 13.3%.

J.Jill Inc. (JILL) is a specialty omnichannel retailer operating primarily in the U.S. It offers women’s apparel, accessories and footwear through its retail stores and direct-to-consumer channels. The company sells its products under the J.Jill brand, known for its relaxed, comfortable styles and natural fabrics such as cotton, linen and knits. Customers shop through the company’s network of retail stores, website and catalog. The company was founded in 1959 and is headquartered in Quincy, Massachusetts.

Earnings estimate revisions indicate how analysts view a firm’s short-term profits. J.Jill has an Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade of B, based on a score of 66, which is positive. The grade is based on the statistical significance of its latest two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months. The company reported a very positive earnings surprise of 116.8% for its fiscal second-quarter 2026 ending in July, and in the prior quarter reported a positive earnings surprise of 8.2%. Over the past three months, the consensus earnings estimate for the fiscal third-quarter 2026 has decreased from $0.866 to $0.678 per share, while the consensus earnings estimate for fiscal-year 2026 ending in January has increased from $2.028 to $2.226 per share.

J.Jill has a Quality Grade of A, based on a score of 87, which is very strong. Higher-quality stocks possess traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. The Quality Grade is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals to assets, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and F-Score. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The company ranks strongly in terms of its gross income to assets and its buyback yield. J.Jill has gross income to assets of 87.0% and a buyback yield of 2.2%. The gross income to assets ranks in the 97th percentile, and the buyback yield ranks in the 81st percentile.

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Upbound Group Inc. (UPBD) is a lease-to-own and financial technology company operating in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Mexico. It offers consumers flexible access to household goods and financial tools through rent-to-own and point-of-sale lease solutions. The company operates through brands such as Rent-A-Center, Acima and Brigit, serving customers who may have limited access to traditional credit. Products are available through company-owned stores, retail partners and digital platforms. The company was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Plano, Texas.

The company has a Value Grade of A, based on its Value Score of 90, which is deep value. Upbound has an enterprise-value-to-EBITDA ratio of 7.4, ranking in the 23rd percentile. It also has a price-to-sales ratio of 0.30, ranking in the 134th percentile.

Upbound Group has a Momentum Grade of A, based on its Momentum Score of 88. This means that the stock’s momentum is very strong in terms of its weighted relative strength over the last four quarters. The ranks are 93, 69, 30 and 66, sequentially from the most recent quarter. The weighted four-quarter relative price strength is 12.3%.

Upbound has a Quality Grade of A, based on a score of 94, which is very strong. The company ranks strongly in terms of its gross income to assets and F-Score. The company’s gross income to assets is 76.9%, which ranks in the 96th percentile. Its F-Score of 7 ranks in the 82nd percentile. The F-Score is a number between 0 and 9 that assesses the strength of a company’s financial position based on its profitability, leverage, liquidity and operating efficiency.

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