Aeropostale (ARO) is specialty apparel retailer of promotionally priced (low price) teen apparel. It has delivered positive same store sales and earnings leading up to the recession, throughout the recession and has continued to do so since the economy bottomed. In spite of these solid fundamentals the stock trades at much too low ev/ebitda multiples of 5.5x trailing, 5.1x 2010 and 4.8x 2011. These multiples are on Street estimates, estimates I believe are too low. The stock trades at $30.50.

Applying a peer 6.2x ev/ebitda multiple (current multiple for ROSS and TJX) to FY2011 (Jan 2012) Street EBITDA yields a $42.00 stock, respectively, and 46% upside over the next 12 to 18 months. Although ROST and TJX are off-price retailers of brand name over-runs and ARO is a genuine specialty retailer (designs its own clothing), I believe ARO’s promotional nature and ability to perform well in a recession make the three good comps for each other.

In spite of consistently strong comps and return on equity that beats its peers, ARO trades at multiples associated with an out-of-fashion, poorly managed retailer than can’t deliver in the kind of economy we have now because the Street thinks that as the economy recovers parents will return to their “old normal” spending habits and will re-direct their children away from the likes of Aeropostale and send them back to Abercrombie and Fitch (ANF) where the cost of a top or jeans is 2x to 3x that of ARO. This worry is misplaced as I believe the “new normal” characterized by chronic unemployment and underemployment, underwater houses and retirement funds, and parents worried about how to pay for college is here to stay for the foreseeable future. As the Street comes to see these economic trends persist they will begin to see that ARO is part of the long term solution for parents to clothe their children at a decent price but with enough teen cool factor that the kids will wear the clothes.

It is worth noting that the market had the same concern regarding off price retailers, Ross Stores (ROST) and TJ Maxx (TJX). The thinking was that as the economy recovers shoppers are going to rush back to paying full price at specialty retailers. However, perceptions are already beginning to change and the Street is increasingly viewing  ROST and TJX as new shopping mainstays for a wider slice of shoppers. As I have noted, I believe the same will happen for ARO.

ARO is cheap on both absolute and relative terms, has a market cap of $2.8B, is debt free, has $313M in cash on the balance sheet and has higher returns than its peers.

ARO has delivered 13 straight years of positive comps including throughout the recession:

ARO’s unit pricing ($ per clothing item) is lower than peers:

A bet on ARO is a bet that the company will continue to maintain or increase its share of the consumer’s wallet. Should the economy weaken there is at least some chance that comps could accelerate. This is what happened during 2008 and 2009. The worse the economy became, the more likely parents were to push their children to buy cheaper alternatives. If this contra-cyclical event happened again it would be great, but we only need ARO to print slightly higher than low single digit comps in the back half of 2010 and 2011 for the thesis to play out.

The concept, at ~900 stores is nearing maturity. Management’s goal is for 1000 to 1100 stores. They have a new concept, p.s., aimed at tweens, but it’s too early to give them any credit for it as a growth vehicle.

The company delivered an 8% comp in Q1 of 2010 (Feb, Mar, Apr) and a 1% comp in May which is the first month of Q2. That 1% May comp came in spite of +500 bps of comp being shifted into June due to the timing of Memorial Day. Put another way, ARO delivered an 8% comp in Q1 and an adjusted 6% comp in the first month of Q2 (adjusted comp = the 1% actual comp plus the 5% shifted into June). Trends remain strong. For ARO to deliver full-year earnings in line with the Street would require comps to decelerate throughout the year to low single digits. Anything is possible, but if the economy remains stable I believe ARO is poised to outperform.

Management stresses that they are running a “promotional” specialty retailer. Low prices are the point. Yet in spite or perhaps because of this, management has increased their market share rank among 14-17 year olds as follows:

Market Share Rank, reported by NPD, taken from ARO management presentation:

                                2005                       2008                       2009

Girls                       5                              3                              1

Guys                      8                              5                              3

Same store sales are the key to this story. If ARO delivers upside surprises to same store sales, which is to say they simply manage to deliver mid-single digit or better comps (arguably worse than current trend), they should exceed estimates and dispel the notion that they are a retailer whose fortunes weaken during a recovery.

Overall Street and/or selected sell-side estimates are roughly as follows (January fiscal year end):

My estimation of fair value is 6.2x 2010 ev/ebitda or $44.00. That number is in line with current trading multiples for TJX and ROST. Note that this fair value is based on Street estimates. Should the thesis play out then the company should beat earnings and see additional upside at the same target multiple.