MidnightTrader Analyst Play: American Eagle Outfitters

American Eagle Outfitters (AEO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) closed up 4.2% at 16.69, extending the pre-market gain seen after Banc of America Securities raised its rating on the stock to Buy vs Neutral, according to Briefing.com.

In six analyst-driven pre-market moves MidnightTrader has tracked over the last year, including today, AEO has seen its pre-bell trade widen in the same direction in the following regular session in four of those six events.

9/10/08 Pre-Market: +3% to 16.50; 9/10/08 Regular Session: +4.2% to 16.69 - BanK of America (BofA) (BAC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) raises to Buy.

6/30/08 Pre-Market: rise to 13.79; 6/30/08 Regular Session: +0.7% 13.63 - Friedman, Billings, Ramsey (FBR | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform with $15 per share price target.

6/27/08 Pre-Market: decline to 14.26; 6/27/08 Regular Session: -14.3% at 13.53 - Lazard (LAZ | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) and Oppenheimer (OPY | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) downgraded stock.

11/6/07 Pre-Market: +2.2%; 11/6/07 Regular Session: +2.7% - Citigroup (C | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) upgraded to Hold from Sell.

9/26/07 Pre-Market: +3.3%; 9/26/07 Regular Session: +5.8% - Wachovia (WB | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform.

9/12/07 Pre-Market: -3.4%; 9/12/07 Regular Session: flat - Merrill Lynch (MER | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) downgraded to Sell from Neutral.

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