10 Stocks Surprise Wall Street with Double-Digit Gains

5. American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO)

American Eagle soared by 18.11 percent week-on-week, to end at $11.74 on Friday as compared with the $9.94 finish on July 18, with the stock said to have been buoyed by a combination of “meme” rally and short-selling.

Following the announcement of its fall campaign on Wednesday last week, short-selling in shares of American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) shot up by 6 percent during the trading session, and by another 22 percent in after-hours trading, immediately erasing the company’s year-to-date losses.

Last week, American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) announced that it tapped Sydney Sweeney as its new face for the fall campaign, with Marketing Brew quoting American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE:AEO) Chief Marketing Officer Craig Brommers, as saying that the actress was its “biggest get” since the company’s inception.

Additionally, Brommers was quoted as saying that tapping Sweeney was aimed at capturing the attention of new and old Gen Z and millennial customers to help boost sales.