American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) is among the apparel retailers in the United States who have struggled to drive store traffic over the last few years. On Wednesday, the clothing company reported its fourth quarter performance for fiscal year of 2014. The company has beaten the revenue expectations of analysts.

According to reports, the stock of the company has risen about 7.69% at $15.96 at the closing bell. The soared shares have surprised the market with good earnings in the fourth quarter. The company has posted revenue of about $1.07 billion, which was up by 3%. Earlier, analysts had predicted revenue of about $1.06 billion for the fourth quarter of 2014.

Adjusted net income of the company for the fourth quarter was about $70 million, an increment of about 31.5%. For the quarter, the net income has been translated into earnings per share (EPS) of about $0.36. For fiscal year 2014, the total revenue of the company was down about 1% year-over-year, at $3.28 billion. A year before, it was $3.31 billion.

According to the company, gross profit for fourth quarter has improved 13% at about $376 million. The gross profit was up more than 300 basis points at over 35% of the revenue. As per the reports, the improvement is due to reduction in prices. Core operations of the company have helped the company to earn $112 million, up about 31% year-over-year. The operating margin increased by more than 2% at about 10.5% of the revenue.

For the first quarter of 2015, the clothing retailer expects an EPS of about 9-12 cents. Interim CEO, Jay Schottenstein, said, "After a tough start to fiscal 2014, I am pleased to see our initiatives and business priorities begin to deliver results. We achieved a solid fourth quarter, exceeding our expectations. The team executed well through an incredibly challenging macro environment".