Earnings season can make investing tricky. Many traders try to time trades based on earnings announcements, but usually find such trading is difficult and risky. It is often better to take a look at how the market has reacted to a company’s results a few weeks after the initial announcement.

Urban Outfitters Inc. (URBN) released its earnings announcement on 11/12. The company reported a change in quarter-over-quarter sales of 5.85% and posted an EPS (trailing twelve months) of 1.07.

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By now the market has had time to settle in and look closely at the numbers. A stock’s performance in the few weeks following an announcement, compared to other stocks in its industry, the industry as a whole, and market as a whole, really tells you how investors and analysts felt about the announcement.

Compared to the rest of the “Apparel Stores” industry

Since the URBN announcement (about 30 days ago), the stock has posted a 4.25% gain. Over that same period, the stock’s industry, Apparel Stores, saw a -1.03% gain (loss). That means URBN that has outperformed its industry as a whole 512.62% since the earnings announcement. Small differences aren’t significant, but when the spread is large it indicates the stock is either much more or much less favored than its group as a whole.

Compared to peers

Another way to gauge performance is look at a stock compared to other stocks in its industry with similar market caps. URBN peer American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (AEO) has seen a .56% stock price gain over about the last month, while another peer, Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) saw a -6.63% gain (loss). So with a return of 4.25%, Urban Outfitters Inc. outgained AEO and beat ROST’s price performance over the last month.

Gap Inc. (GPS) is one of the largest stocks in the industry in terms of market cap, and over the same period has returned -5.46% in price.

Compared to the S&P 500 Index

Finally, let’s see how Urban Outfitters Inc. stock performance compares to the rest of the market by looking at it compared to the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (.INX). Since 11/12, the S&P 500 index has returned around 1.2%, and again, URBN saw about a 4.25% gain during that time. Not bad.

So by putting the returns in context by these comparisons, we can see how a stock’s performance since earnings really measures up and make our investing decisions on URBN accordingly.

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