Abercrombie & Fitch ANF just delivered one of those market moments that forces investors to step back and reconsider the narrative. After a year in which the stock bled roughly 40% of its value and sank to $65.61 on Monday, the retailer posted stronger trends across both brands, sending shares up 35% to $88.53. The setup heading into earnings was gloomy: analysts flagged softer channel checks, heavier promotions, and the risk of a deeper comparable-sales miss. Instead, the flagship brand reported a 7% same-store sales decline, an improvement from last quarter’s 11% drop, while back-to-school demand and a healthy transition into cold-weather apparel could be supporting the sequential recovery that CEO Fran Horowitz pointed to.

The real engine, though, remained Hollister. Comparable sales there jumped 15%, with Horowitz highlighting balanced demand in both men’s and women’s apparel alongside tight inventory that is helping support higher prices. That strength pushed company-wide revenue up nearly 7% to $1.29 billion, driven by Hollister’s 16% sales increase and only modestly offset by a 2% decline at the namesake brand. Earnings of $2.36 a share topped the $2.17 analysts were looking for, even as profit came in at $113 million versus $132 million a year earlier. For several analysts, including Raymond James and William Blair, the quarter could be signaling that the business is holding up better than feared, especially given the downbeat expectations going in.

Management used the print to tighten the full-year outlook toward the upper end of its ranges, nudging its sales growth floor to up 6% and lifting the earnings floor to $10.20 a share. Horowitz said inventory is healthy heading into the holiday stretch, supported by marketing plans refined over recent quarters as the company tested assortment and positioning. For a stock that entered the week priced for disappointment, the combination of improving trends, a modest top-line beat, and a stronger Hollister trajectory could be giving investors a reason to reassess what the next leg of the Abercrombie story might look like.