Share of Gap Inc. GPS gapped 20% higher at Friday’s opening price of $16.39 Thursday’s close was $13.67 — then kept climbing to be up 30.9% toward a 21-month high in morning trading, after the apparel retailer beat quarterly profit expectations by a wide margin, helped by strength at its Old Navy stores. The stock was on track for the best one-day percentage gain since it started trading in May 1976, according to FactSet data, compared with the current record gain of 29.5% seen on March 24, 2020. The stock’s weekly gain of 32.8% would be its best since the 38.3% rally for the week ended June 5, 2020. Wells Fargo analyst Ike Boruchow said Gap remained his top pick among retailers he covers, has the company delivered “the most compelling beat this EPS season” despite having a “very high bar” to hurdle. The stock has rocketed 76.5% over the past three months, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF XRT has slipped 1.3% and the S&P 500 SPX has gained 3.1%.
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