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Abercrombie & Fitch

No. 50

Industry: Apparel Retail
Sales: $3.5 billion
Net Income: $272.3 million

When the downturn worsened last year, the New Albany (Ohio) teen clothier Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) took a radically different path from most other retailers. CEO Michael Jeffries refused to enter the discount war, calling it
"a short-term solution with dreadful long-term effects." While Jeffries was moving to protect the brand, the short-term results weren't pretty. After 16 years of earnings increases, net income plunged 43%, to $272.3 million. Abercrombie can still boast about its 43.2% average return on invested capital over the last three years. But 2009 isn't looking good. Same-store sales fell 30% in February.

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