Before the open this morning, American Eagle Outfitters (AEO: sentiment, chart, options) marched into the spotlight to reveal that November same-store sales slipped 11%, while total sales dropped 5% to $272.8 million. Analysts had predicted a decline of 15.2%. The company stated that November sales reflected soft demand early in the month, followed by an improvement over Thanksgiving weekend. The company now expects fourth-quarter earnings of 30 36 cents per share, compared to the Street estimate for a profit of 39 cents per share.

The shares of the trendy retailer are down slightly this afternoon, hovering at the break-even level. The security has been in a steep downtrend since reaching a peak of $34.80 in January 2007. The stock has since lost 73% under its 10-month moving average.

Sentiment is deeply entrenched in the bears' camp. The Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio rests at 0.85, which is in the 75th percentile. This reading indicates that investors have been more pessimistically aligned toward the shares just 25% of the time during the past year.

What's more, the International Securities Exchange (ISE) has reported a preference for puts. During the past 10 trading days, an average of 2.7 puts have been purchased to open for every 1 call purchased to open. This ratio of puts to calls is higher than 75% of the readings taken during the past year, indicating a growing skepticism among options players.