American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE: AEO) and its rival Gap (NYSE: GPS) both faced similar headwinds in recent years — sluggish mall traffic, the rise of fast fashion retailers like H&M, and the weed-like growth of e-tailers. Those challenges caused shares of American Eagle and Gap to respectively drop about 40% and 20% over the past five years. During that same period, the S&P 500 rallied almost 80%.