Urban Outfitters Turning Sour in 2011?
NEW YORK (
) --
Urban Outfitters
(URBN) - Get Report
could be losing its luster in 2011, as two analysts downgraded the stock on Tuesday.
Brean Murray analyst Eric Beder cut the specialty retailer to hold from buy and reduced his fourth-quarter of fiscal 2012 and full-year of fiscal 2012.
Beder said fourth-quarter business remained slow and forced discounting at both namesake stores and Anthropologie chain. "While we think differentiation will provide some pricing flexibility, we are worried, particularly at Urban, that the company will remain under competitive and costing pressures," he wrote in a note. "While we love the company's growth story and differentiated offerings long term, we see limited reasons to be aggressive buyers now."
Wall Street Strategies analyst Brian Sozzi agrees, also lowering his rating to hold from buy and cutting his price target to $36 from $43.
Sozzi notes that while Black Friday traffic was impressive, it has noticeably tapered off.
"In our view, Urban Outfitters is having difficulty interpreting new trends ... into its women's business at the namesake division, and these seems to be a missing element of fashion within men's categories," he wrote in a note.
Shares of Urban Outfitters are slipping 1.6% to $36.19 before the bell.
--Written by Jeanine Poggi in New York.
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