Analyst Downgrades: Abercrombie, Chipotle, Shake Shack

Analysts downwardly revised their ratings on Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (ANF), Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG), and Shake Shack Inc (SHAK)

Feb 9, 2015 at 9:21 AM

Analysts are weighing in today on teen apparel destination Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF), as well as restaurant chains Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) and Shake Shack Inc (NYSE:SHAK). Here's a quick roundup of today's bearish brokerage notes on ANF, CMG, and SHAK.

ANF was downgraded to the equivalent of a "sell" rating at BofA-Merrill Lynch and Wunderlich Securities, with the latter also slashing its price target to $17 from $30. As such, the shares -- which have already dropped 25.7% year-over-year to trade at $25.78 -- are sitting 5.7% lower ahead of the bell. This bearish brokerage attention is more of the same for Abercrombie & Fitch Co. Seventeen out of the 24 analysts tracking the stock have doled out a "hold" opinion, compared to just seven "buy" or better recommendations.

Citigroup cut its price target on CMG to $782 from $809, despite the equity's more than 20% year-over-year advance to perch at $659.92. This negative note follows news that the company's Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) account was hacked Sunday morning. Taking a step back, despite last week's earnings-induced drop, the stock has been a long-term technical outperformer, and options traders see more upside ahead. Specifically, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.'s 50-day call/put volume ratio across the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) checks in at 1.09 -- just 1 percentage point from a 12-month high.

Wall Street newcomer SHAK was started with an "underperform" rating at Longbow Research. The brokerage firm also doled out a $21 price target, which stands at a nearly 50% discount to the current price of $41.96. Since an impressive public debut less than two weeks ago, Shake Shack Inc has struggled, slipping 8.6% from its initial closing price. In fact, since topping out at $52.50 on their first day of trading, the shares haven't come close to sniffing the $50 level again. Ahead of the bell, SHAK is 4.8% lower.

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