Vera Bradley (NYSE: VRA) was downgraded by equities researchers at Jefferies Group (NYSE: JEF) from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Friday. They currently have a $25.00 target price on the stock.
The analysts wrote, “This downgrade is simple: sales are slowing and margins are not expanding which is not a good sign for a growth story. While we are admittedly late to call this one and have been wrong thus far, we are still choosing to take the hit now as we see few catalysts to get the stock moving in the near term.”
Vera Bradley traded down 6.90% on Friday, hitting $20.36. Vera Bradley has a 52-week low of $20.72 and a 52-week high of $45.91. The company has a market cap of $824.7 million and a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.29.
Vera Bradley last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 31st. The company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.02. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Vera Bradley will post $0.41 EPS next quarter.
Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Analysts at KeyBanc (NYSE: KEY) downgraded shares of Vera Bradley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note to investors on Tuesday, March 6th. Analysts at William Blair initiated coverage on shares of Vera Bradley in a research note to investors on Monday, March 5th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock.
Vera Bradley, Inc. (Vera Bradley) is a designer, producer, marketer, and retailer of accessories for women.
I wonder what this says about the sector by itself since there have been a lot acquisitions lately http://satellite.tmcnet.com/news/2009/08/04/4307799.htm