- "The recent barrage of lackluster specialty retail reporters has caused us to rethink our fundamental rating," Piper's Erinn Murphy says, regarding shares of Guess (GES -2.1%) which are downgraded to Neutral from Overweight.
- Although the company remains a "turnaround candidate," Murphy thinks "the significant volatility in the US retail environment (42% of sales)" will hurt GES' near-term prospects.
- Q2 and FY14 EPS estimates are lowered to $0.34 and $1.70 respectively.
- Price target is cut to $31 from $35.