Wunderlich Securities Maintains Education Management Corporation's Buy Rating, $27 PT

Wunderlich Securities maintains Education Management Corporation's

Buy rating and $27 price target following news of layoffs at the company's online division in a research report out today. In the report, Wunderlich Securities writes, "Layoffs last week at Education Management's (

) online division lead us to conclude that there could be some downside risk to Wednesday's Q2 earnings report. The transition to borrower-based lending has been more problematic at AIOnline and Argosy Online and could have contributed to performance below expectations. Yet the narrow ownership of the stock is likely to prevent a dramatic negative reaction in the share price as the company's stock repurchases effectively respond to and correct negative pressure." Shares of Education Management Corporation are currently at $25.91, up 0.02% from Friday's market close.