UPDATE: Piper Jaffray Downgrades Abercrombie & Fitch from Overweight to Neutral

Piper Jaffray downgraded Abercrombie & Fitch ANF from an Overweight rating to a Neutral rating and lowered its price target from $50 to $28. Piper Jaffray commented, “We are downgrading from Overweight to Neutral. We recognize ANF shares have pulled back meaningfully to-date but we have little conviction in significant upside potential given uncertainty surrounding deleverage in the core operating model, a challenged domestic brand position, and diminishing returns on capital investments. Reported Q2 results were well below expectations and flowing through more conservative assumptions for the next 12-18 months suggests material deleverage and profitability pressure will continue.“ Abercrombie & Fitch closed at $34.02 on Wednesday.