UPDATE: Monness Crespi Hardt Downgrades Finish Line to Neutral, Removes PT

In a report published Friday, Monness Crespi Hardt downgraded its rating on Finish Line FINL from Buy to Neutral, and removed its price target. Monness Crespi noted, “We are downgrading FINL shares to Neutral (from Buy) and suspending our price target. The running footwear cycle has peaked for FINL and is now slowing. Management is adjusting its assortment to increase its mix of basketball to take advantage of strong trends in that category. However, the mix shift will take some time to implement. In addition, while the drivers of the running trend were clear (lightweight, minimalist, new technologies, explosion of color), the drivers of the basketball category are not as obvious. Finally, key company initiatives (store remodels, ecommerce redesign) have not increased sales as expected. Accordingly, we believe sales visibility for FINL is limited. While the stock remains cheap at 4.3x EV/EBITDA, we do not see any near term catalysts for the stock.” Finish Line closed on Thursday at $17.76.