Barclays Lowers Gap to Equal Weight

Gap Inc (NYSE: GPS) was downgraded from “overweight” to “equal weight” by Barclays Capital. The analyst at Barclays Capital, Jeff Black, believes that GPS prospects for the near term were affected by negative same-store sales for November and expense deleverage as a result of an increase in marketing spending in Q4. Moreover, GPS’ Old Navy discount chain is facing tough competition.

The turnaround in Gap’s prospects is unlikely to happen before late 2010. The GPS’ shares have declined by 1.48% in the pre-market trading to trade at $22.69.