William Blair Lowers Hot Topic (HOTT) EPS Estimates

William Blair & Company analysts Sharon Zackfia, Tania Bykkonen and Matthew Curtis maintained their Market Perform rating for shares of Hot Topic Inc

. The analysts said that because of lackluster sales they were more cautious in the near term and lowered their EPS estimates for Hot Topic Inc by 3 cents to a loss of 9 cents per share. The William Blair & Company analysts wrote, "we are lowering our second-quarter EPS estimate by $0.03, bringing it to a loss of $0.09 on a 4% comp decline, as we are more cautious on sales in the near term. For fiscal 2010 (ending following January), we are lowering our estimate by a nickel to $0.21 (below of consensus of $0.27 and versus $0.27 last year) on a comp decline of approximately 6%. We are also lowering our fiscal 2011 estimate by $0.09 to $0.27 (up 27% and below consensus of $0.36)." Shares of Hot Topic Inc were down nearly 11% in early morning trading at $5.83 per share.