UPDATE: Jefferies & Company Reiterates Hold Rating, Lowers PT on BJ's Restaurants

In a report published Friday, Jefferies & Company reiterated its Hold rating on BJ's Restaurants BJRI, but lowered its price target from $40.00 to $33.00. Jefferies noted, “EPS of $0.24 vs our 0.27/cons 0.28 and SSS decelerated to 2.3% vs our/cons 3.5% as consumer spending in casual dining increasingly became choppy & competitive. Oct SSS of 2.5%; although we think current trends are weighed down by a variety of external issues, we find it difficult to expect SSS above 3% for next few qtrs and see margins delivering NT w/ 4% infl in '13. Accordingly we lowered our 12/13 EPS to $1.13/1.30.” BJ's Restaurants closed on Thursday at $38.28.