UPDATE: Bank of America Downgraded Vitamin Shoppe to Neutral; Margin and Comps Decelerate

Bank of America downgraded Vitamin Shoppe

from Buy to Neutral and lowered the price objective from $68.00 to $55.00. Bank of America commented, "We are downgrading VSI to Neutral from Buy on a deceleration in trends and what we believe is a heightened competitive environment. VSI reported 4Q12 operating EPS of $0.36 vs. operating EPS of $0.38 LY and our $0.43 estimate. Reported EPS of $0.32 includes Canada startup and Super Supplements acquisition costs. Management noted that Hurricane Sandy impacted EPS by $0.04. The comp came in at 5.2%, including a 1.6% impact from Sandy, a deceleration from an adjusted 8.6% in Q3. We attribute the comp slowdown to increased competitive activity and a strong comparison in weight management." Vitamin Shoppe closed at $51.98 on Wednesday.