Bath & Body Works price target lowered to $43 from $49 at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley analyst Alex Straton lowered the firm’s price target on Bath & Body Works (BBWI) to $43 from $49 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. For the North American softlines retail group, the firm anticipates broad-based Q1 EPS upside is likely to be overshadowed by tariff-driven FY25 guidance reductions and withdrawals, the analyst tells investors in a sector earnings preview note. Q1 prints could “prove a negative catalyst for most Softlines Retail stocks,” with Bath & Body and Gap (GAP) called out by the firm as “unique possible exceptions.”