Chipotle price target lowered to $61 from $61.40 at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler analyst Brian Mullan lowered the firm’s price target on Chipotle to $61 from $61.40 and keeps a Neutral rating on the shares. Ahead of the company’s Q2 earnings release, the firm has updated its model to formally reflect the recent 50-for-1 stock split. As it pertains to expectations, Piper’s sense is that investors expect to see a Q2 same-store sales result of about 10.0%+, which compares favorably to consensus of +8.9%. With that said, the firm also gets the sense that there is some concern in the investment community that recent trends have slowed to now be running below the consensus for the Q3 time period, which currently sits at +7.4%. More than anything else, Piper would point to this latter dynamic as the primary cause of the recent pullback in the stock.