Estee Lauder downgraded on ‘increasingly uncertain’ outlook at Bernstein

Bernstein downgraded Estee Lauder to Market Perform from Outperform with a price target of $160, down from $230. The firm says the company’s fiscal Q4 results “were not the clearing event that we wanted to see.” Estee’s near-term setup looks challenging and its longer-term growth trajectory is “increasingly uncertain,” the analyst tells investors in a research note. However, with the shares down nearly 40% in the past six months, Bernstein admits “downgrading the stock feels somewhat futile, and certainly, more than a little too late.”