Victoria’s Secret price target lowered to $17 from $19 at Barclays

Barclays analyst Adrienne Yih lowered the firm’s price target on Victoria’s Secret to $17 from $19 and keeps an Underweight rating on the shares. The analyst downgraded the U.S. specialty retail sector to Neutral from Positive citing erosion of inventory margin recapture as promotions intensify and demand weakens. In this “leverage phase” of margin expansion only a minority of companies with company-specific drivers can accelerate sales growth faster than fixed cost growth, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm sees the end of the “Retail Inventory Megacycle” along with intensifying promotional activity, which it believes suggests a weakening demand backdrop.