Huntington Beach-based BJ’s Restaurants Inc., an operator of pizzerias with beer breweries, slumped more than 11% at the close of New York trading Friday on an analyst’s downgrade.
Jefferies & Co. analyst Jeff Farmer downgraded the company to “hold” from “buy” because of restaurants it has in areas hard hit by the mortgage and larger economic downturn.
“We’re on the sidelines with growing evidence that BJ’s high relative exposure to some of the hardest hit subprime mortgage markets is taking an increasing toll on the company’s top line,” the analyst wrote in a note to clients.
The company has a market value of about $370 million.
On Thursday, BJ’s reported first-quarter sales that missed Wall Street expectations. The company said sales have been hurt in Southern California and the Phoenix area.
Revenue for the quarter rose 22% from a year earlier to $86.8 million, short of the $88 million analysts had expected.
Same-store sales, a measure of sales at stores open at least a year, were flat during the quarter.
Profit for the quarter nearly doubled to $3.1 million, in line with expectations.
