What happened
Allbirds (BIRD -8.24%) stock lost quite a bit of altitude on Monday, falling by more than 6% against the over-1% gain of the S&P 500 index. The culprit was a price target cut from an analyst, which leached value from the already low-priced shares.
So what
Stifel's (SF 0.51%) Jim Duffy was the cutter; he trimmed $1 per share off his price target. While that isn't a huge amount in the grand scheme of things, it matters with Allbirds. Since Duffy's previous level was $4, his adjustment means a 25% reduction. Meanwhile, he's maintaining his hold recommendation on the shares.
The reasoning behind the analyst's latest move wasn't immediately clear, but it comes barely over a month after he enacted a similar price target cut. In mid-November, in the wake of Allbirds' latest quarterly earnings report, Duffy reduced his level to that $4 per share from his preceding $5.
Although he characterized the company's third-quarter performance as "solid" -- which featured an encouraging year-over-year rise in revenue -- he felt that management's commentary implies that the footwear maker is facing a risky period. As a result, Duffy anticipated that full-year 2022 results could land at the lower end of Allbirds' current guidance.
Now what
The Stifel prognosticator is not the only pundit getting less bullish on Allbirds' prospects -- several of his peers also sliced their price targets on the stock after earnings. One was Baird's Mark Altschwager, who also did the $1 reduction thing. Altschwager is more positive than Duffy, however, as he maintained the equivalent of a buy recommendation based on what he considers the promising long-term potential of the Allbirds brand.
