On Tuesday, shares of fast-casual burrito king Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) are getting slammed, down almost 7% in late-morning trading on reports that the company is “nervous” about its downbeat sales guidance.
Chipotle management was at the Barclays (LON:BARC) “Eat, Sleep, Play—It’s Not All Discretionary” retail conference in New York, and according to tweets from Bloomberg reporter Shelly Banjo, the company said “it’s nervous about hitting the guidance it gave out earlier this year.” Chipotle’s sales have not recovered as much as expected.
In first half of the year, 78% of Chipotle's least frequent customers stopped coming to $CMG, virtually no new customers during that time
— Shelly Banjo (@sbanjo) December 6, 2016
Chipotle just recently allowed catering orders online + other tech advancements that are years behind competitors $CMG
— Shelly Banjo (@sbanjo) December 6, 2016
Chipotle CEO Steve Ells also said that lines at restaurant locations have slowed down, and he was not happy with the company’s customer service.
CMG stock is down 22% year-to-date, a testament to the company’s inability to successfully bounce back from the E.coli outbreak at some of its restaurants last year. In comparison, the S&P has gained 7.8% in the same time frame. Currently, Chipotle is a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank.
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CHIPOTLE MEXICN (CMG): Free Stock Analysis Report
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