** Stifel cuts PT on fast-casual restaurant chain Chipotle Mexican Grill CMG.N to $65 from $68, cites soft customer traffic and seasonality as headwinds
** Brokerage says review of mobile location data indicates that, like much of the industry, traffic in February was soft
** "Seasonality tends to pick up after Easter for Chipotle, and Easter occurred much earlier in 2024 (3/31) than it will in 2025 (4/20), creating a YoY seasonality headwind in the interim period that the product must lap," says brokerage
** Adds the calendar shift also impacts the relative strength of the company's National Burrito Day promotions (first Thursday of April) as they will occur before Easter this year
** New PT is 36% upside to stock's last close
** Twenty-eight of 36 brokerages rate stock "buy" or higher, and 8 "hold"; median PT is $67 - data compiled by LSEG
** CMG shares down nearly 21% YTD; they rose nearly 32% in 2024
(Reporting by Ateev Bhandari in Bengaluru)
((Ateev.Bhandari@thomsonreuters.com;))
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