Chipotle Stock Has a Lot to Prove on Tuesday

The quarterly report that Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) investors were initially anticipating, but now are dreading, is just around the corner. The fast-casual chain reports fresh financials after Tuesday's market close, and the market's bracing for the worst. At least seven analysts have slashed their profit targets this week, and it's clearly a bad sign when so many Wall Street veterans are talking down the stock's prospects just ahead of the report.

It's not just price targets that have been sliding. The past few weeks have also seen analysts scaling back their expectations for the quarter that ended last month. Three months ago, those pros were perched at $2.29 a share, and a month later -- after a mixed quarterly report and bad publicity stemming from another isolated foodborne-illness episode -- that forecast had fallen to $1.91 a share.

The slide didn't end there. Every week or so, an analyst talks down Chipotle's profit power, and a few of this week's lower price targets have been accompanied with earnings estimates being revised lower. Wall Street's consensus average is now calling for Chipotle to check in with a profit of $1.65 a share in Tuesday's quarterly report.

Source: Fool.com