Shares of San Diego-based Petco Animal Supplies, Inc. closed at $30.36 Friday, 13.6 percent down from Thursday’s closing price, after the company said it erred in estimating its fourth-quarter net earnings.
Correcting the error may cut net earnings by $3 million to $4.5 million, the company said.
Petco said Friday that on April 1, it found it had underestimated expenses related to its distribution operation. As a result, the company said, it would delay filing its annual report with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Goldman Sachs on Friday downgraded Petco stock from “outperform” to “in-line.” Lehman Bros. downgraded the stock from “overweight” to “equal weight.” The downgrades came two days after CIBC World Markets downgraded the stock from “sector outperform” to “sector perform.”
Petco trades on the Nasdaq as PETC.
The company also said it strengthened its internal controls following the April 1 discovery.
Brad Graves
