Williams-Sonoma price target lowered to $182 from $189 at RBC Capital

RBC Capital analyst Steven Shemesh lowered the firm’s price target on Williams-Sonoma (WSM) to $182 from $189 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares after its Q1 earnings beat. The company’s Q1 comps and headline operating margin exceeded expectations, but investors fixated on the 220bps merchandising gross margin headwind, even though a good chunk of this was one-time in nature and should ease meaningfully into Q2, the analyst tells investors in a research note.