Shares in casual dinning chain California Pizza Kitchen Inc. closed down nearly 5 percent Wednesday after an analyst initiated coverage of the company and recommended investors sell shares.
Brian Moore, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities, said menu prices are too high at the Los Angeles-based gourmet pizza chain, and that as consumers become strapped for cash amid rising gas prices sales and profits will decline.
“California Pizza Kitchen puts the least amount of quality food on consumers’ plates in what we would describe as the right size for consumers’ waistlines, but wrong size for their wallets,” Moore said in a research report.
Shares in California Pizza Kitchen closed down 66 cents to $13.49 Wednesday. Cheesecake Factory Inc., its Calabasas-based competitor, closed down 4.2 percent to $21.70.
