SunTrust analyst Youssef Squali maintained a Hold rating on Blue Apron but cut his price target on the shares to $8 from $10 following the company's Q3 earnings report, which "showed a more pronounced" top-line decline with in line profitability. Squali said the weakness was due to continued customers losses as Blue Apron worked on improving the efficiency of its marketing spend and sought higher quality customers with shorter payback periods. The analyst noted, however, that management believes it can start growing customers and revenues on a quarter-to-quarter basis in the first quarter of 2020, and on a year-over-year basis in the second half of 2020 through improvements in products, customer segmentation, and marketing. Squali added that a lack of visibility into the near-term execution and "intense" competition for customers keeps him "one the sidelines."