As previously reported, Morgan Stanley analyst Simeon Gutman downgraded Michaels to Equal Weight from Overweight, citing his a view that there are low odds that the company's fundamental performance will positively inflect in the near-term and his loss of faith in his previously held opinion that debt paydown and share buybacks could drive outperformance in the share price. Gutman has reduced his 2019 estimates for Michaels, stating that he was already worried about a slow start in Q1 due to weather and his concerns that Q1 is likely to be soft have been made worse by the heavy discounting during the company's unanticipated "Spring Black Friday" sales. He lowered his price target on Michaels shares to $10 from $17.