Road to recovery is long Starbucks (SBUX.US) rare downgraded by Wall Street

Analysts at Jefferies warned that it was too early to be excited about the prospect of Starbucks (SBUX.US) turning around, even with a new CEO, and gave the struggling coffee chain operator a rare "sell" rating, according to a research note. Starbucks shares have jumped 24% since Brian Niccol, former CEO of Chipotle Mexican (CMG.US), suddenly took over in August. However, in Andy Barish's view, given the bumpy road to improvement, the rebound "overdid it." Barish cut his price target on Starbucks to $76, the lowest among all Wall Street analysts who cover the stock, implying a 20% drop from Monday's closing price of $95.48 in the next 12 months. Since the leadership change, Wall Street analysts have been raising their ratings on Starbucks, but Barish downgraded the stock to "sell," according to data compiled by Bloomberg, one of only two "sell" ratings on the stock so far and the first by the analyst since he began covering the US company in 2011. Starbucks has been under pressure this year amid a trend of consumer downgrading. The stock fell 0.51% before the US market opened on Tuesday.