Piper Jaffray Negative On Corinthian Colleges (COCO

Piper Jaffray has an Underweight rating and a $2.50 price target on Corinthian Colleges COCO after the company's CEO resigned yesterday. In a note sent to clients, Piper Jaffray writes, "The uncertainty level surrounding COCO's outlook and strategic direction goes up a notch with the forced departure of CEO Peter Waller, who is being replaced by Executive Chairman and former CEO Jack Massimino. While the company states that the separation was driven by personality differences between Waller and the Board, and does not signal new challenges at the firm, we view the CEO turnover as an incremental negative, given the uncertain regulatory and macro environment in which the changeover is taking place and the lack of a positive strategic directional change under Massimino." Shares of COCO lost 19 cents in after-hours yesterday to close at $3.95.