Chipotle Shares Crash On E. Coli Findings

• Shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. CMG plummeted more than 9 percent on Friday afternoon.
• The decline was triggered by a multistate outbreak of E. coli.
• The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention named Chipotle as a “likely source of this outbreak.”

The CDC issued a new report on the “Multistate Outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O26 Infections Linked to Chipotle Mexican Grill Restaurants.”

According to the recently released data, there are now 45 people infected with the STEC O26, and the outbreak has now spread to six states, three more than in the last update. The affected states now include:

• California, with 2 reported cases
• Minnesota, with 2 reported cases
• New York, with one reported case
• Ohio, with one reported case
• Oregon, with 13 reported cases
• Washington, with 26 reported cases

There have been no deaths or severe kidney failure associated with the outbreak, but 16 people have been hospitalized. So far, the epidemiologic evidence suggests that, “a common meal item or ingredient served at Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants in several states is a likely source of this outbreak.”

The institution is still investigating which is the specific food item causing the illness, and using whole genome sequencing to attain further information about the DNA fingerprint of the illness-causing STEC O26 bacteria.

In early November, Chipotle had to close more than 40 stores over the E. coli scare. A couple of months earlier, a salmonella outbreak in Minnesota was also traced back to Chipotle.

Chipotle is now down 18 percent year-to-date.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any of the securities mentioned above.