Piper Jaffray Comments On Tax Refund Trends (CTRN)

In a report released this morning, Piper Jaffray said that it believes that tax refund growth rate may slow after 12 consecutive years of increases, “which will place disproportionate pressure on low income families.”

“After reviewing initial tax refund statistics released by the IRS through February 25th, we observed the total number of refund checks is down 1% and the avg refund is down 0.6%,” Piper Jaffray writes. “While the tax season is still in the early stages, initial indications appear unfavorable for FQ1 traffic trends. Given Citi Trends' CTRN reliance on government stimulus to support lower income consumption, we believe FQ1 consensus estimates may be too aggressive.”

Citi Trends closed Wednesday at $23.49.