Mid-Day Downside In LendingTree May Be Unjustified

Shares of LendingTree Inc. TREE have been under heavy pressure Wednesday despite news of increased fiscal year 2015 guidance out of the company Tuesday evening. After initially move higher in Tuesday's post-market session, LendingTree shares have since tumbled more than 20 percent. While traders are attributing the intraday downside to concerning comments coming from a company exec during a presentation Wednesday morning at the Needham Growth Conference, not everyone agrees with this attribution. Traders suggested the executive comments were related to mortgage originations; when the Benzinga Newsdesk listened to the presentation, however, comments which were clearly negative could not be found. Elsewhere around Wall Street, two notable analysts shared a similar sentiment.

• SunTrust's Bob Peck said, in a mid-day research note, the downside has created a buying opportunity. He said the concerns were "unfounded." Peck said he spoke with management and maintains that LendingTree's underlying business fundamentals are solid
• BWS Financial's Hamed Khorsand told Benzinga he felt "the Street got it wrong," suggesting he didn't think the sharp decline in the stock over the intraday session was justified.

Shares of LendingTree last traded at $66.48, down more than 23 percent for the sesion.