Tween Brands shares hit nearly 4-year low

Shares fell 47 cents, or 2.9 percent, to close at $15.71, after earlier reaching a low of $15.02. The last time the stock traded that low was August 2004.

Friedman, Billings, Ramsey analyst Adrienne Tennant downgraded Tween Brands to "Market Perform" from "Outperform," in spite of the "extremely cheap" share price.

In a note to investors on Tuesday, Tennant said the New Albany, Ohio-based company has deepened its promotions compared with last year, while frequent management changes resemble a "revolving door." Since the beginning of the year, the company's COO and its Limited Too president left and the company's chief financial officer was replaced.

She also said the company might not make earnings estimates in the second half of the year.

"We believe that shares are likely to trade range-bound in the mid-teen range until there is greater visibility that the core business can reaccelerate its apparel (same-store sales) business and that the company can successfully anniversary last year's holiday business and traffic that we believe benefited strongly from the Webkinz craze," Tennant wrote.

Same-store sales is a key indicator of retailer performance since it measures growth at existing stores rather than newly opened ones.

She lowered her 2008 and 2009 earnings estimates and cut her price target to $18 from $23.

Tween Brands could not immediately be reached.