Investing.com -- Planet Fitness shares have been downgraded by both Morgan Stanley and Bank of America following first-quarter results that revealed weakening membership trends, a scrapped price increase, and a marketing overhaul.

Morgan Stanley cut its rating to Equal Weight from Overweight and slashed its price target to $47 from $117, while Bank of America downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy, lowering its price target to $59 from $110.

At the heart of both downgrades is a combination of competitive pressure, marketing missteps, and the decision to abandon a planned Black Card price increase.

Morgan Stanley analyst Stephen Grambling said "key tenets of our investment case have been disproven," citing "lack of pricing visibility and headwinds to accelerating club growth."

Grambling also flagged that "the pace and magnitude of recent guidance reductions may leave an overhang of investor skepticism on the reliability of forward expectations."

Bank of America analyst Andrew Didora highlighted that the first quarter, the most important period for new membership sign-ups, fell short of internal expectations, with Planet Fitness adding 700,000 net new members while management acknowledged marketing that "skewed toward more fitness-focused customers over beginners."

The company has since engaged a new creative agency, though Didora said a new campaign is not expected in the market until later this year at the earliest.

Planet Fitness lowered its full-year 2026 outlook across the board, cutting same-club sales growth guidance to 1% from 4%-5%, revenue growth to 7% from 9%, and EPS growth to 4% from 9%-10%.