Jefferies analyst David Windley lowered estimates and his price target on Buy-rated Charles River Labs (NYSE: CRL) to $66.00 (from $73.00) following Q1 results which showed a slower start to the year.

Windley comments, "CRL's results met internal expectations, but they fell shy of ours. Preclinical activity has stabilized in recent quarters, but still not without speed bumps. We expect CRL's sales guidance in PCS to prove conservative. However, management mentioned a slow start to the year, thus the lower revenue...leading to lower PCS margin leverage, as well. Efficiency gains in RMS are a bright spot, and the acceleration in March gives hope."

The firm cut Q2 EPS from $0.87 to $0.86 and FY 2015 EPS from $3.73 to $3.68.

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Shares of Charles River Labs closed at $53.72 yesterday.