a squeeze on lowerincome consumers as shown by last weeks earnings reports are a wakeup call for retail companies including gap  according to citi analyst paul lejuez downgraded a string of apparel names saying in a monday note that the companies will find it hard to pass on rising costs to consumers given that even some of the best run retailers in the country wmttgt were surprised by inflationary pressures tied to the ongoing conflict in ukraine last week was a wakeup call for retail that showed the stars which were so aligned in 2021 are now misaligned for f22 lejuez wrote we are lowering our earnings estimates across a wide range of companies that we believe are most at risk of seeing margin declines in 2022 largely apparelbased companies and we are taking a more cautious view of the demand outlook for these same retailers in 2023 he continued the firm believes companies such as gap are under pressure given that they have too much apparel inventory at a time when consumers are shifting away from goods lejuez expects that the apparel category will have to get more promotional over the next several quarters shares of gap dropped nearly 5 in monday premarket trading companies should look to pass thru higher costs to the consumer but this will likely be harder than it was in 2021 given high inventory levels relative to sales this is especially true in apparel where promos are already increasing lejuez wrote here are the downgrades and price target cuts from citi abercrombie and fitch neutral from buy pt to 30 from 59 american eagle outfitters neutral from buy pt to 14 from 39 kohls neutral from buy pt to 39 from 55 ralph lauren neutral from buy pt to 98 from 140 carters sell from buy pt to 68 from 110 gap sell from neutral pt to 8 from 13 childrens place sell from neutral pt to 36 from 48 urban outfitters maintained buy pt to 30 from 42 under armour neutral from buy pt to 10 from 19 —cnbcs michael bloom contributed to this report