US SMALL/MIDCAPS-Pricing pressure hits consumer stocks

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Consumer stocks fell on Tuesday after Brinker International Inc (EAT.N) and Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co Inc (GAP.N) posted results showing that lack of demand is hurting pricing.

Midcap Brinker International, the parent of the Chili's Bar & Grill chain, dropped nearly 12 percent to $14.56 after saying it was still relying on aggressive discounts to attract customers, which is cutting into profits. For details, see [ID:nN20262443]

Smallcap Great Atlantic & Pacific tumbled 17 percent to $9.45 after the supermarket chain reported a wider quarterly loss because of a difficult price environment and said Chief Executive Eric Claus quit. [ID:nBNG547583]

Carlisle Cos Inc (CSL.N) tumbled nearly 8 percent to $33.36 after the diversified manufacturer said the next two quarters will be challenging due to higher material costs, even as it reported third-quarter profit that topped estimates. [ID:nBNG527180]

The S&P MidCap Industrials index .4GSPI shed 0.3 percent.

"It's one thing for a company to be able to cut costs -- that can last awhile -- but eventually they have to show growth to drive earnings higher," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Asset Management in Bedford Hills, New York.

The S&P MidCap 400 index .MID slid nearly 1 percent, while the S&P SmallCap 600 index .SML dropped 1.3 percent. The large cap S&P 500 index .SPX shed 0.6 percent. (Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)