MOST NOTEWORTHY: Nuvelo (NUVO) and the Asian Semiconductor sector were today's most notable downgrades:
- Nuvelo (NASDAQ:NUVO) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Oppenheimer and Sector Performer from Sector Outperformer at CIBC World Markets, both companies citing negative clinical data;
- additionally, Merrill Lynch downgraded the Semiconductor sector to Market Weight from Overweight,
- specifically downgrading Chartered Semiconductor (NASDAQ:CHRT), Siliconware Precision Inds Ltd (NASDAQ:SPIL) and STATS ChipPAC (NASDAQ:STTS) to Neutral from Buy
- and United Microelectronic (NYSE:UMC) to Sell from Neutral, citing valuation.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
- JP Morgan downgraded Wendy's (NYSE:WEN) to Underweight from Neutral as they believe shares are already pricing in years of sales and earnings growth at a time when competition is intensifying; they are also concerned over Wendy's new breakfast roll-out.
- Jefferies downgraded Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) to Hold from Buy citing valuation.
- Bank of America said there are risks to Federated Dept. (NYSE:FD) comps at MAY stores and downgraded the company to Neutral from Buy, with a $43 target.
Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).
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