Analyst downgrades 12-11-06: Nuvelo and Wendy's downgraded

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).