Analyst downgrades 1-3-07: General Motors, Advanced Micro get cut
Posted Jan 3rd 2007 11:22AM by Kevin Shult
Filed under: Before the bell, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Amazon.com (AMZN), General Motors (GM), Advanced Micro Dev (AMD), Applied Materials (AMAT)
MOST NOTEWORTHY: The Semiconductor Production Equipment sector, General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Advanced Micro (NYSE: AMD) topped the massive list of downgrades this morning.
- Goldman Sachs downgraded the Semiconductor Production Equipment sector to Cautious from Neutral, citing expectations for weakness in NAND and DRAM in 2007; the firm also downgraded Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD), Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) and Credence Systems (NASDAQ: CMOS) to Sell from Neutral.
- General Motors (NYSE: GM) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Bank of America, telling clients it expects market share for the first-half of 2007 to be lower, along with a sharp fourth-quarter decline in new product volume due to overpricing.
- ThinkEquity also downgraded Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) to Sell from Buy with a $15 target, as they believe inventory in the channel is building and prices are falling; furthermore, the broker believes Advanced Micro has little opportunity of meeting the high expectations for margins it set on its recent analyst day.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
- Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) was downgraded to Sell from Hold with a $34 target at Citigroup citing valuation that reflects aggressive long-term operating margins.
- Wachovia downgraded shares of Cox Radio 'A' (NYSE: CXR) to Underperform from Market Perform and recommended investors to swap out of Cox and into their top 2007 picks: Lamar Advertising 'A' (NASDAQ: LAMR) or Entravision Communication 'A' (NYSE: EVC).
Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).Tags: Advanced Micro, AdvancedMicro, amat, Amazon.com, amd, amzn, analyst, Applied Materials, AppliedMaterials, cmos, Cox Radio, CoxRadio, Credence Systems, CredenceSystems, cxr, downgrade, Entravision, evc, General Motors, GeneralMotors, Lamar, Lamar Advertising, LamarAdvertising, lamr, rating changes, RatingChanges, Semiconductor