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).

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