Analyst downgrades 2-16-07: Take-Two, Expedia, Denny's all downgraded today
Posted Feb 16th 2007 11:44AM by Kevin Shult
Filed under: Before the bell, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Bad news, Expedia Inc (EXPE)
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Career Education Corp (CECO) and Expedia Inc (EXPE) were today's most notable downgrades:
- Prudential downgraded Career Education Corp (NASDAQ: CECO) to Underweight from Neutral with a $20 target based fourth quarter results and guidance.
- Expedia inc (NASDAQ: EXPE) was downgraded to Sector Performer from Sector Outperformer based on a deteriorating outlook and valuation following the weak fourth quarter.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
- Various retail dining companies were downgraded today:
- Denny's Corp (NASDAQ: DENN) was reduced to Neutral from Buy at Merriman, citing weak traffic trends and the net unit growth delay into 2008.
- UBS downgraded Applebee's Int'l Inc (NASDAQ: APPB) to Neutral from Buy as they believe sales and traffic declines are likely to continue until easier comps in the second quarter.
- BB&T downgraded California Pizza Kitchen Inc (NASDAQ: CPKI) to Hold from Buy on valuation and concerns about earnings visibility.
- Constellation Brands Inc (NYSE: STZ) was cut to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs on concerns around upcoming guidance and their belief that a recovery in the U.K. and Australia is at least a year away.
- Goldman downgraded WellCare Health Plans Inc (NYSE: WCG) to Sell from Neutral.
- Citigroup downgraded Petrobras Energia Participaciones ADS (NYSE: PZE) and Consolidated Communications Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: CNSL) to Sell from Hold.
- WedBush downgraded Take-Two Interactive Software (NASDAQ: TTWO) to Sell from Hold with a $15 target to reflect less optimism about the company's sport franchise and risk from the NY AG investigation.
Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required). Tags: analyst, appb, applebees, career education, CareerEducation, ceco, cnsl, consolidated communications, ConsolidatedCommunications, constellation, denn, denny, expe, expedia, petrobras, pze, rating, rating change, RatingChange, stz, take-two, theflyonthewall.com, ttwo, wcg, wellcare
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