Analyst downgrades 4-17-07: CKFR, JDSA, MEDI and S all downgraded today

Posted Apr 17th 2007 11:01AM by Kevin Shult
Filed under: Before the Bell, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Bad News, Sprint Nextel Corp (S), Jones Soda (JSDA), Apollo Investment (AINV)

MOST NOTEWORTHY: CheckFree Corp (CKFR), Sprint Nextel Corp (S) and the semiconductor capital equipment sector were some of today's more noteworthy downgrades:

Piper Jaffray downgraded Checkfree Corp (NASDAQ: CKFR) to Market Perform from Outperform after transferring coverage of the payment processor company.
Sprint Nextel Corp (NYSE: S) was cut to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James.
Lehman cut the semiconductor capital equipment sector to Neutral from Positive, downgrading Cascade Microtech, Inc (NASDAQ: CSCD), Novellus Systems, Inc (NASDAQ: NVLS) and Teradyne, Inc (NYSE: TER) to Equal Weight from Overweight and cut Electroglas, Inc (NASDAQ: EGLS) to Underweight from Equal Weight.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

ThinkEquity cut Jones Soda Co (NASDAQ: JSDA) to Source of Funds from Buy based on valuation.
Goldman is now cautious on the biofuel sector, downgrading the group to Cautious from Neutral.
William Blair downgraded shares of Medimmune, Inc (NASDAQ: MEDI) to Market Perform from Outperform.
Credit Suisse downgraded shares of Big 5 Sporting Goods Corp (NASDAQ: BGFV) to Underperform from Neutral citing valuation.
Wachovia dropped Inkeepers USA Trust (NYSE: KPA) to Underperform from Outperform based on the acquisition from Apollo Investment Corp (AINV). Citigroup cut Inkeepers to Hold from Buy.