Analyst downgrades 6-4-07: BP, DB, D ...
Posted Jun 4th 2007 11:36AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Analyst upgrades and downgrades, BP p.l.c. ADS (BP)
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Dominion Resources (D), Digene (DIGE) and Deutsche Bank (DB) were today's noteworthy downgrades:
- BMO Capital downgraded shares of Dominion Resources Inc. (NYSE: D) to Market Perform from Outperform citing the sale proceeds for its onshore U.S. E&P properties that were below expectations.
- Digene Corp. (NASDAQ: DIGE) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Ferris Baker Watts based on the acquisition by Qiagen (NASDAQ: QGEN). Digene was also downgraded at SummerStreet to Neutral from Buy, as the firm views the Qiagen's acquisition for $1.6B as reasonable.
- Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan, as the firm sees better value in traditional credit-exposed banks.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
- Norsk Hydro (NYSE: NHY) and BP PLC (NYSE: BP) were downgraded to Hold from Buy at Citigroup.
- Quiksilver Inc. (NYSE: ZQK) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W Baird due to valuation.
- Banc of America downgraded shares of SunTrust Banks Inc. (NYSE: STI) to Neutral from Buy on valuation as they believe further sales of Coke may not be very accretive to EPS.
- LifePoint Hospitals Inc. (NASDAQ: LPNT) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies based on valuation.
- Clear Channel Outdoors Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CCO) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at DBAB on valuation.
- Matrix USA downgraded shares of Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) to Hold from Buy to reflect rising costs and lower enrollment rates.
- Matrix also downgraded True Religion Apparel Inc. (NASDAQ: TRLG) to Hold from Buy on valuation.
Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required). Tags: agen, apol, apollo group, ApolloGroup, bp, cco, clear channetl outdoors, ClearChannetlOutdoors, db, deutsche bank, DeutscheBank, dige, digene, dominion d, DominionD, lifepoint hospitals, LifepointHospitals, lpnt, nhy, norsk hydro, NorskHydro, qiagen, quicksliver, sti, suntrust banks, SuntrustBanks, trlg, true religion apparel, TrueReligionApparel, zqk
Struggling Playboy outsources business ops
J. Crew earnings preview: A strong Q3 all buttoned up?
Twitter to make acquisitions, generate revenue in 2010
