Analyst downgrades: PetSmart, Plantronics, First Cash Financial

Posted Jan 23rd 2008 12:16PM by Eric Buscemi
Filed under: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MOST NOTEWORTHY: PetSmart, Plantronics and First Cash Financial were today's noteworthy downgrades:

Wachovia downgraded PetSmart (NASDAQ: PETM) to Market Perform from Outperform, citing margin concerns following the company's lowered Q4 SSS guidance.
Baird downgraded Plantronics (NYSE: PLT) to Neutral from Outperform citing weaker core business outlook.
Jefferies downgraded shares of First Cash Financial (NASDAQ: FCFS) to Hold from Buy following the disappointing results, as they believe the company's auto lending business will create an earnings drag in 2008, limiting potential share price appreciation. Shares were also lowered to Market Perform from Outperform at JMP Securities.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

Lloyds TSB Group (NYSE: LYG) was lowered to Sell from Hold at ABN Amro.
Northstar Neuroscience (NASDAQ: NSTR) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Citigroup.
UBS downgraded Volvo (OTC: VOLVY) to Neutral from Buy.

Tags: FCFS, LYG, NSTR, PETM, PLT, VOLVY