Analyst downgrades: HBC, WPPGY and AWRE

Posted May 9th 2008 11:10AM by Eric Buscemi
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, McDonald's (MCD)

MOST NOTEWORTHY: HSBC Holdings, WPP Group and Aware were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Morgan Stanley downgraded HSBC Holdings (NYSE: HBC) to Underweight from Equal Weight to reflect expected losses at the company's U.S. unit.
  
• ABN Amro cut WPP Group (NASDAQ: WPPGY) to Hold from Buy as they expect slowing top-line growth from stagnant marketing budgets.
  
• Merriman downgraded shares of Aware (NASDAQ: AWRE) to Neutral from Buy after DSL royalty revenue declined for a third straight quarter.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Goldman removed McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) from its Conviction Buy List.
  
• Suntrust downgraded Goodrich Petroleum (NYSE: GDP) to Reduce from Neutral.
  
• Merrill lowered Grupo Aeroportuario (NASDAQ: OMAB) to Neutral from Buy.

Tags: analyst, aware, awre, downgrade, gdp, goodrich, grupo aeroportuario, GrupoAeroportuario, hbc, hsbc, mcd, mcdonalds, omab, wpp group, WppGroup, wppgy