Analyst downgrades: TXN, SNDK and BRCD

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Texas Instruments, SanDisk and Brocade were today's noteworthy downgrades:

Merrill Lynch downgraded shares of Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) to Neutral from Buy after the company reported lower-than-expected Q3 results due to concerns regarding elevated inventory levels and rising raw material and labor costs. Merrill lowered their target to $27 from $32.
Citigroup cut SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) to Sell from Hold after the company reported a Q2 miss and offered lower-than-expected guidance. Citigroup lowered their target price to $14 from $20.
JMP Securities downgraded Brocade (NASDAQ: BRCD) to Market Perform from Outperform following the company's announcement to buy Foundry Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FDRY) for $19.25 per share.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

ArthroCare (NASDAQ: ARTC) was lowered to Market Perform from Outperform at William Blair.
JP Morgan downgraded Assured Guaranty (NYSE: AGO) and Lenovo Group (LNVGY) to Neutral from Overweight.
iStar Financial (NYSE: SFI) was downgraded to Sell from Buy at UBS.
Goldman removed Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD) from the Conviction Buy List.