MOST NOTEWORTHY: Some of today's more notable downgrades include Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co (LEND), RadioShack Corp (RSH) and Shuffle Master, Inc (SHFL):
- Keefe Bruyette cut Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co (NASDAQ: LEND) to Underperform from Market Perform, saying the downturn in the subprime market raised liquidity concerns on the stock.
- RBC downgraded RadioShack Corp (NYSE: RSH) to Underperform from Sector Perform, explaining that cost cutting measures are largely complete and margin expansion estimates are too aggressive.
- Shuffle Master Inc (NASDAQ: SHFL) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies, citing the lack of visibility into the company's placements and potential IP protection risk in Macau. Shuffle Master was also cut to Underperform from Peer Perform at Bear Stearns following the company's announcement that it will have to restate prior financial results.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
- UBS downgraded shares of Marvell Technology Group (NASDAQ: MRVL) to Reduce from Buy, citing risks to HDD demand given upcoming launches by Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) of NAND-based Video iPods. The analyst expects HDD weakness to phase in and not collapse, but sees limited growth in the HDD segment.
- Roth Capital cut WPT Enterprises, Inc (NASDAQ: WPTE) to Sell from Hold, citing valuation, reduced earnings expectations and execution risk related to bringing the online gaming business in house.
- China Eastern Airlines Corp (NYSE: CEA) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
- China GrenTech Corp (NASDAQ: GRRF) was downgraded to Neutral from Positive at Susquehanna.
- RBC cut Nova Chemicals Corp (NYSE: NCX) to Sector Perform from Outperform.
- Sandler downgraded shares of OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ: OCFC) to Hold from Buy.
- Citigroup downgraded Dollar General Corp (NYSE: DG) to Hold from Buy.
Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).