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).
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