Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC): Nomura Securities on Thursday downgraded its rating on the company to Reduce from Neutral. The firm lowered its price target to $18 from $23. In a research note to clients, the firm said, "Intel outperformed the S&P 500 by 16% and the SOX by 23% over the past three months based on expectations for strong Q2 results. While revenue and EPS were above our estimates, we believe earnings quality was weak. While management backed off its earlier forecast for double-digit PC growth in 2011, we believe the outlook for seasonal growth (+7%) in the Sept quarter is not conservative. We are lowering our estimates from $13.6bn/$0.61 to $13.5bn/$0.57 in Q3 and from $54.8bn/$2.25 to $53.5bn/$2.10 in CY12. Our price target is based on 9x CY12 EPS. This multiple is inline with HP (NYSE: HPQ) at 7x, Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) at 9x, and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) at 10x."
Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE): Deutsche Bank downgraded its rating on the stock to Hold from Buy. In a research note to clients, the firm stated, "We believe Yingli’s gross margin is likely to drop to c.22% in 2Q11E and c.20% in 3Q11E. Yingli has relatively greater exposure in China, with c.30% of its shipments to China in 2H11E that we believe would be sold at an ASP comparable to modules shipped to the overseas market. We expect the company’s manufacturing cost advantage would allow it to continue to capture more market share from its peers. Trading at 8x 2011E P/E, we see limited upside and downgrade the stock."
Cree Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE): Credit Suisse on Thursday initiated coverage on Cree with a Neutral rating.
Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL): Citigroup on Thursday downgraded its rating on the company to Hold from Buy.
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