Downgrades: CBST, CEPH, RBN, GFI, AU

This morning, investment firm Baird downgraded shares of a pair of pharmaceutical companies. Both Cubist Pharmaceuticals (CBST) and Cephalon (CEPH) saw its shares downgraded from Outperform to Neutral as growth concerns remain in the forefront. Analysts believe a negative earnings surprise at Cubist is not out of the realm of possibilities and see Cephalon's earnings tracking towards the low end of guidance.

In morning trading, shares of Cubist Pharmaceuticals were trading lower by almost four and a half percent, while shares of Cephalon lost nearly three percent.

BB&T Capital downgraded shares of Robbins & Myers (RBN) following weak earnings yesterday. The company saw profits fall almost sixty percent in the quarter and presented a disappointing outlook for 2010 earnings. BB&T lowered its rating from Buy to Hold on the news.

Shares of Robbins & Myers were trading modestly lower following the downgrade, off one half of one percent.

And Japanese investment firm Nomura downgraded a pair of gold miners this morning on valuation concerns. The firm lowered its ratings on AngloGold Ashanti (AU) and Gold Fields (GFI) from Buy to Neutral as both South African gold miners have rallied hard over the last month. Shares of AngloGold have gained more than twenty percent since the beginning of September, while shares of Gold fields have gained more than twenty five percent.

This morning, shares of AngloGold were trading lower by almost one and a half percent, while shares of Gold Fields were faring slightly better, off just one half of one percent.

The preceeding is a transcript of the MarketNewsVideo.com video published at: http://www.marketnewsvideo.com/?id=200910Downgrades100709&mv=1.

http://www.marketnewsvideo.com/

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