Research in Motion Loses Its Analyst Fans (RIMM)

Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) had a really bad week.  In fact, the huge drop seen Friday broke so far under the prior 52-week low of $80.20 that you would have thought the sky was falling.  The sky is not falling, but this is what happens when beloved mega-growth companies post a second disappointing report in a row.  To make matters worse, the company was cautious on margins out to 2010 rather than just in the near-term as its component costs are hurting margins on new product launches.  As you will see, R-I-M lost a lot of ground in analyst coverage to the point that the cheering section is going to be much smaller for a while.

• Canaccord downgraded it to hold from buy, target cut to $72.75 from $185
• Citigroup downgraded it to hold from buy
• Deutsche Bank downgraded it to sell from hold
• Pacific Crest downgraded it to sector perform from outperform
• RBC Capital downgraded it to sector perform from outperform, target cut to $90 from $165
• UBS downgraded it to neutral from buy

There were actually some analysts that raised their ratings.

Credit Suisse raised its rating to a still cautious "neutral" from"underperform", but its previous $100.00 target is now $80.00.  S&P boosted its rating to buy from hold, and slashed its $130.00 target to $110.00.  Raymond James upped its rating to an"outperform" from "market perform" , but slashed its price target to$110.00 from $140.00.

JPMorgan maintained an "overweight" rating and Morgan Keegan maintained an "outperform" rating.

Jon C. Ogg
September 27, 2008