Shares of Costa Mesa’s Emulex Corp., a maker of electronics for data storage networks, fell Monday after an analyst downgraded the stock.
Emulex’s shares closed down 7% on a recent market value of about $425 million.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Amit Daryanani cut his rating on the stock to “sector perform,” down from “outperform,” according to a report on financial news Web site Barrons.com.
He also cut his price target to $6 per share, down from $9. Emulex was trading at around $5 per share on Monday.
Daryanani said he sees slower growth ahead as Emulex’s customers, which include the world’s biggest server manufacturers, hold off on purchases and work down their inventories.
He also cut his earnings estimates for the balance of Emulex’s fiscal year, which ends in June.
Daryanani expects Emulex to see yearly profits of $40 million, down from his previous estimate of $42 million in profits.
Wall Street analysts, on average, expect profits of $45 million on sales of $386 million for 2009.
Emulex’s shares are off about 65% in the past 12 months.
