Notable Downgrades: Vertex Pharma (VRTX), Alibaba Group (BABA), Microsoft (MSFT), QUALCOMM (QCOM), Infosys Ltd. (INFY)

Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (VRTX) are down $7.67 to $113.60 in mid-day trading today after analysts at Needham issued a downgrade on the name. The stock was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ on valuation following earnings. Similarly, Maxim Group downgraded the stock from ‘Buy’ to ‘Hold’ and reduced its price target to $121 from $148.

In the past 52 weeks, shares of the pharmaceutical company have traded between a low of $59.79 and a high of $127.69 with the 50-day MA and 200-day MA located at $119.74 and $106.69 levels, respectively. Additionally, shares of VRTX trade at a P/E ratio of -8.40 and have a Relative Strength Index (RSI) and MACD indicator of 37.97 and -2.60, respectively.

VRTX currently prints a one year return of about 52.91% and a year-to-date return of around 2.07%.

Analysts at Stifel are out with a report this morning downgrading shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA) with a ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ rating following the company’s Q4 results. BABA shares are currently priced at 44.94x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them expensive compared to the industry’s 18.67x earnings multiple. Ticker has a forward P/E of 29.63 and t-12 price-to-sales ratio of 24.16. EPS for the same period is $1.96.

In the past 52 weeks, shares of the Hangzhou, China-based firm have traded between a low of $82.81 and a high of $120 and are now at $89.36. Shares are down 5.28% year-to-date.

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) is down 4c to $41.15 in mid-day trading today. Approximately 38.85M shares have already changed hands, compared to the stock’s average daily volume of 32.63M shares. The name was downgraded to ‘Underweight’ from ‘Neutral’ at Atlantic Equities.

On valuation-measures, shares of Microsoft have a trailing-12 and forward P/E of 16.77 and 14.03, respectively. P/E to growth ratio is 2.02, while t-12 profit margin is 22.12%. EPS registers at $2.48. The company has a market cap of $341.24B and a median Wall Street price target of $50.00 with a high target of $58.00.

On trading-measure, MSFT has a beta of 0.71 and a short float of 0.80%. In the past 52 weeks, MSFT shares have traded between a low of $35.69 and a high of $50.05 with its 50-day MA and 200-day MA located at $46.52 and $46.03 levels, respectively.

M’soft currently prints a one year return of 16.69%, and a year-to-date loss of 11.32%.

Shares of QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM) are down $7.88 to $63.11 in mid-day trading today after analysts at UBS issued a downgrade on the name following earnings. The stock was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ with a 12-month base case estimate of $64 from $81.

Separately, Wells Fargo (WFC) and Macquarie came out with downgrades this morning, lowering the price target on the shares to $75-$85 from $80-$90, and to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ rating, respectively.

Infosys Ltd. (INFY) lost 65c to $34.49 in mid-day trading today. Approximately 1.79M shares have already changed hands, compared to the stock’s average daily volume of 2.79M shares.

The name was downgraded to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Hold’ at Jefferies. Infosys shares are currently priced at 19.74x this year’s forecasted earnings compared to the industry’s 18.67x earnings multiple. Ticker has a PEG and forward P/E ratio of 1.39 and 18.36, respectively. Price/Sales for the same period is 4.65 while EPS is $1.75. Currently there are 27 analysts that rate INFY a ‘Buy’, 19 rate it a ‘Hold’. 4 analysts rate it a ‘Sell’. INFY has a median Wall Street price target of $37.10 with a high target of $43.60.

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