Notable Downgrades: Yelp (YELP), Groupon (GRPN), BHP Billiton (BHP), Ross Stores (ROST)

Analysts at UBS downgraded Yelp Inc. (YELP) from ‘Neutral’ to ‘Sell’ in a research report issued to clients on Wednesday, noting the San Francisco-based company has lagged peers in user growth, product innovation, and technology investments.

Shares of the $1.59 billion market cap consumer review website operator are down 53.95% year-over-year and 26.74% year-to-date.

Yelp Inc., currently with a median Wall Street price target of $20.00 and a high target of $44.00, dropped $1.05 to $21.10 in recent trading.

Groupon, Inc. (GRPN) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Neutral’ at UBS, saying the daily deals and e-commerce company has a “long road ahead” in strengthening its position in the local advertising market.

On valuation metrics, Groupon Inc. shares are currently changing hands at 143.12x this year’s forecasted earnings, compared to the industry’s 13.96x earnings multiple. Ticker has a t-12 price/sales ratio of 0.90. EPS for the same period registers at $0.03.

Shares of Groupon have lost $0.28 to $4.30 in pre-market trading on Wednesday, giving it a market cap of roughly $2.7 billion. The stock traded as high as $8.05 on March 12, 2015.

Jefferies reported on Wednesday that they have lowered their rating for BHP Billiton Limited (BHP). The firm has downgraded BHP from ‘Buy’ to ‘Hold’.

BHP Billiton recently traded at $26.51, a loss of $0.10 over Tuesday’s closing price. The name has a current market capitalization of $69.96 billion.

As for passive income investors, the company pays shareholders $1.56 per share annually in dividends, yielding 5.64%. Five year average dividend yield currently stands at 4.13%.

Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) shares fell 1.55% to $56.49 in pre-market trading after Goldman (GS) removed the name from its “Conviction Buy” list, citing valuation.

On trading measures, in the past 52 weeks shares of the the discount retailer have traded between a low of $43.47 and a high of $59.44 with the 50-day MA and 200-day MA located at $55.02 and $51.84 levels, respectively. Additionally, shares of ROST trade at a P/E ratio of 1.82 and have a Relative Strength Index (RSI) and MACD indicator of 59.57 and +1.12, respectively.

ROST currently prints a one year return of about 10% and a year-to-date return of 6.63%.

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