Wednesday's Asia ADR Recap

Sohu.com (SOHU Quote), a leading Chinese Internet company, was downgraded by Oppenheimer from outperform to perform. Analyst Jason Helfstein said the stock is overpriced with shares up 32% on the year and he no longer sees compelling value at current levels.

RBC Capital Markets announced it will keep its outperform rating on Sohu.com and raised its price target from $65 to $80. In research note to clients, RBC said due to guidance above Wall Street expectations its raising EPS estimates for 2008 and 2009 from $2.16 to $2.82 and from $2.82 to $4.12. American depositary shares of SOHU fell 4.2% to $69.13.

Elsewhere in the Chinese Internet sector, Shanda Interactive Entertainment (SNDA Quote), traded up 1.7% to $34.29; Baidu.com (BIDU Quote) lost 2.2% to $365.60; and SINA (SINA Quote), finished essentially flat at $46.20.

Beijing-based fabless semiconductor company Vimicro International (VIMC Quote) said its first-quarter net loss was $3.2 million, vs. $3.8 million from a year ago, due to seasonal weakness. The company said revenue for the first quarter came in at $16.2 million, vs. $16.9 million and its loss per share was 9 cents per share, vs. a loss of 11 cents per share in the first quarter of 2007. Vimicro forecasted revenue for the second quarter to fall in the range of $22 million to $24 million, vs. Wall Street estimates of $20.87 million.

Following the earnings report, Roth Capital upgraded Vimicro to buy from hold and lowered its price target to $4 from $4.50, citing new products and design wins. Shares of VIMC rose 1.5% to $3.39.