Wright Express Shares Sag After Downgrade

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Wright Express Corp., a payment processor for commercial and government vehicle fleets, slid Tuesday after an analyst downgraded his rating on the company to "Hold."

KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Anurag Rana said the stock's recent price appreciation — it is up by nearly a third, year to date — cannot be justified, given the uncertainty of the economy.

Fuel transactions and credit losses drive the South Portland, Maine-based company's profits, Rana said, and "given the substantial uncertainty surrounding any potential recovery" in the economy, he can't project improvements in calculations of either.

Shares of Wright Express dropped 6.3 percent, or $1.05, to $15.72 in afternoon trading.