Ahead Of The Bell: ITT, 4 Others Downgraded

NEW YORK (AP) — Rising stock prices of five producers of equipment that controls manufacturing and processing activities led an analyst Wednesday to downgrade the shares.

Robert W. Baird & Co. analyst Michael A. Schneider said that since a low in March shares of industrial process control companies have surged an average of 82 percent — 26 percentage points more than the Standard & Poor's 500 index.

As a result, there is "limited upside" from current levels for shares of Quincy, Mass.-based Altra Holdings Inc.; Richmond, Va.-based Colfax Corp.; Northbrook, Ill.-based IDEX Corp.; White Plains, N.Y.-based ITT Corp.; and Golden Valley, Minn.-based Pentair Inc.

Pentair and IDEX have topped his price targets, and Altra and Colfax are near his price targets. Only ITT, which closed Tuesday at $51.63, was still some distance from the $56 price target he has on the shares.

The analyst downgraded all five stocks to "Neutral" from "Overweight."

"We believe the sector's initial bounce driven by a positive turn in sentiment is largely complete," he said in a client note.