Stec Shares Plummet Following Price Cut

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Thursday wasn't pretty for memory chipmaker Stec(STEC Quote), which tumbled nearly 17% by the closing bell.

Earlier, an analyst for Wedbush Morgan cut Stec's price target to $39 from $45 citing increasing competition in the enterprise solid-state drive market "intensifying above our previous expectations," though she kept her Outperform rating intact.

According to Dow Jones, the analyst wrote that downward pressure could continue on the stock even though Stec may beat bottom-line third quarter estimates and though a jump in its fourth-quarter estimates may be on the horizon.

Still, Stec shares were moving higher in pre-market trading on Friday, clawing back a bit of the drop-off by adding 84 cents to $32.37. Over the past month, shares are down 4.6%, though the stock has grown a whopping 640% since the year began.

Elsewhere before the opening bell on Friday, SanDisk(SNDK Quote) shares were gaining 4.1%, while Micron Technology(MU Quote) was adding 1-cent at $8.23.

-- Written by Sung Moss in New York

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