Ahead Of The Bell: Brocade Downgraded

NEW YORK (AP) — Brocade Communications Systems Inc. is unlikely to find a buyer soon or beat expectations in its next round of quarterly results, Oppenheimer & Co. said Monday, downgrading the company's shares.

In a client note, Oppenheimer analyst Ittai Kidron said there is no clear buyer for the San Jose, Calif.-based network-gear maker despite a report in The Wall Street Journal a week ago saying the company is for sale.

Hewlett-Packard Co.'s existing offerings would overlap too much with Brocade's, he said, adding that IBM Corp. isn't likely to jump back into the hardware business, Oracle Corp. has publicly denied interest, Juniper Networks Inc. would find such an acquisition "too big to swallow" and Dell Inc. is busy with its $3.9 billion buyout of Perot Systems Corp.

Since the Journal's report, Brocade shares have climbed 23 percent. The shares rose 28 cents, or 3 percent, to $9.69 in premarket trading Monday.

Seeing no clear catalyst for pushing the shares higher, Kidron suggested investors take some profits, cutting his rating to "Perform" from "Outperform" and removing his $10 price target.