Amazon, Smucker Are S&P Decliners

These stocks are among the worst performers on the S&P 500 midday Thursday.

By Alexandra Zendrian , Feb 16, 2012 11:41 AM EST

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) --

Amazon

(AMZN) - Get Report

and

J.M. Smucker

(SJM) - Get Report

were among the worst performers on the

S&P 500

midday Thursday.

The S&P 500 rose 3.76 points Thursday to 1,346.99.

Shares of Amazon dropped 4.68% to $175.83. The company was downgraded Thursday by

Morgan Stanley

(MS) - Get Report

analysts to equal-weight from overweight.

"We expect Amazon.com's share price to experience downward pressure as themarket digests mixed data points," Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a report Thursday. "Apple's strength in iPhone and iPad sales are negatively affecting Amazon.com by accelerating the company's transition from physical to digital media sales (which has effects on sales, margins and ROIC) as well as impacting Electronics & General Merchandise ("EGM") growth. Additionally, the ongoing share shift from Amazon.com owned-inventory to Third Party ("3P") / Fulfillment by Amazon ("FBA") units may challenge ROIC through decelerating asset turnover and decreased cash flow from negative working capital."

Amazon has an estimated price-to-earnings ratio for next year of 44.44; the average for broad-line retailers is 27.43. For comparison,

Wal-Mart

(WMT) - Get Report

and

Costco

(COST) - Get Report

both have lower forward P/Es of 12.69 and 19.21, respectively.

Twenty-three of the 40 analysts who cover Amazon rated it a buy. Sixteen gave it a hold rating and one rated it a sell.

TheStreet Ratings

gives Amazon a

C+ grade

with a hold rating. The stock has risen 1.74% year to date.

Shares of J.M. Smucker fell 7.82% to $72.04 on about three times its average daily trading volume. The company reported Thursday third-quarter earnings of $116.8 million, or $1.03 a share, which fell from year-ago earnings of $132 million, or $1.11 a share.

Adjusted earnings in the quarter were $1.22 a share. Analysts were anticipating $1.41 a share in earnings.

"SJM is yet another company to point out lower consumer demand across the food industry. This is a potentially negative read-through for traditional grocers and other food manufacturers, which may be dealing with more elasticity than anticipated as consumers are no longer accepting higher retail prices," JPMorgan analysts wrote in a report Thursday.

J.M. Smucker has an estimated price-to-earnings ratio for next year of 12.93; the average for food products companies is 13.76. For comparison,

Campbell Soup

(CPB) - Get Report

and

Tyson Foods

(TSN) - Get Report

both have lower forward P/Es of 12.78 and 8.11, respectively.

Of the 17 analysts who cover J.M. Smucker, 10 gave it a hold rating, six rated it a buy and one called it a sell.

TheStreet Ratings

gives J.M. Smucker an A+ grade with a

$102.01

price target. The stock has fallen 7.53% year to date.