Network Stocks Suffering Amid Analyst Actions
Updated from 10:20 a.m. EDT.
Network equipment companies
Extreme Networks
(EXTR) - Get Extreme Networks Inc. Report
,
Brocade
(BRCD)
and router leader
Cisco
(CSCO) - Get Cisco Systems Inc. Report
were all down in late morning trading as the network sector suffered from downgrades and estimates cuts by several analysts fearing that tech spending would further decline in the remainder of the year.
Extreme was down 11.3% at midday, hitting a low earlier of $5.85. Brocade was down 10.2% but also off its lows of $12.60. Cisco was down 6.5%.
Morgan Stanley cut its fiscal 2002 estimates on several stocks, including Cisco. Morgan Stanley cut Cisco's estimates to 11 cents from 16 cents and cut its price target to $16 from $22.
Morgan Stanley also cut 2002 estimates on Brocade to 33 cents from 50 cents. Along with Brocade, other storage area network stocks suffering this morning included
Network Appliance
TheStreet Recommends
(NTAP) - Get NetApp Inc. Report
, down 12.8%, and
Emulex
( EMLX), down 7.8%.
J.P. Morgan also downgraded Extreme Networks to market perform from long-term buy.
Merrill Lynch chimed in, lowering earnings estimates on four networking companies, including Extreme.
Others mentioned by Merrill were
Enterasys
(ETS)
,
Foundry
( FDRY) and
F5 Networks
.
Enterasys was down 12.2%, Foundry was down 10% and F5 was down 12.1%.
