Merrill Cuts Rating on Yahoo Shares
Reuters
Merrill Lynch & Co., which recently paid $100 million to settle New York charges that it gave tainted bullish advice on Internet stocks in the tech sector’s heyday, has turned negative on one of the sector’s flagships.
Merrill analyst Justin Baldauf cut his rating on Yahoo Inc. to “reduce/sell” from “neutral.”
He called the stock “very expensive” one day after Yahoo reported its first quarterly profit after six quarters of losses.
Merrill has promised harder-hitting stock research in the wake of the New York settlement.
The market appeared to ignore Baldauf on Thursday: Yahoo shares rose 73 cents to $12.92 on Nasdaq.
