A number of firms have modified their ratings and price targets on shares of DuPont (NYSE: DD) recently:

  • DuPont was downgraded by analysts at JPMorgan Chase from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating. They now have a $47.00 price target on the stock, down previously from $58.00. They wrote, “We downgraded DuPont from Overweight to Neutral because we believe that we can probably find a better entry price into the shares given near-term and year-ahead EPS uncertainty. DuPont’s EPS will have challenges to growth in 2013 and are likely to be substantially below our previous forecasts given the severity of falling TiO2 prices, weakness in the solar area, and surprisingly little resilience in DuPont’s construction-related operations. We reduced our 2012 EPS forecast from $3.70 to $3.25 and our 2013 EPS projection from $4.50 to $3.55. For all of our EPS reductions, DuPont’s earnings position remains quite uncertain for 2013 principally because of the difficulty in gauging the rate of decrease in TiO2 prices, operating rates and raw material costs. The 3Q:12 TiO2 result, when annualized, represents an earnings headwind of $0.40 per share versus our previous estimate for 2013. Importantly, the collateral effect of the TiO2 uncertainty is that DuPont’s repurchase effort is probably stalled given DuPont’s difficulty in estimating the earnings level of a segment that had accounted for about 30% of consolidated profits in the context of a weak economic environment.”
  • DuPont was downgraded by analysts at Monness, Crespi, Hardt from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating.
  • DuPont ‘s EPS estimates were cut by analysts at UBS AG. They now have a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 price target on the stock.
  • DuPont had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Deutsche Bank. They now have a $54.00 price target on the stock.
  • DuPont had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Goldman Sachs. They now have a $48.00 price target on the stock.

DuPont opened at 44.52 on Thursday. DuPont has a 1-year low of $43.06 and a 1-year high of $53.98. The company has a market cap of $41.514 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.77.

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (DuPont) manufacturing, seed production or selling activities and some are distributors of products manufactured by the Company.