Best Buy Gets Downgrade From Bank of America

Shares of electronics and appliance retailer Best Buy were in the red as Wall Street learned that Bank of America Merrill Lynch has downgraded shares to  “underperform.”

According to Bank of America, this is the equivalent of a “sell” rating and shares fell almost 5% on the news on Monday.

The firm has cited slowing sales of electronics which include Apple’s iPhone was among the reasons for the downgrade.

“Deceleration in industry growth trends and continued caution on key product categories such as TVs, Apple products and gaming,” in its note by analyst Curtis Nagle.

Nagle added, “We are turning more negative as we now see a higher possibility that BBY may see an outright comp miss in 4Q and we believe Street 2019/20 EPS [estimates] are too high. ”

Nagle also slashed his price target on the stock fom $70 to $50. It was just this past November that Nagle had downgraded the stock to a “neutral” rating.

He noted “We lower our FY18-20 EPS estimates which are now 1/6/8% below the Street.”

“We see headwinds related to the iPhone and a new Apple and Amazon partnership,” the note also read.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Best Buy Co Inc. (NYSE: BBY) and have not been compensated for this article.