Bearish Tone on RIM (RIMM) Continues: Citi Downgrades, Susquehanna Sets New Street-Low Target at $31

Shares of Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) are trading lower Thursday morning amid several bearish analyst calls earlier. The stock last traded at $36.26, down 1.3 percent from Wednesday's close.

Around the Street:

• Citi downgraded RIM shares from Buy to Hold and slashed the stock's price target by 44 percent from $80 to $45. Citi believes Research In Motion is letting an opportunity slip to steal market share from the floundering Nokia (NYSE: NOK). The firm's channel checks suggest RIM has not yet received certification from major wireless carriers for its new models, and that these devices are still far off from mass production. Citi said it is "increasingly concerned" BlackBerry's new 9900 product could miss the back-to-school selling season -- the second largest season to buy cell phones.
  
  
• Susquehanna, already Negative on the stock, is playing a little game of "How Low Can You Go?" this morning. The firm reduced its price target on Research In Motion from $46 to $31 (a new Street-low price target), citing potential delays for the BlackBerry 9900 and continued market losses. Susquehanna reduced its FY12 EPS estimate on RIM from $6.07 to $5.59 and its FY13 estimate from $6.21 to $5.87. The firm believes management needs to abandon its current FY12 guidance of about $7.50 per share in earnings.

The bearish sentiment comes on the heels of a 15 percent slide in RIM shares since the beginning of June and a 48 percent move lower since the 52-week high set in mid February.

Visit our Analyst Ratings page to track all the market-moving analyst calls on shares of Research In Motion.

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