Downgrade dents ADC Telecom shares

ADC Telecommunications shares fell $1.25, or 7 percent, to $16.88 Tuesday after Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown cut the stock from a “strong buy” recommendation to a “buy.”

ADC Telecom (Nasdaq: ADCT) shares have come under pressure in recent months along with other telecommunications stocks, falling from a 52-week high of $49 in July to $15.13 earlier this month.

First Call Corp. consensus expects it to earn 12 cents a share in its fourth quarter.

Last quarter, ADC Telecom topped analysts’ estimates when it posted a profit of $138 million, or 18 cents a share, on sales of $1.03 billion.

Looking ahead, company officials expect to earn between 68 cents to 70 cents a share in fiscal 2001 with sales expected to improve between 25 percent to 30 percent this year.

All 22 analysts following the stock maintain either a “buy” or “strong buy” rating.

Analysts are forecasting a profit of 69 cents a share in the fiscal year on sales of $4.3 billion.