UPDATE: DA Davidson Downgrades Novellus Systems to Neutral

DA Davidson lowers its rating on Novellus Systems

to Neutral from Buy as merger cross currents offset growing business strength. DA Davidson notes, "Due to a combination of the recent rally in the shares of NVLS (+80% over the past four months) and a stock price increasingly pegged to the performance of Lam (LRCX* - 44.51), we believe shares of NVLS are fairly valued at this time. Thus, while we are raising our price target from $44 to $52 (based on 12x 2013 EPS plus $10 net cash per share), the limited upside potential compels us to downgrade our rating from Buy to NEUTRAL." NVLS closed at $49.34 a share on Thursday.