UPDATE: Piper Jaffray Downgrades Codexis; Lowers PT

According to a research report released earlier today, Piper Jaffray has downgraded Codexis Inc.

to Underweight after the CEO, Alan Shaw, resigned on Friday. Piper Jaffray said in the report, “In addition to within the management ranks, we believe the company will face two substantial commercialization delays – the first with cellulase enzymes (the company has unsuccessfully vied for an exclusivity waiver from Shell for the past year) and the second with fatty alcohols (achieving a demonstration-scale in 2-3 years instead of commercial operations in the same time frame). We are lowering our price target to $3.50 (from $5 previously).” Codexis closed Friday at $4.58.