UPDATE: JP Morgan Downgrades Riverbed Technology to Neutral

JP Morgan lowers its rating on Riverbed Technology

to Neutral from Overweight and cuts its price target from $32 to $22 as execution issues overshadow eventual market opportunities for the company. JP Morgan says, "We downgrade our rating on Riverbed to Neutral as channel execution issues overshadow what we believe is still a good longer-term market opportunity. We are increasingly concerned that RVBD has bitten off more than it can chew with multiple recent acquisitions and new product launches. We see this taking another 6-9 months to resolve in the channel. In addition, our main positive thesis around data center consolidation has yet to materialize in the numbers and could still be several quarters away. We continue to believe RVBD is in an attractive segment but believe opportunity costs are too high in 2012 to keep waiting for elusive growth while other communications equipment names benefit from an expected H2 ramp in spending." RVBD closed at $27.86 on Thursday.