UPDATE: Goldman Sachs Downgrades AutoNavi Holdings Limited to Netral on Competitive Challenges

Goldman Sachs downgraded AutoNavi Holdings Limited

from Buy to Neutral and reduced the price target from $17.30 to $10.40. Goldman Sachs commented, "We downgrade AutoNavi to Neutral from Buy with a new 12-month target price of US$10.40, as we expect pressure on volume and pricing for its smartphone pre-install business to intensify amid rising competition in 2013. We believe Baidu's entrance to the pre-install market may have changed the pricing model in 2H12. We cut our 2013E/14E non-GAAP EPS by 28%/40% to reflect this. Since we added AutoNavi to our Buy list on March 8, 2011, the stock has fallen 40.8% % vs. Nasdaq +13.2%. Past 12 months, the stock has fallen 2.2% vs. Nasdaq +5.5%. We think this is due to overall market concerns over US-listed Chinese companies and its loss of BMW business." AutoNavi Holdings Limited closed at $10.64 on Wednesday.