Coal Stocks Tumble as Raymond James Downgrades Five Stocks, Cuts Met Coal Forecasts

In a report by Raymond James analyst James Rollyson published Friday, the analyst warned of some concerns related to metallurgical coal in 2013-2014. Rollyson called supply growth in the met coal market "stubbornly resilient" and said global demand growth has been "tepid at best." The analyst reduced his 2013 forecast for metallurgical coal from $174.24 to $160.50 and his forecast for 2014 from $196.25 to $165. Rollyson downgraded the following stocks this morning:

• Alpha Natural Resources ANR from Outperform to Underperform
• Arch Coal Inc. ACI, James River Coal JRCC, and Walter Energy WLT from Market Perform to Underperform.
• Peabody Energy BTU Outperform to Market Perfom.

CONSOL Energy CNX and Rhino Resource Partners RNO remain at Outperform. These stocks are moving sharply lower Friday morning: Alpha Natural is down 3.8 percent, Arch Coal is down 3 percent, James River is down more than 12 percent (the company registered to sell more than 24 million shares of stock for selling holders Thursday evening), shares of Walter are down more than 5 percent, and shares of Peabody are down 2 percent.