S&P Downgrades Cogent (COGT) to Hold from Buy

S&P Downgraded Cogent

to Hold from Buy, yesterday. They think that 3M’s

purchase price for Cogent is a bit low. Here are some quotes from the report: “3M

agreed to purchase

for $10.50 per share, or about $943M in total (net of $430M in net cash acquired), subject to customary conditions. We see demand for identification systems increasing across multiple verticals both inside and outside the government segment. However, we think the price, at 23.9X our 2011 EPS estimate of $0.46 is a bit low, and note that the shares traded at that level as recently as May.”