UPDATE: Stifel Nicolaus Downgrades Verizon on Valuation

Stifel Nicolaus lowered its rating on Verizon VZ from Buy to Neutral and removed its price target, previously at $48. Stifel Nicolaus commented, ": We are downgrading shares of Verizon to Hold, from Buy, as a result of valuation. While VZ shares have underperformed the S&P 500 year-to-date (+13.6% vs. +16.1% for S&P 500), the shares are currently trading at ~6.8x our 2013 estimate for EBITDA and a P/E ratio of 16.4x our 2013 EPS estimate. …. We are lowering our estimates for both 3Q12 and 4Q12 because of what we expect will be a successful launch of the iPhone 5. We had initially modeled an early 4Q12 release of the iPhone 5; however, after Wednesday's announcement of a 9/21 launch, we have shifted a portion of the iPhone 5 sales into 3Q12 and increased our estimate for total iPhone 5 sales." Verizon Communications closed at $45.58 on Thursday.