UPDATE: Morgan Stanley Downgrades C.R. Bard to Underweight on Lagging Organic Growth

Morgan Stanley downgraded C.R. Bard BCR from Equal-weight to Underweight with a $91 price target. Morgan Stanley noted, "Bard's growth has steadily dropped over the past two years from 5% growth in 1Q11 to 1.5% growth in 3Q12. While utilization is certainly a factor, we attribute much of the slowdown to Bard's end markets, which are more heavily US focused, less differentiated and more discretionary than investors appreciate. Bard needs to invest in its internal and external pipeline as well as emerging markets to shift its growth profile but we do not see a catalyst for recovery in 2013. We are lowering our organic growth outlook from 2.8% to 1.5% in 2013." C.R. Bard closed at $101.83 on Wednesday.