UPDATE: Bank of America Downgrades Constellation Brands to Neutral; Crown Transaction in Jeopardy

Bank of America downgraded Constellation Brands

from Buy to Neutral and lowered the price target from $42.00 to $33.00. Bank of America said, "It is unclear to us whether the DOJ will prevail in its case against ABI or if the two sides can still reach a settlement; however, it does appear that the final resolution has been delayed and could take as long as a year. As a result, we think the stock could remain range bound as the issue is sorted out in the courts. We are lowering our FY14E EPS from $2.77 to $2.16 to reflect our expectation for delayed timing of the Crown transaction. Our $33 PO implies 15.2x our new estimate, essentially maintaining the target multiple but applying to a lower earnings base." Constellation Brands closed at $32.36 on Thursday.