UPDATE: Bank of America Downgrades Taubman Centers to Neutral, Lowers PT on Lack of Near-Term Catalysts

In a report published Friday, Bank of America analyst Craig Schmidt downgraded the rating on Taubman Centers TCO from Buy to Neutral, and lowered the price target from $80.00 to $72.00. In the report, Bank of America noted, “Taubman Centers (TCO) has significantly underperformed mall REIT peers year-to-date (-14.8% vs +2.6%) and we do not see a near-term catalyst to help reverse this trend. TCO's development activity, particularly in Asia, has been a major overhang on the stock, and the money and time spent pursuing a number of development projects have allowed the core portfolio to slip. Management is insisting on staying the course and it could be years before the market sees any real value creation.” Taubman Centers closed on Thursday at $65.79.