UPDATE: Morgan Stanley Downgrades Performant Financial Corporation

In a note released earlier today, Morgan Stanley analyst, Suzanne Stein downgraded shares of Performant Financial Corporation

from Outperform to Equal-weight and lowered the price target from $11 to $9. Stein commented, "Uncertainties linger over the renewal of the RAC contract, the majority of Performant's healthcare segment, but we remain confident PFMT will win there bid." Stein says she still sees the stock as a high risk - high reward story, however, due to a lack of near-term visibility, she prefers to step to the sidelines. In addition to the delay of the Medicare renewal, Stein pointed to lowered guidance (from $200-220M to $195-200M) and a new billing structure from the Department of Education as a reasons for the downgrade.