JPMorgan Analyst Downgrades GrafTech to Underweight

Benzinga reported that Michael F. Gambardella, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), has downgraded GrafTech International Ltd. (NYSE:GTI) from neutral to underweight. He also lowered the company’s price target to $6 from $6.50.

Gambardella said:

Although GTI is the only graphite electrode producer vertically integrated into needle coke, the company has yet to deliver the expected leverage from its 2010 Seadrift acquisition. We attribute this in part to persistent economic volatility and worldwide steel utilization rates, which over the last three years weighed on sentiment during annual needle coke and graphite electrode price negotiations in the back half of the year. In our view, the industry’s pricing structure will not likely change in the near future, thus remaining highly sensitive to macro level factors during the negotiations.

Click here to read the full Benzinga report.