Skyrocketing CPB Shares of CPB Inc., parent of Hawaii's Central Pacific Bank, have been downgraded by one analyst to "market perform," from "outperform."
stock downgraded
By Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.com
Analyst Joe Morford said his rating change was because the stock has done so well this year it cannot be expected to continue to outperform its market segment.
"It's solely based on valuation," said Morford, who works in the San Francisco office of New Jersey-headquartered RBC Capital Markets. Since his firm initiated coverage of CPBI three months ago, its shares have gone up 40 percent and CPBI has more than doubled this year, he said. The company's fundamentals remain strong and his firm is optimistic about its future prospects, Morford said.
The only other analyst reporting on CPBI, Jeff K. Davis of Midwest Research, rates the stock "neutral."
The company has reported net earnings for the first nine months of 2002 of $23.1 million, up 16.6 percent from $19.8 million in the same period of 2001. CPBI said earlier this week it is increasing its quarterly dividend by 10 percent, to 11 cents a share.
Last week, CPBI said it plans to shift the listing of its common stock to the New York Stock Exchange from the Nasdaq exchange, on Dec. 31.
CPBI closed yesterday at $29.56, down $1.51.