Analyst Downgrades Lionsgate Stock After "Rapid Appreciation"

TORONTO - Miller Tabak analyst David Joyce on Friday downgraded his recommendation on shares of Lionsgate to “neutral,” from "buy," after a recent dramatic run-up in the share price for the mini-major post-Summit takeover.

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“Given the range of valuations we derived after the accretive Summit acquisition earlier this month, we increase our LGF target to $12 from $10 … as the investment community is increasingly accepting the accretive aspects of the Summit acquisition,” Joyce said in an investors note.

Stock in Lionsgate is up sharply so far in 2012 after the leveraged buyout of Summit Entertainment, and ahead of the March 23 theatrical release of The Hunger Games.

Joyce cited that “rapid appreciation” in price to reverse an earlier January 3 decision to upgrade Lionsgate stock from “neutral” to “buy.”

Shares in Lionsgate on Friday were trading mid-morning on the New York Stock Exchange down 5% to $10.43, off a 52-week high of $11. 28.