Sector Snap: Business services slide on downgrade

NEW YORK - A handful of business services companies saw shares retreat Thursday after a Goldman Sachs analyst downgraded their stocks, adjusting for slower technology spending from businesses as consumers pull back.

Goldman analyst Julio Quinteros, echoing other recent forecasts, said in a note to investors he now expects revenue growth for information technology services to decline to 1 percent in the coming year, down from a previous estimate of 3 percent. He projects net earnings to grow 5 percent, from a previous estimate of 7.4 percent.

Quinteros cut his price target for Accenture Ltd., a consulting firm, to $32 from $39, and downgraded the stock to "Neutral" from "Buy." Accenture shares declined $1.72, or 5.6 percent, to $29.15.

Amdocs Ltd., a provider of operations software to telecommunications companies, was also downgraded to "Neutral" from "Buy" with a new price target of $18, down from $25. Shares fell $1.35, or 7.8 percent, to $16.03, off by more than half from a 52-week high of $34.80.

Quinteros also downgraded the technology consulting company Sapient Corp. to "Sell" from "Neutral," reducing his price target to $3 from $4 and sending shares down 46 cents, or 12 percent, to $3.51. That's down about 65 percent from a 52-week high of $9.97.

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