Cree shares slip from 20-year high after analyst downgrade

DURHAM – Shares in Cree slipped some 2% Monday after the semiconductor and powersupply firm was downgraded by a Wall Street analyst.

Investors have driven Cree (Nasdaq: CREE) shares steadily upward since the pandemic hit in March, rallying to a 20-year high of $93.96. They had traded as low as $27.77 over the last year.

The previous high was $88.72 reached in February 2000, according to stock information from Yahoo Finance.

Then came news that analyst Craig Hettenbach had lowered the stock to “Equal-Weight” from “Overweight,” according to a report from Brandy Betz, news editor at financial news site SeekingAlpha.

Interestingly, he still raised the share target price to $93 from $74.

The analyst was quoted as calling Cree “the best way to play” in the electric vehicle space where its WolfSpeed group is riding the surge in demand for EVs around the world. But he added that “sentiment has caught up with the compelling long-term outlook.”

Back on Nov. 19, Cree shares surged when another analyst declared Cree has having secured the “pole position” in the EV power supply space.