Bank Of America Downgrades EMN To Neutral

Bank of America has downgraded its rating on Eastman Chemical Co. EMN from Buy to Neutral but is maintaining its $102 price target on the stock. Says Bank of America, in the report, “In connection with our reassessment of risk within the chemicals sector, we downgrade Eastman shares to Neutral from Buy. Eastman has divested commodity resins and enjoys stable earnings and cash flow from Fibers (cigarette filter tow). However, cyclical elements of Eastman's portfolio carry earnings risk with implications for more moderate relative share price performance in the event of a recession, now seen as a 35% probability by BofAML's economics team.” EMN closed yesterday at $83.79.