UPDATE: Goldman Sachs Downgrades Thoratec Accounting on Challenged Outer Year Growth

In a report published Sunday, Goldman Sachs analyst David H. Roman downgraded Thoratec (NASDAQ: THOR) from Buy to Neutral and lowered the price target from $42 to $37.

In the report, Goldman Sachs noted that, "...we no longer see significant upside potential to Street numbers. Going forward, we see the following factors influencing the outlook: (1) impact from new competition (hard to know when trialing and share shift will stabilize); (2) market expansion in the US to reaccelerate utilization trends (we, the company, and consensus are all counting on this materializing); (3) success in building the market in Japan (this could be a big opportunity over time); (4) new clinical data and product iterations (will come from both major market participants). Overall, we see upside/downside as balanced."

Thoratec closed Friday at $32.60.