UPDATE: Nomura Downgrades Sprint Nextel to Neutral on Lack of Upside

In a report published Friday, Nomura analyst Mike McCormack downgraded the rating on Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) from Buy to Neutral, but reiterated the $7.50 price target.

In the report, Nomura noted, “We are downgrading Sprint to Neutral but maintaining our estimates and $7.50 target price. We believe there is little incremental upside for Sprint shares on either a standalone basis or a pro forma basis for the Softbank and Clearwire transactions. The company has done a good job executing on Network Vision to date, but we believe cost savings are largely accounted for in our estimates. We also believe Sprint shares are already discounting a bidding war between Softbank and DISH, limiting the upside of raised bids versus our target price. Should Sprint's Board of Directors reject DISH's offer, we see downside risk to the shares.”

Sprint Nextel Corporation closed on Thursday at $7.34.