UPDATE: Barclays Capital Downgrades Nice Systems on Increased Caution Post-Results

In a report published Thursday, Barclays Capital analyst David Kaplan downgraded the rating on Nice Systems (NASDAQ: NICE) from Equal-Weight to Underweight, and lowered the price target from $40.00 to $35.00.

In the report, Barclays Capital noted, “We are more cautious on NICE post-results and are lowering our PE multiple for three reasons: 1) Results that were below ours and Reuters consensus' expectations, 2) full year/4Q guidance that saw the top of the range brought down significantly and 3) NICE is trading at the high end of its historical trading range, supported in our view by its buy-back program. We believe that 13x 2014E EPS is a more appropriate multiple for a value stock like NICE. We therefore downgrade the stock to UW from EW and reduce our PT to $35 from $40.”

Nice Systems Ltd. closed on Wednesday at $39.98.