KUALA LUMPUR (May 8): Macquarie analyst Denise Soon downgraded the recommendation on Hartalega Holdings Bhd to underperform from neutral.

* Price target (PT) lowered to RM4.32 from RM5.74, implies 14% decrease from last close. Hartalega average PT is RM5.17.

* Hartalega had 6 buys, 8 holds, 7 sells previously: Bloomberg data

* Analysts lowered their consensus one-year target price for the stock by 5.8 percent in the past three months. Forecasts range from RM3.80 to RM6.60. 

Performance Metrics

* Investors who followed Soon's recommendation received a 0 percent return in the past year, compared with a negative 12 percent return on the shares. 

* In the past two years and two months, Macquarie has rated Hartalega neutral once, outperform once and underperform once. 

* The shares fell 6.3 percent in the period rated neutral, rose 30 percent in the period rated outperform and rose 67 percent in the period rated underperform.