MSC Industrial downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Stephens

Stephens downgraded MSC Industrial (MSM) to Equal Weight from Overweight with an unchanged price target of $85. Since earnings, shares have moved about 9% higher, aided by post-election enthusiasm as the company should benefit from any tariff-driven inflation and/or stimulus of the U.S. manufacturing base, the analyst tells investors. However, the nearer-term trends appear challenged, with PMI continuing to languish well below 50, and shares are now sitting just under the firm’s $85 price target notes the analyst, who expects shares to “remain range-bound in the mid-$80s.”