CH Robinson shares plunge after 2Q miss, downgrade

The company late Tuesday posted a second-quarter profit of 52 cents per share, while analysts polled by Thomson Financial had on average predicted 55 cents per share.

JPMorgan analyst Thomas R. Wadewitz downgraded the stock to "Neutral" from "Overweight," and suggested margins that were pressured in the second quarter will likely continue to be squeezed as capacity shrinks in the long-haul trucking market. Wadewitz doesn't expect the company's earnings to gain momentum for the next several quarters.

He lowered his earnings forecast for the third and fourth quarters and fiscal 2009.

"We continue to believe C.H. Robinson will be a good name to own in the long term, and we still view it as one of the best secular growth stories among transports," he said. "Nevertheless, we believe there will be a better time to buy this name looking out a few quarters."

Shares fell $9.19, or 15.6 percent, to $49.56 Wednesday.