Cox shares slide on downgrade

ATLANTA -- Shares of Cox Communications Inc., the No. 5 U.S. cable operator, fell as much as 16 percent this morning after a Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. analyst downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "strong buy."

Shares of Atlanta-based Cox, which had risen 30 percent from July through Tuesday, aren't expected to continue their rise, Morgan Stanley analyst Richard Bilotti said in a report.

Cox operates the main cable system in Las Vegas.

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