Aspen Aerogels downgraded to Perform at Oppenheimer on deteriorating demand

Oppenheimer analyst Colin Rusch downgraded Aspen Aerogels (ASPN) to Perform from Outperform and removed the firm’s previous price target after the company missed Q1 estimates and guided below the Street. While the firm expects management to complete a covenant adjustment with MidCap Financial and continues to believe Aspen has “differentiated and defensible” intellectual property, it adds that demand fundamentals have “deteriorated more substantially then we anticipated.”