Diamond Foods shares fall after downgrade

Shares of Diamond Foods Inc. fell Wednesday after a BMO Capital Markets analyst downgraded the maker of nuts and snack foods, saying its stock has limited upside in the near term.

The stock fell $1.19, or 4.8 percent, to $23.62 in morning trading. Shares have traded in a 52-week range of $15.94 to $32.14.

BMO Capital Markets analyst Kenneth Zaslow downgraded Diamond Foods to "Market Perform" from "Outperform."

"Our downgrade does not reflect a change in our long-term view of the company or underlying fundamentals, but rather our disciplined approach and a change in the market's perception of the company," Zaslow wrote to investors in a research note.

Zaslow said the company should benefit from lower commodity costs, its acquisition of the Pop Secret brand and improvement in the Emerald nuts brand.