After investment research firm Sanford C. Bernstein handed Amazon.com its first “underperform” rating, shares of the company declined yesterday. The company's stock fell $2.19 a share, or almost 7 percent, to $30.75. The unfavorable rating came less than two weeks after Merrill Lynch analyst Henry Blodget lowered his rating on the company from “accumulate” to “buy.” The company has seen a slew of downgraded ratings since it reported second-quarter revenue of $577.9 million — a 1 percent gain from the first quarter and about $7 million less than Wall Street expected.
