Analyst downgrades 12-4-06: Pfizer's quad downgrade

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Nokia (NOK) and Pfizer (PFE) topped today's list of downgrades.

• Prudential downgraded Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) to Neutral from Overweight to reflect what they believe will be a slowing of the handset market in 2007, as well as the company's pending legal battle with Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM).
• Following the unexpected halt of Torcetrapib, Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) was downgraded by a multitude of companies: At Lehman, to Underweight from Overweight; at JP Morgan, to Neural from Overweight; at Merrill Lynch, to Neutral from Buy; and at Morgan Stanley, to Equal Weight from Overweight.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ONXX) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Prudential following the failure of their Phase III melanoma trial.
• Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE:ALU) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets; the firm expects limited near-term revenue momentum from integration risks and internal/external uncertainties.
• ThinkEquity downgraded Novellus Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:NVLS) to Accumulate from Buy, as they believe Novellus is no longer deeply undervalued and only expects a gradual margin expansion from here.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).