MOST NOTEWORTHY: SunPower, Evergreen Solar and Abbott Lab were today's noteworthy initiations:
Citigroup believes SunPower (NASDAQ: SPWR) is faced with high cell production costs, its silicon cost and installation cost advantages are increasingly commoditized and finds the risk/reward even at current levels. Shares were initiated with a Hold rating and $105 target.
Citigroup believes Evergreen Solar (NASDAQ: ESLR) faces significant financing requirements over the next few years, making it difficult to see a sustained period of EPS growth beyond the $1 range. The firm sees downside to $5/share. Shares were assumed with a Sell rating and $8 target.
UBS started Abbott Lab (NYSE: ABT) with a Buy rating and $61 target. The firm is positive on Humira potential growth and expects Xience to drive vascular operating margins to positive.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Learning Tree, Shengdatech and Cepheid were today's noteworthy initiations:
B. Riley initiated Learning Tree (NASDAQ:LTRE) with a Buy rating and $24 target. The firm believes investors have an opportunity to invest in a compelling revenue growth/margin expansion story at reasonable multiples with the stock off recent highs.
Merriman started Shengda Tech (NASDAQ:SDTH) with a Buy rating and points to the company's growing nano-particle business and the vast market expansion opportunities associated with this business.
Stephens believes Cepheid (NASDAQ:CPHD) possesses a best-in-class platform for molecular diagnostic testing with a virtual monopoly in the molecular point of care market; shares were assumed with an Overweight rating and $32 target.
OTHER INITIATIONS:
Visa (NYSE:V) was started at Morgan Keegan with a Market Perform rating.
Morgan Stanley initiated Dr. Pepper Snapple (N YSE:DPS) with an Equal Weight rating and $30 target.
Goldman initiated Kraft Foods (NYSE:KFT) with a Neutral rating.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Google, Boyd Gaming and Microsoft were today's noteworthy initiations:
Kaufman Bros. believes Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) has "only begun to scratch the surface" of its local market opportunity. Shares were assumed with a Buy rating and $680 target.
Banc of America believes Boyd Gaming (NYSE: BYD) will face financing challenges with its Echelon resort, and initiated shares with a Sell rating and $14 target.
Lehman reinstated Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) with an Equal Weight rating and $34 target based on peaking Vista/Office 2007 cycles, uncertain online strategy, and increased investment.
OTHER INITIATIONS:
Goldman started AON Corp. (NYSE: AOC) with a Neutral rating.
Broadpoint initiated Covanta (NYSE: CVA) with a Buy rating and $32 target.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: StoneMor Partners, Suntech Power and Tesoro were today's noteworthy initiations:
Morgan Keegan initiated StoneMor Partners (NASDAQ: STON) with a Market Perform rating. The firm has a low level of confidence in STON's financial projections given its vulnerability to changes in state and local regulations, and financial reporting complexities.
Jesup & Lamont initiated Suntech Power (NYSE: STP) with a Buy based on the company's leading position in solar PV, industry growth and polysilicon supply agreements in place.
Tesoro (NYSE: TSO) was assumed with an Underweight rating at JP Morgan. The firm expects the West Coast margins to remain weak given the decline in the gasoline demand and capacity increases of the majors.
OTHER INITIATIONS:
RBC Capital initiated Agrium (NYSE: AGU) with an Outperform rating and $115 target.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Third Wave, DryShips and Hil-Rom Holdings were among today's noteworthy initiations:
Third Wave (NASDAQ: TWTI) was initiated with a Buy, target $12 at Deutsche which said the company is compelling small-cap opportunity in molecular diagnostics with an $1B-plus opportunity in the HPV market.
DryShips (NASDAQ: DRYS) was initiated with an Outperform, target $110 at Credit Suisse, which is positive on the company's growth opportunity and is bullish on dry bulk rates into 2009.
Hil-Rom Holdings (NYSE: HRC) was initiated with an Outperform at Oppenheimer which believes 2H08 will be an inflection point for Hill-Rom, with revenue, margin expansion, and earnings growth all beginning to accelerate. The firm believes that the company's performance will improve due to its efforts to complete spending on R&D, reinvigorate its brand, and find low-cost sourcing and manufacturing alternatives.
ICU Medical (NASDAQ: ICUI) was initiated with a Buy, target $35 at Jesup & Lamont, which is positive on the company's valuation, strong balance sheet, growth in oncology and expectations for gross margin improvement.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Cardionet, Molson Coors and TIM Participacoes were today's noteworthy initiations:
Cardionet (NASDAQ: BEAT) initiated with an Overweight, target $29 at Thomas Weisel, who believes Cardionet is well positioned for future growth in the ambulatory monitoring market.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Today's noteworthy initiations were Monolithic Power, Emergency Medical Services, Amsurg and EnergySolutions.
Monolithic Power (NASDAQ: MPWR) was initiated with a Buy at Am Tech, which predicted that Monolithic Power will have significant design win momentum that should result in stronger than expected revenue growth. The firm thinks the company will be able to grow 20% in its 2008, thanks to its new products and competitive prices.
Emergency Medical Services (NYSE: EMS) was initiated with a Sell, target $15 at Citigroup. Citigroup believes EMS's earnings contribution from insurance releases and prior period adjustments is not sustainable.
AMSurg (NASDAQ: AMSG) was initiated with a Buy, target $32 at Citigroup. Citigroup said it is positive on AMSurg given its history of FCF per share growth, low out of network exposure, little debt risk, and acquisition pipeline.
EnergySolutions (NYSE: ES) was initiated with a Market Perform, target $26 at FBRC. Friedman Billings expects EnergySolutions to trade at a slight discount to peers given its leverage balance sheet and perceived slower growth.
OTHER INITIATION:
VMWare (NYSE: VMW) initiated with a Market Weight at Thomas Weisel, based on valuation. Thomas Weisel believes VMWare is uniquely positioned to benefit from trends toward centralized IT resources, on-demand delivery and greater efficiency.
Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS) was initiated with an Overweight, target $37 at Thomas Weisel. Thomas Weisel believes Citrix Systems is uniquely positioned to benefit from trends toward centralized IT resources and on-demand delivery given its product line that targets the data center.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Visa, Cardionet and Motorola were today's noteworthy initiations:
RBC initiated Visa Inc (NYSE: V) with an Outperform based on margin expansion opportunities, the secular growth story towards electronic payments, lack of credit risk, and international opportunities. Piper started Visa with a Neutral rating. While the firm believes that Visa should generate long-term earnings growth and free cash flow, the firm thinks that Visa's valuation has increased the risk that strong earnings growth may not meet investors' expectations. However, the firm believes that Visa can still post strong results despite the U.S. consumer slowdown. Goldman initiated Visa with a Buy rating and $90 target and Morgan Stanley started shares with an Equal Weight rating and $75 target.
Citigroup rated Cardionet Inc (NASDAQ: BEAT) a Buy, citing favorable arrhythmia monitoring trends. The firm has a $26 target on Cardionet.
Motorola Inc (NYSE: MOT) was assumed with an Equal Weight rating and $75 target at Morgan Stanley on valuation.
UBS initiated Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG) and Omnicom Group (NYSE:OMC) with Buy ratings and an $11 target and $62 target, respectively. The firm views valuation as attractive.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Abercrombie & Fitch, ENGlobal Corp and Wausau Paper were today's noteworthy initiations:
Morgan Keegan initiated Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) with a Market Perform citing lack of comp momentum and the outlook for consumer spending.
Jesup & Lamont expects ENGlobal's (NASDAQ:ENG) earnings momentum to remain in place due to sustained demand for energy products. Shares were initiated with a Buy rating and $13.25 target.
Soleil expects Wausau Paper (NASDAQ:WPP) shares to be driven by its value-added market focus, product innovation and improved mix. Shares were assumed with a Buy rating.
OTHER INITIATIONS:
Citigroup assumed coverage of XM Satellite Radio (NASDAQ:XMSR) with a Hold rating from Buy, and a $12.25 target from $17. The firm also assumed Sirius Satellite (NASDAQ:SIRI) with a Buy rating and $8 target from $4.25.
Morgan Stanley initiated MarkWest Energy (NYSE:MWE) with an Overweight rating.
Soleil initiated Potash (NYSE:POT) with a Hold rating.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Gen-Probe, iRobot and Emeritus were today's noteworthy initiations:
RBC Capital expects Gen-Probe Inc. (NASDAQ: GPRO) to continue to generate high margin, annuity-like revenue from its core business while new tests with good long-term growth. Shares were initiated with an Outperform rating and $66 target.
Kaufman Brothers believes robotics technology is more than just a fad and that iRobot (NASDAQ: IRBT) is well-positioned given its innovation applications and innovative applications that create new solutions to existing issues; Kaufman started iRobot with a Buy rating and $22 target.
Jefferies believes Emeritus Corp. (AMEX: ESC), initiated with a Buy rating, is well-positioned to drive superior cash flow growth given favorable/stable industry fundamentals and renewed operational focus.
OTHER INITIATIONS:
Piper assumed Comverge Inc. (NASDAQ: COMV) with a Buy rating and $17 target.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Garmin, Thomson Reuters and Heritage-Crystal Clean were today's noteworthy initiations:
Garmin (NASDAQ: GRMN) was initiated with a Neutral rating at JP Morgan. The firm sees risk to 2008 Street estimates given the consumer slowdown in the U.S. and potential ASP and margin pressure as channel inventory is worked down.
Morgan Stanley assumed Thomson Reuters (NASDAQ: TRIN) with an Underweight rating and expects revenue growth in the company's financial business to slow sharply into 2009.
William Blair believes Heritage-Crystal Clean (NASDAQ: HCCI) has the opportunity to gain market share over the next several years as a result of its differentiated parts-cleaning programs, strong sales organization, and experienced management team. Shares were assumed with an Outperform rating.
OTHER INITIATIONS:
Lehman initiated Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) and Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) with Equal Weight ratings and targets of $20 and $17 and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), IBM Corp (NYSE: IBM) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) with Overweight ratings and targets of $195, $144 and $59, respectively.
Pacific Growth started Spectranetics (NASDAQ: SPNC) with a Neutral rating.
Merrill reinstated Chevron (NYSE: CVX), ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) and Hess Corp (NYSE: HES) with Buy ratings and price targets of $110, $105 and $125, respectively.
News Corp (NYSE: NWS) will likely see some action today as the managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, Marcus Brauchli, is expected to resign according to reports in Time magazine. Many have wondered how the paper will adapt to Murdoch's vision. Perhaps this is the first indication of that. Also, the Journal reported that News Corp. is close to a deal to buy Newsday from Tribune for $580 million.
I had no idea that there were still some big brokers that weren't covering Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), but this morning found this to indeed be the case. Lehman Brothers started coverage of Apple with an Overweight rating and a $195 price target. Nothing really new here, with "sales momentum and share gains in Macs, potential for open-ended growth with new iPhones and more new products" cited as the reasons for the rating.
Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) shares are sinking over 14.6% in premarket trading after the online movie rental company warned of a potential sales dip in the summer months and said it plans to boost spending on Internet-delivered content. Lehman Brothers cut the stock's target price to $31 from $32.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Full House Resorts, Starent Networks and Capital Trust were today's noteworthy initiations:
Morgan Joseph said Full House Resorts Inc.'s (AMEX: FLL) valuation does not reflect the present value of its tribal management contract with the FireKeepers Casino. Shares were initiated with a Buy rating and $3.50 target.
Starent Networks Corporation (NASDAQ: STAR) was assumed with an Overweight rating at Thomas Weisel. The firm said STAR offers a compelling risk/reward profile given strong gross margins and expanding operating margins.
Keefe Bruyette initiated Capital Trust Inc. (NYSE: CT) with a Market Perform rating and $30 target, and believes the expected deterioration of commercial real estate fundamentals is likely to remain a headwind for valuations of the shares.
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MOST NOTEWORTHY: SunPower, Evergreen Solar and Abbott Lab were today's noteworthy initiations: 
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