MOST NOTEWORTHY: Novartis, Waste Systems, AirMedia Group, and PAETEC Holding were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Novartis (NYSE: NVS) was initated with a Neutral at Cowen, which cited the company's upcoming patent expirations.
  
• Gabelli initiated Waste Systems (NASDAQ: WSII) with a Buy, as it believes consolidated operations in Florida, increased waste internalization, and continued price increases, should lead to expanding EBIT margins.
  
• Oppenheimer initiated AirMedia Group (NASDAQ: AMCN) with an Outperform, as it believes that the Beijing Olympics will help the company acheive better than expected earnings.
  
• Deutsche Bank initiated PAETEC Holding (NASDAQ: PAET) with a Buy, as the firm believes PATEC is well-positioned to benefit from improving industry conditions.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Wachovia started Seaspan (NYSE: SSW) with a Market Perform.
• Needham initiated Memsic (NASDAQ: MEMS) with a Buy.
• Oppenheimer started Intellon (NASDAQ: ITLN) with an Outperform.
• Morgan Stanley initiated Dice Holdings (NYSE: DHX) with an Equal Weight.

Last week, AirMedia (NASDAQ: AMCN) scored big on its IPO debut – despite a tough market environment. The company operates the largest ad network for the travel industry in China (such as for airports and airliners).

Well, now investors will get another bite at the apple. That is, VisionChina has filed for an IPO.

The company operates the largest out-of-home ad network that uses real-time digital TV broadcasts in mass transit systems (primarily busses). There is coverage in 14 cities in China, with roughly 33,000 digital TV displays.

VisionChina has snagged more than 230 sponsors, which include biggies like Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM), Guangxi Wuzhou Pharmaceutical Group, and Nice Group.

The company launched its services in April 2005. Since then, revenues have surged – reaching $17.4 million for the first nine months of 2007. Net income is about $3.7 million.

The lead underwriters on the IPO include Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) and Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER). The proposed ticker symbol is "VISN."

You can find the prospectus at the SEC website. And, to check out other recent IPO activity, visit DealProfiles.com.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

If you've traveled to China, you've seen the digital TV screens in airplanes and airports. For the most part, it's AirMedia Group that operates the network, which includes more than 18,000 screens.

Now, the company has filed to go public.

In fact, AirMedia controls more than 95% of the digital TV screens for the 15 largest airports in China. And there are deals with nine airlines, which include the three largest in China (China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and Air China).

Basically, AirMedia blends advertising content with regular programming, such as news, weather, sports and so on. Although, the advertising portion is about 25 minutes for each hour block.