MOST NOTEWORTHY: Today's notable initiations include NetFlix (NFLX) and Diamond Foods (DMND):

• Bank of America started NetFlix Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) with a Sell rating and $24 target, as they expect increasing subscriber acquisition costs and decreasing average revenue per subscriber to be challenging for the long-term;
• Diamond Foods Inc. (NASDAQ:DMND) was initiated with a Buy rating and $23 target at Oppenheimer, as the firm believes Diamond Foods has a solid core business and sees healthy growth with the Emerald products division.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• JB Hunt Transort Services Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) was initiated with a Hold rating at McDonald.
• Duke Energy Corp. Holding Co. (NYSE:DUK) was initiated with a Hold rating and $35 target at Deutsche Bank, citing valuation.
• JP Morgan initiated shares of International Coal Group Inc. (NYSE:ICO) with an Underweight rating, citing difficult business conditions for Central Appalachian coal miners.
• Rochdale initiated Cypress Semiconductor Inc. (NYSE:CY) with a Buy rating and $21 target; the firm believes new business, operating efficiencies and the SunPower (SPWR) investment will improve profitability in 2007.

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

Analyst initiations 12-14-06: NetFlix with Sell originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 14 Dec 2006 10:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.