MOST NOTEWORTHY: The airline sector, Siemens and Internap were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Lehman downgraded the airline sector to Neutral from Positive, citing higher fuel costs and the weakening economy. AirTran (NYSE: AAI) and U.S. Airways (NYSE: LCC) were downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight. UBS said it can no longer recommend airline stocks due to weakening economy, high fuel prices, and less likely industry consolidation. The firm downgraded Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL), Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL), Northwest Airlines (NYSE: NWA) and U.S. Airways to Neutral from Buy.
  
• Goldman removed shares of Siemens (NYSE: SI) from their Conviction Buy List as they believe the company may book additional charges of $1.2B this year.
  
• Jefferies cut Internap (NASDAQ: INAP) to Underperform from Buy as they believe the 10-K filing delay and revenue quality questions reduce visibility into the health of the business.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Wachovia lowered Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) to Market Perform from Outperform.
  
• SI International (NASDAQ: SINT) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Cowen.
  
• Citigroup cut Assured Guaranty (NYSE: AGO) to Hold from Buy.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Priceline.com, Monster and Internap were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Susquehanna downgraded Priceline.com (NASDAQ: PCLN) to Neutral from Positive as they believe upside may be difficult given the macro environment, competition, and currency headwinds.
  
• JP Morgan lowered Monster (NASDAQ: MNST) to Neutral from Overweight following the company's expectations for higher 1Q08 operating expenses.
  
• Internap (NASDAQ: INAP) was downgraded by Merriman to Neutral from Buy as they believe upside will be limited until the company can complete its integration of the VitalStream CDN acquisition.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• JP Morgan cut Sara Lee (NYSE: SLE) and Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT) to Neutral from Overweight.
  
• Volkswagen (OTC: VLKAY) was downgraded at WestLB to Add from Buy.
  
• Merrill downgraded Getty Realty (NYSE: GTY) to Sell from Neutral.

With the credit crunch, it seems that private equity is losing its luster, right? Maybe not. After all, with better valuations, the opportunities may be looking good.

Today we learned that the vice president and chief financial officer of Internap Network Services (NASDAQ: INAP), David Buckel, is leaving. And, yes, he's exploring opportunities in the private equity space.

Buckel has spent four years at the company, which is an operator of a content delivery network (CDN). Basically, this allows for improved distribution of online content and applications. There are more than 3,500 customers and revenues increased 32.7% to $60.9 million in Q3.

No doubt, this is far from good news for Internap. Keep in mind that the company must compete against fierce rivals, such as Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM) and Limelight Networks (NASDAQ: LLNW). In fact, there are some signs of a price war.

So far in today's trading, Internap's stock is down nearly 8% to $10.82.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Suntech Power, First Solar, Banco Santander, Internap and NetGear were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Merriman initiated shares of Suntech Power (NYSE: STP) with a Buy rating and believes the company is benefiting from strong worldwide demand for solar PV technology. The firm suggests a potential 12-month stock price range of $56-$64.
  
• Merriman also started shares of First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) with a Sell rating, as they believe the company's market is limited to ground-based systems because of its cadmium-based technology, which they feel could lead to environment concerns over time.
  
• Deutsche Bank resumed coverage of Banco Santander (NYSE: STD) with a Buy rating. The firm is positive on the bank's agreement with ABN Amro (NYSE: ABN) and feels the company has a lack of exposure to risky assets.
  
• Jefferies believes Internap (NASDAQ: INAP) is well-positioned with its suite of services to address a rapidly growing market, starting shares off with a Buy rating and $20 target.
  
• Nollenberger believes NetGear (NASDAQ: NTGR) provides a pure-play opportunity to capitalize on the global penetration of broadband connectivity. The firm resumed coverage with a Buy rating and $36 target.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• ThinkEquity initiated Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) with a Buy rating and $800 target and Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) with an Accumulate rating.
  
• Banc of America initiated U.S. land drillers, including Grey Wolf (AMEX: GW), Nabors Industries (NYSE: NBR) and Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ: PTEN) with Neutral ratings and Parker Drilling (NYSE: PKD) with a Buy rating.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: The U.S. media sector, oil services, MercadoLibre and Horsehead Holdings were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Credit Suisse initiated coverage of the U.S. media sector with a Market Weight rating, shares of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) with an Outperform rating and shares of Time Warner Inc (NYSE: TWX) and Viacom Inc (NYSE: VIA.B) with Neutral ratings.
  
• Bernstein initiated coverage of the oil services sector with a Positive Bias rating. The firm initiated Weatherford International Ltd (NYSE: WFT) with an Outperform rating and $84 target and Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL), Baker Hughes Incorporated (NYSE: BHI) and Schlumberger Limited (NYSE: SLB) with Market Perform ratings and a $44 target, $103 target and $96 target, respectively.
  
• MercadoLibre Inc (NASDAQ: MELI) was initiated by American Technology with a Buy rating and $45 target, as the firm believes the e-commerce growth opportunity in Latin America is still in its infancy. Shares were also started at Pacific Crest with an Outperform rating and $37 target, as the firm believes the company should benefit from strong secular growth and company-specific drivers. MercadoLibre was also initiated at JP Morgan with an Overweight rating and at Merrill Lynch with a Buy rating and $35 target.
  
• Friedman Billings expects Horsehead Holding Corp's (NASDAQ: ZINC) EBITDA to increase even in a declining commodity environment and believes the company is well positioned to gain market share. Shares were started with an Outperform rating and $27 target also added to the firm's Top Pick List.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Citigroup started shares of Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (NYSE: RIO) with a Buy rating and shares of StealthGas Inc (NASDAQ: GASS) with a Hold rating and $20 target.
  
• Roth Capital started shares of Internap Network Services Corporation (NASDAQ: INAP) with a Buy rating and $19 target.
  
• Raymond James initiated Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML) with an Outperform rating and Argo Group Internaional Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ: AGII) with a Strong Buy rating.

Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM), the largest content delivery network, rode the wave of Web 2.0 multimedia for almost two years. The company markets the service of sending out video, audio, and data using its global network of storage servers and bandwidth connections.

Starting two years ago and running through the first quarter of this year, Akamai stock rose almost 300% making it a darling among tech stocks. But, as of last week, the stock is up only 150% since July 2005. That is still an outstanding return, but not for those who bought in during the last quarter of 2006. They have watch the stock go from over $60 to under $37.

The drop in price has gotten a lot of press, but the reasons have not. In the quarter ending in June, Akamai's growth slowed, and its gross margins slipped. The company grew 52% last quarter and revenue hit $157 million..

What happened to Akamai was competition, according to Barron's. New IPO Limelight Networks (NASDAQ: LLNW) and smaller content delivery network operator Internap (NASDAQ: INAP) have been taking business and Limelight has been cutting price to pick up market share.

The price war has not helped Limelight. Since its IPO, its stock has fallen from over $24 to under $17.

There has been a perception in the market that Web 2.0 companies will grow rapidly for the next several years, But, no one expected price wars from the key infrastructure providers this early in the cycle. And, it shows in the stock prices.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: AstraZeneca (AZN), Ametek (AME), InterNAP Network Services (INAP) and Rosetta Genomics (ROSG) were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Cowen believes AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) faces challenges from patent expirations, patent challenges, high-risk pipeline and value creation from deals, and initiated shares with a Neutral rating.

• Ametek (NYSE: AME) was initiated at Friedman Billings with an Outperform rating and $44 target, as the firm believes AME has turned into a collection of niche-oriented high-value-added manufacturers of precision instrumentation, resulting in a high-margin, high-return business with above average growth.

• InterNAP (NASDAQ: INAP) was initiated at Thomas Weisel with an Overweight rating, as the firm is positive on INAP's unique service offerings, VitalSteam acquisition opportunities, high growth customers, and improving collocation and bandwidth demand fundamentals.

• Cantor expects Rosetta Genomics (NASDAQ: ROSG) to launch the world's first microRNA-based cancer diagnostic in the second-half of 2008 with a market of $200 million, and initiated shares with a Buy rating and $15 target.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Banc of America initiated shares of Spirit AeroSystems Holdings (NYSE: SPR) with a Buy rating and $42 target.

• Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) was initiated with a Market Perform rating at BMO Capital.

• Merrill Lynch initiated shares of JMP Group (NYSE: JMP) with a Buy rating.

• UBS initiated shares of Itron (NASDAQ: ITRI) with a Neutral rating and $82 target.

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