MOST NOTEWORTHY: AeroVironment, American Oriental and Intel were today's noteworthy initiations:
Suntrust initiated AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV) with a Buy rating and $32 target and expects AVAV's market leadership in unmanned aerial systems and increased effort in the high altitude to drive strong organic growth.
Jefferies believes American Oriental (NYSE: AOB) is capable of making sizable acquisitions given its strong cash position and finds the valuation attractive at current levels. The firm started shares with a Buy rating and $20 target.
Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) was initiated with a Neutral rating and $30 target at Baird on valuation.
OTHER INITIATIONS:
Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX) was initiated with a Market Perform rating at Wachovia.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Taser Int'l (TASR), Motorola (MOT), Advantest (ATE), STMicroelectronics (STM) and Joy Global (JOYG) were today's noteworthy upgrades:
Merriman upgraded shares of Taser Int'l (NASDAQ: TASR) to Buy from Hold on valuation following the 25% decline in price since late July, accelerating law enforcement demand and upside potential from the recently launched personal TASER C2.
Lehman upgraded shares of Motorola (NYSE: MOT) to Overweight from Equal Weight as they believe increased production and opex progress in Q3 could signal a turnaround at the company's phone unit.
Jefferies upgraded Advantest (NYSE: ATE) to Hold from Underperform on valuation.
STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform on valuation at Bernstein.
Stifel upgraded shares of Joy Global (NASDAQ: JOYG) to Buy from Hold following the in line Q3 report as they believe bad news is reflected in valuation...
OTHER UPGRADES:
Idacorp (NYSE: IDA) was upgraded to Market Perform from Under Perform at Wachovia.
UBS upgraded TDK Corp (NYSE: TDK) to Neutral from Sell.
Wedbush raised Big Lots (NYSE: BIG) to Buy from Hold, with a $35 target, and DSW Inc. (NYSE: DSW) to Hold from Sell, with a $29 target.
LabCorp (NYSE: LH) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Cowen.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Old Dominion Freight (ODFL), Jamba (JMBA), AMD (AMD), Orbitz Worldwide (OWW) and Quest Diagnostics (DGX) were today's notable initiations:
Baird is positive on Old Dominion's (NASDAQ: ODFL) growth opportunities, valuation, 2008 improving truck fundamentals, and a potentially seasonally stronger Q4, starting shares with an Overweight rating and $36 target.
Merriman initiated Jamba (NASDAQ: JMBA) with a Buy rating, as the company aggressively expands its store base beyond California.
BMO Capital believes AMD (NYSE: AMD) may lose the Intel platform integrated graphics market, and sizeable Intel platform discrete graphics market share. The firm initiated AMD shares with an Underperform rating and $10 target.
Soleil has concerns regarding Orbitz Worldwide's (NYSE: OWW) decelerating growth and poorer business mix vs. competitors and started shares with a Hold rating and $13 target.
Credit Suisse initiated Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX) with a Neutral rating and $61 target, citing the recent UnitedHealth (UNH) contract loss, slowing growth, and valuation for its Neutral rating...
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MOST NOTEWORTHY: AeroVironment, American Oriental and Intel were today's noteworthy initiations: 
Before the bell: Wall Street headed higher; automakers, retailers in focus
Waiting for the other shoe to drop: The looming credit crisis
Bet on T&A with J&J (JNJ)
