The shares of Level 3 Communications (NASDAQ: LVLT) are sinking deeper into penny-stock territory this morning following a damaging price-target cut from analysts at Citigroup. The brokerage firm slashed its price target on LVLT from $2.00 to 50 cents, and reiterated its Sell rating on the stock.

After closing Monday at 94 cents, LVLT is slipping ever closer this morning to that hypothetical "support at zero." In fact, following yesterday's all-out bearish note on General Motors (NYSE: GM), one has to wonder if Deutsche Bank will soon be slapping another of its famous goose-egg targets on Level 3. The stock has closed seven out of the past 13 sessions south of the $1 level, and its descending 10-day and 20-day moving averages have provided stubborn resistance in recent months.

In fact, while many analysts have already denounced LVLT, there's still room for potential downgrades or price-target cuts. Zacks reports two Buy or better ratings from brokerage firms, and these bulls may soon be shamed into lowering their opinions (if so, they would join six analysts who consider the stock a Hold, and six who deem it a Sell or Strong Sell).

Meanwhile, Thomson Financial pegs the average 12-month price target at $1.68, a premium of 87% to the equity's closing price on Monday. While more negative notes could drag the shares lower, there is a bright side -- from their current level, the shares could only lose about 85 cents.

Elizabeth Harrow is an analyst and financial writer in the research department at Schaeffer's Investment Research. She is featured in the video series Schaeffer's Daily Q&A on SchaeffersResearch.com.

NextPhase Wireless (OTCBB: NXPW) has really caught my attention. At just $0.10 a share it looks to me like a stupendous bargain -- or at least a real cheap entry point for those of you looking to establish a tech footprint for yourselves. Although running a bit under the radar from mainstream, this company has been anything but quiet within the wireless tech news circles. I agreed with you late last year that consumer trends were continuing to bring wireless technologies into screaming full-steam-ahead status. NextPhase is one of the companies making full use of this relentless trend.

NextPhase presents itself as a "next generation" connectivity company, which becomes obvious as you read about it -- NextPhase truly is on the cutting edge in its field. NextPhase is in the business of building its own wireless networks and is very close to an infrastructural breakout nationwide. The company announced yesterday that it is right on target for completion of plans to migrate to licensed spectrum for network back-haul by the end of Q3 2007. Simply put, the company is growing rapidly to meet solid customer demands.

Tom Hemingway, Chairman and COO of NextPhase, indicates that small- to medium-sized companies find significant benefits by subscribing to its newest IT services because customers now have access to security, disaster recovery and network performance solutions of a quality that would not be cost effectively available to them otherwise. These new "managed IT" services are a value-added adjunct to NextPhase's already well-established broadband services. The company has been rapidly expanding its nationwide footprint with moves into Arizona, Oregon and California. I also found mention of an intended purchase by the company into New Jersey, but I have not yet been able to confirm that. Next Phase appears to me to be an aggressive, focused and driven company. If any of our readers can provide some hardcore financial research on the company, please do share!

Gary E. Sattler holds no financial interest in NextPhase Wireless.