MOST NOTEWORTHY: Genentech, HSBC Holdings, Suntech Power, SunPower and Force Protection were today's noteworthy initiations:

• UBS is positive on Genentech Inc's (NYSE: DNA) leading industry franchises and potential upside from development projects and started shares with a Buy rating and $101 target.
  
• HSBC Holdings (NYSE: HBC) was assumed with a Reduce rating at WestLB, as the firm believes subprime concerns may hold back shares in the near-term.
  
• Jefferies initiated shares of SunTech Power Holdings (NYSE: STP) with a Buy rating and $45 target. The firm believes the company is positioned to beat 2007 and 2008 expectations by ramping manufacturing capacity and production faster than expected.
  
• Jefferies also resumed coverage of SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWR) with a Hold rating and $90 target, citing valuation, but believes the stock's higher multiple is justified given the company's superior growth potential.
  
• Force Protection Inc (NASDAQ: FRPT) was initiated with a Market Perform rating and Friedman Billings, as they believe near-term production expectations are too high given emerging DOD funding issues.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Lehman started shares of Arcelor Mittal (NYSE: MT) with an Overweight rating.
  
• UBS started shares of RF Micro Devices (NASDAQ: RFMD) with a Neutral rating.
  
• Cowen resumed coverage of Savient Pharmaeuticals Inc (NASDAQ: SVNT) with an Outperform rating.
  
• Morgan Keegan started shares of Heartland Payment Systems Inc (NYSE: HPY) with a Market Perform rating.

Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) announced that it has acquired two chip companies, one in the WiFi space and one in Bluetooth. The move would appear to put QCOM in competition with Intel for a piece of the wireless chip business. But why buy the two firms, RF Micro Devices and Airgo, when Intel owns almost the entire market?

Oddly enough, the news comes at the same time that Ericsson signaled that it might have a deal with Qualcomm on Wideband CDMA for third generation cell phones. The two companies have been fighting over the royalties due to Qualcomm for the technology. The battle has gotten so bitter that Ericsson and other cell companies have complained to the European Commission to try to move the issue into the arena of government regulation.

Qualcomm's stock has been battered by concerns over antitrust actions due to the royalties it charges cellular phone makers. The stock is down from $53 in May to about $36 today. There has also been significant concern that new wireless technologies like the WiMax standard supported by Intel, Samung, Motorola, and Sprint could damage Qualcomm's current lock on the broadband cell industry.

It would appear that someone woke up at Qualcomm. The only way to effectively fight WiMax is to make peace with large customers like Ericsson and acquire technology that will allow it to combat Intel on other wireless fronts. Qualcomm may have to give in on the amount it charges firms like Ericsson, but that is better than protracted litigation and losing a large customer completely.

With Intel's huge lead in WiFi and Sprint building a WiMax network in the US, it may be a bit late in the day for Qualcomm to come to its senses. If so, $36 may be a high water market for Qualcomm for some time to come.

Douglas McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) and Douglas Emmett (DEI) topped today's list of initiations.

• Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE:CMG) was initiated at Morgan Joseph with a Buy and $70 target, citing the restaurant's fast food unit growth, strong revenue growth and attractive valuation.
• Following its recent IPO, Douglas Emmett Inc. (NYSE:DEI) was initiated by several firms: at Merrill Lynch and Bank of America, with Neutral ratings; at A.G. Edwards and Citigroup, with Hold ratings; and at Lehman Bros., an Overweight rating.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Credit Suisse initiated Charles Schwab Corp. (NASDAQ:SCHW) with an Outperform rating and $24 target; the firm said Schwab's transformation is complete and growth should be driven by continued asset gathering, expense control and active capital management.
• Cowen started Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) with an Outperform rating, saying it believes Akamai dominates the CDN and ADN market and expects the company to continue to beat and raise guidance.
• RF Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:RFMD) was initiated with an Underweight rating and Palm Inc. (NASDAQ:PALM) was initiated with an Equal Weight rating at Morgan Stanley.

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

Stock futures were a little higher on a fair value basis early this morning, pointing to a similar start to stocks.

There are no economic data of note released today. Oil prices were lower as OPEC, worried about the weakening dollar, is leaning towards further production cuts. However, Hugo Chavez claimed reelection was widely expected.

What's really making headlines this morning, a story that's been developing over the weekend, is Pfizer, Inc. (NYSE:PFE). The world's largest drugmaker saw its shares sinking as much as 12% in Frankfurt after it had announced it would halt the development of a key new cholesterol treatment, torcetrapib, due to safety concerns and higher death rates in trials. On the NYSE, some analysts are predicting PFE shares, which have closed at $27.86 on Friday, would plunge to $20.

The other big news item today is the announcement that Bank of New York Co. (NYSE:BK) will merge with Mellon Financial Corp. (NYSE:MEL) creating the world's largest securities servicing and asset management firm -- Bank of New York Mellon Corp. -- with $16.6 trillion under custody. In the announced stock deal, Mellon will pay a premium of about 6.5% over Bank of New York shares, worth $28.4 billion.

In other corporate news:

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) announced it is buying two micro-chip businesses to boost its core wireless technology product offerings. While the deals, to close in December, would be dilutive in 2007, they should be slightly accretive in 2008. Qualcomm is buying the majority of microchip maker RF Micro Devices Inc.'s (NASDAQ:RFMD) Bluetooth assets for $39 million and paying an undisclosed amount of cash to buy privately-owned startup Airgo Networks Inc.

LSI Logic Corp. (NYSE:LSI) announced it will purchase competitor Agere Systems Inc. (NYSE:AGR) for $4 billion in all stock deal.

Finally, on Friday after the bell, Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC) surprisingly announced that Chief Financial Officer Al G. de Molina will resign at the end of the year after only 15 months in the position. He will be succeeded by executive Joe Price.