MOST NOTEWORTHY: Motorola, Williams-Sonoma and Synchronoss were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Thomas Weisel downgraded Motorola Inc (NYSE: MOT) to Market Weight from Overweight based on the general uncertainty in the company's core markets and the likelihood that the spin off may not occur for several quarters.
• Piper believes Williams-Sonoma Inc (NYSE: WSM) faces a challenging environment, and their checks reveal weakness at Pottery Barn. Shares were cut to Neutral from Buy.
• ThinkPanmure downgraded Synchronoss Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: SNCR) to Accumulate from Buy. The firm expects a strong Q1 report but expects shares to sell-off following the Q1 conference call due to modest guidance and the lack of a major customer win announcement.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• RBC Capital downgraded Bank of Nova Scotia Halifax (NYSE: BNS) to Underperform from Sector Perform.
• JP Morgan cut The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE: GT) to Neutral from Overweight.
• Goldman removed Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc (NYSE: POT) from its Conviction Buy List.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Aruba Networks (ARUN), the aesthetic energy devices sector and Emeritus Corp (ESC) were today's noteworthy initiations:

• JP Morgan initiated shares of Aruba Networks (NASDAQ: ARUN) with a Neutral rating. The firm believes Aruba shares are fully valued at these levels and reflects strong growth with operating leverage.Pacific Crest believes Aruba, initiated with a Sector Perform rating and $19 target, is a strong alternative to Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) in the WLAN market and its strong position as a point vendor makes the company an attractive acquisition candidate.

• Leerink Swann estimates the aesthetic energy devices sector is likely to experience 20% revenue growth over the next five years. The firm finds Thermage (NASDAQ: THRM) a turnaround-story which has a compelling mix of revenues from disposable tips while Cynosure (NASDAQ: CYNO) is capitalizing successfully on new product cycles with Affirm and SmartLipo. Palomar Medical Technologies (NASDAQ: PMTI) is viewed as the IP leader for hair removal products; Leerink initiated Thermage and Cynosure with Outperform ratings and Palomar with a Market Perform rating.

• Emeritus Corp (AMEX: ESC) was initiated with a Buy rating and $33 target at Stifel, which believes ESC has one of the best cash earnings growth stories among any of the traded senior housing companies.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• CE Unterberg started shares of Synchronoss (NASDAQ: SNCR) with a Buy rating and $41 target.

• Rodman & Renshaw started shares of Array Biopharma (NASDAQ: ARRY) and Tapestry Pharma (NASDAQ: TPPH) with Market Outperform ratings and an $18 target and $5 target, respectively.

• Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) was initiated with an Overweight rating and $41 target at Morgan Stanley.

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

Late last week, I attended the closing of Nasdaq. It was the one-year anniversary of the IPO of a fast-growing software company, Synchronoss Technologies (NASDAQ: SNCR).

Interestingly enough, the IPO was not so pretty. The markets were in the midst of a major slump and Synchronoss was only able to get $8 per share on its debut. Then the stock quickly dropped to $6.76.

But since then, things have been stellar. Now, the stock trades at $36.50.

So what's going on?

Synchronoss is the mastermind of Stephen Waldis. He got his start at AT&T (NYSE: T) and then eventually helped to create a telecom consulting firm.

He realized that major communications companies would start deploying new services. Why not build a platform to help with all this?

That was the genesis of Synchronoss, which Waldis founded in 2001.

Of course, it was not an ideal time. After all, the telecom industry was on the verge of major meltdown – Synchronoss' main client was the soon-to-be-bankrupt MCI – and September 11 would make things even more difficult. .

Despite all this, Waldis was able to build out key technologies and attract top-notch customers, like Verizon (NYSE: VZ), AT&T, Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA), Clearwire (NASDAQ: CLWR), and Level3 (NASDAQ: LVLT). Synchronoss' technology not only speeds up activations of new services, but also greatly reduces the costs.

As validation of its offerings, Synchronoss announced a multi-year contract with AT&T to support the activation services of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s iPhone. Because of the deal, an analyst from ThinkEquity, Eric Kainer, boosted his price target from $35 to $44.

True, as seen in today's news, there is some disappointment in AT&T's activiations so far. But, looking to the long run, the growth should be there. And Synchronoss will provide the platform to carry it out.

If you want to see some other recent IPOs, click here.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.