MOST NOTEWORTHY: Hershey Foods, Cognos, Resmed and Artes Medical were today's noteworthy downgrades:
- Hershey (NYSE: HSY) was downgraded to Underperform from Peer Perform at Bear Stearns. Bear believes the new CEO will be under intense pressure to improve operating performance, which will likely lead to higher R&D and marketing spending.
- Cognos (NASDAQ: COGN) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley following the acquisition by IBM (NYSE: IBM).
- ABN Amro lowered its rating on Resmed (NYSE: RMD) to Hold from Buy on valuation following the recent rally.
- Cowen downgraded Artes Medical (NASDAQ: ARTE) to Neutral from Buy following the company's disappointing Q3 report.
OTHER DOWNGRADES: