MOST NOTEWORTHY: RWE AG, Asta Funding and Trident Microsystems were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Goldman lowered its rating on RWE AG (OTC:RWEOY) to Sell from Neutral. They believe shares are discounting high power prices for the long term and sees downside risk to earnings.
• Kaufman Bros. downgraded shares of Asta Funding (NASDAQ:ASFI) to Hold from Buy to reflect the uncertainty surrounding the company's extension in reporting its Q4 and fiscal 2007 results.
• Trident Microsystems (NASDAQ:TRID) was lowered to Hold from Buy at Roth Capital. Roth Capital's checks indicate low end TVs continue to outsell top tier LCD TVs, which could impact Trident's revenues.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Trane (NYSE:TT) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Lehman.
• Deutsche Bank downgraded Marshall & Ilsley (NYSE:MI) to Hold from Buy.
• UBS downgraded Nestle (NSRGY) to Neutral from Buy.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: The educational services industry, the Latin American airlines sector, Asta Funding Inc (NASDAQ: ASFI) and Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE: CMG) were today's noteworthy initiations:

• William Blair assumed coverage of Apollo Group Inc (NASDAQ: APOL) and Strayer Education Inc (NASDAQ: STRA) with Outperform ratings and Career Education Corporation (NASDAQ: CECO) with a Market Perform rating. The broker also assumed coverage and downgraded DeVry Inc (NYSE: DV) to Market Perform from Outperform.
  
• Goldman Sachs initiated coverage on Copa Holdings (NYSE: CPA) with a Buy rating and $88 target, GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA (NYSE: GOL) and TAM SA (NYSE: TAM) with Neutral ratings and Lan Airlines SA (NYSE: LFL) with a Sell rating and $93 target; Lan Airlines was also initiated at Morgan Stanley with an Overweight rating and $105 target.
  
• Asta Funding was initiated at Kaufman Brothers with a Buy rating and $55 target. The firm believes the company should grow earnings at a midpoint of 20% over time, with near-term growth at 15% and longer-term growth at 20%-25%.
  
• Citigroup initiated shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill with a Buy rating and $100 target, as the firm expects the company will see unit growth at a rate in the high-teens while experiencing above-average SSS and some margin expansion.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• BMO Capital initiated shares of CDC Corp (NASDAQ: CHINA) with a Market Perform rating and $11 target.
  
• Jazz Technologies Inc (NYSE: JAZ) was initiated with a Buy rating and $5 target at Wedbush Morgan Securities.
  
• Calyon Securities initiated shares of Pinnacle Entertainment Inc (NYSE: PNK) with an Add rating and $32 target.
• Luminex Corporation (NASDAQ: LMNX) was initiated with a Buy rating at Pacific Growth Equities.

Looking for a way to cash in on the sub-prime meltdown? Consider this: Since the beginning of 2007, Asta Funding (NASDAQ: ASFI) is now up an impressive +37%.

Asta is in the business of buying up non-performing consumer debts such as credit cards, unpaid utility bills and auto loans. The company buys these late or defaulted debts for pennies on the dollar from banks and other lenders, and it then turns around and tries to collect at least partial payments on the loans.

One of the concerns about this lucrative industry is that the prices companies like Asta must pay for loans are rising. Because consumer default rates have been generally low, the supply of non-performing loans has remained relatively low. Meanwhile, other companies have entered the business, driving up costs.