MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Banc of America initiated the Metals and Mining sector with an Equal Weight rating and believes investors should take a selective approach to stocks in the group. The firm initiated Alcoa (NYSE: AA) and RTI International Metals (NYSE: RTI) with Buy ratings and a $44 target and $41 target, and started Allegheny Tech (NYSE: ATI), Century Aluminum (NASDAQ: CENX) and Titanium Metals (NYSE: TIE) with Neutral ratings and a $64 target, $58 target and $12 target, respectively.
  
• Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ: LAMR) was initiated at Caris with an Above Average rating and $40 target. Caris is positive on the company's North American focus and exposure to the aggressive deployment of digital boards.
  
• Stanford believes Rigel Pharma's (NASDAQ: RIGL) lead drug R788 has the potential to be the first oral drug for rheumatoid arthritis and expects clinical news flow and partnerships to serve as catalysts. Shares were initiated with a Buy rating and $30 target.

• Thomas Weisel assumed Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) with an Overweight rating and $90 target.
  
• International Flavors (NYSE: IFF) was initiated at Lehman with an Underweight rating.
  
• JP Morgan started Ares Capital (NASDAQ: ARCC) with an Underweight rating.

Analyst initiations: AA, ATI, CRM, LAMR and RIGL originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.