MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Goldman cut shares of Ruth's Chris Steak House (NASDAQ: RUTH) to Sell from Neutral following the company's preliminary Q2 sales, as they expect relative underperformance over the near-term. Goldman believes macro headwinds could weigh on Ruth's client base and keep traffic negative for the rest of the year.

• Hilton Hotels (NYSE: HLT) was downgraded by a number of firms after the Blackstone Group (BX) takeout offer: Jefferies and Citigroup cut shares to Hold from Buy, Calyon downgraded shares to Neutral from Buy, Raymond James downgraded shares to Market Perform from Strong Buy, Suquehanna cut shares to Neutral from Positive and Bear Stearns downgraded Hilton Hotels to Peer Perform from Outperform.

• B. Riley downgraded shares of Champps Entertainment (NASDAQ: CMPP) to Neutral from Buy to reflect the buyout offer from F&H Acquisition Corp...

• B. Riley downgraded shares of ACR Group (AMEX: BRR) to reflect the company's merger agreement with Watsco Inc (WSO).

• Jefferies cut Dobson Communications Corp (NASDAQ: DCEL) to Hold from Buy.

• Piper Jaffrey downgraded Selective Insurance (NASDAQ: SIGI) to Market Perform from Outperform.

• Kaufman downgraded Parametric Technology (NASDAQ: PMTC) to Hold from Buy.

Analyst downgrades 7-06-07: DCEL, HLT and RUTH originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 06 Jul 2007 09:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Goldman is positive on Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL), starting shares with a Buy rating and $25 target based on above average growth, best-in-class unit costs, free cash flow and less labor cost risk.

• Diana Shipping (NYSE: DSX) was started at JP Morgan with an Overweight rating based on valuation and positioning. Lazard started Diana with a Buy rating, expecting demand for dry bulk shipping will outperform supply through 2010.

• Soleil expects Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE) recently released Creative Suite 3 to be the near-and-medium term growth driver and started shares with a Buy rating.

• JP Morgan started Eagle Materials Inc (NYSE: EXP) with an Underweight rating, expecting a decline in wallboard industry profitability due to increased capacity and lower demand.

• B. Riley started ACR Group (AMEX: BRR) with a Buy rating calling the stock "cheap."

• Soleil believes a catch up on the Autodesk's (NASDAQ: ADSK) SEC filings and a strong Q1 will prove near-term catalysts and started shares off with a Buy rating and $56 target.

• Merrill Lynch started Super Micro Computer, Inc (NASDAQ: SMCI) and Capital Product Partners LP (NASDAQ: CPLP) with Buy ratings.

• Banc of American started Verigy Ltd (NASDAQ: VRGY) with a Buy rating and $32 target.

• Stephens initiated Kaman Corp (NASDAQ: KAMN) with an Overweight rating and $34 target.

Analyst initiations 5-09-07: ADBE, ADSK, DAL and DSX originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 09 May 2007 11:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.