It has been an extremely busy week for rumors, with numerous companies' names being floated about. Here's a few of the more notable rumors:

Business Objects S.A. (NASDAQ: BOBJ)

All week long there have been rumors that the global provider of business intelligence software solutions has been the target of a takeover. The company's shares are rallying today as Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) could be making its move. Previously, Oracle has singled out Business Objects as a possible target. What's different this time is that while Business Objects always says they're not interested in selling, they're not saying that now.

USG Corp. (NYSE: USG)

Warren Buffett. Yes, him. If he shows an interest, a company's stock goes up, and USG, the manufacturer and distributor of building materials, which counts U.S. Gypsum as a wholly owned subsidiary, is seeing its stock go up. Will Buffet raise his stake, or just out and out buy the company? Last report was that Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) owns about 19%. of the company. Stay alert.

Foot Locker (NYSE: FL)

For months the global retailer of athletic footwear and apparel has been outdistancing the rumors of a company sale as its shares have continued to slip and fall. Even CEO Matthew Serra made a point of saying that there's nothing to it. But it's hardly news that sales and earnings have been flat for years. Last summer the company hired Evercore Partners as an advisor, and Pathenon Group to look them over. So whatever is up, is certainly can't be very comforting to hear that Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE) is planning to open a series of mall-based specialty stores. Foot Locker is a major reseller of the Nike brand.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Monster Worldwide (MNST) and Electronic Arts (ERTS) were the notable companies initiated today:

• Caris initiated Monster Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ:MNST) with an Above Average rating and $52 target and believes the stock provides exposure to strong secular growth in online advertising and is a pure play with online help-wanted classified advertising; additionally,
• Needham started Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) with a Hold, based on valuation.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Best Buy Company Inc. (NYSE:BBY) and Circuit City Stores Inc. (NYSE:CC) were initiated with Outperform ratings at Cowen; they believe Best Buy is well-positioned for market share gains and operating margin opportunities and that Circuit City is in the early stages of a turnaround.
• Business Objects (NASDAQ:BOBJ) was initiated with a Buy rating and $45 target at Jefferies, citing the likelihood of Business Objects outperforming the consensus estimates through 2007, but they also see limited downside if the company does not get acquired.
• Palm Inc. (NASDAQ:PALM) was started at UBS with a Neutral rating and $15.50 target.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: SanDisk (SNDK), Business Objects (BOBJ) and the Beverage Sector top today's list of downgrades.

• SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ:SNDK) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS, citing expectations for an oversupply of flash memory in 2006 and 2007.
• Business Objects (NASDAQ:BOBJ) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at Pacific Crest, citing valuation concerns and increasing competition from Oracle (ORCL), Microsoft (MSFT) and open source competitors.
• The Beverage Sector was downgraded to Cautious from Neutral at Goldman Sachs. The firm cited declining demand in core categories, raw material inflation and valuation.
  • Goldman downgraded PepsiAmericas, Inc. (NYSE:PAS) and Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:CCE) to Sell from Neutral
  • while COTT Corp (NYSE:COT) was added to their Conviction Sell List.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Kevin Dann & Partners downgraded shares of Pep Boys (NYSE:PBY) to Hold from Buy on valuation and the lack of near-term catalysts.
• Thomas Weisel downgraded Ikanos Comm (NASDAQ:IKAN) to Peer Perform from Outperform citing a slowdown of VDSL deployments in Japan due to persisting inventory build at NTT.

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