MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Suntrust initiated shares of Blackboard (NASDAQ:BBBB) with a Neutral rating, as they sees risk to 2008 Street estimates due to minimal margin expansion.
  
• Deutsche Bank started shares of Ruth's Chris Steak House (NASDAQ:RUTH) with a Hold rating, as they find it difficult to recommend a high-end dining chain in this economic environment.
• The firm also initiated Texas Roadhouse (NASDAQ:TXRH) with a Buy rating and $15 target, citing the company's solid balance sheet, consistent operating history and low valuation.
  
• Piper expects shares of China Digital (NYSE:STV) will move higher as investors recognize the growth potential of the conditional access card market in China. The firm started shares off with a Buy rating and $43 target.
  
• Morgan Keegan resumed coverage of Main Street (NASDAQ:MAIN) with an Outperform rating and sees fair value range $15.50 to $17.00 based on MAIN's current yield of 9.2%.

• Societe Generale initiated Centrica PLC (CPYYY) with a Sell rating.
  
• Conceptus (NASDAQ:CPTS) was initiated with a Buy rating and $27 target at Oppenheimer.
  
• JP Morgan resumed coverage of Eastman Kodak (NASDAQ:EK) with an Underweight rating, and Infinera (INASDAQ:INFN) and Starent Networks (NASDAQ:STAR) with Overweight ratings.
  

Analyst initiations: BBBB, RUTH, TXRH, STV and MAIN originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 16 Nov 2007 10:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Lately, the tech IPO market has been heating up. Oh, and Chinese IPOs have also been particularly strong. So when China Digital TV Holding (NYSE: STV) went public this week, it was inevitable it would do well. The company develops technologies and solutions for the Chinese digital television market.

On its first day of trading, China Digital's stock soared 75%. The underwriters included Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS).

Basically, China Digital develops things like smart cards (for set-top boxes) and sophisticated software for digital submissions. The company's market share is a whopping 44%.

Interestingly enough, the Chinese government is requiring that television operators move to digital systems by 2015. In other words, the growth should continue for China Digital.

From 2004 to 2006, the company's revenues spiked from $3.6 million to $30.4 million. In fact, the company posted a profit last year of $13 million.

However, China Digital's valuation is frothy, trading at more than 50 times trailing revenues. But, as seen with other Chinese IPOs, this actually seems kind of normal.

Also, if you want to check out other IPOs, click here.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

China Digital (STV) joins the People's Republic of Chinese IPOs originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 06 Oct 2007 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Wall Street's equity market offers a full schedule this week, with 8 IPOs and 5 Secondaries on the docket.

Those deals tentatively scheduled to price include:

IPOs:

Possible

• Merrion Pharmaceuticals (MERR), a 4M-share IPO for this pharmaceuticals company. Punk Zeigel is the lead manager. Filing range: $10.00-$12.00.

Early Week

• Liberty Acquisition (LIA), an 86.25M-share IPO for this reorganization services company. Citigoup is the lead manager.

Continue reading IPO & secondary preview -- Week of Oct. 1, 2007

IPO & secondary preview -- Week of Oct. 1, 2007 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 02 Oct 2007 09:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.