MOST NOTEWORTHY: Popular (BPOP), MRU Holdings (UNCL), CDC Corp (CHINA) and Oscient Pharmaceuticals (OSCI) were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Kaufman initiated Popular (NASDAQ: BPOP) with a Hold rating and $13 target, citing the company's direct exposure to nearly $2B of Alt A residential mortgage loans originated by its U.S. operations and approximately $250M of exposure to another $4B of collateralized, securitized mortgage pools.

• MRU Holdings (NADSAQ: UNCL) was initiated with a Buy rating and $8.50 target at Roth Capital. Roth Capital believes MRU Holdings is on the threshold of potentially explosive growth in the fast growing segment of the education lending market, that of private loans.

• JMP Securities said CDC Corp. (NASDAQ: CHINA) , with its resources and connections in China, has excellent deal flow and has been a disciplined, value oriented buyer, and started shares with a Market Outperform and $10.50 target.

• Piper believes Oscient Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: OSCI) experienced management team and PCP sales force are competitive advantages and will lead to attractive partners. Piper initiated Oscient Pharmaceuticals with an Outperform rating and $5 target...

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Raymond James started SAIC (NYSE: SAI) with a Market Perform rating.

• Morgan Keegan initiated Hilltop Holdings (NYSE: HTH) with an Outperform rating.

• Dice Holdings (NYSE: DHX) was initiated with an Overweight rating and $15 target at Morgan Stanley.

• RBC Capital initiated VMware (NYSE: VMW) with a Sector Perform rating and $75 target.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Assurant (AIZ), Famous Dave's (DAVE), Trinity Industries (TRN), Spartan Stores (SPTN) and SiRF Technology (SIRF) were today's notable initiations:

• Wachovia believes Assurant (NYSE: AIZ) is a unique opportunity to profit from mortgage market turmoil through its force-placed homeowners business, initiating shares with an Outperform rating.

• Nollenberger initiated Famous Dave's (NASDAQ: DAVE) with a Buy rating and expects to see accelerated earnings growth over the next few years driven by: continued rollout of it's new "Smokehouse" unit format, growth of the off-premise catering and to-go business, and ramp in new development.

• Keybanc is positive on Trinity Industries' (NYSE: TRN) diversified product portfolio, market-leading positions, and long-term end market fundamentals, starting shares with an Aggressive Buy rating.

• Banc of America initiated Spartan Stores (NASDAQ: SPTN) with a Buy and believes the company should benefit from the roll-up of independent retail assets and the move toward a customer-centric operating model.

• Banc of America believes rising competitive pressures in PNDs will lead to significant market share erosion in 2008 and started SiRF Technology (NASDAQ: SIRF) with a Neutral rating...

OTHER INTIATIONS:

• Wachovia initiated Dice Holdings (NYSE: DHX) with an Outperform rating.

• Stifel initiated Bancshares of Florida (NASDAQ: BOFL) and TIB Financial (NASDAQ: TIBB) with Hold ratings.

• Nollenberger initiated Morton's Restaurant (NYSE: MRT) with a Buy rating.

• Ceradyne (NASDAQ: CRDN) was initiated with a Hold rating at Morgan Joseph.

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

For internet company IPOs, the results were mixed this week. The online career site, Dice Holdings (NYSE: DHX), saw its share price increase about 4.2% (with the IPO priced at the top of its range). But there was also the meager performance of Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE: OWW), whose shares fell 3.3% on its debut. Despite this, we are still seeing filings from Net companies.

The latest filing: Internet Brands. In fact, back in 2000, the company filed for an IPO -- but it was too late (as the dot-coms turned into dot-bombs). But much has happened since then -- and the company looks a lot different. Through aggressive M&A, Internet Brands now has more than 40 principal websites -- focused on consumer categories. Examples include: CarsDirect.com, Wikitravel.org, FlyerTalk.com, ApartmentRatings.com, and DoItYourself.com.

As of June, the network attracted about 24.5 million unique visitors. This is up 161% from the same period a year ago. The business model is primarily driven by advertising. Last year, Internet Brands posted about $84.8 million in revenues. However, there is fierce competition. Just some of rivals include Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT).

The lead underwriter on the IPO is Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS).

Internet Brands' prospectus is located on the SEC website. Also check out other recent IPO filings.

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

Dice Holdings Inc. has been around for 16 years, but made the smart move to the internet over the past seven years. The company has a line of sites in the career space like eFinancialCareers.com, JobsintheMoney.com, ClearanceJobs.com and yes, Dice.com (a site for tech jobs).

Now the company has filed to go public.

Since 2004, Dice has been experiencing significant growth. Revenues have surged from $35.8 million to $87.1 million (by the end of 2006). Operating cash flow was an impressive $41 million.

To continue the growth, Dice will likely be making some acquisitions. For example, in October, the company bought eFinancialGroup Limited. With the boom in financial services, this looks like a pretty good deal.

Dice's investors also include private equity firms General Atlantic Partners and Quadrangle Capital Partners.

The company plans to list on the NYSE (but a ticker has not be proposed yet). The underwriters include Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS).

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