MOST NOTEWORTHY: Chico's FAS (CHS), MetroPCS (PCS), Federated Investors (FII) and Tibco (TIBX) were today's noteworthy initiations:
Roth Capital believes Chico's FAS (NYSE: CHS) growth will be back on track given the changes within the merchandise organization and recent infrastructure investments, and initiated shares with a Buy rating and $24 target.
Pacific Crest believes MetroPCS's (NYSE: PCS) low-cost business model creates opportunities and that its large market focus should drive outperformance, and initiated shares with an Outperform rating.
JMP Securities believes near-term upside in Federated Investors (NYSE: FII) could be seen with hurricane season and resumed coverage of Federated Investors with an Overweight rating and $178 target.
Pacific Crest believes 2007 is a transition year for Tibco (NASDAQ: TIBX) and started shares with a Sector Perform rating...
OTHER INITIATIONS:
BWS Financial initiated Rentrak (NASDAQ: RENT) with a Buy rating and $20 target.
HSBC started Lukoil (OTC: LUKOY) with an Overweight rating.
Pacific Crest started shares of On Semiconductor (NASDAQ: ONNN) with an Outperform rating and $16 target.
BMO Capital initiated Ares Capital (NASDAQ: ARCC) with an Outperform rating and $18 target.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Genesit Energy LP (GEL), EnerNoc (ENOC) and Comcast (CMCSA) were today's noteworthy initiations:
Genesis Energy (AMEX: GEL) was initiated with a Buy rating and $40 target at Stanford, as the firm believes the company's affiliation with Denbury Resources and pending acquisition of petroleum products, terminals, and transportation businesses from the Davison family will drive rapid growth.
EnerNoc Inc (NASDAQ: ENOC) was initiated with a Hold rating and $42 target at Jefferies, due to valuation. EnerNoc was also initiated at Morgan Stanley with an Equal Weight rating and $40 target.
Stifel expects Comcast (OTC: CMCSA) to benefit from higher penetration levels of DVR and HDTV set-top boxes over the next several years and initiated shares with a Buy rating and $34 target.
OTHER INITIATIONS:
Select asset managers were initiated at Credit Suisse:
Deutsche Bank initiated Ryland Group (NYSE: RYL) with a Buy rating and $52 target, as well as Pulte Homes (NYSE: PHM) and Meritage Homes Corp (NYSE: MTH) with Hold ratings and a $23 target and $29 target, respectively.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Three food companies, TiVo Inc (TIVO), Circuit City Stores, Inc (CC) and AutoZone, Inc (AZO) were today's most noteworthy downgrades:
Deutsche Bank downgraded Groupe Danone (NYSE: DA), Unilever (NYSE: UL) and Nestle (OTC: NSRGY) to Hold from Buy as the firm believes the three food producers will suffer from rising prices for agricultural commodities.
SMH Capital downgraded shares of TiVo (NASDAQ: TIVO) to Sell from Hold on valuation as the firm believes the market has already priced in considerable penetration of the new TIVO/Comcast bundled DVR into Comcast's (CMCSK) core digital sub base.
Matrix downgraded Circuit City Stores (NYSE: CC) to Strong Sell from Hold as the firm believes increasing competition is leading to lower selling prices and decreasing profits.
BMO Capital cut AutoZone (NYSE: AZO) to Underperform from Market Perform on expectations that higher gas prices will be a drag on discretionary product sales...
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Websense Inc (WBSN), Dow Jones & Co, Inc (DJ), Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (KKD), US Airways Group, Inc (LLC), Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc (HOT) were today's more noteworthy downgrades:
Jefferies downgraded Websense Inc (NASDAQ: WBSN) to Underperform from Hold with a $20 target to reflect slowing growth in the URL market, near-term business disruption from the pending SRF deal and summer software seasonality.
Dow Jones & Co (NYSE: DJ) was cut to Hold from Buy at Gabelli and to Market Perform from Outperform at Wachovia.
Krispy Kreme (NYSE: KKD) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Prudential.
Goldman downgraded Starwood Hotels (NYSE: HOT) to Neutral from Buy to reflect the weaker-than-expected quarterly fundamentals reported by the major hotel companies. The firm believes investors should stay away from the lodging sector...
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Amazon.com, Inc (AMZN), WellCare Health Plans, Inc (WCG) and agricultural chemical stocks were today's more noteworthy downgrades:
BWS Financial downgraded Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) to Hold from Buy citing valuation.
Jefferies cut WellCare Health Plans Inc (NYSE: WCG) to Underperform from Hold and lowered their target to $69 from $80 as the firm believes higher-than-expected medical costs in Georgia will put significant pressure on earnings.
Citigroup downgraded Agrium Inc (NYSE: AGU), CF Industries Holdings, Inc (NYSE: CF), Potash Corp (NYSE: POT) and Terra Industries Inc (NYSE: TRA) to Hold from Buy given the year-to-date share appreciation, as their analysis suggests near-term positive earnings revisions are near a peak and should slow going forward. Citigroup remains positive on the fertilizer industry over the long-term.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
Keefe Bruyette downgraded Federated Investors, Inc (NYSE: FII) to Market Perform from Outperform citing the potential impact from Bank of New York Co (BK)/ Mellon Financial Corp (MEL) transactions.
Jefferies cut Amerigroup Corp (NYSE: AGP) to Underperform from Hold with a $25 target.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: The interactive entertainment sector, CVS Corp (CVS) and two large retailers, J.C. Penney (JCP) & Federated Department Stores (FD), topped today's notable initiation list:
AG Edwards initiated Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ: ERTS), Activision, Inc (NASDAQ: ATVI), THQ Inc (NASDAQ: THQI) with Buy ratings and Take-Two Interactive Software (NASDAQ: TTWO), Midway Games Inc (NYSE: MWY) and GameStop Corp (NYSE: GME) with Hold ratings. The firm believes the video game industry is well-positioned for above-average L-T growth based on positive demographic trends. In addition, AG Edwards expects overall U.S. video game industry retail dollar sales to grow by 39% in 2007.
Elsewhere, Wachovia initiated CVS Corp (NYSE: CVS) with an Outperform rating. The firm believes CVS is well-positioned to take advantage of the fundamentals in the PBM business and find cost synergies from the merger.
Thomas Weisel initiated both J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) and Federated Department Stores (NYSE: FD) with market Weight ratings. The firm believes JCP will have more modest margin expansion going forward and believes high expectations and valuation for FD will limit its outperformance in the near-term.
OTHER INITIATIONS:
ThinkEquity started DivX, Inc (NASDAQ: DIVX) with a Buy rating and $26 target.
RBC initiated Trident Microsystems, Inc (NASDAQ: TRID) with a Sector Perform rating.
UBS initiated Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (NASDAQ: TEVA) with a Buy rating.
Pacific Growth started American Superconductor Corp (NASDAQ: AMSC) with a Neutral rating.
Susquehanna started Quality Systems, Inc (NASDAQ: QSII) with a Positive rating.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Nordstrom Inc (JWN) and Federated Dept Stores (FD) were today's most notable initiations:
JP Morgan initiated Federated Dept Stores (NYSE: FD) with a Neutral rating. They believe Federated's merger remains a struggle while the company's valuation is stretched.
JP Morgan see Nordstrom Inc (NYSE: JWN) as one of the strongest retail models in their universe, but consider the stock's valuation to be rich. The firm initiated Nordstrom with a Neutral rating.
OTHER INITIATIONS:
IPG Photonics (NASDAQ: IPGP), a designer and manufacturer of optical fiber-based lasers and fiber amplifiers, was initiated at five research firms this morning: Needham, Jefferies and Merrill Lynch with a Buy rating, Lehman Brothers with an Equal Weight rating and Thomas Weisel with an Overweight.
Guidance Software (NASDAQ: GUID) was initiated at three firms: With a Buy rating at AG Edwards, an Overweight rating at Morgan Stanley and an Outperform rating at Wachovia.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Federated Department Stores (FD), Wal-Mart (WMT) and Cheesecake Factory (CAKE) topped today's downgrade list.
Citigroup downgraded Federate Department Stores, Inc. (NYSE:FD) citing weaker than expected comps, market share losses at former May stores and valuation for their rationale.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT) was taken off Goldman Sachs' America's Conviction Buy List; The firm sees little momentum heading into the holiday season.
Robinson Humphreys downgraded Cheesecake Factory Inc. (NASDAQ:CAKE) to Reduce from Neutral following the company's reduced outlook.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
Prudential downgraded Hershey Co. (NYSE:HSY) to Underweight from Neutral as they believe Q3 revenue guidance may not be a one-time event; They are concerned over Hershey's higher costs and marketing mix, and note that the company will not benefit from the weaker dollar like some peers.
Jefferies downgraded Digital Insight Corp. (NASDAQ:DGIN) to Hold from Buy on valuation; they felt Intuit Inc.'s (NASDAQ:INTU) premium offer for Digital Insight was justified.
Carl Icahn has made billions agitating corporate managements. Some of his targets include Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), Blockbuster and ImClone.
Now, he is now focusing on Federated Department Stores (NYSE: FD). He wants to buy as much as $500 million of the company's stock.
Icahn already has a stake in the company, although it is a minor 2.1 million shares. This amounts to about $86.6 million. Keep in mind that Federated has a market cap of $23 billion.
Federated certainly has strong assets; that is, Macy's and Bloomingdale's. What's more, Wall Street has been buying up shares. This year, the stock price has gone from about $33 to $43.
What's Icahn up to? Well, he may be trying the same approach that Eddie Lampert has with Sears Holdings. In other words, Icahn may want to get Federated to maximize its real estate holdings, which could unlock more shareholder value.
Or, he just might think Federated is a good investment.
Basically, it's mostly speculation right now. But, given Icahn's history, he definitely has a plan to make money. And, he is probably not going to sit still.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and operates InvestorOffering.com.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Chico's FAS (CHS), MetroPCS (PCS), Federated Investors (FII) and Tibco (TIBX) were today's noteworthy initiations: 
.gif){kind=logo}
Best & Worst in Money 2008: Most shocking financial collapse
Closing Bell: Stocks slump as AMD, AT&T, GM and Merck decline
Global Q&A: A rocky road, but profits ahead
