MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Piper Jaffray downgraded Checkfree Corp (NASDAQ: CKFR) to Market Perform from Outperform after transferring coverage of the payment processor company.
• Sprint Nextel Corp (NYSE: S) was cut to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James.
• Lehman cut the semiconductor capital equipment sector to Neutral from Positive, downgrading Cascade Microtech, Inc (NASDAQ: CSCD), Novellus Systems, Inc (NASDAQ: NVLS) and Teradyne, Inc (NYSE: TER) to Equal Weight from Overweight and cut Electroglas, Inc (NASDAQ: EGLS) to Underweight from Equal Weight.

• ThinkEquity cut Jones Soda Co (NASDAQ: JSDA) to Source of Funds from Buy based on valuation.
• Goldman is now cautious on the biofuel sector, downgrading the group to Cautious from Neutral.
• William Blair downgraded shares of Medimmune, Inc (NASDAQ: MEDI) to Market Perform from Outperform.
• Credit Suisse downgraded shares of Big 5 Sporting Goods Corp (NASDAQ: BGFV) to Underperform from Neutral citing valuation.
• Wachovia dropped Inkeepers USA Trust (NYSE: KPA) to Underperform from Outperform based on the acquisition from Apollo Investment Corp (AINV). Citigroup cut Inkeepers to Hold from Buy.

Analyst downgrades 4-17-07: CKFR, JDSA, MEDI and S all downgraded today originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 17 Apr 2007 11:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.