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Google's Knol project: A Wikipedia killer?

Late Thursday, Google mentioned yet another web service (although, this one could be a big one): Google Knol (which stands for a unit of knowledge).

Basically, this is a knowledge base – where experts write up articles and users have a chance to benefit from the wisdom. The system is currently under an invitation-only status.

With huge amounts of content across the web, it's often hard to find the quality stuff. Even if you go to places like Wikipedia, it's not easy to get a sense of the accuracy. Often, I use these sources as a starting point – not something that's definitive.

As expected, Google wants knols for all topics, which is certainly ambitious and will likely encounter problems along the way. But, it's certainly a worthy goal – and, in the end, could result in a valuable property.

More importantly, Google will share revenues with the experts (through advertising). This will certainly be a big differentiator, as other wikis, such as Wikinvest and Wikipedia, rely on authors who do it for fun.

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

Analyst initiations: WX, MYGN, CYPB and KNOL

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Aerospace stocks, WuXi Pharma, Myriad Genetics, Cypress Bioscience and Knology were today's noteworthy initiations:
  • LYON initiated shares of aerospace stocks including Goodrich Corporation (NYSE: GR), TransDigm Group Inc (NYSE: TDG) and Triumph Group Incorporated (NYSE: TGI) with Add ratings and a $74 target, $45 target and $90 target, respectively.
  • WuXi Pharmatech (NYSE: WX) was started with a Hold rating and $29 target at Jefferies on valuation. JP Morgan started shares with a Neutral rating and Credit Suisse initiated shares with an Outperform rating.
  • Myriad Genetics Inc (NASDAQ: MYGN) was started with a Hold rating and $50 target at Citigroup, as the firm is cautious on the Phase III Flurizan results and does not recommend putting new money here at these levels.
  • Citigroup also initiated shares of Cypress Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ: CYPB) with a Buy rating and $22 target as the firm believes Milnacipran has sufficient database for approval and is capable of gaining meaningful market share as firstline therapy.
  • Knology Inc (NASDAQ: KNOL) was initiated with a Buy rating and $25 target at BWS Financial, as the firm believes the company's growth potential is greater than other cable companies through a business plan that allows it to have operations in all regions of the U.S.
OTHER INITIATIONS:

Analyst upgrades 8-31-07: PSSI, ROK, OTEX, SAFM and MNT

MOST NOTEWORTHY: PSS World Medical (PSSI), Rockwell (ROK), Open Text (OTEX), Sanderson Farms (SAFM) and Mentor (MNT) were today's noteworthy upgrades:
  • PSS World Medical (NASDAQ: PSSI) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Robert W. Baird. Baird said the quarter was impacted by one-time items and that core operations remain strong while private label, home care and HCIT initiatives may contribute to substantial margin improvement.
  • Friedman Billings added Rockwell Automation (NYSE: ROK) to its Top Picks list based on valuation and growth drivers.
  • Merrill Lynch upped shares of Open Text Corporation (NASDAQ: OTEX) to Neutral from Sell. Kaufman Brothers upgraded shares of the stock to Buy from Hold with a $27 target to reflect the company's better-than-expected Q4 results.
  • Sanderson Farms Inc (NASDAQ: SAFM) was upgraded to Strong Buy from Strong Sell on valuation and accelerating sales of the company's poultry products.
  • The firm upgraded shares of Mentor Corporation (NYSE: MNT) to Buy from Sell given the company's good performance and low risk.
OTHER UPGRADES:
  • Cache Inc (NASDAQ: CACH) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral with a $19 target at First Albany and to Outperform from Market Perform at Piper Jaffray.
  • Gabelli upgraded shares of Diageo (NYSE: DEO) to Buy from Hold.
  • RBC Capital Markets raised shares of Knology Inc (NASDAQ: KNOL) to Outperform from Sector Perform.
  • Goldman Sachs upgraded shares of Maxygen Inc (NASDAQ: MAXY) to Neutral from Sell.
Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

Analyst initiations 5-17-07: DAL, NWS, TFSM and VCLK

MOST NOTEWORTHY: The more noteworthy companies initiated today were ValueClick, Inc (VCLK), Delta Air Lines, Inc (DAL), 24/7 Real Media, Inc (TFSM), Knology, Inc (KNOL) and Allos Therapeutics, Inc (ALTH):
  • Banc of America believes ValueClick Inc (NASDAQ: VCLK) is well-positioned for continued strong secular online ad growth and initiated shares with a Buy rating and $35 target.
  • Lehman is positive on Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) valuation and earnings growth, starting shares with an Overweight rating and $26.50 target.
  • Banc of America believes 24/7 Real Media's (NASDAQ: TFSM) valuation is full at current levels and started shares with a Neutral rating and $12 target.
  • RBC believes shares of Knology (NASDAQ: KNOL) are fairly-valued and would wait for a pullback, initiating shares with a Sector Perform rating.
  • ThinkEquity started Allos Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ALTH) with a Buy rating and expects significant news flow data on PDX in 2007-2008. In addition, the firm expects to hear an update on enrollment from the PROPEL study, which could be ahead of expectations, and Phase I data in NSCLC in the fall...
OTHER INITIATIONS:
  • Goldman resumed coverage with Mylan Laboratories (NYSE: MYL) and Exco Resources, Inc (XCO) with Neutral ratings.
  • Merrill Lynch resumed coverage of News Corp (NYSE: NWS) with a Buy rating.
Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA+20.0310,246.97
NASDAQ-2.982,151.08
S&P 500-0.071,093.01

Last updated: November 11, 2009: 09:15 AM

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