MOST NOTEWORTHY: Mako Surgical, ArcSight and ICU Medical were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Mako Surgical (NASDAQ: MAKO) was initiated with an Overweight rating at JP Morgan. The firm believes Mako has the most compelling system for navigated, robotic assisted orthopedic surgery to date.
  
• After ArcSight (NASDAQ: ARST) reported better-than-expected results for its Q3 and guidance for Q4 that Wachovia views as positive, the firm, which initiated shares with an Outperform rating, expects that regulatory compliance initiatives such as SOX will help protect the company from the slowdown, and help result in upward revisions to Wachovia's estimates in the future, as well as margin expansion.
  
• Soleil believes ICU Medical's (NASDAQ: ICUI) close distributor relationship with Hospira (NYSE: HSP) will drive its CLAVE/Custom IV franchises. The firm started shares with a Buy rating and $33 target.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Bear initiated Journal Comm (NYSE: JRN) with an Outperform rating and $10.25 target.
  
• Royal KPN (NYSE: KPN) was initiated at Societe Generale with a Sell rating.
  
• Broadpoint assumed Nuance Comm (NASDAQ: NUAN) with a Buy rating and $22 target.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Cognos, MSC Industrial Direct, Fastenal Company, Royal Kpn and Koppers Holdings were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Cognos (NASDAQ: COGN) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman and at Broadpoint following the acquisition by IBM (NYSE: IBM).
  
• Baird downgraded MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE: MSM) and Fastenal Company (NASDAQ: FAST) to Neutral from Outperform, as they expect the difficult U.S. manufacturing environment to constrain shares.
  
• Credit Suisse lowered its rating on Royal Kpn (NYSE: KPN) to Neutral from Outperform based on Getronics integration risk and slowing mobile earnings momentum.
  
• Koppers Holdings (NYSE: KOP) was downgraded to Buy from Aggressive Buy at KeyBanc based on valuation and concerns on 1H08 comps.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Goldman removed Foster Wheeler (NASDAQ: FWLT) from its Conviction Buy List.
  
• Gabelli downgraded shares of Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ) to Sell from Buy.
  
• Stifel lowered its rating on Amerigroup (NYSE: AGP) to Hold from Buy.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Barron's Magazine (subscription required) highlighted a number of possible M&A targets, along with a few stocks it believes to be undervalued:
• M&A is expected to continue in Europe: possible large cap targets include Barclays (NYSE: BCS), Deutsche Telekom (NYSE: DT), Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB), ABN Amro (NYSE: ABN), Volkswagen (OTC: VLKAY), Koninklljke (NYSE: KPN) and Swisscom (NYSE: SCM); possible small-mid cap targets include Hellenic Telecom (NYSE: OTE).
  
• There may still be upside in shares of Xerox (NYSE: XRX), says James Benson, a partner and securities analyst at Harris Associates.
• Shares of YRC Worldwide (NASDAQ: YRCW) may be undervalued by as much as 50%, says Barron's "Bottom Line," which writes that shares could climb above $60.
• The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) featured an article on Pfizer's new CEO and his strategic plan.
• Pfizer's (NYSE: PFE) new CEO, Jeffrey B. Kindler, is preparing to detail his strategic vision for the company that will likely involve more job cuts.
• Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) is claiming a nanotechnology research breakthrough that would bring big benefits in performance.
• According to a Nomura report, Sony Corp (NYSE: SNE) will reach only 75% of its global target for PlayStation 3 sales this fiscal year through March.
• The New York Times had an article highlighting the possibility of New York funding stem cell research.
• New York Governor Eliot Spitzer called for the passage of a $2B 10-year bond initiative for research and development, at least half of which would be set aside to pay for stem cell research.
• Citigroup (NYSE: C) may shorten its name to Citi and drop its umbrella logo.

OTHER PAPERS:

• The UK Times wrote that Ford (NYSE: F) may have trouble selling its Aston Martin unit after potential buyers found problems in the divisions books while doing due diligence.
• El Pais wrote that Fidel Castro is in "very grave" condition after three failed operations and complications from an intestinal infection known as diverticulitis.