MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Matrix downgraded Advantest (NYSE: ATE) to Strong Sell from Hold; the firm doesn't expect Advantest's profits to improve in the near-term after chip makers indicated they plan to cut capital spending.

• RightNow Technologies (NASDAQ: RNOW) was cut to Sector Perform from Outperform at Pacific Crest to reflect the company's poor execution.

• Mattson Technology (NASDAQ: MTSN) was downgraded to Sell from Buy at American Technology; The firm said Q2 results were strong but bookings and gross margin outlook were weaker due to memory spending weakness.

• Credit Suisse downgraded P.F. Chang's (NASDAQ: PFCB) to Market Weight from Overweight at Thomas Wiesel to reflect below plan new store performance for the third consecutive year at Pei Wei...

• Citigroup cut Taiwan Semi (NYSE: TSM) to Hold from Buy.

• Merriman downgraded Fuel Tech (NASDAQ: FTEK) to Neutral from Buy.

• Bear Stearns cut Hess Corp (NYSE: HES) to Peer Perform from Outperform.

• Goldman Sachs removed Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) from its Conviction Buy list.

Analyst downgrades 7-26-07: ATE, MER, PFCB and TSM originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 26 Jul 2007 11:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.