MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Monolithic Power (NASDAQ: MPWR) was initiated with a Buy at Am Tech, which predicted that Monolithic Power will have significant design win momentum that should result in stronger than expected revenue growth. The firm thinks the company will be able to grow 20% in its 2008, thanks to its new products and competitive prices.
  
• Emergency Medical Services (NYSE: EMS) was initiated with a Sell, target $15 at Citigroup. Citigroup believes EMS's earnings contribution from insurance releases and prior period adjustments is not sustainable.
  
• AMSurg (NASDAQ: AMSG) was initiated with a Buy, target $32 at Citigroup. Citigroup said it is positive on AMSurg given its history of FCF per share growth, low out of network exposure, little debt risk, and acquisition pipeline.
  
• EnergySolutions (NYSE: ES) was initiated with a Market Perform, target $26 at FBRC. Friedman Billings expects EnergySolutions to trade at a slight discount to peers given its leverage balance sheet and perceived slower growth.

• VMWare (NYSE: VMW) initiated with a Market Weight at Thomas Weisel, based on valuation. Thomas Weisel believes VMWare is uniquely positioned to benefit from trends toward centralized IT resources, on-demand delivery and greater efficiency.
• Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS) was initiated with an Overweight, target $37 at Thomas Weisel. Thomas Weisel believes Citrix Systems is uniquely positioned to benefit from trends toward centralized IT resources and on-demand delivery given its product line that targets the data center.

Analyst initiations: Monolithic Power, Emergency Medical Services, Amsurg, EnergySolutions originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• NutriSystem (NASDAQ: NTRI) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Lazard and to Buy from Strong Buy at Broadpoint following its lowered Q3 guidance.
  
• Jefferies downgraded shares of Endo Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ENDP) to Hold from Buy after Impax Laboratories (NASDAQ: IPXL) filed a Paragraph IV challenge against Opana ER yesterday to reflect the potential for a generic version of Opana ER arriving as early as 2010 and the possibility of a similar threat against Lidoderm.
  
• Corporate Express (NYSE: CXP) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at ING, as they believe the new CEO's long-term targets are overly ambitious.
  
• JP Morgan downgraded Aventine Renewable (NYSE: AVR) and BioFuel Energy (NASDAQ: BIOF) to Neutral from Overweight, citing weaker fundamentals in ethanol pricing.

• JP Morgan downgraded Charlotte Russe (NASDAQ: CHIC) and The Wet Seal (NASDAQ: WTSLA) to Neutral from Overweight.
  
• Goldman downgraded Monolithic Power Systems (NASDAQ: MPWR) and Hansen Natural (NASDAQ: HANS) to Neutral from Buy; Goldman removed National Semiconductor (NYSE: NSM) from its Conviction Buy List.

Analyst downgrades: NTRI, ENDP, CXP, AVR and BIOF originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 04 Oct 2007 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.