MOST NOTEWORTHY: Yahoo! was today's noteworthy downgrade:

• Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) was downgraded to Sell from Accumulate at ThinkPanmure as they value the company at $20 on a standalone basis. The price target lowered to $20 from $31.
• Yahoo was also downgraded to Sell from Buy at Citigroup based on Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) withdrawing its bid for the company. Target was reduced to $26 from $34.
• Yahoo was also downgraded to Sell from Accumulate, target $20 at ThinkPanmure.
• Yahoo was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Soleil with a $22 target as they do not believe Yahoo can re-attain the $33 a share that Microsoft offered through execution alone.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• PeopleSupport (NASDAQ: PSPT) was downgraded to Market Perform at JMP Securities on valuation, and because they are increasingly concerned about the long-term safety of the company's J.P. Morgan Chase credit card contract. The firm downgraded the shares from Market Outperform.
• Skyworks (NASDAQ: SWKS) was downgraded to Accumulate from Buy at ThinkPanmure following checks that indicate some "inventory digestion" at a couple of its key OEM customers, which could put estimates at risk

Back in October 2004, PeopleSupport Inc. (NASDAQ: PSPT) went public at $7 per share (the offering was fairly lackluster as the stock price fell on its first day of trading).

Well, now the company may no longer be public. That is, on Friday, PeopleSupport announced that it got a $15 per share buyout offer from IPVG and AO Capital Partners.

PeopleSupport provides offshore business process outsourcing services -- such as for customer management and transcription. The company operates in the Philippines, Costa Rica, and the United States.

However, the stock price plunged 38% in March because of a weak quarterly report. No doubt, the company faces intense competition from players like IBM (NYSE: IBM), Convergys, and eTelecare. Thus, it's likely we'll see consolidation in the space.

Interestingly enough, BloggingStocks had a piece -- a day before the buyout announcement --t hat showed that PeopleSupport had a "bullish 'flag'" pattern on its stock chart.

Yes, it certainly did.

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.

PeopleSupport (NASDAQ: PSPT) provides business process outsourcing services from facilities in the Philippines. Company personnel handle customer service calls, technical support questions, marketing campaigns and collections. The firm also transcribes voice recordings and captions television content. Services are offered via telephone, e-mail and Web chat. Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE) and Vonage Holdings (NYSE: VG) are major customers.

The firm surprised the Street earlier in the month, when it reported Q3 EPS of 27 cents and revenues of $36.9 million. Analysts had been expecting 6 cents and $34.7 million. Management also guided Q4 EPS to 28-29 cents (4 cent consensus), Q4 revenues to $35.7-$36.5 million ($34.8M consensus), FY07 EPS to 84-85 cents (42 cent consensus) and FY07 revenues to $140.6-$141.4 million ($137.5M consensus). The stock popped on the news and then moved into a bullish "flag" consolidation pattern. Prices frequently exit flags moving in the same direction they were traveling when they entered them. In this case, that would be to the upside.

More and more businesses are finding that it can pay to outsource their telephone and Internet customer interface requirements to firms set up to efficiently handle such functions. One such outfit is headquartered in Los Angeles, but operates from shops overseas.

PeopleSupport (NASDAQ: PSPT) provides business process outsourcing (BPO) services from facilities in the Philippines. Company personnel handle customer service calls, technical support questions, marketing campaigns and collections. The firm also transcribes voice recordings and captions television content. Services are offered via telephone, e-mail and Web chat. Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE) and Vonage Holdings (NYSE: VG) are major customers.

The firm surprised the Street earlier in the month, when it reported Q2 EPS of 16 cents and revenues of $34.3 million. Analysts had been expecting 2 cents and $31.6 million. The CEO cited increasing demand and improved operational efficiencies for the solid results. Management also issued in-line guidance for Q3/FY07 results and announced a $25 million stock buyback. Piper Jaffray subsequently upgraded the shares to "outperform" and four other brokerage firms reiterated "buys."

MOST NOTEWORTHY: RadioShack Corp (RSH), Juniper Networks, Inc (JNPR), H.B. Fuller Co (FUL) and Sepracor Inc (SEPR) were today's more notable downgrades:

• Morgan Stanley downgraded RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) to Underweight from Equal-Weight on concerns over the company's wireless fundamentals and top-line growth.

• Juniper Networks (NASDAQ: JNPR) was downgraded to Strong Sell from Buy at Matrix USA. The firm sees downside to the intrinsic value calculation of $12 given the company's deteriorating fundamentals.

• H.B. Fuller Co (NYSE: FUL) was cut to Sell from Hold at Gabelli following a meeting with management to reflect the recent management exists and the broker's expectation for a challenging first-half of 2007.

• Sepracor (NASDAQ: SEPR) was cut to Underperform from Market Perform at Friedman Billings, as the firm believes generic availability of Ambien may be a bigger challenge to Seprecor's Lunesta than investors expect.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc (NYSE: JTX) was cut to Underweight from Market Weight at Thomas Wiesel as they believe the potential near-term competitive trends coupled with potential issues with rising financial product contribution will weigh on valuation.

• Bear Stearns cut Cerner Corp (NASDAQ: CERN) to Peer Perform from Outperform.

• Matrix USA downgraded InfoSpace, Inc (NASDAQ: INSP) to Hold from Buy on valuation.

• Prudential cut Unilever plc (NYSE: UL) to Neutral from Overweight.

• Breen Murray downgraded Century Casinos, Inc (NASDAQ: CNTY) to Hold from Buy.

• Cowen downgraded PeopleSupport, Inc (NASDAQ: PSPT) to Neutral from Outperform based on near-term visibility concerns.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

MOST NOTEWORTHY: EchoStar Communications Corp (DISH), PeopleSupport, Inc (PSPT), and Quicksilver, Inc (ZQK) were today's most notable downgrades:

• Credit Suisse downgraded EchoStar Communications Corp (NASDAQ: DISH) to Underperform from Neutral based on valuation and lower probability of an acquisition by AT&T (NYSE: T).

• PeopleSupport Inc (NASDAQ: PSPT) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at both Piper Jaffray and Freidman Billings following disappointing Q4 earnings and guidance; JMP Securities cut PeopleSupport to Market Outperform from Strong Buy.

• Quicksilver (NYSE: ZQK) was downgraded by a host of firms: to Market Performer from Outperformer at Piper Jaffray, to Sector Performer from Outperformer at CIBC, to Hold from Buy at W.R. Hambrecht, to Neutral from Accumulate at Buckingham and to Sell from Hold at Wedbush.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Freidman Billings downgraded Tercica, Inc (NASDAQ: TRCA) to Underperform from Market Perform on valuation.

• Prudential cut Cheesecake Factory Inc (NASDAQ: CAKE) to Underweight from Neutral citing soft industry sales trends which will impact Q1 and Q2 results.

• Raymond James downgraded Goldcorp Inc (NYSE: GG) to Outperform from Strong Buy.

• Lehman cut Sprint Nextel Corp (NYSE: S) to Equal-Weight from Overweight.

• UBS downgraded New Century Financial Corp (NYSE: NEW) to Reduce from Neutral.

• Stifel downgraded C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc (NASDAQ: CHRW) to Sell from Hold.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).