MOST NOTEWORTHY: Lululemon, NaviSite, Research in Motion, Palm and Motorola were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ: LULU) was initiated with a Neutral rating and $42 target at Credit Suisse on valuation.
• NaviSite Inc (NASDAQ: NAVI) was initiated with a Buy rating at Merriman after reporting solid Q4 results. Merriman expects the company's recent acquisitions to significantly increase margins.
  
• Citigroup believes Research in Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM) is not a pure momentum stock as fundamentals are driving share appreciation. They think the company's subscriber growth is beginning to hit critical mass and expect 15M subscribers within 12 months. The firm started shares with a Buy rating and $115 target.
  
• Citigroup also initiated shares of Palm Inc (NASDAQ: PALM) with a Sell rating and $13.50 target, expecting the company's market share losses to continue to EPS to decline.
  
• Citigroup started Motorola Inc (NYSE: MOT) with a Hold rating and $20 target, as they believe its recovery may take longer than expected, noting its new silicon platform does not come out until 2H08.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Banc of America initiated On Semiconductor (NASDAQ: ONNN), Mettler-Toledo International Inc (NYSE: MTD) and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc (NYSE: TMO) with Buy ratings and a $16 target, $120 target and $65 target.
  
• Deutsche Bank started GSI Commerce Inc (NASDAQ: GSIC) and Universal Electronics (NASDAQ: UEIC) with Buy ratings and targets of $52 and $31, respectively.
  
• RBC Capital Markets resumed coverage of Whole Foods Market Inc (NASDAQ: WFMI) with an Outperform rating and $55 target.

World-class scientific instrument manufacturer and data monitoring company Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE: TMO) was recently chosen to supply measuring instruments and data capture expertise to Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemicals Co. (ADR) (NYSE: SHI), China's largest producer and supplier of oil and petrochemical products.

Monetary details of the deal were not disclosed in the press release but Thermo Fisher Scientific currently has over $9 billion in annual revenue and serves more than 350,000 biotech companies, hospitals and various research institutions that capture and/or monitor data in real time.

Thermo Fisher Scientific has been involved in data collecting in the petrochemical industry for more than two decades. Its laboratory information management system (LMS) will be the standard for all data manipulation at Sinopec. Such standardization will enhance cost efficiencies, improve real-time data monitoring and reduce time to market. Thermo Fisher Scientific instruments and processes are already in use at multiple Sinopec laboratories in China.

Shares of both Thermo Fisher Scientific and Sinopec rose on the news. Thermo Fisher Scientific closed at $47.45, up $0.73, while shares of Sinopec were up $0.68 to close at $53.78.

In unrelated news, Thermo Fisher Scientific sold one of its divisions, Genevac, to Riverlake Equity Partners LP for an undisclosed sum. Genevac makes equipment used in pharmaceutical research.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) manufactures and distributes scientific instruments and laboratory supplies, serving more than 350,000 customers in the life and health science industries. The company was formed in November 2006, when Thermo Electron acquired Fisher Scientific International.

The firm pleased investors last month, when it guided Q4 EPS to 52-54 cents (53 cent consensus), FY06 EPS to $1.83-$1.86 ($1.80 consensus), FY07 EPS to $2.35-$2.45 ($2.36 consensus) and FY07 revenues to $9.4-$9.5 billion ($9.32B consensus). Deutsche Securities and UBS subsequently reiterated their "buy" recommendations and boosted their price targets to the $56-$58 range.

The news kept TMO shares cycling through a positive eleven-week trading channel. The price is currently consolidating at the base of that channel, where oversold Momentum, Stochastic and MACD technical parameters suggest the potential for a rise back toward the top. Correspondence of the stock's 30-day moving average to the base of the channel backs the rebound notion.

Altogether, brokers recommend the issue with four "strong buys" and seven "buys." The TMO Price to Book ratio (2.56), Operating Margin (10.60%) and Revenue per Employee ($249k) compare favorably with industry averages. The stock is one of those used to calculate the S&P 500 Index. Institutions hold about 37 percent of the outstanding shares.

Over the past twelve months, the issue has traded between $30.27 and $46.34. A stop-loss of $39.35 looks good here. Note that the company will discuss its expectations for future performance tomorrow morning, at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference. Note, too, that it is expected to report Q4 results at the end of January.

Larry Schutts is a contributing editor for Theflyonthewall.com and the Vice-President of Stockwinners.com.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Goodyear Tire (GT) and Nvidia (NVDA) top today's modest-sized list of upgrades.

• Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (NYES:GT) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Merrill Lynch citing improved third-quarter results and improved relations with unions.
• Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at BMO Capital Markets following their strong third-quarter report.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• IMAX Corp (NASDAQ:IMAX) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Merriman. The firm noted that IMAX Corp.'s third-quarter results were below expectations but they were looking beyond the first-half of 2007 for a rebound in operating trends.
• American Tech upgraded Thermo Electron (NYSE:TMO) to Buy from Neutral, citing the Fisher Scientific (FSH) merger for its rational.

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