MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Merriman expects UCN Inc (NASDAQ: UCNN) to further expand its contact center product set and believes it is likely to be sold to a larger provider expanding within the hosted contact solution market over the longer term. The firm started shares with a Buy rating.
  
• Jesup & Lamont initiated Astronics (NASDAQ: ATRO) with a Neutral rating. The firm wants to see a change in the backlog visibility and more clarity on the ramp-up schedules of some new programs. For now, they view shares as fairly valued.
  
• Friedman Billings resumed coverage of SunTrust Banks (NYSE: STI) with an Underperform rating and $37 target and cites credit deterioration and uncertainty regarding credit costs.

• Whiting Petroleum (NYSE: WLL) was initiated at Wachovia with an Outperform rating.
  
• Morgan Stanley assumed Imperial Tobacco (NYSE: ITY) with an Overweight rating.
  
• Suncor (NYSE: SU) was started with an Outperform rating and $80 target at RBC Capital.

Analyst initiations: UCNN, ATRO and STI originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 17 Jun 2008 12:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.