Sprint (NYSE:S) is upi 5% on news that it will form an alliance to build out it WiMax broadband network.

Clearwire (NASDAQ:CLWR) is up over 10% on news that it will be part of the Sprint initiative.

Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) is down 1.2% on news that Bill Gates says his company will not pursue its takeover bid.

Motorola (NYSE:MOT) is up 1.2% on news that Carl Icahn has raised his stake in the company.

Stocks may trade differently in the pre-market than they do in the regular session.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• RBC initiated Visa Inc (NYSE: V) with an Outperform based on margin expansion opportunities, the secular growth story towards electronic payments, lack of credit risk, and international opportunities. Piper started Visa with a Neutral rating. While the firm believes that Visa should generate long-term earnings growth and free cash flow, the firm thinks that Visa's valuation has increased the risk that strong earnings growth may not meet investors' expectations. However, the firm believes that Visa can still post strong results despite the U.S. consumer slowdown. Goldman initiated Visa with a Buy rating and $90 target and Morgan Stanley started shares with an Equal Weight rating and $75 target.
• Citigroup rated Cardionet Inc (NASDAQ: BEAT) a Buy, citing favorable arrhythmia monitoring trends. The firm has a $26 target on Cardionet.
• Motorola Inc (NYSE: MOT) was assumed with an Equal Weight rating and $75 target at Morgan Stanley on valuation.

• Merriman initiated Netezza Corporation (NYSE: NZ) with a Neutral rating.
• Credit Suisse started Cascal N.V. (NYSE: HOO) with a Neutral rating and $11.65 target.

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MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Thomas Weisel downgraded Motorola Inc (NYSE: MOT) to Market Weight from Overweight based on the general uncertainty in the company's core markets and the likelihood that the spin off may not occur for several quarters.
• Piper believes Williams-Sonoma Inc (NYSE: WSM) faces a challenging environment, and their checks reveal weakness at Pottery Barn. Shares were cut to Neutral from Buy.
• ThinkPanmure downgraded Synchronoss Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: SNCR) to Accumulate from Buy. The firm expects a strong Q1 report but expects shares to sell-off following the Q1 conference call due to modest guidance and the lack of a major customer win announcement.

• RBC Capital downgraded Bank of Nova Scotia Halifax (NYSE: BNS) to Underperform from Sector Perform.
• JP Morgan cut The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE: GT) to Neutral from Overweight.
• Goldman removed Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc (NYSE: POT) from its Conviction Buy List.

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Anadigics (NASDAQ: ANAD) makes gallium arsenide (GaAs) and indium phosphide (InP) radio frequency integrated circuits for the broadband wireless and wireline communications markets. The physical properties of GaAs and InP allow the firm to make chips that are smaller, faster and more energy efficient than the usual silicon-based devices. The company focuses on applications for wireless local area networks, cable set-top boxes, cell phones, cable television systems, microwave systems and fiber-to-the-premises communications systems. Customers include Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and Motorola (NYSE: MOT).

The firm surprised the Street last week, when it reported Q1 EPS of 15 cents and revenues of $74.4 million. Analysts had been looking for ten cents and $69.2 million. Management also guided Q2 EPS to 16-17 cents (13 cent consensus) and Q2 revenues to $77-$79 million ($72.96M consensus). Roth Capital subsequently reiterated its "buy" recommendation on ANAD and Charter Equity upgraded the stock to "market perform".

The shares popped on the news and are now forming a bullish "pennant" consolidation pattern. Prices frequently exit pennants moving in the same direction they were traveling on entry. In this case, that would be to the upside.

Altogether, brokers now recommend the issue with six "strong buys", two "buys" and five "holds". Analysts see a 22% growth rate, through the next year. The ANAD Price to Sales ratio (2.71), Price to Book ratio (2.67) and EPS Growth rate (0.00 to 0.15 yr/yr) compare favorably with industry, sector and S&P 500 averages. Institutional investors hold about 95% of the outstanding shares. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock has traded between $5.85 and $19.53. A stop-loss of $9.50 looks good here.

Larry Schutts is a contributing editor for Theflyonthewall.com and the Vice-President of Stockwinners.com. He does not hold positions in any of the stocks mentioned above.

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Goldman Sachs affirmed its "neutral" rating on Sysco (NYSE: SYY), saying "shares have been trading lower on concerns related to whether softening consumer spending is affecting casual dining and upper-end restaurants," according to the AP.

Thomas Weisel downgraded Motorola (NYSE:MOT) to "market weight" from "overweight" according to Briefing.com. The news service also reports that Morgan Stanley intiated Visa (NYSE:V) with a rating of "equal weight".

Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) was raised to "peer perform" at Bear Stearns according to a report at 24/7 Wall St. The financial website also writes that Goodyear Tire & Rubber (NYSE:GT) was cut to "neutral " at JP Morgan.

Douglas A. McIntyre

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Lately, there have been some scary stories -- such as in BusinessWeek and Forbes.com -- about the buyout of Freescale, which is a major semiconductor operator (the transaction came in September 2006 at $17.6 billion).

The latest earnings report was anemic. Plus, the company's bonds are selling at distressed levels. In fact, the CEO -- Michel Mayer -- quit his post in February (but don't cry for him as he took millions in a nice payday). And of course, Freescale's key customer, Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT), is ailing.

So, might this prevent further buyout deals in the semiconductor space?

Not necessarily. According to a piece in Financial News, it looks like KKR is still bullish on the sector. Actually, the firm made an investment in the sector, NXP, which has taken a drubbing.

But, then again, private equity is supposed to take the long view, right?

Well, KKR thinks that NXP could be a vehicle for consolidation. And, the firm has no shortage of cash to pull it off. Besides, NXP recently sold its wireless assets to STMicroelectronics for a cool $1.5 billion.

It's a gutsy move for KKR -- but does make sense. With a cyclical downturn, there should be many bargains. Plus, there are opportunities to cut costs.

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 MergerBook.com.

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No matter how badly Motorola (NYSE:MOT) has done in the handset business, it has managed to keep its spot as the market share leader in its home base of the US but that may change. According to The Wall Street Journai, "Motorola's U.S. cellphone sales are dropping so sharply -- and Samsung is catching up so quickly -- that the South Korean company may soon knock Motorola from the perch it has held in the U.S. since it invented the cellphone in 1983."

What can be said? Motorola has been losing market share for the last two years and there is no reason to believe that it can reverse that trend. When its RAZR was selling well, it had 22% of the global market. Now that number is closer to 14%. Nokia (NYSE:NOK), the leader, has 39% of the global market.

The market share figure is not just a number on a piece of paper. It may result in making the spin-off of the handset unit to shareholders more difficult. After pressure from Carl Icahn and other investors, Motorola will split the company into two pieces. One will have the handset assets and the other the home products, enterprise, and government sales operations.

There has been some speculation that the handset part of the company is worth nothing. Motorola tried to sell the operation last year. As far as anyone knows, there were no buyers. The company's shares now trade for $9.55, down from $26 in October 2006. Almost all of that loss in value comes from problems in the handset operations.

When shareholders get their handset division stock in the spin-out, they will be lucky if they are worth $1.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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Before the bell: Futures down on SBUX, AMZN, despite AAPL, Ford

Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) reported a smaller-than-forecast 3% profit drop Thursday and said it would have a good second quarter. Higher feedstock and energy costs were blamed for the drop. The chemical giant reported earnings of 99 cents per share, beating the 94 cents estimate.

• 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) reported a 28% drop in tits first-quarter earnings while sales rose 9% and affirmed 2008 guidance.
• Newell Rubbermaid (NYSE: NWL) reported that first-quarter net income rose 15% on 3.6% higher sales, and it cut its estimate of adjusted earnings for the year.
• Motorola (NYSE: MOT) reported a loss of $0.05 per share, excluding non-recurring items, beating estimates by 2 cents. The guidance, however, was lowered. MOT shares are down 4.7% in premarket trading.

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Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) is a leading provider of wireless communications hardware, software and services. Company devices allow access to email, telephone, messaging, Internet and intranet-based applications. RIM products include the BlackBerry wireless platform and the RIM Wireless Handheld product line. The firm also provides software development tools and makes radio-based modems that other manufacturers incorporate into their portable devices. Competitors include Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and Nokia (NYSE: NOK).

The company surprised the Street earlier in the month, when it reported Q4 EPS of 72 cents and revenues of $1.88 billion. Analysts had been looking for 70 cents and $1.86 billion. Management also guided Q1 EPS to 82-86 cents (76 cent consensus) and Q1 revenues to $2.23-$2.30 billion ($2.02B consensus). In discussing the solid numbers, the firm noted that heightened retail activities helped drive exceptional subscriber growth during the quarter. Oppenheimer, Lehman Brothers and Caris subsequently reiterated "buy" recommendations on the stock and declared price targets in the $135-$150 range.

The news kept RIMM shares cycling in a positive, seven-week trading channel. The price has just rebounded from the base of that channel, where an oversold MACD parameter suggested the potential for a rise back toward the top.

Altogether, brokers recommend the issue with nine "strong buys", eighteen "buys", five "holds" and one "sell". Analysts see a 33% growth rate, through the next year. The RIMM Sales Growth rate (102.36%), EPS Growth rate (118.95%), Operating Margin (28.81%), Net Profit Margin (21.53%), Return on Assets (30.09%), Return on Investment (39.33%) and Return on Equity (40.33%) compare favorably with industry, sector and S&P 500 averages. Institutions hold about 68% of the outstanding shares. The stock is one of those used to calculate the Nasdaq 100 Index and the AMEX Internet Index. Over the past 52 weeks, it has traded between $42.93 and $137.01. A stop-loss of $103.50 looks good here.

Larry Schutts is a contributing editor for Theflyonthewall.com and the Vice-President of Stockwinners.com. He does not hold positions in any of the stocks mentioned above.

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• Technical Stock-Picking: Strength Trading With the 'RSI'
• The Big View of Big Blue

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Tessera Technologies (NASDAQ: TSRA) is a leading provider of miniaturization technologies for the electronics industry. The firm develops and licenses a range of advanced chip packaging, interconnect, and optics solutions for the consumer, computing, communications, medical and defense electronics markets.

There was good news for Tessera investors late last month, when the U.S. International Trade Commission overturned a stay on a company patent infringement case against Motorola (NYSE: MOT), Qualcomm (NYSE: QCOM) and others. Tessera collects royalties on its chip packaging technologies from such companies as Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and Sony (NYSE: SNE), but the defendants in this case have refused to pay the same. The case may now proceed, but an out-of-court settlement is possible. Tessera came to such an agreement in 2002, for example, with current customer Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN). TSRA shares fell sharply in late February, when the stay was originally announced. Once it was lifted, Davenport upgraded the stock to "strong buy" status and declared a $35 price target.

The share price popped on the news and has since been consolidating the gain in a bullish "flag" pattern. Prices frequently exit flags moving in the same direction they were traveling on entry. In this case, that would be to the upside. Note that the flag has retained its integrity, despite a subsequent preliminary U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ruling rejecting certain company claims in yet another enforcement action.

Altogether, brokers now recommend the stock with four "strong buys", four "buys" and two "holds". Analysts see an 63% growth rate, through the next year. The TSRA PEG ratio (1.02), Price to Book ratio (2.55), Price to Free Cash Flow ratio (14.87), Operating Margin (33.80%), Net Profit Margin (23.07%) and Net Income per Employee ($118.5k) compare favorably with industry, sector and S&P 500 averages. Institutional investors hold about 95% of the outstanding shares. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock has traded between $11.11 and $46.43. A stop-loss of $18.85 looks good here. Note that the firm is expected to report Q1 results in early May. It has reiterating its revenue guidance for the first and second quarters and that guidance does not include settlements from the company's current enforcement actions.

Larry Schutts is a contributing editor for Theflyonthewall.com and the Vice-President of Stockwinners.com. He does not hold positions in any of the stocks mentioned above.

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MAJOR PAPERS:

• General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) part supplier Delphi Corporation (OTC: DPHIQ), under bankruptcy court protection and having difficulty raising the $6.1B it needs to leave Chapter 11, may get more help from GM, which is reviewing taking more of Delphi's pension liabilities, the Wall Street Journal reported.
• The Wall Street Journal also reported that the FAA recently found that 46 Southwest Airlines Co (NYSE: LUV) jets failed to complete mandatory inspections and that six planes needed repairs. The FAA also found, and alleged, that the airline attempted to pick and choose the agency's inspectors to review their fleet of planes.
• The Financial Times reported that a planned merger between Brasil Telecom SA (NYSE: BTM) and Oi, two of Brazil's largest telecom companies, may be threatened by a battle between Citigroup Incorporated (NYSE: C) and Brasil Telecom's controlling shareholders.

• Motorola Inc (NYSE: MOT) will stop making mobile phones in Singapore by the end of this year, according to the Straits Times, which is expected to result in the loss of at least 700 jobs.

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