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Clearwire (CLWR) today announced that its holders have approved the planned combination of the company with Sprint’s mobile WiMax business. The deal also includes a $3.2 billion investment in the combined company by Intel (INTC), Google (GOOG), Comcast (CMCSA), Time Warner (TWX), Bright House Networks and Trilogy Partners.

The company said it lenders have approved an amendment to the company’s credit agreement to permit the deal to move forward. Clearwire said the deal, which already has FCC and Justice Department approval, should close before year end.

So is this for some reason considered

Not a huge revelation here, but the market is showing particular disdain today for any stocks that give off an aroma of a need for more capital. Here’s a slightly random list of companies which have in common largely the fact that they will eventually need to raise cash to refinance debt or to carry out their business plan. All have fairly leveraged balance sheets. And all have been ripped to shreds by investors in recent weeks. This is off the top of my head, but I’m sure there are other names:

• Sprint Nextel (S): Down 20 cents, or 9.3%, to $1.95.
• Charter Communications (CHTR): Down 5.25 cen

Clearwire (CLWR) shares are slipping today after RBC Capital’s Jonathan Atkin cut his rating on the stock to Sector Perform from Outperform. His target on the stock drops to $9 from $15.

Atkin now sees the company producing an EBITDA loss for 2009 of $474.9 million, worse than hits previous forecast of $455.9 million. He cut his ‘09 revenue forecast to $375 million, from $401 million. (You have to admit, not too many companies have negative cash flow that exceeds revenue. That takes serious effort.) Atkin says he does not expect any catalysts for the stock until wide-scale WiMax launches be

Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Coca-Cola (KO), Kellogg Co (K), Analyst initiations

Analyst upgrades:

• Cowen upgraded Aaron Rents (NYSE: RNT) to Outperform from Neutral and believes the company's business model is gaining momentum despite the difficult environment. The firm views valuation as attractive.
  
• Citigroup upgraded shares of MedCath (NASDAQ: MDTH) to Hold from Sell on valuation following the recent sell-off. The company's target was lowered to $9 from $19.
  
• Stanford upgraded AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV) to Buy from Hold based on valuation and b

Clearwire (CLWR) this morning posted third quarter revenue of $60.8 million, ahead of consensus expectations of $55.5 million. But the company’s loss in the quarter of $1.01 a share was a penny worse than expectations.

The company noted that churn in the quarter rose to 3%, up from 2.3% in the second quarter and 2.6% a year ago, due to “significantly reduced marketing efforts” in its pre-WiMax markets and “increased bad debt-related churn reflecting a difficult consumer economic environment.” The company added just 8,300 net new subscribers in the quarter, although current sub count of 469,0