Earnings season is winding down, stocks are taking a breather after the DJIA and S&P 500 both hit new all-time highs, and now traders and investors alike have to start positioning their holdings for 2014. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of research reports each morning to see the new research notes from Wall Street analysts, as we are on the hunt to find new ideas for our readers. These are this Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall Street research firms.

Alliant Techsystems Inc. (NYSE: ATK) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the target rice was raised to $148 from $111 (versus a $113.93 closing price) at Credit Suisse. We would point out that the consensus price target is $120.10 and the prior high target price was $136, so this $148 call is a new street high from the analyst community. The draw here is that Defense is shrinking to just 30% of sales, while Aerospace is growing quietly and Sporting keeps expanding organically and externally.

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) was maintained as a Buy but was added to the Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs. Its price target is $80. Wednesday’s upgrade comes on the heels of a Jefferies upgrade on Tuesday, which was also to Buy and with an $80 price target. That being said, investors often pay close attention to the Goldman Sachs Conviction Buy List more than other lists. Qualcomm closed at $68.51 and is lower after earnings from last week. The consensus price target is $74.73.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) was started as Overweight and was given a big upside price target of $84 (versus a $66.95 close) at J.P. Morgan. This is on the heels of the founder creating yet another controversy about large women causing the yoga pants problem. Shares are indicated up 1% so far Wednesday.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) is being reiterated as Buy with a $21 price target in a very positive report from Sterne Agee. The firm sees DRAM Wuxi output constraints possibly dragging into a February, and it also points out that tier II is seeing higher DRAM pricing and strong seasonal NAND (flash) demand trends.

Other key analyst calls are as follows:

ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT) was cut to Underperform from Neutral by BNP Paribas.

Dean Foods Co. (NYSE: DF) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse. This was after a bad price drop after earnings, and now Credit Suisse sees the stock trading in a range.

NuStar Energy L.P. (NYSE: NS) was raised to Neutral from Underperform and the price target was raised to $53 from $43 at Credit Suisse.

Partner Communications Co. (NASDAQ: PTNR) was downgraded from Neutral to Sell at Goldman Sachs.

Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray.

Synutra International Inc. (NASDAQ: SYUT) was raised to Outperform from Perform with a new $10 price target (versus a $7.17 close) at Oppenheimer.

Taylor Morrison Home Co. (NYSE: TMHC) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sterne Agee.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) was started as Outperform at FBR Capital Markets.

U.S. Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.

We have several interesting list pieces as well. Piper Jaffray issued a list of Santa and holiday stocks to buy. We have also taken some UBS Top Picks list stocks and seen which are the best stocks to buy in 2014.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.