Stocks were getting hammered on Tuesday morning on the heels of disappointing earnings from some key Dow Jones industrials stocks. This is after Monday’s early gains failed to hold by the close. Investors have seen lower upside after buying immediately after the big market pullbacks in 2018 than in prior years, and now the major bank stocks are already seeming to reflect their own bear market.

The investing community needs to consider how to position their investments for the rest of the year and into 2019.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week to find new ideas for investors and traders alike. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, but some cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

Additional commentary has been added on most of the daily analyst reports, along with trading history. The consensus analyst price targets and other valuation metrics are from the Thomson Reuters sell-side research service.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Tuesday, October 23, 2018.

AcelRx Corp. (NASDAQ: ACRX) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $9 price target (versus a $3.75 prior close) at B. Riley. The shares were up 3.3% on Monday and were indicated up 2.9% at $3.86 on Tuesday.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight with a $25 price target at Barclays. AMD shares were up almost 5.8% at $25.03 on Monday, and they were indicated up almost 4% at $24.35 on Tuesday.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was reiterated as Outperform with a $2,100 target price (versus a $1,789.30 close) at Wedbush Securities. The call is ahead of this Thursday’s earnings report, and Wedbush expects that Amazon will guide below the Street for the fourth quarter as it opts for conservatism.

Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) was downgraded to Neutral from Positive and the price target was slashed to $38 from $60 at Susquehanna. The stock closed down 2.2% at $33.53 on Monday and was indicated down over 4% at $32.10 on Tuesday. The prior consensus target price was $57.50.

Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $35 price target at Stifel. Ciena closed up 0.7% at $30.96 on Monday and was indicated marginally higher at $31.00 on Tuesday. The consensus target price was $34.25 ahead of this call.

DexCom Inc. (NASDAQ: DXCM) was reiterated as Outperform and the target price was raised to $150 from $125 (versus a $131.44 close) at Raymond James.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) was maintained as Outperform at Robert W. Baird, but the firm slashed its price target to $34 from $46. RBC Capital Markets also downgraded it to Sector Perform from Outperform.

Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) was maintained as Overweight but the price target was cut to $200 from $225 at Morgan Stanley.

Lam Research Corp. (NASDAQ: LRCX) was downgraded to Neutral from Positive and the price target was cut to $165 from $225 at Susquehanna. Lam Research closed down 0.6% at $144.27 on Monday and was indicated down over 3% at $139.75 on Tuesday. The prior consensus target price was $203.84.

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Lennox International Inc. (NYSE: LII) was maintained as Underweight but the price target was cut to $183 from $201 at Morgan Stanley.

Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) was maintained as Overweight but the price target was cut to $110 from $125 at Morgan Stanley. Citigroup raised Lowe’s to Buy from Neutral with a $112 price target.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) was downgraded to Neutral from Positive at Susquehanna. It closed down 1.7% at $39.76 on Monday, and the shares were indicated down 3.6% at $38.31. The consensus target price was $67.87 ahead of this call.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) was reiterated as Outperform with a $140 price target (versus a $109.63 close) at Wedbush ahead of Wednesday’s earnings report. The firm sees earnings being beat, with another strong quarter from its cloud operations.

NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight and the price target was lowered to $95 from $105 at Barclays. The American depositary shares closed down 1.57% at $76.48 on Monday and were indicated down 2% at $74.95 on Tuesday.

RH (NYSE: RH), the owner of Restoration Hardware, was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $145 price target (versus a $109.40 close, after a 10.8% drop) at Wedbush. The firm said it was in a class by itself and that it is thriving by attracting in-store shoppers with upscale furniture displays, hospitality options and free design services. The 52-week trading range is $74.50 to $164.49, and the consensus target price is $157.53.

Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) was downgraded to Negative from Neutral and the target price was slashed to $32 from $53 at Susquehanna. Seagate closed down 0.5% at $43.60 on Monday and was indicated down over 5% at $41.25 on Tuesday.

Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) was maintained as Outperform with a $12.25 price target (versus a $6.84 close) at Wedbush ahead of Thursday’s earnings report. The firm acknowledges that waiting is the hardest part on Snap, but it expects third-quarter results at the high-end of guidance despite stalled user growth.

Stericycle Inc. (NASDAQ: SRCL) was started with an Underperform rating and assigned a $53 price objective (versus a $52.14 close) at Merrill Lynch.

VF Corp. (NYSE: VFC) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $94 price target (versus a $77.60 close) at Wedbush. The firm noted an off-the-wall reaction of late, and the upgrade was largely on valuation and the view that investor concerns around growth momentum and margins may have been taken out of context.

Monday’s top analyst calls included AT&T, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Intel, Nucor, Occidental Petroleum, Schlumberger, Snap, United Rentals and many more.

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