Stocks traded sharply higher in a post-G20 recovery from a ceasefire in the China trade war, but stocks already were indicated to give back some of those gains on Tuesday as more firms have decided that the 90-day tariff extension may have too many hurdles to be met in such a short time. While the bounce in the past five days has been impressive, investors have seen less upside from buying immediately after the big market sell-offs than in prior years. Now investors have to consider how they want their investments and assets positioned for 2019.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. Our goal is to find new ideas for investors and traders alike. Some of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while others 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, December 4, 2018.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) was reiterated as Overweight and the target price was raised to $82 from $80 at Morgan Stanley. Shares closed up 0.3% at $74.27 on Monday and have a consensus target price of $79.44.

Aldeyra Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: ALDX) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $23 price target (versus a $9.26 prior close) at Citigroup. The stock was indicated up 8% at $10.00 after the call, and it has a 52-week trading range of $6.20 to $16.70.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was lowered to $200 from $205 at HSBC. Apple closed up 3.5% at $184.82 on Monday but was indicated down 2% at $181.04 early Tuesday. Its consensus target price was $229.82, but many analysts had lowered their targets and expectations on weaker iPhone sales.

Apptio Inc. (NASDAQ: APTI) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral with a $38 price target (versus a $38.06 close) at JPMorgan.

Ashford Inc. (NYSEAMERICAN: AINC) was started with a Buy rating and assigned an $87 price target (versus a $68.00 close) at Janney. The firm cited an attractive valuation and multiple opportunities for it find growth.

Cheniere Energy Inc. (NYSEAMERICAN: LNG) was started as Buy and assigned an $85 price target (versus a $63.06 close) at Guggenheim. The 52-week trading range is $46.00 to $71.03, and the consensus target price is $79.41.

Fastenal Co. (NASDAQ: FAST) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Longbow. The  52-week range is $47.37 to $61.14, and the consensus target price is $56.92.

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $60 price target at Argus. Shares closed up over 4% at $46.40 on Monday, and they have a 52-week range of $36.51 to $81.72.

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE: HIG) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Janney. The firm noted that Hartford has underperformed peers in 2018 (down 22% year to date) but it sees it now having one of the lowest P/E ratios in the P&C space, and it is now positioned in businesses that have historically generated attractive returns and excess capital.

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE: KNX) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS. It closed down 2% at $33.96 on Monday and has a consensus target price of $44.16.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: KTOS) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $19 price target (versus a $13.42 close) at Robert W. Baird. It has a 52-week range of $8.90 to $16.09, and its consensus target was $16.13.

Owens-Illinois Inc. (NYSE: OI) was downgraded to Underweight from Sector Weight with a $16 target price (versus an $18.57 close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

RH (NYSE: RH), or Restoration Hardware, was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $160 from $145 (versus a $123.65 close) at Wedbush Securities.

RMR Group Inc. (NYSE: RMR) was raised to Buy from Neutral with an $82 price target at B. Riley FBR. That is actually a lower target than the prior $89 one the firm had, but the consensus target price was down at $57.50.

Smartsheet Inc. (NYSE: SMAR) was reiterated as Overweight but the price target was raised to $34 from $33 (versus a $27.06 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Tesaro Inc. (NASDAQ: TSRO) was up 58.5% at $73.50 after news that GlaxoSmithKline is acquiring it. Now the analysts are downgrading the stock to reflect the higher takeout price. Analyst downgrades were seen from Leerink, Gabelli, Guggenheim, Wedbush and more.

United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) was reiterated as Underweight and the price target was lowered even further at Morgan Stanley to $87 from $92. The shares closed at $115.27 on Monday and were indicated down another 1.5% at $113.60 on Tuesday. UPS also had a consensus target price of $124.61.

Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VNDA) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with a $43 price target (versus a $31.47 close, after a 25% gain) at Cantor Fitzgerald.

Waste Management Inc. (NYSE: WM) was raised to Buy from Sell in a two-notch upgrade at Goldman Sachs, and the price target was raised to $107 from $84. The consensus target price is $96.22, and the shares were indicated up 1.8% at $94.75 on Tuesday.

Werner Enterprises Inc. (NASDAQ: WERN) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS. The 52-week range is $31.08 to $43.95. The consensus analyst target is $39.06.

Monday’s top analyst calls included ABB, AGCO, AT&T, Broadcom, Caterpillar, Costco, First Solar, Lululemon Athletica, Roku, Verizon Communications, Xilinx and many more great companies.

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