Stocks have seen their worst December since the Great Depression, but Tuesday’s early indications were for the indexes to recapture some of Monday’s 2% losses. Investors have to keep in mind that there has been less upside from buying immediately after the big market sell-offs than in prior years. Now investors have to consider how they want to have 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 some of them 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 18, 2018.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned an $82 price target at Credit Suisse.

Albemarle Corp. (NYSE: ALB) was maintained with an Overweight rating at KeyBanc Capital Markets, but the firm lowered its target price from $140 to $120. The shares closed down over 5% at $80.51 on Monday.

Alliant Energy Corp. (NYSE: LNT) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $49 from $47 (versus a $44.13 prior close) at Argus. It has a 52-week trading range of $36.84 to $46.58.

Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $77 price target at Credit Suisse.

Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $42 price target at Credit Suisse.

BP PLC (NYSE: BP) was started with a Market Perform rating and assigned a $41 price target at Wells Fargo. BP’s American depositary shares have a 52-week trading range of $36.15 to $47.83.

Edwards LifeSciences Corp. (NYSE: EW) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $188 price target at Credit Suisse.

Embraer S.A. (NYSE: ERJ) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was lifted to $28 from $27 at Credit Suisse. The firm noted that Boeing’s prolonged courtship is now closer to fruition.

Globus Medical Inc. (NYSE: GMED) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $53 price target at Credit Suisse.

Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: IART) was started as Outperform and assigned a $57 target price (versus a $47.11 close) at Credit Suisse.

Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) was started as Overweight and assigned a $250 price target at KeyBanc Capital Markets. The stock closed down 1.7% at $197.49 on Monday, and it has a 52-week trading range of $150.43 to $231.84.

Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $25 price target (versus a $14.72 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Medtronic PLC (NYSE: MDT) was started as Outperform and assigned a $109 price target (versus a $91.85 close) at Credit Suisse.

MercadoLibre Inc. (NASDAQ: MELI) was started as Sector Weight at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

NCR Corp. (NYSE: NCR) already was rated as Outperform but was added to the Top Picks list with a $40 target price at RBC Capital Markets.

Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE: NSC) was raised to Overweight from Neutral and the price target was raised to $203 from $198 at JPMorgan.

NuVasive Inc. (NASDAQ: NUVA) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $66 price target at Credit Suisse.

Plymouth Industrial REIT Inc. (NYSE: PLYM) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $16 price target (versus an $11.87 close) at Wedbush Securities.

Prologis Inc. (NYSE: PLD) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $72 price target at Deutsche Bank.

Public Storage (NYSE: PSA) was raised to In-Line from Underperform with a $217 price target at Evercore ISI Group.

Stryker Corp. (NYSE: SYK) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $195 price target at Credit Suisse.

Tailored Brands Inc. (NYSE: TLRD) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $20 price target (versus a $13.46 close) at B. Riley. This is the merged parent of Men’s Wearhouse, Jos. A. Bank and other store brands.

WABCO Holdings Inc. (NYSE: WBC) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight and the target price was lowered to $117 from $124 (versus a $103.09 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Washington Prime Group Inc. (NYSE: WPG) was downgraded to Sell from an already cautious Neutral rating at Goldman Sachs.

Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ZBH) was started with an Underperform rating and assigned a $102 price target at Credit Suisse.

24/7 Wall St. has noted that some of the price targets from major firms will be changing based on volatility. Credit Suisse had been the most bullish of the major firms, with a 3,350 target for the S&P 500 at end of 2019. That target was just ratcheted down handily to 2,925. While this is almost 15% upside still forecast, and while the firm kept its EPS targets unchanged for 2019 and 2020, the lower price target reflects the recent market volatility rather than a change in the fundamental backdrop.

Monday’s top analyst calls included Best Buy, Emerson Electric, Genpact, IBM, Lululemon Athletica, Manchester United, Sherwin-Williams, SCANA and many more.

Get Our Free Investment Newsletter

I have read, and agree to the Terms of Use

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