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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Baidu, Chipotle, First Solar, Honeywell, JPMorgan, Maxar, Nokia, Nvidia, PG&A, SunPower, Xilinx and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: January 8, 2019 9:05 am

Last Updated: January 31, 2020 2:23 am

Stocks were indicated to open higher again on Tuesday, with U.S.-China trade talks leading the charge higher. Investors are still recovering from major selling and volatility at the end of 2018 and start of 2019, but the prior trend of buying every dip just has not been working for some time now. Investors should be rethinking and considering 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 in an effort 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, January 8, 2019.

Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight with a $188 target price (versus a $162.60 prior close) at Morgan Stanley. Its consensus target price was about $247 ahead of this call, and its 52-week trading range is $153.78 to $284.22.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) was reiterated as Overweight and the target price was raised to $525 from $500 (versus a $485.15 close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets. The consensus target price is $469.88, and the 52-week trading range of $247.52 to $530.68.

DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA) was raised to Neutral from Sell but the price target was lowered to $59 from $64 (versus a $54.37 close) at UBS. The consensus analyst target is $76.60.

Elevate Credit Inc. (NYSE: ELVT) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the target price was slashed to $5 from $9 (versus a $4.85 close) at Jefferies.

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) was started as Overweight and assigned a $63 target price (versus a $45.79 prior close) at Barclays.

General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the target price was lowered to $164 from $197 at Jefferies.

Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON) was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer. Shares were up 0.5% at $135.37 on Monday’s close but were indicated down marginally on Tuesday. The 52-week range is $123.48 to $162.52 and the consensus price target is $169.21.

Hyatt Hotels Corp. (NYSE: H) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James, just one day after a Merrill Lynch downgrade to Neutral from Buy.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies, in part because the Federal Reserve could be done hiking interest rates. Despite the downgrade, its shares were indicated up 0.4% at $101.20 on Tuesday.

Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price objective was lowered to $207 from $230 at Merrill Lynch.

Maxar Technologies Ltd. (NYSE: MAXR) was down over 31% at $8.03 on Monday and was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with a target price cut to $5.88 from $17 at Credit Suisse. The firm warned that a dividend cut is likely after the company announced that its WorldView 4 satellite had malfunctioned and was unlikely to recover.

Monster Beverage Corp. (NASDAQ: MNST) was raised to Buy from Hold and the price target was raised to $65 from $50 at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Moody’s Corp. (NYSE: MCO) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.

Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $7.50 price target (versus a $6.02 prior close) at Raymond James. Nokia’s 52-week trading range is $4.75 to $6.41.

Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) was maintained as Outperform at Credit Suisse, but the firm lowered earnings estimates for this year and next as it sees the overhang of its excess graphics inventory likely persisting out into the April quarter.

Oasis Petroleum Inc. (NYSE: OAS) was raised to Buy from Hold at Stifel. After rising 2.3% to $6.18 on Monday, its shares were indicated up 4% at $6.45 on Tuesday.

PG&E Corp. (NYSE: PCG) saw its credit rating downgraded to junk-bond status at S&P, and the credit ratings agency warned that additional downgrades could be coming as well.

Steel Dynamics Inc. (NASDAQ: STLD) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

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SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) was started as Underweight and assigned a $4 target price (versus a $5.48 close) at Barclays. Shares have a 52-week range of $4.55 to $10.00.

TerraForm Power Inc. (NASDAQ: TERP) was started with an Overweight rating and assigned a $15 target price (versus an $11.25 close) at Barclays.

United States Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Voya Financial Inc. (NYSE: VOYA) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $110 from $85 (versus an $89.76 close) at Argus. The independent research firm continues to see additional gains from the company facilitating the development of artificial intelligence, machine learning and autonomous driving.

Monday’s top analyst calls included Adobe, Altria, Alphabet, Dollar General, Hyatt, PNC, Salesforce.com, Snap, Spotify and many more.