Stocks were indicated to open positive on Tuesday, on earnings and on more hopes for a China trade deal. The major market indexes are still up in the double-digit percentages year to date, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are both within striking distance of all-time highs. Investors should be considering how they want their portfolios positioned for the rest of the year and beyond.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week in an effort to find new trading and investing ideas for our readers. Some of the daily analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

Additional commentary and trading data have been added on some of the daily analyst reports. The consensus analyst price targets and other valuation metrics are from the Refinitiv (Thomson Reuters) sell-side research service.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Tuesday, April 16, 2019.

Alamos Gold Inc. (NYSE: AGI) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $7 price target (versus a $4.92 prior close) at Credit Suisse. It has a consensus target price of $9.01 and a 52-week trading range of $2.90 to $6.13.

BP PLC (NYSE: BP) was maintained as Outperform at RBC Capital Markets, but the firm removed BP from the Top Pick list, noting that the valuation is still compelling but that the discount to peers has narrowed. Shares closed most recently at $44.67, in a 52-week range of $36.28 to $47.83. The consensus price target is $48.75.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $62 from $58 at Goldman Sachs. Shares closed at $56.56, in a 52-week range of $40.25 to $56.61. The consensus price target is $55.46.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (NASDAQ: CTSH) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo. Shares closed at $74.32, in a 52-week range of $59.47 to $83.35. The consensus price target is $82.53.

Coty Inc. (NYSE: COTY) was maintained as Market Perform but the price target was raised to $11 from $9 at Wells Fargo.

Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup. Shares closed at $164.97, in a 52-week range of $124.40 to $172.08. The consensus price target is $159.95.

Dow Inc. (NYSE: DOW) was started as Outperform and named as a Top Pick with a $68 target price at RBC Capital Markets. Shares closed at $57.78, in a 52-week range of $48.00 to $60.52. The consensus price target is $62.63.

e.l.f. Beauty Inc. (NYSE: ELF) was raised to Buy from Neutral at D.A. Davidson.

Ensco PLC (NYSE: ESV) was started with an Overweight rating and assigned a $25 target price at Morgan Stanley. Shares closed at $14.85, in a 52-week range of $12.76 to $38.04. The consensus price target is $26.21.

EOG Resources Inc. (NYSE: EOG) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at MKM Partners. Shares closed at $102.12, in a 52-week range of $82.04 to $133.53. The consensus price target is $119.11.

Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES) also was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at MKM Partners. Shares closed at $65.54, in a 52-week range of $35.59 to $74.81. The consensus price target is $66.98.

HollyFrontier Corp. (NYSE: HFC) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs. Shares closed at $48.49, in a 52-week range of $46.75 to $83.28. The consensus price target is $60.00.

Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets. Shares closed at $17.38, in a 52-week range of $12.57 to $24.20. The consensus price target is $21.60.

Martin Marietta Inc. (NYSE: MLM) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Merrill Lynch. Shares closed at $211.65, in a 52-week range of $150.75 to $232.89. The consensus price target is $212.00.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) was started with a Neutral rating at Nomura/Instinet. Shares closed at $41.82, in a 52-week range of $28.39 to $64.66. The consensus price target is $46.52.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) was reiterated as Buy with a $400 price target at Deutsche Bank.

Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SC) was raised to Neutral from Underweight at JPMorgan. Shares closed at $22.26, in a 52-week range of $15.55 to $22.63. The consensus price target is $23.28.

Sunoco L.P. (NYSE: SUN) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays. Shares closed at $30.84, in a 52-week range of $23.80 to $31.88. The consensus price target is $31.27.

Versum Materials Inc. (NYSE: VSM) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Loop Capital. Shares closed at $348.87, in a 52-week range of $231.23 to $423.21. The consensus price target is $381.79.

Credit Suisse issued its Earnings Brief for April 16, showing that the consensus expectations for an EPS contraction of 2.6% in the first quarter are misleading because they exclude the “likely beats” that have averaged 4.9% in recent years and also because the median result is forecast to exceed the aggregate estimate by 470 basis points. The firm also pointed out that just over 8% of the S&P 500’s market cap has reported earnings and that those earnings reports are beating estimates by 5.3% and 79% of the companies reporting are exceeding their bottom-line estimates (versus 4.9% and 70% over the past three years).

Think again before you get overly concerned about the recent inverting of the yield curve in Treasuries indicating an imminent recession.

Monday’s top analyst calls included Alliance Data Systems, American Tower, Anadarko Petroleum, CVS Health, Dow, Infosys, Nokia, Phillips 66, Wells Fargo and more.

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