Stocks had surged on Thursday on more hopes for trade talks with China set to resume in October, and the markets were indicated to open up by 0.3% on average on Friday after a mild positive payrolls gain of 130,000 jobs for August was released. Despite all the volatility swings in the stock market, it’s important to keep in mind that the market indexes are still up double-digits in 2019 and that the bull market is well over 10 years. Investors should be considering what changes, if any, they want to make on how their portfolios and assets are positioned heading into late 2019 and as 2020 approaches.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week to find new ideas for traders and long-term investors alike. Some of the daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

We have provided these calls in a quick-hit summary for easy reading, and additional comments and trading data have been added on some of the calls. 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 for Friday, September 6, 2019.

AGCO Corp. (NYSE: AGCO) was raised to Buy from Hold and the target price was raised to $84 from $79 at Stifel.

Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ALXN) was maintained as Outperform but the target price was lowered to $146 from $154 at Credit Suisse. Shares closed up 2.8% at $100.28 but were indicated down 1.5% at $98.80 on Friday, with a prior consensus target price of $158.11.

American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $35 target price (versus a $27.69 prior close and a prior consensus target price of $38.75) at Berenberg.

Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ARCH) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and the target price was cut to $100 from $105 (versus $76.16 close, after almost a 2% drop) at BMO Capital Markets.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform and the target price was lowered to $29 from $36 at Keefe Bruyette & Woods. It had a consensus target price of $3.14, and its 2.9% gain to $28.12 on Thursday was indicated with a 0.5% drop to $28.00 on Friday.

Beyond Meat Inc. (NASDAQ: BYND) was started with an Underperform rating and the target price was set at $130 (versus a $160.97 close, after a 1.6% drop) at D.A. Davidson. The consensus target price is $161.00 and the post-IPO trading range has been $45.00 to $239.71.

Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) closed down almost 4% at $39.62 on Thursday after margin pressure was pointed out with its earnings, and this is a company consistently called out as one of the top 5G network build-out winners. Nomura/Instinet maintained Ciena as Buy but cut the target to $47 from $52, while Barclays reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target to $53 from $50. The prior consensus target price was $51.35.

Conagra Brands Inc. (NYSE: CAG) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the target price was lowered to $31 from $33 (versus a $28.45 close) at Goldman Sachs. The consensus target price is $32.29.

Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $72 target price (versus a $58.19 close) at Berenberg. Delta’s consensus target price was $69.94.

DocuSign Inc. (NASDAQ: DOCU) was started as Outperform with a $75 target price (versus a $46.25 close) at RBC Capital Markets. Wedbush Securities raised it to Outperform from Neutral and raised its target to $65 from $48, and Citigroup reiterated its Buy rating and lifted its target to $72 from $60. The stock was last seen trading up 22% at $56.55 after earnings, and the prior consensus target price was $60.73. The post-IPO trading range has been $35.06 to $59.67.

Domo Inc. (NASDAQ: DOMO) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and the target price was slashed to $20 from $45 at Credit Suisse. The stock was up 4.5% at $25.21 on Thursday but indicated down more than 35% at $16.20 in its post-earnings reaction.

Eloxx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ELOX) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $14 price target (versus a $5.97 close) at Janney. It has only a $238 million market cap, but Janney called it an attractive investment opportunity after continued weakness from a combination of a lack of catalysts, but it also sees key data readouts from two Phase 2 studies expected in the fourth quarter.

HCA Healthcare Inc. (NYSE: HCA) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform and the price objective was raised to $137 from $130 at Merrill Lynch.

Kellogg Co. (NYSE: K) was raised to Buy from Neutral from Buy and the target price was raised to $72 from $58 (versus a $62.84 close) at Goldman Sachs. The consensus target price is $62.17.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) was reiterated as Outperform and the target price was raised to $235 from $198 at Credit Suisse. Lululemon closed up 4.2% at $188.41 ahead of earnings and was indicated up another 6% at $200.00 on Friday.

Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that the department store operator has continued to disappoint shareholders and investors alike, with its stock down about 50% year to date. Macy’s shares last closed at $15.31 and have a consensus price target of $18.53.

Navistar International Corp. (NYSE: NAV) was raised to Neutral from Sell with a $26 target price (versus a $25.35 close) at Goldman Sachs.

NRG Energy Inc. (NYSE: NRG) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight and the target price was raised to $49 from $47 (versus a $37.60 close) at Morgan Stanley. The consensus target price was $45.90.

Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ: PCTY) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that there is a significant amount of growth potential in cloud technology, especially when it comes to enterprise software. Shares of Paylocity most recently closed at $108.64, with a consensus price target of $114.94.

Peabody Energy Corp. (NYSE: BTU) was maintained as Market Perform and the target price was lowered to $22 from $25 (versus a $16.56 close, after an 11% drop) at BMO Capital Markets.

PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) was maintained as Underperform but the target price was raised to $117 from $110 at Credit Suisse.

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) was started with a Hold rating and assigned a $57 target price (versus a $52.52 close) at Berenberg.

Steel Dynamics Inc. (NASDAQ: STLD) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform and the target price was lowered to $30 from $40 (versus a $28.05 close) at BMO Capital Markets.

United Airlines Holdings Inc. (NYSE: UAL) was started with a Hold rating and a $95 target price (versus an $85.84 close) at Berenberg.

Zoom Video Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM) was started as Sector Perform with a $99 target price (versus a $91.00 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Six stocks are touted as the next 5G winners, based on where their shares are now.

Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Cloudera, Dollar General, General Electric, Lyft, Match, MongoDB, Palo Alto Networks, Papa John’s, Slack, Walmart and many more.

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