Stocks were indicated to open higher on Tuesday as bank and other earnings look stronger than anticipated. The reports that China wants more talks before signing the phase one deal are still a weight, as the index gains were up just about 0.2% on average and overseas trading was mixed. Investors have to grapple with a slower economy at the same time that the bull market is well over 10 years old. Now is a time to be considering what changes investors should make for their portfolios and assets 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 other calls 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 mentioned and other valuation metrics are from the Refinitiv sell-side research service.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations for Tuesday, October 15, 2019.

Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) was maintained as Neutral but the target price was raised to $55 from $47 (versus a $55.01 prior close) at Citigroup.

AECOM (NYSE: ACM) was reiterated as Buy at Citigroup, and the firm raised its target price from $43 to $47. Shares closed up 6.3% at $39.50 on Monday, after the announcement that the infrastructure player was selling its management services business for $2.4 billion. The market cap is just $6.2 billion as is.

Amarin Corp. PLC (NASDAQ: AMRN) was started with a Neutral rating and assigned a $17 target price (versus a $15.45 close) at Goldman Sachs. It has a 52-week range of $11.78 to $23.91, and its consensus target price was $31.71.

Arconic Inc. (NYSE: ARNC) was reiterated as Outperform and the target price was raised to $34 from $28 at Credit Suisse. The prior close was at $26.84, after a 1.5% move following an upgrade from Cowen.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) was raised to Overweight from Sector Weight with an $18 target price (versus a $12.30 close, after a 5.23% drop) at KeyBanc Capital Markets, which noted a favorable near-term outlook, expected merchandising improvements and the new CEO. Shares were last seen trading up 3% at $12.65 after the call.

Bloomin’ Brands Inc. (NASDAQ: BLMN) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank, and the firm lowered its third-quarter comparable sales estimate for the Outback Steakhouse parent by almost half and is lowering next year’s comparable sales estimates as well.

Children’s Place Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCE) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that negative revisions for this year could give way to growth next year but for now this isn’t the place to be. The shares last closed at $74.83, with a consensus price target of $106.75.

Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG) was reiterated as Overweight and the target price was raised to $170 from $155 at Morgan Stanley.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) was maintained with an Equal Weight rating and the target price was lowered to $35 from $37 at Morgan Stanley.

eHealth Inc. (NASDAQ: EHTH) was down 5.1% at $53.12 on Monday but was indicated up 3.4% at $54.95 on Tuesday. Raymond James started it with an Outperform rating and a $90 target price.

Grubhub Inc. (NYSE: GRUB) was maintained as Equal Weight and the price target was lowered to $59 from $68 (versus a $54.41 close) at Morgan Stanley.

iHeartMedia Inc. (NASDAQ: IHRT) was started with a Neutral rating and assigned a $15 target price (versus a $14.79 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Jagged Peak Energy Inc. (NYSE: JAG) managed to post a 1.5% loss to $6.72 on Monday as its merger announcement is viewed as disappointing. Williams Capital downgraded it from Buy to Hold in response. KeyBanc Capital Markets maintained its Outperform rating but lowered its target price to $9 from $10.

Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) was raised to Overweight from Neutral and the price target was raised to $130 from $113 at Piper Jaffray, with the firm expecting better fundamentals while investor expectations remain modest.

Millicom International Cellular S.A. (NASDAQ: TIGO) was maintained as Buy but the price objective was lowered to $76 from $83 (versus a $46.74 prior close) at Merrill Lynch.

Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) was reiterated as Buy and the price objective was raised to $250 from $225 at Merrill Lynch. The stock was up 0.3% at $186.53 ahead of the call, and the prior consensus target price was $191.43.

PagerDuty Inc. (NYSE: PD) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $31 target price at Robert W. Baird. It closed up 1.45 at $26.45 ahead of the call, and the consensus target price was $40.00.

Sketchers USA Inc. (NYSE: SKX) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that since bottoming out two months ago, this stock has been on the good foot. Shares most recently closed at $36.67, with a consensus price target of $42.50.

Stitch Fix Inc. (NASDAQ: SFIX) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $28 target price (versus a $21.17 close) at Robert W. Baird. The post-IPO trading range is $16.05 to $37.72, and the prior consensus target price was $27.00.

Tallgrass Energy L.P. (NYSE: TGE) was downgraded to Neutral and the target was lowered to $19.50 from $23.00 (versus a $19.39 close) at Citigroup.

Terex Corp. (NYSE: TEX) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral and the target price was lowered to $24 from $27 (versus a $25.13 close) at Citigroup. The prior consensus target price was $29.53, and the 52-week trading range is $22.84 to $38.57.

3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) was maintained as Buy at Citigroup, but the firm lowered its target price to $180 from $197. 3M closed up 1.5% at $160.51 on Monday, and its consensus target price was $172.00 ahead of this call.

Morgan Stanley maintained its ratings on its auto-retailer coverage on Tuesday. The exception was Carvana Co. (NYSE: CVNA), which was reiterated as Underweight and the price target was lowered to $29 from $30. The rest of the car dealer target hikes and ratings were shown as follows:

• AutoNation Inc. (NYSE: AN) is Underweight but the target raised to $42 from $39.
• Group 1 Automotive Inc. (NYSE: GPI) is Overweight and target raised to $105 from $104.
• Lithia Motors Inc. (NYSE: LAD) is Overweight and target raised to $151 from $144.
• Penske Automotive Group Inc. (NYSE: PAG) is Overweight and target raised to $59 from $57.
• Sonic Automotive Inc. (NYSE: SAH) is Underweight and target raised to $22 from $20.

Jefferies equity strategist has done an in-depth look at mid-caps, and while pricey, there are five dividend-paying companies on the firms Franchise Picks List that look like very solid picks now.

Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Arconic, Beyond Meat, Blackstone, Bloom Energy, Datadog, Delta Air Lines, Netflix, Ping, Xilinx and many more.

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