24/7 Wall St.

Stocks were mixed on Monday, following four consecutive days of gains, and Tuesday was indicated to have a strong open. The markets are effectively at all-time highs, and the raging bull market is now two months shy of nine years old. Investors have made money buying every sell-off for the past five years, and they are deciding how to position their portfolios for 2018 and beyond. Those same investors are also looking for new ideas.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week to find new investing and trading ideas for investors and traders alike. Some of the daily analyst reports and research reports cover stocks to buy. Others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

Additional color and commentary has been added on most of these daily analyst calls. Consensus analyst price targets mentioned and other valuation metrics are from the Thomson Reuters sell-side research service.

These were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and other research calls from Tuesday, January 9, 2018.

AK Steel Holding Corp. (NYSE: AKS) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $6.50 price target (versus a $6.64 prior close) at Jefferies. AK Steel has a 52-week trading range of $4.00 to $11.28 and a consensus analyst price target of $6.40.

Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $78 price target (versus a $66.05 close) at Credit Suisse. Carnival has a 52-week range of $52.65 to $69.89 and a consensus price target of $74.98.

FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS. FedEx has a 52-week range of $182.89 to $271.39 and a consensus price target of $272.92.

PayPal Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with an $88 price target (versus a $79.05 close) at Cowen. PayPal has a 52-week range of $39.02 to $79.39 and a consensus price target of $81.83.

Sunoco L.P. (NYSE: SUN) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with a $34 price target (versus a $29.20 close) at JPMorgan. Sunoco has a 52-week range of $23.09 to $32.67 and a consensus price target of $31.69.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $23 price target (versus a $19.12 close) at Mizuho. Teva has a 52-week range of $10.85 to $37.94 and a consensus price target of $18.72.

Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UAA) was downgraded to Negative from Neutral with an $11 price target (versus a $15.98 close) at Susquehanna. Under Armour has a 52-week range of $11.40 to $31.06 and a consensus price target of $13.87.

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $73 price target (versus a $62.04 close) at Sandler O’Neill. Wells Fargo has a 52-week range of $49.27 to $63.05 and a consensus price target of $62.43.

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Other key analyst calls were shown as follows:

Alaska Air Group Inc. (NYSE: ALK) was downgraded to Neutral From Buy at Merrill Lynch.

Allstate Corp. (NYSE: ALL) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL) was raised to Buy from Underperform at Merrill Lynch.

BankUnited Inc. (NYSE: BKU) was started as Market Perform at JMP Securities.

BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James, just a day after Morgan Stanley raised it to Equal Weight from Underweight.

Boston Properties Inc. (NYSE: BXP) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital Markets.

BP Midstream Partners L.P. (NYSE: BPMP) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $21 price target (versus a $21.13 close) at Citigroup.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (NYSE: SNP) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.

CNOOC Ltd. (NYSE: CEO) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie.

Ferrellgas Partners L.P. (NYSE: FGP) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $4.50 price target (versus a $4.41 close) at Citigroup.

JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU) was downgraded to Underperform From Buy at Merrill Lynch.

Olin Corp. (NYSE: OLN) was started as Overweight with a $45 price target at Morgan Stanley.

Principal Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: PFG) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Southwest Airlines Inc. (NYSE: LUV) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch.

Spirit Airlines Inc. (NYSE: SAVE) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE: SYF) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE: UNP) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

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Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Albermarle, Applied Materials, Caterpillar, Electronic Arts, GoPro, GrubHub, Pandora, Snap, United Tech and about two dozen more.