Stocks were indicated to open marginally lower on Wednesday after China matched tariffs in the ongoing trade war. Investors have seen a strong earnings season, with more than 70% of the companies exceeding expectations and 80% of the S&P 500 having reported. Still, the volatility in 2018 has created less rewarding trades by buying the dips than had been so reliable in prior years. Many investors also are trying to decide how they want their investments positioned ahead of the midterm elections and with international trade concerns.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy and some 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 were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and other research calls from Wednesday, August 8, 2018.

AECOM (NYSE: ACM) was maintained as Buy but the price target was cut to $42 from $45 (versus a $33.15 prior close) at Citigroup.

Andersons Inc. (NASDAQ: ANDE) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $44 price target (versus a $35.50 close) at Stephens.

Beacon Roofing Supply Inc. (NASDAQ: BECN) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the target price was cut to $44 from $51 at Citigroup. Wedbush maintained its Outperform rating but cut its price target to $50 from $65. Wells Fargo downgraded it to Underperform from Market Perform.

CarGurus Inc. (NASDAQ: CARG) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $55 price target (versus a $45.59 prior close) at JMP Securities.

Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) was maintained as Buy and the price target was lowered to $69 from $79 at Citigroup.

CyberArk Software Ltd. (NASDAQ: CYBR) shares were down 2.3% at $61.77 ahead of earnings but were up 11% at $68.65 afterward. JPMorgan raised it to Overweight from Neutral with an $85 target price (versus a $61.77 close).

Dean Foods Co. (NYSE: DF) was raised to Hold from Sell at Deutsche Bank.

Dentsply Sirona Inc. (NASDAQ: XRAY) was down over 18% at $39.40 on Tuesday (to a five-year low) after lower guidance. Morgan Stanley downgraded it to Equal Weight from Overweight and cut its target price to $40 from $54. Stephens lowered it to Equal Weight from Overweight, and Stifel maintained its Buy rating but cut its target to $46 from $57.

Dillard’s Inc. (NYSE: DDS) was reiterated as Outperform rating with a $95 price target (versus an $81.79 close), and was added to the Best Ideas List, at Wedbush. The firm sees a potential for significant upside to second-quarter consensus gross margin of 31.1% and also sees meaningful improvement in engagement with the consumer.

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