24/7 Wall St.

Stocks posted strong gains on Monday after the Thanksgiving week selling, but Tuesday was indicated lower on talk of more tariffs against China if a deal is not reached. Investors have seen numerous waves of selling in 2018, and there also has been lower upside after buying immediately after the big market sell-offs than in prior years. Now investors have to consider how they want their investments and assets positioned for 2019.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. Our goal is to find new ideas for investors and traders alike. Some of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while others 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 are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Tuesday, November 27, 2018.

Athenahealth Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo. Shares closed at $132.70 and have a 52-week trading range of $116.77 to $163.94. This company is in the process of being acquired by Veritas Capital and Evergreen Coast Capital.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is down on fears that President Trump will allow tariffs to go on to the iPhone if a deal is not reached in trade. Daniel Ives of Wedbush has said this only adds to the pain around Apple but he thinks the ultimately $50 billion services story is the key here, and he is maintaining his Outperform rating and still has that super-high $310 price target. Meanwhile, RBC Capital Markets lowered its price target to $235 from $240 after the recent news. Apple has a 52-week trading range of $150.24 to $233.47.

Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) was reiterated as Buy at Argus, which raised its target price to $166 from $160 (versus a $148.92 prior close). The independent research firm noted that Deere has slid 15% from its highs, but it likes that the management was confident enough to raise the dividend payout by 15% and has earnings power in the coming quarters.

Hormel Foods Corp. (NYSE: HRL) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $44 price target (versus a $45.71 close) at Jefferies. It has a 52-week trading range of $31.71 to $46.24 and a consensus price target of $39.42.

JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: JKS) was up 15.5% at $10.65 after earnings on Monday. Credit Suisse has maintained its Neutral rating due in part to higher operating expenses.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) was maintained as Neutral but the price target was cut to $41 from $52 (versus a $36.57 close) at UBS. The 52-week range is $33.82 to $64.66. The consensus price target is $63.45.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank. The 52-week range is $48.49 to $58.50, and the consensus price target is $58.17.

Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) was raised to Outperform from In-Line with a $129 price target at Imperial Capital. Disney closed up 0.4% at $112.55 on Monday and was indicated up another 0.4% at $113.00 on Tuesday. Its 52-week range is $97.68 to $120.20 a share.

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Other key analyst calls were seen in the following:

A.O. Smith Corp. (NYSE: AOS) was raised to Overweight from Sector Weight with a $53 price target at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB) was reiterated as Underperform at Credit Suisse after reaching a deal with activist investors, but the firm did note that additional board members will add new blood at the same time that Campbell’s challenges remain high.

Compass Minerals International Inc. (NYSE: CMP) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse, with the firm noting symmetric risk/reward at this point.

EVO Payments Inc. (NASDAQ: EVOP) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $31 price target (versus a $25.24 close) at BTIG. The 52-week range is $19.00 to $30.45, and the consensus target price is $27.22.

EXL Services Holding Inc. (NASDAQ: EXLS) was maintained as Neutral with a $63 price target (versus a $55.98 close) at Wedbush, with the firm updating its model after the recent earnings report showed that its financials continue to be impacted by M&A integration challenges.

Ferroglobe PLC (NASDAQ: GSM) was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer.

Infosys Ltd. (NYSE: INFY) saw its target cut to $9 from $18 at Wedbush, but this was technically just to account for the two-for-one share split. Wedbush has a Neutral rating, and the shares closed at $9.18 on Monday, with an adjusted 52-week range of $7.49 to $10.65.

Macerich Co. (NYSE: MAC) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight and the price target was cut to $45 from $58 (versus a $48.94 close) at Morgan Stanley.

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OGE Energy Corp. (NYSE: OGE) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price objective was maintained at $39 (versus a $39.02 close) at Merrill Lynch.

Public Storage (NYSE: PSA) was reiterated as Buy with a $230 price target at Argus. The independent research firm noted that its shares have fallen about 11% since July and the decline provides investors with a favorable entry point.

Taubman Centers Inc. (NYSE: TCO) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley. The stock rose by 1% to $50.79 on Monday, in a 52-week range of $49.84 to $66.61 and with a consensus target price of $61.59.

While this is not an issue in the current market metrics, the endless wave of stock buybacks may start to have higher capital competition in 2019 and the next three years as major companies face billions of dollars in coming debt maturities along with a higher interest rate environment.

Credit Suisse has issued a China market strategy covering four scenarios for the China-U.S. trade talks at the upcoming G-20 meeting. The best case scenario is just a 10% probability, in which the countries will reach a fundamental agreement. Its worst-case scenario was given a 25% probability, where the countries will not come to an agreement and may threaten even more tariffs. The two base-case scenarios come with a 33% probability each, with the two countries agreeing on a “cease-fire” for a period of six to 12 months to allow for additional discussions.

Monday’s top analyst calls included American Eagle Outfitters, Eli Lilly, GameStop, Intuit, Novavax, Nvidia, Salesforce.com, Schlumberger and many more.