Stocks were indicated up strong by almost 1% on Wednesday morning for the Dow Jones industrial average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq, quite similar to Tuesday’s gap-up open. This follows last week’s losses. Unfortunately, investors have to keep in mind that there has been less upside from 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 Wednesday, December 12, 2018.
American Tower REIT (NYSE: AMT) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight with a $170 price target at Morgan Stanley. Its 52-week trading range is $130.37 to $168.58, and it has a consensus price target of $167.68.
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American Water Works Co. Inc. (NYSE: AWK) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $102 from $96 (versus a $96.48 prior close) at Janney. The 52-week range is $76.04 to $98.18, and the consensus price target is $94.00.
Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform and the price target was lowered to $29 from $34 at Keefe Bruyette & Woods. The 52-week range is $24.29 to $33.05. The consensus price target is $34.30.
BioScrip Inc. (NASDAQ: BIOS) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $5 price target (versus a $3.85 close) at Canaccord Genuity. It has a 52-week range of $2.31 to $4.13 and a consensus price target of $5.67.
eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight and the target price was lowered handily to $33 from $55 at Morgan Stanley. The consensus price target is $37.21, and the 52-week range is $26.36 to $46.99.
FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) was maintained as Outperform at Credit Suisse and the price target was lowered to $263 from $307. The firm believes that the very large sell-off in shares has priced in a big cut to its numbers and that the downside looks relatively limited.
Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $152 price target at Citigroup. The 52-week range is $73.74 to $164.79, and the consensus price target is $163.55.
Marriott International Inc. (NYSE: MAR) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the target price was lowered to $117 from $144 at Citigroup. It has a 52-week range of $106.96 to $149.21. The consensus price target is $136.77.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Keefe Bruyette & Woods in a banking sector downgrade based on a lack of positive catalysts for the industry in 2019.
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Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight and the target price was lowered to $33 from $38 at JPMorgan. The 52-week range is $22.90 to $37.37, and the consensus price target is $38.95.
NextEra Energy Inc. (NYSE: NEE) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $193 from $186 at Credit Suisse. The firm noted that NextEra’s disciplined approach to M&A is likely to continue. The 52-week range is $145.10 to $184.20. The consensus price target is $183.94.
Vale S.A. (NYSE: VALE) was maintained as Buy but the price target was lowered to $16.50 (versus a $13.01 close) at Merrill Lynch. The firm noted that it is cautious on short-term Chinese steel mill profits, and it lowered its estimates for Vale’s iron ore premiums. It has a 52-week range of $9.53 to $16.13 and a consensus price target of $17.27.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight with a $58 target price at Morgan Stanley. The 52-week range is $46.09 to $61.58, and the consensus price target is $58.70.
Waters Corp. (NYSE: WAT) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral with a $180 price target at JPMorgan. It has a 52-week range of $167.94 to $220.20. The consensus price target is $193.27.
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Other key analyst calls are shown below:
Evoqua Water Technologies Corp. (NYSE: AQUA) was started as Neutral with an $11 price target at Credit Suisse.
GW Pharmaceuticals PLC (NASDAQ: GWPH) was started as Perform at Oppenheimer.
Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NYSE: HST) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $19.50 price target at Citigroup.
Hyatt Hotels Corp. (NYSE: H) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price target was lowered to $77 from $95 at Citigroup.
Jazz Pharmaceuticals PLC (NASDAQ: JAZZ) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $180 price target (versus a $140.38 close) at Oppenheimer.
Realty Income Corp. (NYSE: O) was raised to Neutral from Sell and the target was raised to $67 from $56 at Citigroup.
24/7 Wall St. has issued some dire warnings about blindly trusting analyst calls during bear markets and broad-based market sell-offs.
Tuesday’s top analyst calls included Apptio, AT&T, Bain Capital, Comerica, First Solar, Palo Alto Networks, Pfizer, Travelers, Ulta Beauty and many more.
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