24/7 Wall St.

Stocks have seen their worst December since the Great Depression, but Tuesday’s early indications were for the indexes to recapture some of Monday’s 2% losses. 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 to have 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 some of them 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, December 18, 2018.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned an $82 price target at Credit Suisse.

Albemarle Corp. (NYSE: ALB) was maintained with an Overweight rating at KeyBanc Capital Markets, but the firm lowered its target price from $140 to $120. The shares closed down over 5% at $80.51 on Monday.

Alliant Energy Corp. (NYSE: LNT) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $49 from $47 (versus a $44.13 prior close) at Argus. It has a 52-week trading range of $36.84 to $46.58.

Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $77 price target at Credit Suisse.

Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $42 price target at Credit Suisse.

BP PLC (NYSE: BP) was started with a Market Perform rating and assigned a $41 price target at Wells Fargo. BP’s American depositary shares have a 52-week trading range of $36.15 to $47.83.

Edwards LifeSciences Corp. (NYSE: EW) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $188 price target at Credit Suisse.

Embraer S.A. (NYSE: ERJ) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was lifted to $28 from $27 at Credit Suisse. The firm noted that Boeing’s prolonged courtship is now closer to fruition.

Globus Medical Inc. (NYSE: GMED) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $53 price target at Credit Suisse.

Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: IART) was started as Outperform and assigned a $57 target price (versus a $47.11 close) at Credit Suisse.

Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) was started as Overweight and assigned a $250 price target at KeyBanc Capital Markets. The stock closed down 1.7% at $197.49 on Monday, and it has a 52-week trading range of $150.43 to $231.84.

Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $25 price target (versus a $14.72 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Medtronic PLC (NYSE: MDT) was started as Outperform and assigned a $109 price target (versus a $91.85 close) at Credit Suisse.

24/7 Wall St.
The Bear Market Is Indeed Here: Time to Switch to Safer Assets