Stocks were indicated to open lower again on Monday morning as earnings season kicks off with the major banks set to report. Note that the Dow Jones industrial average had bounced more than 1,300 points from its lows right after the first of the year. Investors have witnessed elevated volatility over the past six weeks, and unfortunately the prior trend of buying all the dips has been followed by less upside or additional losses. This has made it more difficult to position assets for the long haul when there has been so much volatility.

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 Monday, January 14, 2019.

Alcoa Corp. (NYSE: AA) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $38 price target (versus a $28.55 prior close) at Goldman Sachs. It had a consensus analyst target price of $49.94 and a 52-week range of $25.01 to $62.35. Shares were indicated up almost 1% at $28.80 on Monday.

Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NYSE: NLY) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and the price target was raised to $10.50 from $10.00 (versus a $9.94 close) at Keefe Bruyette & Woods. It has roughly a 12% dividend yield, and it has a 52-week range of $9.57 to $11.38 and a consensus target price of $10.25.

Arconic Inc. (NYSE: ARNC) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight with a $22 price target (versus a $19.68 close) at JPMorgan. The consensus target price is $23.11.

Carvana Co. (NYSE: CVNA) was started with an Underweight rating and given a $23 price target (versus a $36.80 close, after a 7.7% gain) at Morgan Stanley. It had a consensus target price above $60 and a 52-week trading range of $16.02 to $72.59.

Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. (NYSE: COG) was started with an Equal Weight rating at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Commercial Metals Co. (NYSE: CMC) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $21 price target (versus a $15.81 close) at Goldman Sachs. The consensus target price was $21.36, and the 52-week trading range is $15.23 to $26.72.

Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE: CCI) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $110 price target (versus $107.38 close) at Goldman Sachs. The consensus target price is $117.54, and the 52-week trading range is $98.85 to $117.60.

Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price target was lowered to $51 from $62 (versus a $48.56 close) at Merrill Lynch. The consensus target price was $66.79. The 52-week trading range is $45.08 to $61.32.

Gladstone Land Corp. (NASDAQ: LAND) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform with a $9.50 target price (versus a $12.60 close) at JMP Securities.

Innovative Industrial Properties Inc. (NYSE: IIPR), the medical-cannabis firm, was initiated with a Buy rating and assigned a $60 price target at BTIG. Its shares previously closed at $51.78, in a 52-week range of $23.63 to $55.63.

Instructure Inc. (NYSE: INST) was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James.