Jefferies analyst Jonathan Petersen upgraded AvalonBay to Buy from Hold with a price target of $248, up from $234. The analyst notes that after the company experienced some "air pockets" due to lack of development in 2019, he expects its earnings growth to inflect higher in the second half of 2020. Petersen cites AvalonBay's development plans as he models an incremental contribution from new projects around $46M in 2020 and at $63M in 2021. Among the apartment REITs, Peterson contends that AvalonBay offers the "best balance of growth and relative value".