Check out today's top analyst calls from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly. WELLS SAYS 'MAY BE AS GOOD AS IT GETS' FOR COSTCO: Wells Fargo analyst Edward Kelly downgraded Costco Wholesale to Market Perform from Outperform with an unchanged price target of $235. While Costco remains one of the highest quality companies within consumer and its near-term results should be positive, "this may be as good as it gets," Kelly told investors. He believes the stock's 50% rally over the past year "has left it priced for perfection" and that Costco's comps "seem destined to slow in 2019" as it laps tough comparisons. JPMORGAN ADVISE CAUTION ON GE: A read of the proxies for the General Electric (GE) and Wabtec (WAB) transportation deal suggests "caution is warranted" in taking the forecasts "to the bank," JPMorgan analyst Stephen Tusa wrote in a research note. The situation "looks eerily similar" to GE's Baker Hughes (BHGE) deal, where management went from pitching $8B in future EBITDA several years forward to "slowly pulling annual guidance once public," with a consensus that is now at $5B, Tusa said. He believes that as each of GE's Industrial businesses get broken out clearly with "clean GAAP" transparency, the less impressive the financials look. Tusa keeps an Underweight rating on General Electric shares. CORNING UPGRADED ON OPTICAL DEMAND STRENGTH: Citi analyst Asiya Merchant upgraded Corning (GLW) to Buy from Neutral with a $40 price target, telling investors that the shares are "poised to continue to grind higher" in the next 12-18 months. The analyst expects Corning's earnings and margins growth will be driving by optical demand strength and better display pricing. JPMORGAN CUTS VALVOLINE TO UNDERWEIGHT ON NEW AMAZON COMPETITION: JPMorgan analyst Jeffrey Zekauskas downgraded Valvoline (VVV) to Underweight from Neutral and lowered his price target for the shares to $20 from $22. Industry trade publication National Oil and Lube New is reporting that Amazon (AMZN) has launched its first private label motor oil called AmazonBasics Full Synthetic Motor Oil, Zekauskas noted. While too early to gauge the effects of the Amazon entry on the Valvoline brand, the new competition from Amazon will likely reduce Valvoline's trading multiple "because the lubricant industry structure is probably weaker for its entry," Zekauskas contends. NVIDIA TARGET HIKED TO $350: Needham analyst Rajvindra Gill raised his price target on Nvidia to $350 from $325 after his investor meeting with its Data Center GM and Director of IR, saying the discussions about the company's AI/ML dominance reminded him of "Wintel" platform during the PC computing era. The analyst believes that Nvidia is "uniquely positioned" to capitalize on the next wave of computing, taking a larger inference market share with its new TensorRT Hyperscaler Platform.
