As I noted last week, I’ve had my nose down working on many new stock ideas for subscribers. Just last week I initiated a buy recommendation on Air Transport Services Group (NSDQ: ATSG), a name I’ve followed for some time.

You can see the Buy Alert here; Air Transport leases cargo planes to delivery customers. The company has a unique hold on the narrow-bodied air cargo market, where there is a limited number of smaller planes available for retrofit. These planes are the perfect size for efficient and profitable package delivery. It is a way to play the explosion in e-commerce, which shows no sign of slowing down.

Keep your eyes peeled for new trades. The whip-saw action in the market due to nervous traders locking in gains and booking year-end tax losses will give us many opportunities for great trades.

I also believe sell-side brokerage firm analysts are becoming increasingly jittery about proving their worth based on new European legislation effective January 1, 2018, that will force asset managers to quantify the benefit of their research.

I’m seeing more bearish calls from sell-side analysts, some of which I believe are accurate but others with which I disagree. I’ll be looking for some pockets of value in names that become oversold based on some of these negative reports.

Around the Portfolio:

Air Transport Services signed a lease agreement for one Boeing (NYSE: BA) 767-300 with Air Incheon along with an option for a second delivery in 2018. The South Korean cargo airline is already expanding its use of Air Transport’s 767-300 freighters, three which were delivered in November.

Carbonite (NSDQ: CARB) received some bullish feedback from JMP Securities who reiterated its Outperform rating after Barracuda Networks (NSDQ: CUDA) was acquired by Thoma Bravo. The analyst says that the deal validates the attraction of the small and midsize business data protection and security market. He also notes that Carbonite trades at a significant discount on a revenue and earnings basis to the price that Bravo paid for Barracuda.

The Chemours Company (NYSE: CC) hosted an analysts’ day on December 1. I am encouraged by the guidance provided by management. The company raised 2017 earnings guidance to the high end of its prior range and guided to 26% growth in 2018.

It also raised its quarterly dividend by 5.5 times from $.03 to $.17!! With cash flow coming in stronger than expected, it also authorized a $500 million share repurchase plan. An analyst at Jefferies celebrated the good news by raising his price target from $60 to $66 and kept his buy rating on the stock.

Ichor Systems (NSDQ: ICHR) has taken a beating lately. The stock was down 9% last week and is down 22% since its $34 52-week high in October.

The chip space is being rocked by a downgrade of Samsung (NSDQ: SSNLF), Western Digital (NYSE: WDC) and Taiwan Semiconductor (NSDQ: TSM) by an analyst at Morgan Stanley. None of these chip makers are customers of Ichor’s, but they do buy chip-making equipment from Applied Materials (NSDQ: AMAT) and Lam Research (NSDQ: LRCS), Ichor’s two largest customers.

Morgan’s downgrade seems to be based on the potential for lower chip prices in 2018. While I agree that prices in 2017 have been buoyed by some production bottlenecks for NAND chips, I don’t expect a dramatic decline in equipment orders. Manufacturers are still ramping up new chip-making technology, which should benefit Ichor.

Steven Madden (NSDQ: SHOO) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Buckingham Buckingham. Analyst Scott Krasik also raised his price target to $48 from $38. He has increased confidence the company will achieve Q4 guidance due to an acceleration in boot sales and believes 2018 sales growth will meet his expectations.

Analyst Camilo Lyon at Canaccord agrees. He believes the company is set for a strong finish to 2017 and raised his price target to $47, noting the tone of the business, tightly managed inventories, and positive early reads on the spring assortment.

Steelcase (NYSE: SCS) announced an agreement to acquire AMQ Solutions, a California-based provider of height adjustable desking, benching and seating for workstations. The acquisition is expected to expand Steelcase’s price points and product portfolio. AMQ’s revenue for the trailing twelve months was approximately $37 million so the deal will add just 1% of growth to revenue but should allow Steelcase to expand its customer base.