Bulls And Bears Of The Week: Apple, Cisco, Salesforce, Walmart And More

• Benzinga has examined the prospects for many investor favorite stocks over the past week.
• Bullish calls included tech leaders and a retail colossus.
• Bearish calls also included tech giants, as well as an energy play.

It was another volatile week for the stock market. Investors cheered when it seemed like there might be a pause in the trade war with China, only to grow worried again as signs of a possible recession appeared. Also, fresh earnings rolled out, an iconic American conglomerate took a big hit, a long anticipated big merger was confirmed and we got a look at what some high-profile fund managers have been up to.

The big U.S. indexes managed to end the past week down only fractionally, even though the Nasdaq had been up nearly 3% at one point and the Dow Jones industrials were down almost 3% at another point during the week.

As usual, Benzinga continues to examine the prospects for many of the stocks most popular with investors. Here are just a few of this past week's most bullish and bearish posts that may be worth another look.

Bulls

"Momentum And Discipline: The Street Weighs In On Walmart" by Jayson Derrick discusses why analysts think Walmart Inc WMT has entered a "sweet spot" after its strong earnings report last week.

Dave Royse's "Morgan Stanley: Salesforce Shares Aren't Pricing In Strong Free Cash Flow Growth" takes a look why free cash flow growth potential at Salesforce.com, inc. CRM is being overlooked.

NVIDIA Corporation NVDA posted solid results and has catalysts ahead, according to Wayne Duggan's "What Analysts Have To Say About Nvidia Following Earnings Beat."

In "KeyBanc's Key Takeaways From Meetings With Knight-Swift Transportation Management," Priya Nigam shows why Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc KNX is a good choice for investors.

For additional bullish calls, also have a look at SunTrust: Internet Stocks Outperforming S&P 500 and 3 Retail Ideas For 2019's Back-To-School Season.

Bears

Wayne Duggan's "Analyst: Apple Could Take 4% EPS Hit From Trade War Tariffs" states that Apple Inc. AAPL needs an end to the trade war with China if it wants to avoid a significant earnings hit.

Investors shouldn't buy the dip in Occidental Petroleum Corporation OXY; its valuation isn't attractive enough. So says "'No Easy Way Out' For Occidental Petroleum, Says Bearish JPMorgan" by Jayson Derrick.

"Cisco Earnings Marred By China Uncertainty That Softened Guidance" by Dave Royse suggests that little consensus has emerged on the near-term prospects for Cisco Systems, Inc. CSCO since its report.

In Priya Nigam's "Applied Materials Posts Solid Q3 Results, But Faces Near-Term Headwinds, KeyBanc Says," see what could have an impact on the performance of Applied Materials, Inc. AMAT in the near term.

Be sure to check out Cannabis Short Sellers Clean Up After Tilray's Earnings Miss and Macy's 'Innovation Ideas' Are Good But Not Good Enough, Morgan Stanley Says for additional bearish calls.

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