Benzinga's Bulls And Bears Of The Week: Apple, Toyota, Verizon And More

• Benzinga has examined the prospects for many investor favorite stocks over the past week.
• The bullish calls during election week included automakers and a top telecom.
• The iPhone maker and a top solar stock were among the week's bearish calls.

Of course, the past week was all about the outcome of the U.S. elections, and what they mean for everything from health care and political oversight on corporations to cannabis stocks, private prisons, ride-sharing firms and sports betting.

Earnings continued to roll out last week too, while Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell gave his latest thoughts on the economy, the United States formally left the Paris Climate Agreement, a prominent IPO was delayed and the maker of the iPhone said, "Wait! There's more." The Dow Jones industrial average ended the busy week almost 7% higher, the S&P 500 went up more than 7%, and the Nasdaq saw about a 9% gain.

Through it all, Benzinga continued to examine the prospects for many of the stocks most popular with investors. Here are a few of this past week's most bullish and bearish posts that are worth another look.

Bulls

"JPMorgan Says Verizon's Growth Will 'Pick Up' Next Year" by Jayson Derrick examines how the bullish case for Verizon Communications Inc. VZ is based on six catalysts that will help growth pick up in 2021, according to the top analyst featured in the post.

In "Toyota Doubles 2021 Operating Profit Forecast As China Demand Rebounds," Mohit Manghnani discusses why Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. TM hiked its full-year 2021 operating profit guidance as demand from China recovered faster than anticipated.

Priya Nigam's "ConocoPhillips Analyst: Dividend 'Pays Investors To Wait On Oil Recovery'" focuses on the bullish case for ConocoPhillips COP and how it is based on cost-saving opportunities, as well as a dividend yield that pays investors to be patient as they await an oil recovery.

In Wayne Duggan's "Under Armour Analysts On Q3: 'All-Clear Signal Is Far From Here'," see why Under Armour Inc. UAA said its full-year numbers will not be as bad as previously feared, one sign that the company has turned a corner.

New traffic regulations in Shanghai and a driving assistance system better than its peers likely will benefit Chinese electric vehicle maker Xpeng Inc. XPEV, according to Shanthi Rexaline's "Why BofA Is Bullish On Chinese EV Manufacturer Xpeng." It has a robust model pipeline too.

For additional bullish calls in the past week, also have a look at the following:

• COVID-19 Vaccines To Generate over $10B Annual Revenue, Analyst Says
• Which Bank Stock Will Grow The Most By 2025?
• 6 Gun Stock Ideas As Background Checks, Sales Set Records

Bears

"Apple Could Fail To Meet iPhone 12 Holiday Demand Due To Chip Shortage: Report" by Shivdeep Dhaliwal says Apple Inc. AAPL faces a shortage of chips used for power management in the iPhone. See what is primarily responsible for this shortage.

Peloton Interactive Inc PTON continues to face supply chain and delivery issues. Tanzeel Akhtar reports this in "After Peloton's Q1 Beat, Analysts Forecast Supply Chain Challenges." How much will a new plant soon to come online help solve the problem?

Wayne Duggan's "AMC Entertainment Bankruptcy Is 'Likely,' Analyst Says" shows why lack of new content and mandated theater closures mean things probably have gotten too desperate for AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. AMC to avoid bankruptcy.

In Priya Nigam's "First Solar's Valuation Exceeds Its Fundamentals, Morgan Stanley Says In Downgrade," see whether shares of First Solar, Inc. FSLR have risen too far, due in part to increasing ESG investing and healthy third-quarter results.

Be sure to check out these additional bearish calls: "Why The Best Outcome For Intel Shareholders Is To Break Up The Chipmaker" and "Why These Investors Are Bearish On Lululemon, Twitter."

At the time of this writing, the author had no position in the mentioned equities.

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