Benzinga's Bulls And Bears Of The Week: Apple, GE, Microsoft, Tesla, Twitter And More

• Benzinga has examined the prospects for many investor favorite stocks over the past week.
• The past week's bullish calls included the iPhone maker, top airlines and a leading coffee purveyor.
• Social media and electric vehicle leaders were among the bearish calls seen during the week.

The stock market kept hitting new record highs in the final week of April, with the Nasdaq posting a 5% or so gain for the month and the Dow Jones industrials up about 3% in that time. Still, the S&P 500 managed to end the week essentially flat and the other two indexes fractionally lower.

Earnings reports continued to roll in during the week, largely beating expectations, including from most of the FAANG stocks. Some market darlings were punished despite strong quarterly results. The preliminary first-quarter gross domestic product figure was better than expected as well, but just barely.

Also last week, the Federal Reserve declined to change rates or make any other policy changes, citing improvement in employment and in weak sectors but showing little concern about inflation. Others remain worried about inflation, given increasing reopening demand, supply shortages and rising commodity prices. Some investors are already wondering how soon the Fed will change its mind about raising rates.

With April in the books, next week's jobs report is expected to help set the tone for May. Other ongoing concerns include weakness in Europe and China, possible changes to capital gains taxes and the semiconductor shortage spreading.

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.

The Bulls

Apple Inc. AAPL will continue to thrive. So says the analyst featured in Madhukumar Warrier's "Apple Q2 Earnings Report Reinforces It Will Be 'Top-Performing' FAANG Stock Of 2021, Says Munster."

For more on Apple, see Apple's Q2 'One For Record Books': 6 Analysts Break Down iPhone Maker's 'Jaw Dropper' Quarter.

In "4 Microsoft Analysts Break Down Software Giant's Q3 Earnings, Cloud Strength, Long-Term Outlook," Shanthi Rexaline focuses on reasons to be bullish about Microsoft Corporation MSFT.

For another take, check out Why The Microsoft Sell-Off Might Be A Buying Opportunity.

Melanie Schaffer's "Why American And Delta Airlines Look Clear For Takeoff" discusses why American Airlines Group Inc AAL and Delta Air Lines, Inc. DAL are on track to ascend toward pre-pandemic price levels.

In Tyler Bundy's "Why GE Stock Looks Ready To Break Out In The Coming Weeks," check out the chart for General Electric Company stock in the wake of a disappointing quarterly report. Are the shares ready to run?

"4 Analysts Raise Their Cups To Starbucks' Latest Earnings Report" by Phil Hall examines what in its latest quarterly report pleased Starbucks Corporation SBUX analysts.

Also have a look at Starbucks Falls On Global Growth Concerns But Here's Why This Analyst Continues To See It As Best Reopening Play.

The Bears

Wayne Duggan's "Why Tesla's Stock Is 'Stuck' Until One Of These Two Things Happens" shows why Tesla Inc TSLA stock may be in need of a catalyst. Wasn't Bitcoin a game-changer?

Moreover, These Options Traders Are Betting Against Tesla.

"What Wall Street Thinks Of Twitter's Disappointing Quarter" by Chris Katje suggests that analysts were left with many questions after Twitter Inc TWTR reported earnings, leading to several price target cuts.

Where Is Twitter's Stock Headed Next? offers a look at the charts.

In "BofA Cuts NIO Target Despite Record High Margins, Growth" Priya Nigam looks at what prompted a key analyst to reduce its price target and lower estimates on Nio Inc NIO shares despite other tailwinds.

In Tyler Bundy's "2 Ride-Sharing Stocks May Be Ready To Plunge Lower: Here's Why," find out what a technical analysis says about rivals LYFT Inc LYFT and Uber Technologies Inc UBER.

Its quarterly results moved Teladoc Health Inc TDOC analysts to act, according to "Teladoc Stock Plummets Facing Analyst Price Target Cuts After Wider Than Expected Q1 Loss" by Vandana Singh.

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

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