Benzinga's Bulls And Bears Of The Week: Apple, Coca-Cola, GM, Moderna, Tesla And More

• Benzinga has examined the prospects for many investor favorite stocks over the past week.
• Last week's bullish calls included the iPhone maker and top automakers.
• Bank stocks, a vaccine maker and a leading miner were among the bearish calls seen.

In the wake of the Independence Day holiday, benchmark crude hit a six-year high after OPEC and its allies failed to agree on production increases. Rising oil prices contributed to a wall of worry that also reflected concerns about the market's historically high valuations and the Delta variant of COVID-19.

The minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting released during the week did not sound overly hawkish, and markets posted fresh record highs, before a wave of selling. Falling yields raised fears of economic slowing, as the 10-year Treasury has been sinking since March.

Also last week, a new ransomware attack affected thousands of companies, the White House ratcheted up regulatory pressure on big corporations and new meme stocks came into focus.

The S&P 500 did find technical support by the week's end, and that index, along with the Dow Jones industrials and the Nasdaq, ended the week fractionally higher. Investors can look forward to fresh inflation data in the coming week, as well as quarterly reports from the big banks, kicking off a new earnings-reporting season.

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

In "Why This Apple Stock Analyst Says It's Time To Buy," Shanthi Rexaline reveals why one top analyst believes Apple Inc. AAPL shares may be getting ready to take off in a big way and it is time to start buying again.

Be sure to check out Apple's Stock Hits New All-Time High: What's Next? as well.

Concerns about China are overshadowing other Tesla, Inc. TSLA tailwinds. So says Adam Eckert's "Tesla Could Trade 'Well Beyond' $900 Price Target Says Morgan Stanley Analyst."

Rachit Vats's "GM Has Potential To Trade At Multiples Similar To Tesla, Wedbush Says As It Initiates Coverage With 'Outperform' Rating" discusses how General Motors Co GM could soon double its market cap.

Also read Jim Cramer Likes Ford, Tesla, General Motors (In That Order).

In Priya Nigam's "American Express Gets Upgrade, 'Meaningful Upside' Says Goldman Sachs Analyst," discover why American Express Company AXP may be well-positioned to exceed expectations.

"Analyst Expects Rebound In Gold M&A In The Second Half Of 2021" by Wayne Duggan examines what a changing M&A landscape could mean for Barrick Gold Corp GOLD and others for the rest of the year.

The Bears

In Mark Putrino's "Are Bank Stocks About To Head South?," find out why the SPDR S&P Bank ETF KBE chart suggests that bank stocks may be in trouble. This comes as the big banks prepare to post their second-quarter results next week.

It may be time to sell Moderna Inc. MRNA stock, if investors think the COVID-19 crisis is over, according to "Jim Cramer Says Moderna Stock Is 'Too High At This Point'" by Madhukumar Warrier. Does the vaccine maker have anything else up its sleeve?

EMA Says Heart Inflammation Likely Linked To mRNA-Based COVID-19 Vaccines offers more possible bad news for Moderna.

Shashank Jacob's "Soft Drinks Lose Their Fizz as Bottled Water Becomes America's Favorite Packaged Beverage" shows what changing consumer tastes could mean for Coca-Cola Co KO.

In "Goldman Sachs Downgrades Limelight Networks To Sell," Anusuya Lahiri looks at the reasons for one analyst's abundantly cautious outlook on cloud services provider Limelight Networks Inc LLNW.

On the other hand, 4 Top Cloud Stock Picks For The Second Half Of 2021 includes some potential alternatives.

"A Mining Margin Compression Turns Barclays Bearish On Freeport-McMoRan" by Nikhil Dayal explores how pressure on the cost side of the industry should cut into margins at Freeport-McMoRan, Inc FCX.

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