Benzinga Bulls And Bears: Meta, Alibaba, Disney And What It Will Take For Meme Coins Like Doge To 100X

Benzinga examined the prospects for many investors' favorite stocks over the last week — here's a look at some of our top stories. 

All three major indexes ended the week higher, finishing the quarter in the green. For the first quarter, the Dow Industrials rose by 0.4%, the S&P 500 gained 7% and the Nasdaq Composite exploded 17% higher, marking the index's biggest quarterly percentage gain since June 2020.

On Friday, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported the personal consumption expenditures price index increased by 5% year over year in the month of February, down from 5.4% in January. Core PCE, which excludes volatile food and energy prices and is the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, was up 4.6%, below analyst estimates of a 4.7% gain.

Benzinga provides daily reports on 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

"It's Not Tesla, Meta Or Nvidia — The Best Performing Large-Cap Stock In 2023 Is A Crypto Play," by Chris Katje, looks at the top-performing large-cap stocks so far this year, and finds that a crypto exchange is beating highfliers like Nvidia Corporation NVDA, Meta Platforms META and Tesla Inc TSLA, which are among the top 10 in 2023.

In "Alibaba's Restructuring Likely To Unlock Significant Value, Morgan Stanley Sees Over 100% Upside In Bull Case Scenario," Anusuya Lahiri writes that a Morgan Stanley analyst remains bullish on Alibaba Group Holding Limited BABA after reports say the company will split into six units.

"Analyst Predicts Dogecoin, Shiba Inu And Floki To Rally Up To 100x But 'As Long As Bitcoin Holds Up,'" by Mehab Qureshi, details why a crypto analyst sees meme coins like Dogecoin DOGE/USD and Shiba Inu SHIBA/USD having the potential to 100x if Bitcoin BTC/USD climbs higher.

For additional bullish calls of the past week, check out the following:

Chart Wars: What To Watch As First Republic, Bank Of America Pop Higher In This Trend

Nasdaq 100 Index Officially Enters A Bull Market: History Suggests Returns Will At Least Double From Here

Ford's Innovative Drone Patent Set To Revolutionize Roadside Assistance: Jumper Cables Delivered On Demand

The Bears

"Coca-Cola And Pepsi Face New Threat In India As Country's Richest Person Revives Iconic Brand," by Navdeep Yadav, looks at a move made by Mukesh Ambani, India's richest man, to promote an iconic cola brand and challenge soft drink giants Coca-Cola Co KO and PepsiCo Inc PEP.

In "Disney Reportedly Pulls Plug On Metaverse Dreams Amid Harsh Reality Of Cost-Cuts," Shanthi Rexaline writes that Walt Disney Co. DIS has pulled the plug on one of its units engaged in developing metaverse strategies, as part of its plan to reduce headcount.

"We Don't See Any Fed Rate Cuts': BlackRock Goes Overweight Inflation-Linked Bonds, Stays Underweight Stocks As Damage Looms," by Piero Cingari, details BlackRock Inc's BLK assessment that the Fed is not likely to cut interest rates, despite what the markets may be anticipating.

For more bearish takes, be sure to see these posts:

'Very Big Mistake': Cathie Wood Warns Banking Crisis Could Bleed Into Earnings

Ray Dalio Warns Everybody Is Losing Money: 'The World Is Leveraged Long'

Will We Miss Out On Next 'iPhone Moment?' Apple Analysts See AR/MR Headset Hurdles

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