Benzinga Bulls And Bears: Shopify, Uber, PacWest, And Meta Braces For Challenger Offering $16 VR Headset

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

Stocks finished in the green on Friday afternoon after a strong jobs report, allowing markets to recover from banking concerns and break a four-day losing streak. Although the Dow and the S&P 500 closed the week down, the Nasdaq increased by 0.7%.

This week, investors digested the Fed's tenth consecutive interest rate hike, JPMorgan Chase & Co's JPM acquisition of First Republic's assets and an impressive April jobs report.

On Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee raised its Fed funds target range by 0.25% to between 5% and 5.25%, while Friday's Labor Department report showed the U.S. economy added 253,000 jobs in April, significantly surpassing economist estimates, with wages growing 4.4% year-over-year and the unemployment rate falling to 3.4%.

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

"Shopify Stock Is Shredding Sellers, Sprinting Higher: Why Jim Cramer Says The E-Commerce Company Is A 'Lean Amazon,'" by Adam Eckert, explains why Jim Cramer believes Shopify Inc SHOP is beating Amazon.com Inc AMZN to the punch. 

In "AMC Entertainment Pops Higher On Q1 Earnings: What To Watch As The Stock Heads Toward Key Level," Melanie Shaffer analyzes the reaction of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc's AMC stock to the company reporting better-than-expected first-quarter earnings. 

"Uber CEO On What's Driving Accelerated Growth, Timetable For Profitability, AI Potential," by Adam Eckert, outlines the vision of Uber Technologies Inc UBER CEO Dara Khosrowshahi for the company's future following better-than-expected quarterly results.

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

Cathie Wood Scoops Up AMD Stock On A Day When It Tanks Over 9%: Also Raises Stake In This Biotech Company

Pepe Coin Skyrockets Over 86% — Leaves Dogecoin, Shiba Inu In The Dust

Benzinga's 'Stock Whisper' Index: 5 Stocks Investors Are Secretly Monitoring But Not Talking About Yet

The Bears

"Bill Ackman Warns No Regional Bank Can Survive Current Crisis: 'Running Out Of Time To Fix The Problem,'" by Shanthi Rexaline, looks at Pershing Square's Bill Ackman's concerns about the stability of the regional banking system against the backdrop of PacWest Bancorp's PACW announcement that it is exploring strategic options.

In "Apple, Meta Brace For Competition As India's Richest Man Enters VR Headset Battle With A $16 Device," Navdeep Yadav writes that India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, has launched a virtual reality (VR) headset that's far cheaper than Meta Platforms Inc's META current offerings and a VR headset anticipated from Apple Inc AAPL.

"Icahn Enterprises Stock Nosedives Over Ponzi Scheme Allegations: 5 Key Takeaways From Hindenburg Short Report," by Piero Cingari, details an extremely negative report by short seller Hindenberg Research on Icahn Enterprises L.P. IEP.

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

Can Tesla Beat Apple In Market Value? Analyst Points To 'Huge Missed Opportunity'

US T-Bill Yields Surge As Debt-Ceiling Concerns Fuel Investor Anxiety, Default Insurance Costs Reach 2009 Highs

Disgruntled Google Employees Rain Down Memes To Mock CEO Sundar Pichai's Enormous $226M Salary

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