Benzinga's Bulls And Bears Of The Week: Moderna, Palantir, Tesla And More

• Benzinga has examined the prospects for many investor favorite stocks over the past week.
• The bullish calls this past week included a struggling retailer and a Warren Buffett pick.
• A COVID-19 vaccine frontrunner and a pot stock were featured among the week's bearish calls.

Investors and analysts had plenty to mull over last week, from good news on the COVID-19 vaccine front, to tension between the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury, to earnings season winding down with results from big retailers ahead of the holiday shopping season. Despite all that, the big U.S. indexes ended the week essentially flat.

Also in the past week, big tech CEOs were in front of U.S. Congress again, a long-awaited new S&P 500 member was announced, an e-commerce colossus expanded its empire again, and an aerospace giant finally got the nod it wanted. Investors read the latest tea leaves from the Oracle of Omaha, and rumors suggested that the iPhone maker may have yet one more surprise.

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

"Morgan Stanley Upgrades Tesla On Growth Potential In Embedded Businesses" by Aditya Raghunath examines how a "profound model shift" could lead to increased revenue generation at Tesla Inc TSLA beyond the sale of its renowned electric vehicles.

In "How Bank Of America Has Become One Of Warren Buffett's Best Investments," Wayne Duggan discusses why Bank of America Corp BAC is the only large U.S. bank that Buffett is buying, according to the latest 13F form. How much upside in the bank stock do analysts see in the next 12 months?

DraftKings Inc DKNG could see strong growth from a growing market and growing share in existing markets, according to Chris Katje's "DraftKings Gets New $100 Price Target With Strong Market Share, Brand." In addition, one other online sports betting pick is also included.

Priya Nigam's "Kohl's Analyst Drops Bear Stance On Vaccine Tailwinds, Activist Presence" is focused on the tailwinds that should propel department store operator Kohl's Corporation KSS stock, beyond the better-than-expected quarterly results just posted.

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

• 5 Warren Buffett Stocks To Buy For Under $25
• As Bitcoin Nears $17K, A Citibank Analyst Projects $300K Levels Next Year
• Will Ford Or General Motors Stock Grow More By 2025?

Bears

Shanthi Rexaline's "Why This Moderna Analyst Downgraded Biopharma Despite Positive COVID-19 Vaccine News" shows why one key Moderna Inc MRNA analyst was not impressed by the latest positive developments. Is the best-case scenario reflected in the share price?

Soros Fund Management would not be a buyer of Palantir Technologies PLTR today as it does not approve of the big data company's business practices. Read more about this in "George Soros Regrets Buying Palantir, Will Sell Stake" by Chris Katje. In fact, the firm has sold all shares it was allowed to sell and says it will continue to do so.

In Mohit Manghnani's "Activist Investor Elliott Exits AT&T, Buys Uniti, Boosts Dell," see what other stakes Elliott Management eliminated in the third quarter besides AT&T Inc T and what stakes it has trimmed. The Paul Singer-founded activist hedge fund also initiated positions and increased stakes in the period as well, of course.

"Why Jefferies Is Losing Its Tilray Buzz" by Jayson Derrick makes the case that the bullish view on Tilray Inc TLRY can no longer be justified after its third-quarter earnings report. Are the cannabis company's projections "overly bullish"? The featured analyst points out that it has a history of getting its outlook wrong.

Be sure to check out these additional bearish calls: BofA Cautions Auto Investors After 'Too Fast And Furious Recovery' and WHO Advises Against Gilead's Remdesivir For COVID-19 Despite FDA Approval.

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

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