Benzinga's Bulls And Bears Of The Week: Alphabet, Coinbase, GE, Quantumscape, Tesla And More

• Benzinga has examined the prospects for many investor favorite stocks over the past week.
• The past week's bullish calls included the electric vehicle leader and a prominent IPO.
• Short sellers were behind some of the bearish calls seen during the week.

The Dow Jones industrial average crossed above 34,000 for the first time last week, as strong results from big banks kicked off the first-quarter earnings reporting season. Optimism also was boosted by good economic data, a steady Treasury yield and reassuring words from Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell. All of this muted the impact of bad vaccine news early in the week.

Semiconductor shortages continue to plague various industries, and things may get worse. Bitcoin keeps hitting record highs, as does Dogecoin, and the new U.S. Securities and Exchange chair is a blockchain technology expert.

The week also saw the largest direct listing in history, Jeff Bezos' final shareholder letter as CEO and news of the much anticipated next big event from the iPhone maker.

And as the White House continues its push to vaccinate Americans against COVID-19, signs of pent-up reopening demand are plentiful.

See also: How to Buy Coinbase IPO (COIN) Stock

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

In "Why This Tesla Analyst Is Turning Bullish," Priya Nigam focuses on how the leading electric vehicle maker's aggressive diversification efforts prompted one key analyst to upgrade Tesla Inc TSLA, despite the stock's rich valuation, and to more than double its price target.

In Chris Katje's "Why Coinbase's Upside Could Be Immense, With A Price Target Of $500," discover why the featured analyst considers newly public Coinbase Global Inc COIN to be the gold standard among digital asset exchanges.

Google parent Alphabet Inc GOOGL has multiple bullish catalysts on the horizon. So says Wayne Duggan's "Wedbush Adds Alphabet Stock To Best Ideas List: What You Need To Know." Updated coverage on tech stocks was also bullish on Snap Inc SNAP.

Adam Eckert's "JPMorgan Analyst Rules Out Long-Term Negative Impact Of COVID-19 On The Airline Industry" discusses the long-term prospects for JetBlue Airways Corporation JBLU and its peers due to demand recovery among consumers.

"Why This Analyst Thinks Plug Power Stock Deserves Elevated Valuation" by Shanthi Rexaline examines what recent developments may mean for shares of hydrogen and fuel cell manufacturer Plug Power Inc. PLUG.

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

• Why Bitcoin Fundamentals Depict A Healthy Bull Market: Cathie Wood's ARK Invest Report
• Is Now The Time To Buy These 4 Under-The-Radar Bank Stocks?
• 5 Trends Auto Stock Investors Should Watch In 2021

Bears

A 160% rally in the past 11 months has resulted in General Electric Company GE stock becoming "very overvalued," according to "Gordon Haskett's John Inch On Why General Electric Is 'Very Overvalued'" by Adam Eckert. What about that 8 for 1 reverse stock split?

Jon Harris' "Here Are The Stocks With The Highest Short Interest Rate This Week" suggests that the current sentiment on Sunrun Inc RUN, ViacomCBS Inc. VIAC and other stocks is bearish.

"AMC 'Under Attack' From Short Sellers Again, CEO Says" by Madhukumar Warrier shares why AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. AMC is seeking shareholder approval to sell 500 million shares but promises not to do so in the calendar year 2021. See why the CEO also praised the meme investors.

In Melanie Schaffer's "QuantumScape Stock Falls After Pump-And-Dump Accusations: A Technical Analysis," find out why the chart for QuantumScape Corporation QS stock looked bearish this past week in the wake of a scathing report on the Bill Gates-supported EV battery maker.

In "BofA Says GlaxoSmithKline's Decision To Halt Feladilimab Studies Is Disappointing" Priya Nigam looks at how a top analyst reacted to GlaxoSmithKline plc GSK announcing it would cease its Phase 2 and 3 trials of a cancer treatment.

For additional bearish takes, be sure to check out these posts:

• Bitcoin Is A Bubble, 74% Of Bank of America's Professional Investors Believe
• Some SPACs Could Fail Outright, Research Is Paramount: Cathie Wood
• 8 Stocks With The Highest Short Percent Of Float

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

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Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay.