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

Benzinga has examined the prospects for the favorite stocks of many investors over the past week.

• Last week's bullish calls included the e-commerce colossus and some automakers.
• The leading electric vehicle maker and a COVID-19 vaccine stock were among the bearish calls seen.

August began with six straight months of market gains in the books and the peak of this earnings season in the rearview mirror. While plenty more quarterly reports were on the docket last week, an overall positive season was beginning to look a bit more mixed. Ongoing COVID-19 and inflation concerns and some disappointing economic numbers contributed to a somewhat choppy week in the markets ahead of the July jobs report.

Returning COVID-19 restrictions put pressure on sectors such as travel, as well as on oil, and China continued its crackdown on internet companies. Yet, there was some strength in semiconductors and cybersecurity. The Federal Reserve remained on course eventually to raise interest rates, and retail traders continued their buy -the-dip strategy.

The markets rallied a bit into Friday's much anticipated employment report, which brought better than expected payrolls gains and unemployment rate. Some of the particulars offered mixed signals about the economy, though, and investor reaction after the report was fairly muted. Yet, the Treasury yield ticked up and the big three indexes ended the week around 1% higher and near all-time highs.

Through it all, Benzinga continues 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

Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN has a lot going for it, and Square Inc SQ is a great long-term investment. So says Adam Eckert's "Why This Fund Manager Says Amazon, Square Are Top Stocks To Buy Right Now."

Also read AWS Eased Investor's Disappointment In Amazon's Slowing Growth.

In Wayne Duggan's "7 Uber Analysts Break Down Q2 Earnings: 'Risk Is Passing And Stock Oversold'," discover why analysts are upbeat about Uber Technologies Inc UBER after its second-quarter report.

"KeyBanc Upgrades Airbnb Ahead Of Q2 Results" by Priya Nigam examines the advantages Airbnb Inc ABNB has over its peers that could help the vacation rental leader improve earnings in 2021 and 2022.

Nikhil Dayal's "2 General Motors Bull Analysts Break Down The Q2 Print" discusses why the recent pullback in General Motors Company GM stock and the company's conservative guidance present a solid buying opportunity.

Why Investors Need Not Worry About General Motor's Stock offers more on this Detroit automaker's prospects.

In "Why This Analyst Is Persisting With His Bullish Views For XPeng, Li Auto Stocks," Shanthi Rexaline reveals what there is to like about Li Auto Inc LI and XPeng Inc XPEV.

The Bears

In "Robinhood Stock Roars Back, But Weak IPO Launch Is Historically A Bad Sign," Wayne Duggan looks at how the Robinhood Markets Inc HOOD launch compares to other lackluster initial public offerings.

Be sure to check out Cramer Says Forget AMC, Robinhood In This Frothy Market And Buy These Old-School Undervalued Stocks as well.

"Cathie Wood's Ark Trims Tesla Stake 2nd Day In A Row, Sells $117M In Elon Musk Company" by Rachit Vats explores why a longtime Tesla Inc TSLA bull is shedding shares of this electric vehicle maker.

On the other hand, see Why Gene Munster Says Apple And Tesla Are His 2 Top Stocks Right Now.

Discover why one key Moderna Inc MRNA analyst is moving to the sidelines, according to "If Moderna Is 'Executing Superbly' On Its COVID-19 Vaccine Portfolio, Why Is This Analyst Downgrading The Stock?" by Shanthi Rexaline.

Adam Eckert's "Why Jim Cramer Thinks Investors Should Steer Clear Of Fastly's Stock" shows why cloud services provider Fastly Inc FSLY may be overvalued and could have more downside to come.

In Chris Katje's "3 Etsy Analysts On Q2 Earnings, 'Softer Than Expected' Q3 Guidance," find out why one Etsy Inc ETSY analyst has adopted a contrarian stance on the e-commerce company.

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

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