Benzinga's Bulls And Bears Of The Week: Alibaba, Facebook, GameStop, Spotify, Tesla And More

• Benzinga has examined the prospects for many investor favorite stocks over the past week.
• Last week's bullish calls included oil refiners, semiconductor makers and Leon Cooperman picks.
• The electric vehicle leader, a meme stock and big banks were among the bearish calls seen.

September tends to make Wall Street nervous, and the markets have ended the first full (though holiday-shortened) week of the month in the red. That was led by a 2% or so drop in the Dow Jones industrial average, but the declines in the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were not far behind.

With the indexes still pretty close to all-time highs, equity valuations appear stretched, and the broad market has not seen a 5% correction since October of last year. Add to that worries about the Delta variant, inflation, supply chain bottlenecks, labor shortages and political rancor, and there is plenty for investors to be nervous about.

Note that Goldman Sachs did downgrade its economic outlook for the United States last week, citing fears of lower consumer spending, and Morgan Stanley sees up to a 15% pullback in stocks by the end of the year. In fact, Bank of America projects negative returns for the S&P 500 for the next decade.

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

"What Stocks Are Billionaire Investor Leon Cooperman Watching Right Now?" by Adam Eckert explores why this famed investor sees three distinct markets and he likes Citigroup Inc C, Facebook, Inc. FB and others now.

Which Company Made It To JPMorgan's Top Internet Picks For 2021? offers more on Facebook and other top internet stock picks.

In Wayne Duggan's "Morgan Stanley Initiates Coverage Of Oil Refiners, Names HollyFrontier, Valero & Marathon Top Picks" discover why now is "the perfect time to pull the trigger" on Marathon Petroleum Corp MPC and other refiners.

Also read What 6 Analyst Ratings Have To Say About HollyFrontier and Where Valero Energy Stands With Analysts.

In "Nvidia, AMD Benefit From New Products, Strong Gaming Cycle: BofA," Shanthi Rexaline reveals why one top analyst remains bullish on semiconductor makers Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. AMD and NVIDIA Corporation NVDA.

Spotify Technology SA SPOT is extending its lead over peers and current industry dynamics appear favorable. So says the analyst featured in Priya Nigam's "KeyBanc Upgrades Spotify On Improving Unit Economics."

Chris Katje's "Caesars Entertainment Asset Sale Coming In At Higher Price And Could Bring More Upside" discusses why this asset sale could be a major boost to Caesars Entertainment Inc CZR. What comes next?

The Bears

Tesla Inc's TSLA lead in the electric vehicle arena is shrinking, according to "Is Tesla's Long-Term EV Market Leadership Under Threat?" by Shanthi Rexaline. See which competitors have made serious inroads into the market and what challenges Tesla faces.

Be sure to check out Cathie Wood Sells $138.5M Tesla Shares In Two Straight Sessions as well.

Adam Eckert's "Is GameStop Worth More Than $10 A Share? Analyst Slams 'Shameful' Earnings Call" shows what has ruffled the feathers of one GameStop Corp. GME analyst.

On the other hand, see You Ask, We Analyze: AMC Entertainment Stock Looks Strong Like King Kong.

"Cathie Wood's Ark Completely Exits All Alibaba Positions, Continues Piling Up Stake In This Chinese Rival" by Rachit Vats examines why this former Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA bull has called it quits on the stock. What does the firm now like instead?

In Melanie Schaffer's "Why Bank Of America And Wells Fargo Bulls May Get Slaughtered," find out why news that Wells Fargo & Co WFC faces further regulatory scrutiny could signal further downside for these big bank stocks.

In "Cigna Has Limited Visibility, No Bullish Catalysts, BofA Says In Double Downgrade," Wayne Duggan looks at the many headwinds Cigna Corp CI faces that led to last week's double downgrade.

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

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