Benzinga's Bulls And Bears Of The Past Week: Ford, Rivian Automotive, PepsiCo, Apple, DraftKings And More

• Benzinga has examined the prospects for many investor favorite stocks over the past week.
• Last week's bullish calls included a U.S. EV manufacturer and a leading beverage company.
• Big tech company and a sports betting operator were among the bearish calls seen.

Technology companies led a rally on Wall Street this week which propelled the S&P 500 to an all-time high and gave the index its best weekly gain since February. 

The S&P 500 closed higher four of the last five days, finishing 3.8% higher for the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6% and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.7%, both recovering from earlier declines. The Russell 2000 index ended the week 0.4% lower as smaller-company stocks lagged the broader market

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that prices for U.S. consumers jumped 6.8% in November, driven by the surging cost of energy, food, rent and used vehicles. Americans are now faced with their highest annual inflation rate since 1982. Core prices, which exclude food and energy, rose 4.9% year over year.

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

"Why Rivian Analysts Are Largely Bullish: 'EV Maker Could Be The One That Can Challenge Tesla'" by Shanthi Rexaline examines how Rivian Automotive Inc RIVN shares have come off the highs and yet are trading above the IPO price as analysts began initiating coverage of the shares.

In "Ford Chairman Bill Ford Acquires Another 2 Million Shares In The Automaker" Rachit Vats reports how the Ford Motors Co F hit a 20-year high in November and its chairman now owns about 20 million shares, which include restricted stock and about 15 million of the founding family’s special class of super-voting stock.

Chris Katje writes about how PepsiCo PEP is launching a genesis NFT collection called Pepsi Mic Drop in "Pepsi Introduces First NFT Series From VaynerNFT: How You Can Grab One."

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

Novavax Shares Jump After Head Of EU Drug Regulator Hints At Imminent Authorization For COVID-19 Vaccine

Why Apple's 'AR/VR Opportunity' Gets This Analyst Excited About Cupertino's Growth Prospects

Cathie Wood Continues To Load Up On Blade Air Mobility Stock

The Bears

"Citron Buys The Dip In Nuvei, Says 'No Proof Of Fraud' In New Short Seller Report" by Wayne Duggan looks at allegations made by Spruce Point Capital Management that Nuvei Corp NVEI CEO Phil Fayer embellished his education credentials during his previous role at PaySystems.

Shivdeep Dhaliwal writes about how sales for Apple Inc AAPL  may be affected by the new omicron variant of COVID-19 in "Why This Expert Thinks Omicron Could Put A Wrench In Apple's Plans For 'All-Important Holiday Season'."

In "DraftKings CEO Claps Back At Famed Short Seller Jim Chanos Following Bearish Comments" Adam Eckert reports on how short seller Jim Chanos added some fuel to the Draftkings Inc  DKNG fire when he announced that he has been short the stock for "most of 2021.""

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

Carnival Cruise Pricing Weakness Extends To The Second Half Of 2022

EV Sales Are On The Rise, But Tesla's Global Market Share Is Shrinking: Analyst

Boeing 737 MAX Flies Back Mid-Air In India Due To Technical Issue

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