Benzinga Bulls And Bears Of The Past Week: ViacomCBS, Ford, Meta, Netflix, Microsoft, Tesla And More

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

• Last week's bullish calls included a legacy automaker and a social media giant which is embracing NFTs.
• The world's biggest streaming service company along with the top EV manufacturer were among the bearish calls seen.

It was a difficult week on Wall Street, as the Nasdaq posted a 7.6% loss, its worst weekly performance since October 2020. The index is now more than 14% below its November record close, marking its worst start to a year, in the first 14 trading days, since 2008.

Both the Dow and S&P 500 recorded their third straight week of losses and their worst weeks since 2020. The S&P 500 saw a 5.7% drop this week, while the Dow finished the week 4.6% lower.

Market participants are now looking ahead to the Federal Reserve’s meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, as investors anticipate new clues on how much the central bank will raise interest rates this year and when it will start. Economists are expecting a March rate hike of a quarter of a percentage-point by the Fed.

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

"ViacomCBS Analyst Raises Streaming Subscriber Estimates Following Success Of 'YellowJackets,' 'Dexter'," by Wayne Duggan looks at how shares of ViacomCBS Inc VIAC are off to a hot start in 2022, and two of the company's new TV shows may have it positioned to exceed subscriber growth expectations for the fourth quarter.

Adam Eckert writes about Ford Motor Company's F plans to report several large special items during the company's upcoming financial results in "Ford To Report Special Items During Q4 Results — Including $8.2B Gain From Rivian Investment."

In "Meta Plans To Allow Users To Mint, Sell NFTs On Facebook, Instagram: Report," Samyuktha Sriram write about how social media giant Facebook, which recently rebranded to Meta Platforms FB, plans to let users create and sell their own non-fungible tokens. 

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

Nio Is Getting Immense Publicity In China Over Norway Swap Station Launch — But Not Exactly How It Would Have Wanted

Scandal-Hit Starbucks Rival Luckin Said To Be Scheming A US Relisting

Could 'The Silent Sea' Be Netflix's Next Big Foreign Hit?

The Bears

"This Robot-Run ETF Retains Tesla As It Largest Holding In January, It Has Bowed Out Of Netflix And Initiated Position In This Chipmaker" by Madhukumar Warrier looks at why the Qraft AI-Enhanced US Large Cap Momentum ETF AMOM, an exchange-traded fund driven by artificial intelligence, has entirely divested its holdings in Netflix Inc NFLX, Merck & Co Inc MRK and AutoDesk Inc ADSK.

Adam Eckert writes about how Microsoft Corp's (NASDAQ: MSFT) plans to acquire Activision Blizzard Inc ATVI may have a negative impact on Sony Group's SONY PlayStation, if Microsoft opts to make some of its games exclusive to the Xbox platform in "Why The $70B Activision-Microsoft Deal Could Hurt Sony."

In "Tesla Loses Top Spot In Ark Next Generation Internet ETF To This Cryptocurrency Stock," Rachit Vats write about how Cathie Wood-led Ark Investment Management’s stake in Tesla Inc TSLA slipped to the second rank for the first time in years in one of the three active exchange traded funds.

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

Why Peloton's Production Halt Could Cause Repercussions For Affirm

Bears Grab Ahold Of Amazon Stock As Market Falls Into Turmoil: What's Next?

Is Microsoft's Stock Overvalued Or Undervalued?

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