Benzinga Bulls And Bears: Nvidia, Apple, Disney, And The Catalyst For Recent Upsurge In Pepe, Dogecoin, and Other Meme Coins

Benzinga examined the prospects for many investors' favorite stocks over the last week — here's a look at some of our top stories.

The three major U.S. stock market indexes each gained over 2% this week, marking a positive end to the second quarter of 2023. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both experienced their best monthly performance since October, with gains of 6.5% and 6.6% respectively, while the Dow climbed 4.6%.

For the second quarter, the S&P 500 rose 8.3%, the Nasdaq jumped 12.8%, and the Dow added 3.4%. Inflation data for May, released on Friday, showed a year-over-year increase of 4.6%, slightly below economist estimates, which was well received by the markets.

Benzinga provides daily reports on 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

In "Legendary Investor Seth Klarman Praises Coinbase, Calls This Sector A 'Hunting Ground'," Adam Eckert writes about how Seth Klarman, CEO of Baupost Group, sees potential in the real estate market and praises Coinbase Global Inc COIN for its smart moves, despite the challenging investing environment.

"Apple Stock Nears $3 Trillion Market Cap, Analyst Says The Street Underestimated Its Growth," by Chris Katje, discusses Wedbush's Daniel Ives' assertion that Apple Inc. AAPL is poised for a significant growth renaissance over the next 12 to 18 months, contrary to skeptics' claims of a broken growth story, as the tech giant once again reached a $3 trillion market cap this week.

"Bitcoin Resurgence Ignites Memecoin Mania: Pepe, Dogecoin, Shiba Inu Ride The Wave," by Murtuza Merchant, reports that the recent resurgence of Bitcoin BTC/USD has sparked a surge in meme coins like Pepe PEPE/USD, Dogecoin DOGE/USD and Shiba Inu SHIB/USD, despite ongoing regulatory scrutiny of the crypto market.

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

Benzinga's 'Stock Whisper' Index: 5 Stocks Investors Are Secretly Monitoring But Not Talking About Yet

Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Moves To Disrupt Apple, Google App Store Monopoly

The Bull Case For Uber Stock Has Arrived: 'One Of The Most Compelling FCF Growth Stories In U.S. Internet'

The Bears

"Lucid's Future Shaky, 2 More EV Makers At Risk Of Bankruptcy, Warns Analyst After Lordstown's Chapter 11 Filing," by Shanthi Rexaline, highlights Future Fund managing partner Gary Black's warning that Lucid Group, Inc. LCID and Rivian Automotive, Inc. RIVN could face bankruptcy, echoing Elon Musk of Tesla, Inc's TSLA previous caution.

"The US Is Trying To Weaken China's Semiconductor Industry, Here's What China Is Doing To Fight Back," by AJ Fabino, discusses how the U.S. government's potential export restrictions on AI chips to China could impact companies like Nvidia Corporation NVDA, and may inadvertently boost China's own semiconductor industry.

Disney Loses A Bull: Analyst Says Mouse House Fraught With Uncertainty And Buying The Dip Has Been A Losing Trade," by Shanthi Rexaline, reports that Brandon Nispel of KeyBanc Capital Markets has downgraded Walt Disney Co. DIS from Overweight to Sector Weight, citing concerns over high domestic Parks expectations, stalled direct-to-consumer subscriber growth and structural changes in content.

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

It's A Bear Market FOMO Bubble In Early Stage Of Collapse, Warns Hedge Fund Manager Who Foresaw 2008 Crisis

Aspartame A Cancer Risk? Diet Coke, Pepsi Max And Diet Mountain Dew Could Be Impacted By New World Health Organization Ruling

Steve Weiss Once Predicted Moderna Stock Would Rise 500% And Trade Like Amazon: Now He's Selling As The CEO Dumps Shares

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