Benzinga's Bulls And Bears Of The Week: Boeing, Netflix, Nike, Starbucks And More

Benzinga has examined the prospects for many investor favorite stocks over the past week.
The week's bullish calls included the iPhone maker and aerospace and apparel leaders.
A top electric vehicle maker and a COVID-19 vaccine play were among the more bearish calls.

Though the year is in the home stretch now, the past week was still a busy one. Perhaps the biggest news was that the first COVID-19 vaccine was approved for use in the United States, and it looks like there will be more to come. Still, the big U.S. indexes ended the week slightly lower, led by the S&P 500's 1% retreat.

The iPhone maker said it will bring more production in house, and it also tossed its hat in the autonomous vehicle ring. Like most companies, it is still adjusting to the pandemic. Meanwhile, regulators came down hard on a social media leader this past week.

It was also a week when the 737-Max took to the skies again, some petroleum giants may have to look more toward the future, and there was speculation that the electric vehicle leader may be looking for a new home. Plus an entertainment colossus made a splash late in the week.

The inaugural Benzinga Global Small Cap Conference happened this past week too.

Through it all, Benzinga continued 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.

Bulls

"Apple Gets $200 Bull Case Target From Wedbush On Strongest Product Cycle Since 2014" by Shivdeep Dhaliwal examines why an analyst sees "major tailwinds" for Apple Inc. AAPL stock, including strong iPhone 12 demand.

In "UBS Upgrades Boeing, Spirit AeroSystems, Doubles Price Targets," Wayne Duggan discusses how expectations for a highly effective coronavirus vaccine have catalyzed the beginning of an aerospace upcycle — good news for Boeing Co BA.

Nike Inc NKE is a growth company that has performed well during the pandemic, with its shift to digital and a move away from undifferentiated products. So says Priya Nigam's "KeyBanc Bullish On Nike's E-Commerce Opportunity."

Aditya Raghunath's "What Do Wall Street Analysts Think After Starbucks Investor Day?" focuses on why analysts believe Starbucks Corporation SBUX stock has a lot of near-term momentum and is expected perform well next year.

For additional bullish calls of the past week, also have a look at the following:

Bears

In Shivdeep Dhaliwal's "Tesla Gets Downgrade From Long-Term Bull Pierre Ferragu, Analyst Says Time To Book Profits," see why investors may want to take some Tesla Inc TSLA profits ahead of the stock's inclusion in the S&P 500.

"Needham Sticks To Its Streaming War Stance: Buy Roku, Sell Netflix" by Jayson Derrick makes the case that, contrary to popular belief, Netflix Inc NFLX is not an industry leader. See what investors should favor instead.

Shanthi Rexaline's "Moderna Analyst Positive On Coronavirus Vaccine Progress, Downgrades Shares On Valuation" shows why a Moderna Inc MRNA analyst stepped to the sidelines last week.

The Helmerich & Payne, Inc. HP stock valuation appears "stretched," even with a more optimistic U.S. rig count forecast for the near term, according to "BofA Downgrades Helmerich & Payne On Valuation" by Priya Nigam.

Be sure to check out the following additional bearish calls:

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

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