Benzinga's Bulls & Bears Of The Week: Apple, Bitcoin, Macy's, Verizon And More

• Benzinga has featured looks at many investor favorite stocks over the past week.
• Bullish calls included a top telecom and a couple of China-based companies.
• Bearish calls included a department store operator and a satellite radio giant.

After three weeks with little to no gain, despite the largely solid first-quarter results and even some big positive surprises, the broader equity markets finally got a little air under them this past week. Meanwhile, Benzinga has continued to feature looks at the prospects for many investor favorite stocks.

Here are just a few of this past week's most bullish and bearish posts that may be worth another look.

Bulls

"JPMorgan: Verizon On 'Stable Footing' As 5G Opportunity Crystallizes" by Bill Haddad shows why Verizon Communications Inc. VZ remains one of the highest-quality providers in wireless and could see its market share improve.

In "Nestlé Deal To Accelerate Starbucks Buybacks, Expand Global Market," Elizabeth Balboa examines why this new Starbucks Corporation SBUX partnership will help it return $20 billion to investors in two years.

Wayne Duggan's "Do Apple, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Buybacks Bolster The Bull Thesis?" examines why share buybacks like the one at Apple Inc. AAPL play a big role in the bullish thesis for such stocks.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA often is called the Amazon AMZN of China, says Brett Hershman in "With Only A Fraction Of Amazon's Sales, Alibaba Earns Nearly The Same Profit." But on one key metric, it has Amazon beat.

In Shanthi Rexaline's "Baidu Set For 20% Growth After iQIYI Spinoff, Bernstein Says In Upgrade," see why the leaner and meaner Baidu Inc BIDU is now poised for growth, according to one key analyst.

Also have a look at These Benzinga Global Fintech Awards Finalists Are Investing In Millennials.

Bears

"Buffett Still Bearish On Bitcoin: 'The Asset Itself Is Creating Nothing'" by Wayne Duggan points out that Warren Buffett pulled no punches when it comes to cryptocurrencies at the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-B) annual shareholder meeting.

In Jayson Derrick's "Morgan Stanley Turns 'Incrementally Cautious' On Macy's After 60% Gain," see why there are reasons to believe the recent rally in Macy's Inc M can't be sustained through 2018 and beyond.

One key analyst sees more upside in Sirius XM Holdings Inc SIRI but downgraded it anyway, as shown in "Sirius Downgraded By Buckingham, But Analyst Sees Additional Upside In The Satellite Radio Stock" by Elizabeth Balboa.

In "Juniper Networks Faces 'Ongoing' Business Pressures, Credit Suisse Says," Bill Haddad takes a look at the growing challenges that Juniper Networks, Inc. JNPR faces due to some changes in its product portfolio.

Brett Hershman's "Crocs Downgraded By Stifel On Balanced Risk-Reward; Footwear Maker Reports Strong European, Direct-To-Consumer Growth" examines why an earnings beat wasn't enough for Crocs, Inc. CROX.

Be sure to check out These Benzinga Global Fintech Award Finalists Provide Dominant Trading Execution Platforms as well.