Bulls And Bears Of The Week: Abbott Labs, Chevron, CVS, United And More

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

Bullish calls included a leading airline and a pharmaceutical giant.

And bearish calls included cruise line operators and two retailers.

In a holiday-shortened week in which a huge merger deal seemed to fall apart, two tech giants settled a long-running dispute and a Paris landmark suffered a catastrophe, perhaps the biggest news was the release of the long-awaited Mueller report.

Otherwise, first-quarter earnings results have been solid overall and economic data seems to show a U.S. economy treading water. The big three U.S. indexes ended the week nearly flat, though still not far off their all-time highs.

Benzinga continues to examine the prospects for many investor favorite stocks. The following are just a few of this past week's most bullish and bearish posts that may be worth another look.

Bulls

See which top analyst called the latest Chevron Corporation CVX acquisition a "win-win" deal for shareholders, according to Wayne Duggan's "Wall Street Weighs In On Chevron Following Anadarko Deal."

"Buckingham Lifts United Continental Outlook, Price Target After Q1 Beat" by Priya Nigam discusses why the prospects for United Continental Holdings Inc UAL look good despite the Boeing Co BA 737 MAX grounding. 

Shanthi Rexaline's "An Abbott Labs Analyst's 5 Reasons To Own The Stock: 'Near-Perfect For This Environment'" shows why there are far more reasons to own Abbott Laboratories ABT stock than not in one analyst's view. 

In "A Few Key Takeaways From Cowen's Off-Price Retail Store Visits," Brett Hershman shows what channel checks suggest about the prospects of TJX Companies Inc TJX and some of its peers. 

For additional bullish calls, also have a look at "3 Reasons Imperial Capital Is More Bullish On Disney" and "RBC Bullish On New Dow, Less So On DowDupont."

Bears

"Oppenheimer Joins Chorus Of CVS Analysts Cautious On Near-Term Outlook" by Shanthi Rexaline discusses why one key analyst has stepped to the sidelines on CVS Health Corp CVS.

In Dave Royce's "Cruise Line Stocks Fall As Trump Administration Tightens Restrictions On Cuba, Venezuela," see how Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd NCLH and others may be affected by new travel rules.

Priya Nigam's "Raymond James Downgrades Comerica, Says Q1 Report Not As Good As It Looks" shows why one analyst was not impressed by the latest Comerica Incorporated CMA earnings beat.

One key analyst stopped short of recommending shorting Pier 1 Imports Inc PIR stock but expects it to underperform. So says "Pier 1 Falls Off The Deep End With 'Distressing' Q4 Report" by Elizabeth Balboa.

Be sure to check out "Is JB Hunt's Q1 Miss A 'Reality Check' For The Sector? The Street Debates" and "RBC Upgrades Marathon, Downgrades BP" for additional bearish calls.

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

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