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* Benzinga has examined the prospects for many investor favorite stocks over the past week. * The week’s bullish calls included the electric vehicle leader and a recovering retailer. * A ride-sharing company and a semiconductor maker were among the bearish calls.As the fourth-quarter earnings reporting season got underway last week, the major U.S. indexes lost a little ground. The Dow Jones industrial average concluded the week down about 1%, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq retreated a little more.Of course, much of the attention during the week was focused on the political drama in Washington, D.C. The U.S. president became the first ever to be impeached twice, after the prior week’s chaos at the U.S. Capitol. Social media pulled the plug on the president and others who fomented the insurrection. The outgoing president also kept up the pressure on China, while the incoming president laid out a huge pandemic and economic recovery program.In corporate news, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission opened a probe into a petroleum giant, a semiconductor leader announced management changes, a casino owner and Republican megadonor passed away, and the Detroit Auto Show was canceled.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 Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) is not an auto company but rather a disruptive technology company. So says Shivdeep Dhaliwal’s “Tesla Reaching T Valuation In 2 Years? Here’s What Inspires Daniel Ives’ Optimistic Target.” Are U.S. political developments bullish for the Elon Musk-led company?Priya Nigam’s “Marathon Oil Gets Upgrade Due To Higher Oil Prices, More Cash Return To Shareholders” is focused on how Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE: MRO) is likely to generate around $2 billion over the next couple of years.In Jayson Derrick’s “Baird Upgrades Walgreens Boots, Expects Turnaround Of ‘Train Wreck’ Performance,” see the several catalysts that could help turn around specialty retailer Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ: WBA).”Nvidia’s Comprehensive Involvement In Gaming Market Continues Strong Demand: Rosenblatt” by Shanthi Rexaline examines how the competitive position of NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) in the gaming GPU market will only get better.In “Cantor Analyst Raises Aphria And Tilray Price Targets Amid Merger,” Jelena Martinovic discusses why the impending merger with Tilray Inc. (NASDAQ: TLRY) has overshadowed the recent disappointing quarterly results from Aphria Inc. (NASDAQ: APHA).For additional bullish calls of the past week, also have a look at the following: * Study: Investors Say Tesla, Apple And Microsoft Were 2020’s Top Stocks * Why KeyBanc Is Bullish On These 4 Casino StocksBears A Japanese tech investment giant has trimmed its stake in Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE: UBER), according to “SoftBank Dumps B Worth Of Uber Shares After Stock’s Rally” by Aditya Raghunath. See how much of the stake in the ride-sharing company remains and whether it is still the largest investment in the firm’s portfolio.Shanthi Rexaline’s “Why Intel’s CEO Transition Is A Negative For AMD: Analyst” argues that the “blue sky” scenario for Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) may start to crumble as its rival gets back on its feet. How much are AMD’s share gains in servers likely to moderate?In Chris Katje’s “Palantir Vulnerable With Valuation And Lockup Concerns, Citi Says,” see whether shares of software company Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE: PLTR) have run too far. Plus, a large share lockup expires around the same time as the upcoming earnings report.”JPMorgan Says Hydrogen Stock Plug Power Trades At ‘Steep Price,’ Downgrades FuelCell Energy” by Jayson Derrick shows why the “compelling” path to $1.2 billion in sales by 2024 for Plug Power Inc (NASDAQ: PLUG) did not impress one top analyst.For more bearish takes, be sure to check out these posts: * Why Investment Strategist Ed Yardeni Is Worried About A Tech Stocks, Bitcoin-Led Market Meltdown * ‘You’re A Fool’ Who Will ‘Lose Everything’ If You Take On Debt To Invest In Crypto, Mark Cuban Says * How Did Retail Perform During The Holidays?At the time of this writing, the author had no position in the mentioned equities.Photo Courtesy of PixabayKeep up with all the latest breaking news and trading ideas by following Benzinga on Twitter.See more from Benzinga * Click here for options trades from Benzinga * Barron’s Picks And Pans: Dividend Aristocrats, Alibaba, GameStop, Walmart And More * Notable Insider Buys Of The Past Week: Howard Hughes, Party City, Perrigo And More(C) 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) CEO Lisa Su has been given much of the credit for the company’s remarkable turnaround. From one teetering on the edge of bankruptcy in the early parts of the previous decade, Su has expertly steered the chipmaker to its current standing as a semiconductor giant. Rosenblatt analyst Hans Mosesmann logged in to hear Su’s virtual keynote at this year’s CES (consumer electronics show) and came away impressed. “CEO Lisa Su’s virtual CES keynote was strong and hit all the key company market segments of console gaming, PC/gaming, servers, and workstations, and with guests from academia, Microsoft, HP, Lenovo, Lucasfilm, and others,” the 5-star analyst said. “Interestingly, and of note, Microsoft’s Chief Product Officer Panos Panay gushed unprompted about the great momentum AMD has in industry and, specifically, within Microsoft’s PC, Azure, and console areas.” Product wise, Su announced a new generation of mobile processors – the Ryzen 5000 Zen 3 series. Targeting gaming laptops and light notebooks, the processors feature up to 8 cores and 16 threads, and will go toe to toe against Intel’s Tiger Lake. AMD also introduced a new Ryzen 5000 HX brand for gaming notebooks that is “positioned with over 35% better performance than Intel (10th Gen Core i9 mobile processor), and over 13% advantage in single threaded workloads.” The new Ryzen 5000 mobile series will launch in approximately 150 models this year, compared to the Ryzen 4000 mobile’s 100 models in 2020 and the 70 models introduced in 2019 for the Ryzen 3000 mobile. “AMD will continue to gain share in 2021,” Mosesmann summed up, “In platforms that we see are higher volume and in segments that AMD has yet to properly penetrate.” To this end, Mosesmann rates AMD a Buy along with a $120 price target. The implication for investors? Upside of 36%. (To watch Mosesmann’s track record, click here) The rest of Wall Street largely buys into what this chip player has to offer. AMD’s Moderate Buy consensus rating is based on 14 Buys, 5 Holds and 2 Sells. With a return potential of ~9%, the average price target stands at $95.83. (See AMD stock analysis on TipRanks) To find good ideas for tech stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analyst. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.

One of the major investing themes coming out of 2020 is the soaring price of bitcoin (CCC:BTC). However, the cryptocurrency slid as much as 21% over a two-day period to as low as $32,389. Since the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic, it’s the biggest two-day drop, wiping off nearly $140 billion in total market capitalization. Source: Shutterstock In a nutshell, investors reacted to the stronger dollar and growing political uncertainty. The cryptocurrency is still up roughly 89% on a trailing one-month basis. Nevertheless, the drop did send shivers down the spines of investors. Peaks and valleys will always be part and parcel of investing in bitcoin. But I believe this is just a momentary blip, and normal service will resume soon enough. Covid-19 is surging once again in Asia, and the impeachment of President Donald Trump is jolting the markets. The strengthening of the dollar and higher bond yields are also an important contributing factor in the fall in bitcoin prices.InvestorPlace – Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips However, all these factors are temporary in nature. In the long run, bitcoin will continue to climb higher. Financial institutions are increasingly allowing users to buy, store, and sell cryptocurrencies. That’s why in a recent Bloomberg Crypto monthly report, analysts are predicting that bitcoin could more than double from its current value in 2021. Bitcoin Finally Gaining Widespread Acceptance The recent surge in bitcoin prices is due to multiple factors. A weaker dollar, economic optimism, big-ticket investment banks backing the scarce digital currency against inflation, and a weakening U.S. dollar are some reasons. However, I believe the biggest contributor is higher institutional interest. 9 Stocks That Investors Think Are the Next Amazon Square (NYSE:SQ), Paypal (NASDAQ:PYPL), Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), and CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) all provide exposure to the cryptocurrency to their users. All of these companies are large diversified conglomerates. Therefore it’s hard to pinpoint how much money these companies are making through bitcoin. However, considering the surge in its price, it will be a significant contributor to the bottom line looking ahead. Just as an example, Square’s Cash App generated $1.63 billion of bitcoin revenue and $32 million of bitcoin gross profit during the third quarter of 2020. This was up approximately 11x and 15x year-over-year, respectively. Pantera Capital research shows PayPal and Square are securing all the new bitcoin added to the market daily. That’s great news, particularly for PayPal users. The online payments system provider allows its customers to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereum for as little as $1. Similarly, a range of mid- or high-end graphics cards from Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) is selling out, leading to a shortage in the markets. It’s mainly due to cryptocurrency miners purchasing them in bulk to build machines to mine bitcoin and similar cryptocurrencies. CME Group, which is the biggest largest financial derivatives exchange, also offers bitcoin futures contracts. Up until Dec 16, 2020, 8,560 CME Bitcoin futures contracts – equal to roughly 42,800 bitcoin – traded on average each day. Simultaneously, the institutional interest keeps increasing. The number of large open interest holders reached a record of 110 in December. Here to Stay We have been here before. Dizzying highs and lows are not a new phenomenon for bitcoin. However, the cryptocurrency is now finally gaining institutional support, which eluded it for a long time. The pandemic certainly helped. During the widespread lockdowns, online commerce and payments ballooned, increasing interest in digital currencies exponentially. Bitcoin was always volatile. But the past year has shown that every asset class can become wobbly in an uncertain environment. It was always regarded as an interesting store of value due to the ultimate ceiling of 21 million and the difficulties in mining it. But its wider acceptance is bringing a sense of credibility and stability that was hitherto missing. For me, that is what makes it an interesting asset to hold, despite the risks that come with it. The prospect of central banks issuing their own digital currencies will always be there. However, now that financial institutions as large as BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) are warming up to it, the future looks very bright for bitcoin. On the date of publication, Faizan Farooque did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. Faizan Farooque is a contributing author for InvestorPlace.com and numerous other financial sites. Faizan has several years of experience analyzing the stock market and was a former data journalist at S&P Global Market Intelligence. His passion is to help the average investor make more informed decisions regarding their portfolio. More From InvestorPlace Why Everyone Is Investing in 5G All WRONG Top Stock Picker Reveals His Next 1,000% Winner It doesn’t matter if you have $500 in savings or $5 million. Do this now. The post Bitcoin Crash Is Excellent Opportunity to Buy the Dip appeared first on InvestorPlace.

It’s like doubters of Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) keep waiting to wake up one day and see the stock in free-fall as bulls overplayed their hand. The truth is, AMD stock remains a great bet on the future of technology. Source: Joseph GTK / Shutterstock.com As time goes on, computing tasks aren’t becoming less robust. They’re becoming more demanding, which increases the need for GPUs and chipmakers like AMD. The fact that AMD was a penny stock a few years ago and on the brink of survival has cemented a lot of doubt within the bear camp. Fortunately, their theses are out of line. While it’s possible the company has a hiccup or two along the way, AMD continues to take market share at a time where the market is growing. InvestorPlace – Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips That’s exactly the kind of thing bulls want to see and it’s exactly why the stock has done so well. Now AMD is leaning on a bevy of industries — including crypto, AI, automotive, gaming and cloud-computing to name a few — to drive its business. Unless these industries are going to unravel, neither will AMD stock. Breaking Down Advanced Micro Devices As we round out 2020, analysts expect AMD to grow revenue more than 40% to $9.5 billion. They further expect earnings to nearly double to $1.23 per share. 9 Stocks That Investors Think Are the Next Amazon Just think about that for a minute. In a year marred by a pandemic, Advanced Micro Devices is forecast to grow sales 40% and almost double its bottom line. Even better, those estimates accelerated dramatically over the past 12 months. Let’s put it this way: Consensus estimates call for an additional 27% revenue growth in 2021 to $12.1 billion and for earnings to climb almost 50% to $1.81 per share. In July 2020, these consensus estimates stood at just $8.4 billion and ~$1.05 per share. Again, that’s where estimates stood for 2021 roughly six months ago. Now AMD is easily surpassing those totals in 2020. Two-year forward estimates call for another 20% in revenue growth in 2022. Who knows, perhaps that’s conservative too. Friends, the key to successful long-term investing doesn’t start with a stock chart. It starts with identifying the long-term business trends, then focusing on the companies that are winning in those spaces. The technicals matter from the perspective of timing, but with enough patience and time, the fundamentals will be what drives these names higher. As these end markets grow, so do the opportunities for AMD. It’s what has allowed the company to go from a penny stock to making major acquisitions. Growth Beyond the Field Here’s another trend to focus on: financials. Over the last several years, but particularly over the last 18 months, AMD has seen its free cash flow soar, its gross and operating margins climb and its debt plunge. Gross margins went from the low- to mid-20% range in 2017 to 44.5% currently. Operating margins went from roughly negative 10% at the start of 2017 to more than 13%. Two years ago, free cash flow was sitting near a negative $250 million. Six months later, AMD had break-even free cash flow. Now it sits at almost $700 million. At year-end 2017, AMD had total assets of $3.54 billion and total liabilities of $2.92 billion. Now, those figures sit at $7 billion and $3.15 billion, respectively, representing a massive improvement. Total long-term debt has gone from $1.33 billion to $578 million in that span as well. In other words, AMD is more profitable, has less debt and has the right trends with its financials. Trading AMD Stock Click to EnlargeSource: Chart courtesy of TrendSpider The truth is, AMD stock can be rather hard to pin down when it comes to trading. It does trade quite well in regards to the technicals, but it has a tendency to give a lot of false moves. That is, it appears to break down only to snap back and reverse higher, or it appears to break out, only to reverse lower. The latter has played out this week, with shares climbing to new highs on Jan. 11. However, the stock failed to close at those highs and pulled back in the next session. Does that mean the run is over? Not at all. Look at the way AMD stock tends to trade. It goes on these big runs, gaining a tremendous amount of ground, then consolidates. Sometimes that consolidation is a few weeks. Other times it’s a few months. Shares consolidated for the entire first half of 2020, erupting from the mid-$50s in July to the mid-$80s a month later. Then AMD stock traded sideways before jumping higher in December. That’s the pattern here. Look for these consolidation patterns as AMD is resting for the next move. These are opportunities for investors and when the stock does dip, it’s constantly met by support. On the date of publication, neither Matt McCall nor the InvestorPlace Research Staff member primarily responsible for this article held (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. More From InvestorPlace Why Everyone Is Investing in 5G All WRONG Top Stock Picker Reveals His Next 1,000% Winner It doesn’t matter if you have $500 in savings or $5 million. Do this now. The post AMD Stock Has Too Many Catalysts to Ignore appeared first on InvestorPlace.

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