Bulls And Bears Of The Week: Lennar, Dave & Buster's, Broadcom And More

• Benzinga has examined prospects for many investor favorite stocks over the past week.
• Bullish calls included a company riding low interest rates and a strong homebuilding trend, and a semiconductor stock bucking an otherwise rough trend for the industry.
• Bearish calls included a restaurant where you can play Skeeball, and negative bet on a couple casino stocks.

The major stock indexes finished this past week up slightly, but investors have been in wait-and-see mode awaiting what could be some big market-moving events in the next couple weeks, especially cautious ahead of this coming week’s Fed meeting. 

The S&P, Dow and Nasdaq all finished the week up by about a half a percentage point.

Sentiment was boosted a bit early in the week when President Donald Trump backed off on a tariff threat for Mexico. Retail sales data from the Commerce Department was about what was expected. Mostly, though, the market is waiting for the Federal Open Market Committee’s decision on rates looming mid-week. 

Also waiting in the wings is the G-20 meeting later this month, where Trump and the Chinese are expected to talk trade, leading to hopes for an easing of the ongoing trade war, but also fears of a continuation or worsening.

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

Bulls

Jayson Derrick’s "Wedbush Upgrades Lennar Amid Favorable Homebuilder Market" highlights reasons why a bullish stance might be warranted again for Lennar Corporation LEN with low interest rates boosting home sales.

Cloudera Inc CLDR shares were down following a rough earnings print, but Wayne Duggan reported in "Options Trader Makes Aggressive Bullish Play On Cloudera Rebound" on some options buys that might suggest a comeback.

It’s been a rough time lately for semiconductor companies, mostly because of China, but Shanthi Rexaline's "Morgan Stanley Upgrades NXP Semiconductor: 'We See A Stock Multiple With A Disproportionate Skew Higher'" shows how NXP Semiconductors NV NXPI might be bucking the trend.

For additional bullish calls, see "Evercore Along For Bullish Ride With Uber, Lyft," "Disney Streaming Service Poised For Quick Ramp, Says Bullish Morgan Stanley," and "Wedbush's Confidence In Etsy Increases After Meeting With CFO."

Bears

Staying with that rough patch for semiconductor companies, Rexaline also reported on two sell-side firms, Charter Equity Research and KeyBanc, downgrading Broadcom Inc. AVGO in "Analysts: Broadcom's Reduced Outlook Due More To Caution Than Broader Weakness."

In "Options Traders Make Aggressive Bearish Bets On Near-Term Casino Stock Weakness," Wayne Duggan notes that casino stocks have mostly been in line with the market, but a couple of large options trades this past week suggest a bet on a downturn for the stocks. The trades were for Wynn Resorts, Limited WYNN and MGM Resorts International MGM.

Playtime may be ending for Dave & Busters Entertainment Inc. PLAY. Two stories this week, Jayson Derrick's "Wells Fargo On Dave & Buster's: Time To Hit 'Pause'," and Brett Hershman's "Wall Street Sours On Dave & Buster's" detailed the arcade restaurant chain's woes.

For more bearish calls, be sure to check out "Bernstein Downgrades Beyond Meat Amid Growing Valuation Concerns," and "Morgan Stanley Downgrades Symantec, Says It's Losing Share In Core Markets."