Author: therawinformant

J&J Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Paul Stoffels says the vaccine being produced needs a minimum 70% efficacy to be considered successful.

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(Bloomberg) — Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy had bought just one stock in his life before the quarantine hit. When the country shut down in March, canceling sports and sports betting, the founder of the brash, misogynistic media empire dusted off his old E*Trade account and started day trading.“With the volatility, it is kind of like watching a sports game,” said Portnoy, 43, who started live streaming as “Davey Day Trader Global” to his 1.5 million Twitter followers with the caveat: “I’m not a financial advisor. Don’t trust anything I say about stocks.”Despite the obligatory warning, Portnoy has touted stocks like InspireMD Inc. and Smith & Wesson Brands Inc., while dissing the acumen of Warren Buffett, the world’s fifth-richest person and widely regarded as one of the greatest investors ever. “I’m sure Warren Buffett is a great guy but when it comes to stocks he’s washed up,” Portnoy tweeted Tuesday. “I’m the captain now.”Portnoy and his ilk have been part of one of the greatest rallies in history, adopting as a mantra the online slogan of “stocks only go up!” Market watchers are being forced to ask to what degree retail interest has become a self-fulfilling prophecy in many parts of the market — and what dangers it poses for its sustainability. Thursday’s rout, the deepest in three months, offered a reminder that stocks do, in fact, fall, though equity futures were poised to open higher on Friday.Read more: The Stocks-Only-Go-Up Strategy Falls Into a $2 Trillion DitchMillennials and Gen Zs, the target audience of Barstool content, have long been under-invested in the stock market, said Julian Emanuel, chief equity and derivatives strategist at BTIG LLC.That’s changing. Stuck at home with plenty of free time, government stimulus checks, no sports to bet on and, for better or worse, a figure like Portnoy turning investing into entertainment, more and more young people are wading in for the first time.‘Perfect Storm’“It’s really been a perfect storm,” said Nate Geraci, president of investment-advisory firm the ETF Store, who views Portnoy as the millennial Jim Cramer, the CNBC personality. “Investors are seeing firsthand the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, and he’s doing it with large sums of money, so I think for younger investors, that’s really enticing.”In January, casino company Penn National Gaming announced it had bought a stake in Barstool for $163 million in cash and stock. Portnoy, who estimates his net worth at more than $100 million, said he’s put $5 million into his day-trading account so far.“I’m a little surprised that it’s become pretty well known within the financial community,” he said. “That’s kind of our target audience regardless of what we’re covering and I think Barstool was popular in those circles to begin with.”Portnoy, a Massachusetts native with a degree in education from the University of Michigan, founded Barstool in 2003 as a weekly newspaper about gambling with the tagline: “By the common man, for the common man.” It has since grown into a media empire synonymous with male frat culture.It has also had its fair share of controversies.ESPN CancelsIn late 2017, ESPN canceled a show hosted by some Barstool personalities following social-media complaints that the website was insulting to women. It has a daily feature with photos of a scantily clad woman called Smokeshow and in the past rated the attractiveness of female teachers who were charged with having sex with their students. The company recently reached a settlement with the National Labor Relations Board to delete tweets in which Portnoy threatened to fire people who talked to union activists.Portnoy’s livestream Davey Day Trader Global, or DDTG, gets hundreds of thousands of viewers on Twitter alone. In the videos, Portnoy mostly half-yells into a microphone as he goes through his portfolio. Sometimes he diverts into stream-of-consciousness asides.“I bought these sunglasses today,” Portnoy said in one video, putting on a pair of reflective aviator sunglasses. “Are these d****bag sunglasses? I think these may be d****bag sunglasses.”DDTG isn’t that different from other Barstool blogs and shows like the raunchy podcast Call Her Daddy. The live streams are interspersed on Portnoy’s timeline with videos of his longer-running show Barstool Pizza Reviews.Scott Nazareth, a 29-year-old day trader from Toronto, said he’s a fan of Portnoy’s videos and believes older investors such as Buffett are missing opportunities in technology and airline stocks.“I kind of make fun of some of these investors,” Nazareth said of Buffett. “They just have a hard time understanding the new normal, the new business models.”With tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of people watching, there’s some concern that people will take Portnoy’s advice to heart. But Portnoy said he’s made it clear to his viewers not to invest money they can’t afford to lose.“I’m not babysitting our readers,” said Portnoy. “People got to be responsible.”His plugs appear to have had some effect, though. On Wednesday, Portnoy mentioned penny-stock InspireMD, a company that makes products for vascular procedures. The stock had already seen elevated volume since June 2, when the firm announced it would offer an additional 22 million shares. Still, volume surged to an all-time high of 52 million shares after Portnoy’s exhortations.‘Hype Videos’After tweeting a video questioning Buffett’s decision to get out of airlines — where Portnoy doubts the wisdom of “94-year-old guys who live in Nebraska” — volume in JETS, an exchange-traded fund tracking airlines, exploded. The 30-day average volume in the ETF went from $45 million to about $200 million. Portnoy’s video has more than 1 million views.“I’ve never seen a video quite like that outside of hype videos in football,” said Eric Balchunas, an ETF analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence. “The financial industry is not used to that kind of thing.”Buffett, who’s actually just 89, didn’t respond to a request for comment through a spokeswoman.With brokerages offering commission-free trading, “the barriers to entry are essentially zero and the cost to transact is essentially zero,” Emanuel said.Young people, who use their phones for everything, are comfortable dealing with trading apps, and companies like Robinhood Financial appeal to first-time investors with referral promos and free stocks when they sign up.“You look at a platform like Robinhood, in many ways those platforms have game-ified investing,” Geraci said.New AccountsPurdue University student Cameron Coleman, 20, started investing about a month ago after a friend shared his Robinhood referral link. Coleman had been an avid sports better and said he turned to day trading as an alternative during quarantine. He now tracks stocks on two computer monitors he typically uses for gaming and his initial $50 investment was up to $260 as of Tuesday.Robinhood added more than three million funded accounts in the first four months of 2020, and half of customers who opened accounts this year said they were first-time investors, according to Nora Chan, a spokeswoman for the Menlo Park, California-based firm. E*Trade Financial Corp. had 329,000 net new accounts in the first three months of the year, with 260,000 added in March alone, the firm said in its first-quarter earnings statement. That was more than the company’s previous best annual net record.While day trading can be risky and Portnoy might not be the best role model for young investors, Emanuel and Geraci said they think younger investors entering the market is positive for the long-term.“The danger to the accessibility of it is very clear because you are bringing people in who may not be terribly qualified,” Emanuel said. “You learn more when you’re losing.”Coleman said he doubts he would have started investing if it weren’t for the pandemic shutdowns. “I probably would have just continued sports betting because I’m better at that,” he said.Now that he’s begun, Coleman said he plans to continue. “But I’ll switch to a more buy-and-hold strategy.”(Updates with stock futures in fourth paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (REGN) said Thursday it started the first human clinical trial of REGN-COV2, its investigational dual antibody cocktail for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.The REGN-COV2 clinical program will consist of four separate study populations: hospitalized COVID-19 patients, non-hospitalized symptomatic COVID-19 patients, individuals that are at high-risk of exposure, such as healthcare workers or first responders, and people with close exposure to a COVID-19 patient. The placebo-controlled trials will be conducted at multiple sites."We have created a unique anti-viral antibody cocktail with the potential both to prevent and treat infection, and also to preempt viral 'escape,' a critical precaution in the midst of an ongoing global pandemic," said George D. Yancopoulos, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Regeneron. "REGN-COV2 could have a major impact on public health by slowing spread of the virus and providing a needed treatment for those already sick – and could be available much sooner than a vaccine.”Yancopoulos added that the antibody cocktail approach would also be useful for elderly and immuno-compromised patients, who often do not respond well to vaccines.REGN-COV2's preclinical development and manufacturing has been funded in part with federal funds from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).Shares in Regeneron have surged 62% so far this year. The stock declined 1.7% to $596.18 in early afternoon trading.Five-star analyst Alethia Young at Cantor Fitzgerald this month raised the stock's price target to $624 (3.7% upside potential) from $400 and maintained a Hold rating, saying its drug pipeline faces stiff competition in the generics market.“Potential upside may come from a sustainable commercial COVID-19 franchise, where studies should begin soon,” Young wrote in a note to investors.What does the rest of the Street have to say? The 20 analysts are divided evenly between 10 Buy and 10 Hold ratings adding up to a Moderate Buy consensus. In view of the stock’s recent rally, the analysts’ $573.26 average price target is less optimistic than Young’s indicating a mere 3.5% downside potential in the coming 12 months. (See Regeneron stock analysis on TipRanks).Related News: Emergent Bio Signs Covid-19 Vaccine Manufacturing Deal With AstraZeneca Oxford Biomedica Clinches Manufacturing Deal For AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 Vaccine 5 Promising Covid-19 Vaccines Picked For Trump’s Operation Warp Speed More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Bankrupt Hertz Pops 51% In Pre-Market On $1 Billion Share Sale Plan * Lululemon Drops 5% in Extended Trading After Quarterly Results Miss * Twitter Removes Accounts Linked To China, Russia, Turkey Due To Information Manipulation * Emergent Bio Signs Covid-19 Vaccine Manufacturing Deal With AstraZeneca

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In this article we are going to estimate the intrinsic value of Ocular Therapeutix, Inc. (NASDAQ:OCUL) by taking the…

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We often see insiders buying up shares in companies that perform well over the long term. Unfortunately, there are…

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The U.S. airlines have said that a modest recovery in demand was helping slow their daily cash burn rates in June, after the COVID-19 pandemic led to hundreds of flight cancellations. American Airlines expects its daily cash burn rate to slow to about $40 million in June, and said it plans to fly 55% of its domestic schedule and nearly 20% of its international schedule in July. “The company has recently experienced improving demand conditions and has passed the peak in cash refund activity,” American Airlines said in a statement.

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Since filing for bankruptcy on May 22, Hertz’s shares have risen more than threefold in value. Hertz is now seeking approval from a bankruptcy court to potentially sell 246.78 million unissued shares to Jefferies LLC. “The recent market prices of and the trading volumes in Hertz’s common stock could potentially present a unique opportunity for the debtors to raise capital on terms that are far superior to any debtor-in-possession financing,” the company said in a regulatory filing on Thursday.

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Diamond Hill Capital recently released its Q1 2020 Investor Letter, a copy of which you can download below. The Diamond Hill Small Cap Fund posted a return of -36.17% for the quarter, underperforming its benchmark, the Russell 2000 Index which returned -30.61% in the same quarter. You should check out Diamond Hill Capital's top 5 […]

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(Bloomberg) — It will go down as wildest of the shale wildcatters, the overreaching pioneer of fracking techniques that minted vast fortunes and, now, have left behind ruin.At long last, financial reality has caught up with Chesapeake Energy Corp., avatar of the boom and subsequent bust of North American shale.Chesapeake’s spiral toward oblivion accelerated this week with executives said to be preparing for a potential bankruptcy filing, signaling the imminent end of Chief Executive Officer Doug Lawler’s 7-year campaign to turn around the troubled gas explorer. For a company that’s been skirting disaster for most of the past decade, the Covid-19-driven collapse in world energy prices merely added one more exclamation point to a tale of risk, hubris and debt.Chesapeake may be shale’s biggest corporate casualty, but it is hardly the first — and won’t be the last. Its self-inflicted wounds have sapped confidence across the entire industry, leaving many smaller operators teetering on the edge of catastrophe.As the remnants of shale’s turn-of-the-century heyday turn to dust, it’s unclear who — if anyone — will step into the void. Supermajors like Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. already have written off their own gas-heavy assets, and are instead focusing on oil-rich shale fields. But any shift in the global supply-and-demand balance for gas would prompt the most sophisticated giants to reassess the value of acquiring and drilling mothballed gas projects.Extreme PressureAlmost three dozen North American explorers, frackers and pipeline operators have fled to bankruptcy courts since the start of this year, buckling under $25.2 billion in cumulative debts, according to law firm Haynes and Boone LLP. Chesapeake’s indebtedness would swell that encumbrance by almost 40%.And even with crude prices recovering from the unprecedented April collapse into negative territory, energy-sector bankruptcies are expected to grow in coming months because many shale companies are in too far over their heads. “Extreme financial pressure is being felt at all levels of the energy industry,” Haynes and Boone said in a report.The template for the shale model that’s now unraveling for many companies was established by Chesapeake and its late co-founder Aubrey McClendon.Experimental DrillingChesapeake was the brainchild of McClendon and his pal Tom Ward, who started out with $50,000 in borrowed money in rented offices. The company went public in 1993 and soon was experimenting with sideways drilling and hydraulic fracturing to pummel open shale formations previously regarded as impermeable — and therefore, worthless — by geologists.At the time, the outlook for domestic gas production was so grim that Alan Greenspan predicted the U.S. would need huge imports of liquefied gas to keep industries and furnaces running. Tens of billions of dollars were invested in massive new gas import terminals that were rendered obsolete before they even opened as Chesapeake and other shale drillers flooded the continent with gas.By the time Ward struck out on his own to form SandRidge Energy Inc. in 2006, Chesapeake was spending on average $1 billion a year to snap up drilling rights from Texas to Pennsylvania. At the start of 2007, Forbes magazine named Chesapeake the best managed oil and gas company.Grand AmbitionUnder McClendon, Chesapeake raised production more than 10-fold between 2000 and 2013, invested heavily in experimental natural gas-fueled transport, and even toyed with expanding overseas before its geologists concluded that many European shale formations were unsuitable for drilling.At its peak, Chesapeake pumped more American gas than anyone aside from Exxon and boasted a market valuation of almost $38 billion.The other side of that coin was that the company only generated positive cash flow in two out of the past 30 years. When gas output from newly tapped shale fields flooded markets and prices tumbled, Chesapeake had to scramble to find new investors or joint-venture partners to provide cash infusions. By 2012, the company’s net debt load was twice the size of Exxon’s, a company that had a market value 27 times larger. Chesapeake warned it was on the verge of running out of cash.While all of that was still brewing, little-known oil wildcatters like Harold Hamm were quietly adapting the technology McClendon and the other shale-gas innovators employed for use on crude-drenched rocks in North Dakota. Those breakthroughs reversed the terminal decline in U.S. crude production, turned America into an energy powerhouse and shattered OPEC’s decades-long grip on the world’s most important commodity.Double MagnumsWhen times were good, Chesapeake spared no expense recruiting young talent to Oklahoma City and a corporate headquarters modeled after an Ivy League university campus. In between stockpiling double magnums of Bordeaux and collecting antique speedboats, McClendon singlehandedly transformed the northwest side of the city from a rundown backwater to a bustling commercial corridor.But the good times never last forever. McClendon was ousted during an Icahn-led board revolt in 2013, and three years later he was indicted on federal bid-rigging charges. Just hours after vowing to fight the charges at all costs and clear his name, he died when his Chevy Tahoe slammed into a concrete highway abutment at 78 miles an hour along a desolate country road.“They were absolutely guns blazing with their growth, but it took a lot of money to do that,” said Robert Clarke, research director at Wood Mackenzie Ltd. “Right now we’re looking at the ugly side of all that excess.”Gordon Pennoyer, a Chesapeake spokesman, declined to comment for this story.Escape RoutesAlthough Lawler inherited many of the burdens that sank the company, the fateful 2019 takeover of WildHorse Resource Development Corp. that included the assumption of more than $900 million in debt was his own undertaking. The move — intended to pivot Chesapeake toward oil and away from gas — occurred just in time to expand the company’s exposure to the crude-market collapse.In the end, Chesapeake ran out of escape routes from its $9.5 billion debt load. Gas prices were too low for too many years, and lenders and private-equity investors had long since shut the door on shale. That left asset sales as the sole avenue for raising cash, but in a market already drowning in a surfeit of gas, Lawler couldn’t find buyers.What Bloomberg Intelligence SaysChesapeake is a prime example of an E&P embroiled in past sins, with years of overspending. Its indebted balance sheet inhibits flexibility and a diverse asset base hinders scale efficiencies and capital allocation.\– Vincent G. Piazza and Evan Lee, BI analystsRead the full report here.McClendon’s legacy has haunted Chesapeake long after his 2013 ouster and his 2016 death. Lawler, the former Anadarko Petroleum Corp. exploration boss recruited by Carl Icahn and O. Mason Hawkins, has spent his entire tenure trying to right the ship.Things were so dire in 2016 that the CEO was forced to pledge almost everything the company owned to keep open a credit lifeline. Lawler, who declined to be interviewed for this story, also sought to demonstrate he was he anti-McClendon. His predecessor’s long, drawn-out conference calls with analysts were replaced with curt recitations of bullet points. Austerity reigned at the company’s once-lavsh headquarters, and Lawler eschewed McClendon’s fondness for opulent displays.“If you see me out at a dinner, here in Oklahoma City and on company expense,” Lawler said at an event in 2014, “and you see me drinking a $500 bottle of wine, I would ask you to hit me over the head with it.”For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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