Category: Stock Market

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Anyone researching Soligenix, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNGX) might want to consider the historical volatility of the share price…

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Today is shaping up negative for MacroGenics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MGNX) shareholders, with the analysts delivering a…

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A strange tweet by Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, has given rise to speculation that he may be veering to the right of the political spectrum.What Happened Musk, who is known to be a prolific user of Twitter, took to the platform on Sunday to declare, "Take the red pill."The red pill may be a reference to the 1999 movie "The Matrix," in which the protagonist, Neo, is faced with the choice of taking either a red or a blue pill. However, the red pill may also be Musk's way of indicating his willingness to adopt right-wing political ideology, according to Business Insider. Musk is a self-described "moderate."Replying to Musk's tweet, Ivanka Trump exclaimed, "Taken!"Why It Matters Ivanka is not the only Trump who has been tweeting in support of Musk lately. Last week her father, President Donald Trump, expressed agreement with Musk's determination to open his then shuttered Fremont, California factory.Musk has become increasingly vocal in his criticism of pandemic-driven regulations since his run-in with Alameda County authorities, who had ordered Tesla's factory to remain shut, citing a prevailing health order. The SpaceX founder's criticism is being interpreted by some as a shift towards conservatism.Musk threatened to move production out of California and restarted the factory in defiance of health orders. The Fremont manufacturing facility has since been given the go-ahead to open after Tesla representatives held talks with county officials.Price Action On Friday, Tesla shares closed 0.52% lower at $799.17.See more from Benzinga * Uber To Cut Thousands Of Jobs Again * More Than 25 US Apple Stores To Reopen, 100 Now Open Around The World * Saudi Arabia On A Pandemic Bargain Hunt, Buys Shares in Facebook, Disney, Boeing, Others(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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Guido Rasi, the Executive Director of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), has suggested that Gilead’s (GILD) Covid-19 treatment remdesivir could be conditionally approved in Europe as soon as this week.“It might be that a conditional market authorization can be issued in the coming days,” Rasi revealed to an EU Parliament hearing in Brussels on May 18.Conditional marketing authorizations are valid for one year and can be renewed annually. They are granted by the EMA for medicines where the benefit of immediate availability outweighs the risk of less comprehensive data than normally required.Indeed, remdesivir has already received the green light from the EMA for compassionate use for patients during this pre-authorization phase.GILD also received an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the United States for the drug on May 1.Since then Gilead has signed non-exclusive licensing agreements with five generic pharmaceutical manufacturers to produce and sell remdesivir in 127 countries, including India and Pakistan.Nonetheless JP Morgan’s Cory Kasimov recently maintained his Hold rating on the stock with an $85 price target. Given the stock’s 17% year-to-date climb, the analyst’s price target indicates upside potential of 11% from current levels.“Although we’re impressed by the company’s intensive work with remdesivir, we believe that GILD received ample market credit for it and remdesivir is unlikely to result in tangible long-term cash flows,” Kasimov told investors. “A short-term $5 billion boost sales has marginal impact on our overall valuation and other opportunities for growth will take time to play out.”Overall TipRanks data shows that out of the 28 analysts covering Gilead in the past three months, 15 have a Hold rating on the stock, 8 say Buy and 5 say Sell, adding up to a Hold consensus. The $79.39 average price target suggests 4% upside potential lies ahead. (See Gilead stock analysis on TipRanks)Related News: Gilead Signs Remdesivir Licensing Agreements With Five Drugmakers AstraZeneca Aiming For 30M UK Covid-19 Vaccine Doses By September Pfizer Plans To Test Covid-19 Vaccine On Thousands Of Patients By September- Report More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Ryanair Cuts Traffic Target By Almost 50% For Coming Year, Seeks To Reduce Boeing Plane Deliveries   * AstraZeneca Aiming For 30M UK Covid-19 Vaccine Doses By September * Uber’s Latest Takeover Offer Said To be Rejected By GrubHub * Melvin Capital Bets On AutoZone With Sizable New Investment

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UK-based pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca (AZN) has revealed that it is hoping to make up to 30 million Covid-19 vaccine doses available by September for people in the UK, as part of an agreement to deliver 100 million doses in total.“Our scientists are at the forefront of vaccine development. This deal with AstraZeneca means that if the Oxford University vaccine works, people in the UK will get the first access to it, helping to protect thousands of lives” commented Business Secretary Alok Sharma.Oxford University has agreed a global licensing agreement with AstraZeneca for the commercialization and manufacturing of their potential recombinant adenovirus vaccine. Business Secretary Sharma also took the opportunity to announce that the project will benefit from £84 million of new government funding.“The agreement will deliver 100 million doses in total, ensuring that in addition to supporting our own people, we are able to make the vaccines available to developing countries at the lowest possible cost” he said.The vaccine in question, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, uses a viral vector based on a weakened version of the common cold (adenovirus) containing the genetic material of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. After vaccination, the surface spike protein is produced, which primes the immune system to attack COVID-19 if it later infects the body.In April, the potential vaccine entered Phase I clinical trials to study safety and efficacy in healthy volunteers aged 18 to 55 years, across five trial centers in Southern England. Data from the Phase I trial could be available as soon as this month, and advancement to late-stage trials should take place by the middle of this year, says AstraZeneca.AZN currently shows a Strong Buy Street consensus, with three recent buy ratings. The average analyst price target of $58 indicates upside potential of 8%, with shares currently trading up 7% on a year-to-date basis. (See AstraZeneca stock analysis on TipRanks)Related News: Gilead Signs Remdesivir Licensing Agreements With Five Drugmakers Novavax Spikes 31% on $384 Million Cash Injection for Vaccine Production Pfizer Plans To Test Covid-19 Vaccine On Thousands Of Patients By September- Report More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Uber’s Latest Takeover Offer Said To be Rejected By GrubHub * Melvin Capital Bets On AutoZone With Sizable New Investment * Ubisoft Sues Google, Apple For Game Copyright Infringement * Williams Co Gives Up On $1B New-York Energy Pipeline

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The latest U.S. sanctions on tech giant Huawei threaten to devastate the company and escalate a feud with China that could disrupt technology industries worldwide. Huawei Technologies Ltd. is one of the biggest makers of smartphones and network equipment, but that $123 billion-a-year business is in jeopardy after Washington announced further restrictions on use of American technology by foreign companies that make its processor chips. Huawei spent the past year scrambling to preserve its business after an earlier round of U.S. restrictions imposed last May cut off access to American components and software.

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Top news and what to watch in the markets on Monday, May 18, 2020.

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(Bloomberg) — The top U.S. cannabis companies are notably outperforming their struggling Canadian counterparts, yet valuations are still held back by their inability to list on the big American exchanges.The divergence was well illustrated by two large companies that reported earnings Thursday night.Green Thumb Industries Inc. became the first U.S. pot company to generate revenue above $100 million and beat Ebitda expectations for the fifth consecutive quarter. Shares climbed 17% Friday. Meanwhile, Canada’s Aurora Cannabis Inc., which is struggling to turn a profit before it runs out of cash, said it is on track to meet previously disclosed cost-cutting targets. Shares skyrocketed 54%.“I think this is an inflection point where the U.S. market is becoming the dominant market in the global marijuana space,” said Mark Noble, executive vice president of strategy at Horizons ETFs Management Inc., which offers exchange-traded funds that track both the Canadian and U.S. pot sectors. “I think the only thing that’s really keeping these stocks from overtaking the Canadian LPs is the fact that they’re not listed on the U.S. stock market.”While the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq have listed Canadian cannabis companies like Aurora and Canopy Growth Corp., they prohibit any company with marijuana operations in the U.S. since the drug is still illegal under federal law. The Toronto Stock Exchange won’t list them either, leaving them to smaller bourses like the Canadian Securities Exchange. This means a smaller investors base and therefore lower valuations on average.To be sure, the U.S. sector has actually outperformed the Canadian sector since the market’s pandemic-related low on March 18. Since then, the Horizons US Marijuana Index ETF has gained 94% while the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF, which tracks mainly Canadian companies, has added 38%.“For people putting new money into the marijuana market, it’s going into these stocks rather than the existing, legacy LPs from Canada,” Noble said. “It’s a startling divergence, in my opinion.”While U.S. stocks have been bolstered by most states’ decision to declare marijuana an essential service during lockdowns, Canadian companies have struggled with an already-slow retail rollout in major provinces like Ontario, which has slowed even further because of the pandemic. Total store count in Canada grew just 1.4% in April, according to Cowen analyst Vivien Azer.“Regardless of progress on cost cutting, if Ontario stores do not start opening in the somewhat near future, industry revenues will not reach the levels required for most firms to reach profitability, and we believe Aurora is no different,” CIBC analyst John Zamparo said in a note.More clarity on the health of the U.S. cannabis industry will come this week with earnings from major players including Curaleaf Holdings Inc., Trulieve Cannabis Corp. and Harvest Health & Recreation Inc.Events This WeekMONDAY 5/18Canadian markets closed for the Victoria Day holidayCuraleaf Holdings Inc. reports earnings post-marketWEDNESDAY 5/20Trulieve Cannabis Corp. reports results before markets openHarvest Health & Recreation Inc. releases earnings post-marketLast Week’s Top StoriesAurora Cannabis Soars as Analysts Tout Progress in Cutting CostsTilray Positive Ebitda Target Questioned Amid Covid UncertaintyUnited Cannabis Bankruptcy Fate Turns on Hemp, Marijuana SplitArizona Court Denies Online Ballot Measure Petition During VirusFor 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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Uber Technologies Inc.’s (UBER) latest stock offer for rival food delivery company GrubHub Inc. (GRUB) is said to have been rejected as merger talks continued over the weekend.The Wall Street Journal reported that talks between Grubhub Chief Executive Officer Matt Maloney and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi on Sunday indicated that Uber’s latest offer of 1.9 of its shares for each GrubHub share is too low. Khosrowshahi said he might see room to bump up the offer to 1.925 Uber shares. However, that is still well below the price GrubHub had been seeking, the report said.Discussions are still ongoing with an agreement unlikely in the next few days, according to the report. Once an accord is struck, regulators would still need to approve the merger at a time when the coronavirus pandemic is creating a lot of uncertainty and operations are still disrupted.Shares in both Uber and GrubHub are advancing in Monday’s pre-market trading. In the run-up to the merger talks, Uber soared 15% over the past month trading at $32.47 as of Friday, while GrubHub surged 29% to $54.97 during the same period. Both companies have been benefiting from an increase in food delivery demand during lockdown orders tied to the coronavirus pandemic.Wedbush analyst Ygal Arounian estimated that a merger between Uber Eats and GrubHub would give the combined company a 55% market share in the food delivery market and as such would turn it into a clear leader in the space.That would be “the first time since 4Q17 that a single player controlled more than 50% of the market”, he said, while maintaining his Buy rating on Uber stock with a $38 price target.“While each have respective market strengths, the overlap in diners, restaurants, and markets should create significant cost-saving opportunities, particularly in sales and marketing expenses, but also in technology, and headcount, which can go a long way in alleviating the gross margin pressure driven by the actual cost to deliver meals,” Arounian wrote in a note to investors.Overall, Wall Street analysts have a bullish outlook on Uber’s stock boasting 27 Buys, 3 Holds and 1 Sell that add up to a Strong Buy consensus. The $39.64 average price target projects shares have room to increase 22% in the coming 12 months. (See Uber’s stock analysis on TipRanks)Five-star analyst Brian Nowak at Morgan Stanley, who raised GrubHub’s price target to $49 from $46, said he estimated that a GrubHub-Uber tie-up could generate $650 million in potential cost savings in 2021. Nowak reiterated his Hold rating on the stock.Nowak added that he would not be surprised to see GrubHub shares trade between his $49 base scenario price target and his $76 "bull case" target based on the rumored bid price and perceived probability of any deal closing.Related News: Uber Announces $750M Notes Offering, As GrubHub Takeover Reports Swirl Uber Puts Hopes on Food Delivery Momentum After $2.9 Billion Loss AMC Pops 11% Amid Potential Acquisition Talks by Amazon More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * AstraZeneca Aiming For 30M UK Covid-19 Vaccine Doses By September * Melvin Capital Bets On AutoZone With Sizable New Investment * Ubisoft Sues Google, Apple For Game Copyright Infringement * Williams Co Gives Up On $1B New-York Energy Pipeline

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