Marijuana company Curaleaf is expanding its footprint ahead of a growing chance of federal legalization.

from Yahoo Finance https://ift.tt/30O6uY8

from Yahoo Finance https://ift.tt/3gaCBIh

The quarterly results for Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) were released last week, making it a good time to…

from Yahoo Finance https://ift.tt/3fWUD0g

The initial reopening of the Las Vegas Strip went relatively well for casino operators in early June, but abysmal room rates and a second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak seems to have eliminated hope that the Vegas recovery will continue any time soon.Las Vegas Sands Corp.(NYSE: LVS) management told investors this week that Vegas is suffering "a world of hurt," and the U.S. gaming hub has a long way to go in recovering from its shutdown, according to BofA Securities.The Numbers: Pricing of Las Vegas Strip hotel room rates for the month of August is now down 40% from a year ago. Pricing conditions on the Strip have worsened since June 12 when August rates were down just 31%. September prices are also down 37% year-over-year, suggesting little improvement heading into the fall.Vegas strip operators Las Vegas Sands, MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM), Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ: WYNN) and Caesars Entertainment Corporation (NYSE: CZR) are taking a hit from the plummeting room rates, BofA analyst Shaun Kelley said in a note.Las Vegas Sands recently closed the Palazzo back up for weekday reservations after midweek occupancy levels dropped to 25% or lower."We see little reason to think these operating challenges are exclusive to LVS and we have seen recent furloughs from WYNN in addition to layoffs at the Tropicana and Circus Circus," Kelley said Friday.Bleak Outlook: BofA estimates Las Vegas Sands will take the smallest hit on room rates in August, down 13% compared to a year ago. Kelley said Wynn will take the largest hit, with room rates down 52%.Las Vegas Sands management said this week there is no evidence investors should expect the city's group and convention business to return anytime soon.KAYAK flight search data for Las Vegas is reportedly down 68% from a year ago. Clark County, Nevada reported more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday for the fifth day in the past week.Benzinga's Take: The two biggest questions for Vegas casino stock operators at this point is will reopened casinos stay open and how long will it take for travelers to return?For long-term investors looking to play the recovery, Bank of America has the following ratings and price targets for major Las Vegas casino operators: * Las Vegas Sands, Buy rating and $61 target. * Wynn, Buy rating and $95 target. * MGM Resorts, Underperform rating and $15 target.Related Links:Analyst: End Of Quarantine Restrictions 'Very Positive For Our Macau Stocks'Analyst: 'Trends Are Encouraging' For US Regional CasinosSee more from Benzinga * What Are EV Regulatory Credits And Why Is Tesla Selling So Many Of Them? * This Day In Market History: The Liquidation Of Corporate Fraud ZZZZ Best * Tesla's Valuation Still 'Appears Overcharged' Following Q2 Earnings(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

from Yahoo Finance https://ift.tt/2BqSCdI

from Yahoo Finance https://ift.tt/2OQ4fOu

(Bloomberg) — Novavax Inc.’s Covid-19 vaccine results are expected imminently and scientists will be scanning the data to gauge the shot’s promise. At the same time, day traders — who’ve snapped up shares since March — will be looking for the more than $7 billion surge in value to hold.Vaccine candidates presented so far have detailed initial patient antibody and T-cell responses and compared them with levels seen in patients who have recovered from the virus. Investors will be looking for those initial immune-system responses when Novavax reveals its data, likely sometime next week.Novavax is on its way to becoming a household name similar to Moderna Inc., another vaccine developer that has rallied since March but has yet to have a product reach the market. Recent $1.6 billion funding from the U.S. government has bolstered Novavax’s credibility despite some concern over its use of industry ties to get that backing.The need for a vaccine is clear, with Covid-19 cases in the U.S. reaching beyond 4 million and the virus on the rise across the Sunbelt. There are roughly 25 vaccines in human testing with more than 140 others in earlier stages of development, according to the World Health Organization.The market has responded positively to some of the first results in people from Moderna, as well as Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE’s messenger RNA vaccines. AstraZeneca Plc’s experimental shot with the University of Oxford was compared less favorably by some on Wall Street. Biotechs that didn’t provide sufficient detail have given back some of their share gains.Insect CellsNovavax’s vaccine — NVX-CoV2373 — uses insect cells to grow key proteins and the company has said it could be easier to mass produce than some rival shots. NVX-CoV2373 is being tested in a two dose regimen, with some patients getting a formulation enhanced with the company’s proprietary plant-based nanoparticle technology meant to further stimulate an immune response.Results so far have measured these immune responses at different time points and using different measures, making them difficult to compare.“It’s an imperfect situation,” said Steven Seedhouse, an analyst at Raymond James in a phone call. “There’s data out there, to the extent you can you do your best to interpret it.”Early antibody results from BioNTech-partnered Pfizer have looked the most promising so far, said Seedhouse who has a doctorate in molecular pharmacology. “We don’t know what’s going to confer immunity and we certainly don’t know what’s going to confer durable immunity.”JPMorgan Chase analyst Eric Joseph was also positive on Pfizer’s vaccine. Its results that generated virus-neutralizing antibodies as much as threefold higher than those found in patients who had recovered from Covid-19 create “a challenging setup” for Novavax.Safety, of course, is paramount for vaccines given to healthy people, and results in the leading candidates so far haven’t raised any major red flags.Tolerability CautionHowever, Joseph, who is neutral on Novavax, cautioned on potential tolerability issues. Its Covid-19 vaccine uses the same technology that’s in its still experimental flu shot, which has shown more adverse events after treatment than a comparative flu shot, Joseph wrote in a note to clients.Still for bears betting against the company, the stakes are high. Short sellers have lost just over $1 billion this year, according to Ihor Dusaniwsky, managing director for predictive analytics at S3 Partners. With about $1.3 billion of shares sold short, the stock is a prime squeeze candidate, according to his analysis.Vaccine stocks, including Novavax, show options investors are positioning for an imbalanced risk that shares will post outsize gains, according to Goldman Sachs analysts led by Terence Flynn. Call options on Covid-19 stocks like Novavax are “unusually expensive” compared with puts, they said.Options data imply Gaithersburg, Maryland-based Novavax could move an additional 14% through July 31. Investors trying to get ahead of stock moves should also watch shares of a Novavax partner, Emergent BioSolutions Inc., which provides manufacturing and development services out of a handful of sites in Maryland.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.

from Yahoo Finance https://ift.tt/3jC0z11

from Yahoo Finance https://ift.tt/39oUvEx

from Yahoo Finance https://ift.tt/39xTZ7e

Evercore ISI Head of U.S. Public Policy and Political Strategy Research Sarah Bianchi joins Yahoo Finance’s Akiko Fujita to discuss the latest stimulus negotiations in Congress, as Republicans delay the unveiling of their $1 trillion stimulus plan to next week.

from Yahoo Finance https://ift.tt/2BstXWe