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March 15, 2021

Eli Lilly falls 9% after its Alzheimer’s drug data underwhelms Wall Street

The logo of Lilly is seen on a wall of the Lilly France company unit, part of the Eli Lilly and Co drugmaker group, in Fegersheim near Strasbourg

Reuters

Eli Lilly fell 9% on Monday after additional data for its Alzheimer’s drug, donanemab, was released in The New England Journal of Medicine over the weekend.
The drug showed “no substantial difference” than a placebo in secondary outcomes like an improvement in scores on the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale Sum of Boxes.
An effective Alzheimer’s drug has been viewed as the holy grail in the biotech industry as it represents a significant unmet need.
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Eli Lilly fell as much as 9% on Tuesday after additional data for its Alzheimer’s drug candidate, donanemab, was released in The New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the 2021 International Conference on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases over the weekend.

The data reinforced previously released top-line data that showed donanemab slowed the cognitive decline in patients with early symptoms of dementia.

But donanemab showed “no substantial difference” than a placebo for secondary outcomes, like improvement in scores on the clinical dementia rating scale-sum of boxes and the 13-item Alzheimer’s disease assessment scale-cognitive subscale, according to the data.

“The use of donanemab resulted in a better composite score for cognition and for the ability to perform activities of daily living than placebo at 76 weeks, although results for secondary outcomes were mixed,” researchers said in The New England Journal of Medicine.

A successful Alzheimer’s drug has been viewed as the holy grail in the biotech industry, as it would help combat a devastating disease that represents a large unmet need. Biogen is another biotech company that is working on a highly anticipated Alzheimer’s drug candidate, aducanumab.

JPMorgan analyst Cory Kasimov said in a note on Monday based on the data so far, Eli Lilly’s donanemab “isn’t yet a clearly superior drug to [Biogen’s] aducanumab,” and that “it’s less likely donanemab is approved early on the basis of these results.”

Another phase 2 trial for donanemab is underway to gauge the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of the drug.

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February 2, 2021

GameStop and AMC plunge more than 40% as Reddit short-squeeze begins to fade

trader nyse worried chart — Getty Images / Xinhua News Agency

Reddit day-traders are failing to hold the line, based on Tuesday’s trading activity of GameStop and AMC Entertainment.
GameStop plunged 55% on Tuesday after falling 31% in Monday’s trading session.
AMC Entertainment fell 43% on Tuesday after trading flat on Monday.
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The epic short-squeeze rallies fueled by Reddit’s WallStreetBets traders are beginning to unwind, based on Tuesday’s trading activity.

GameStop fell as much as 55% on Tuesday, adding on to a 31% decline seen on Monday. The stock is down 79% from its all-time-high of $483. GameStop surged more than 2,000% in January, leading to massive losses for some hedge funds like Melvin Capital, which was down 53% for the month.

The contagion in GameStop spread to another stock favored by the Reddit traders: AMC Entertainment. The movie-theater chain fell 43% on Tuesday and is down 63% from its recent high of $20.36.

The trading activity suggests Reddit users are failing to “hold the line,” the frequent battle-cry of the WallStreetBets trading forum. But as of Monday, one Reddit user is still holding the line: u/DeepFuckingValue.

The user, who has been long GameStop since 2019, posted a screenshot of his trading position on Monday after the close, signaling that he has yet to sell his outstanding positions in the video-game retailer.

Despite Monday’s decline, u/DeepFuckingValue, who also goes by the name RoaringKitty, was still up nearly 3,000% on his GameStop position, which is made up of both common stock and call options.

The top comment on RoaringKitty’s post on Monday was: “HOLDDDDD.”

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February 1, 2021

Virgin Galactic jumps 11% after it schedules test flight window for February

Virgin Galactic debut NYSE — Sir Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Galactic, gives the thumbs up after ringing a ceremonial bell on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to promote the first day of trading of Virgin Galactic Holdings shares on October 28, 2019 in New York City.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Virgin Galactic spiked 11% on Monday after it scheduled its test flight window for mid-February.
The move comes two months after the company unexpectedly aborted a test flight set for December due to connectivity issues.
“We are pleased to be able to get back to the skies and continue our flight test program,” CEO Michael Colglazier said.
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Virgin Galactic jumped as much as 11% on Monday after the space exploration company scheduled its test flight window for mid-February.

The test flight of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo Unity comes two months after the company had to abort a test flight due to an onboard computer issue that halted ignition of the rocket motor. That delay led to a nearly 20% sell-off in Virgin Galactic stock.

But Virgin Galactic has recovered those losses and then some, with the stock hitting record highs in the past week after Reddit traders targeted highly shorted stocks in an attempt to spark a squeeze. Shares of Virgin Galactic traded near record highs on Monday.

Pending good weather conditions and technical readiness, Virgin Galactic will launch its spaceship sometime after February 13, and will be crewed by two pilots. The spaceship will carry research payloads as part of the NASA Flight Opportunities Program.

Once Virgin Galactic completes two successful test flights of the SpaceShipTwo Unity, founder Richard Branson will board the third test flight into space, which could happen sometime in the first half of 2021 if all goes to plan.

Michael Colglazier, CEO of Virgin Galactic said: “We are pleased to be able to get back to the skies and continue our flight test program.”

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January 25, 2021

Chewy founder Ryan Cohen has reaped a 1,700% return from a $76 million GameStop investment he made last year

Chewy.com co-founder Ryan Cohen acquired a 12.9% stake in GameStop last year for $76 million.
At Monday’s high of $159.18, Cohen’s stake in the video game retailer had swelled to $1.4 billion, good for a roughly 1,700% return.
Cohen recently gained three board seats and is pushing the company to transform into a specialized e-commerce retailer.
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Activist investor Ryan Cohen’s investment into GameStop last year proved to be good timing on Monday after shares exploded higher by as much as 145%.

An epic short squeeze rally, combined with pockets of investor euphoria found on popular trading forums like Reddit’s WallStreetBets, helped propel shares of GameStop to an all-time high of $159.18 in Tuesday trades.

Cohen amassed a 9 million-share stake in GameStop last year at an average price of $8.43, worth $76 million at the time. At it’s intra-day high today, that stake was worth as much as $1.4 billion, representing a return of more than 1,700%.

But Cohen seems to be playing the long-game on GameStop. Through his firm RC Ventures, Cohen had petitioned the board of GameStop to adopt a strategy that would transform the company into a specialized e-commerce retailer of gaming products.

Cohen utilized a similar strategy for his previous company, Chewy.com, which is a specialized e-commerce retailer of pet products. After being acquired by PetSmart for $3.5 billion, Chewy went public and is now trading at a valuation of more than $43 billion.

GameStop seems to have been receptive to Cohen’s proposal, granting him three seats on the board of directors, including one for himself.

Since Cohen’s first purchase of shares of GameStop on September 14, shares are up as much as 2,317%.

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January 22, 2021

Climate Change SPAC soars 80% amid plans to merge with electric-vehicle charging network EVgo

Electric vehicle charging network EVgo is going public via a merger with the Climate Change Crisis Real Impact I SPAC.
The merger will value EVgo at $2.6 billion and raise $575 million in proceeds for the company to expand its charging network.
Shares of the Climate Change SPAC soared as much as 80% in Friday trades.
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The Climate Change Crisis Real Impact I SPAC soared as much as 80% on Friday after it said it would merge with EVgo, an operator of a network of more than 800 electric vehicle charging stations.

The deal will value EVgo at $2.6 billion and raise up to $575 million in proceeds for the firm, which will allow the company to accelerate the expansion of its electric-vehicle charging network.

The EVgo merger touches on two hot trends seen in the stock market in recent months: the proliferation of going public via a SPAC instead of the traditional IPO route, and giving investors exposure to the fast-growing electric vehicle space.

Through a strategic relationship with General Motors, EVgo expects to add more than 2,700 fast chargers to its network over the next five years. The company also has corporate partners that include Uber and Lyft, and EVgo has worked with Tesla to enable native fast charging on its EVgo network.

David Crane, the CEO of Climate Change Crisis Real Impact I SPAC, said of EVgo: “It has a distinct and highly advantageous owner-operator business model, supported by strategic partnerships with key industry players singularly focused on an essential and growing factor necessary for supporting widespread EV adoption.”

He added: “EVgo’s comprehensive national DC fast charging network capable of charging every type of electric vehicle is unparalleled, and we are proud to be a part of its ongoing success.”

The proposed merger has been approved by the board of directors of both companies, and completion of the transaction is expected to occur in the second quarter of 2021.

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January 21, 2021

Ford extends 3-day surge to 23% as Rivian’s big capital raise boosts the company’s electric-car prospects

Ford soared as much as 12% on Thursday, extending its three-day surge to more than 23%.
The move higher materialized as hype over electric vehicles continues to push auto stocks higher.
On Wednesday, Rivian, an electric truck start-up that counts Ford as an investor, raised more than $2.65 billion at a valuation of $27.6 billion.
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Investor hype for electric vehicle manufacturers seems to have spilled over into Ford this week, with the stock surging as much as 23% since Tuesday.

The move higher materialized after Rivian, an electric truck start-up that counts Ford as a minority owner, raised $2.65 billion at a valuation of $27.6 billion on Tuesday. The raise will help Rivian push forward with its production schedule as it aims to begin delivering vehicles by the end of the year.

Ford has an undisclosed stake in Rivian, having invested $500 million in the company in April 2019. Rivian’s $28 billion valuation is catching up to Ford’s, which was hovering at $44 billion as of Thursday.

But Ford also has electric vehicle ambitions of its own. The company is on the verge of launching the electric version of its Mustang, the Mach-E.

After analysts at JPMorgan test drove the Mach-E, they said in a note on January 8, “Ford is showing more and more signs of becoming a credible contender in battery electric vehicles.”

Ford is also developing an electric version of its pick-up truck, the F-150, though there is no official release date for the vehicle.

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January 13, 2021

Elon Musk tweeted a meme that helped spark a 4% jump in a Japanese video game stock

Shares of Bandai Namco, a Japanese video game maker, surged as much as 4% after Elon Musk tweeted a meme that included a character from one of its properties.
“Hey you…Yeah you Queen…You’re gonna make it!” Musk tweeted to his 42 million followers along with an accompanying image.
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A Tuesday night tweet of a meme from Elon Musk is all it took for shares of Bandai Namco to surge 4% in Wednesday trades.

“Hey you…Yeah you Queen…You’re gonna make it!” Musk tweeted to his 42 million followers, accompanied by a couple of heart emojis.

Musk’s tweet was accompanied by a meme that included a character from Namco’s Idolmaster franchise. Idolmaster was first released in 2005 as an arcade game and has since transitioned to video game consoles, mobile phones, an animated series and toys.

The Idolmaster character in Musk’s tweet, which has racked up more than 420,000 likes as of Wednesday morning, is Sachiko Koshimizu.

Musk’s tweet on Tuesday night wasn’t the first time a tweet by him sent an obscure stock soaring. Last week, after Musk tweeted “Use Signal,” in reference to the private messaging platform, confused traders sent a stock named Signal Advance up as much as 11,708% over a three-day period.

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January 5, 2021

QuantumScape tumbles 41% in first day of 2021 trading after spiking 745% last year

QuantumScape CEO Jagdeep Singh
QuantumScape

QuantumScape tumbled as much as 41% in its first day of 2021 trading on Monday after staging a 745% rally in 2020.
QuantumScape has lost more than half its value in the past week with no official news attributable to the decline, signaling that the stock’s eye-popping rally was too far, too fast.
The firm, which develops next generation batteries for electric vehicles, filed with the SEC to offer 306 million shares by selling shareholders on Thursday.
Watch QuantumScape trade live here.

Shares of high-flying QuantumScape tumbled as much as 41% in its first day of 2021 trading on Monday. The sharp decline comes after the recently debuted SPAC IPO surged 745% in 2020.

QuantumScape went public via a SPAC in September and is developing next generation batteries for electric vehicles. The company has been backed by Microsoft co-founder and billionaire investor Bill Gates.

While there was no official news attributable to Monday’s decline, QuantumScape filed with the SEC to offer 306 million shares by selling shareholders on Thursday. The company will receive up to $209 million from the exercise of all warrants attached to the offering, and lockup restrictions for part of the offering lasts until May 21.

QuantumScape’s valuation peaked at nearly $50 billion in late December, and has since tumbled to $18.6 billion as of Monday afternoon. The company has lost more than half its value in the past week, signalling that the stock’s dizzying rally was overextended.

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January 4, 2021

Alibaba slides 3% as founder Jack Ma’s prolonged public absence raises eyebrows

Alibaba fell as much as 3% on Monday as its founder Jack Ma’s prolonged absence from the public view raised eyebrows.
Ma has not been seen in public in more than two months and he was abruptly replaced as a judge on an African entrepreneurship TV show late last year.
Ma’s withdrawal from the public view comes as his companies Alibaba and Ant Group faces increased regulatory pressure from the Chinese government.
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Alibaba slid as much as 3% on Monday as its founder Jack Ma hasn’t been seen in public in more than two months.

Ma’s absence from the public view comes as the Chinese government has increased its regulatory pressure on Ant Group and Alibaba.

Ant Group’s planned November IPO was scrapped after Chinese authorities amped up its regulatory pressure on the fintech giant. The company is now back at the drawing board in terms of adopting significant regulations it must become compliant with, potentially altering its business model.

Alibaba has also faced an increase in regulatory pressures recently. A probe into the e-commerce giant’s seller exclusivity tactics was opened in December as the company is now being investigated by authorities for antitrust violations.

The ramp up in regulatory pressure in Ma’s businesses came weeks after Ma criticized China’s financial regulatory system at a conference in Shanghai. Ma reportedly dismissed the China’s global financial regulations as “an old people’s club” and said that “we can’t use yesterday’s methods to regulate the future.”

Ma has not been seen in public in more than two months and he was abruptly replaced as a judge on an African entrepreneurship TV show he founded late last year, called Africa’s Business Heroes, according to a report from Yahoo Finance.

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December 28, 2020

AstraZeneca jumps 4% after CEO says its COVID-19 vaccine will reach efficacy of 95%

AstraZeneca ceo Pascal Soriot.JPG — AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot in London in 2014.
Neil Hall/Reuters

The COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca could be 95% effective in preventing the virus, CEO Pascal Soriot told the Sunday Times over the weekend.
Soriot also said he thinks the vaccine could protect against a new strain of COVID-19 that is more contagious than the original and is spreading throughout the UK.
AstraZeneca submitted vaccine data to UK health regulators last week and emergency use authorization could be imminent, with a roll-out to UK citizens expected by early next week.
Shares of AstraZeneca jumped as much as 4% in Monday trades.
Watch AstraZeneca trade live here.

The COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca could receive emergency use authorization from UK regulators by Monday or Tuesday this week, with a rollout of the vaccine to UK citizens expected in the first week of 2021, according to The Telegraph.

AstraZeneca submitted its COVID-19 vaccine data to UK regulators on December 23, and CEO Pascal Soriot believes data will show the efficacy of its vaccine in preventing COVID-19 infections is as high as Pfizer & BioNtech’s at 95%.

“We think we have figured out the winning formula and how to get efficacy that, after two doses, is up there with everybody else,” Soriot told the Sunday Times newspaper.

Data for the vaccine will be published at “some point,” Soriot told the paper.

Shares of AstraZeneca jumped as much as 4% in Monday trades to $50.28.

Soriot added that he believes AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine will protect against a new strain of the virus that is thought to be more contagious than the original strain and is spreading in the UK.

“We think the vaccine should remain effective” against the new strain, Soriot told the Sunday Times, adding that “we can’t be sure, so we’re going to test that.”

A highly efficacious COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca could hasten the rollout and administration of vaccines to people around the globe, given that the two-dose vaccine doesn’t require ultra-cold storage like the mRNA vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer/BioNtech.

The AstraZeneca vaccine requires refrigeration of 36 degrees to 46 degrees Fahrenheit and can be stored for at least six months.

The US has entered a contract with AstraZeneca for 300 million doses of their vaccine, outpacing its 200 million order for Moderna and Pfizer/BioNtech’s vaccine.

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