Reuters: Banks paid out billions of dollars in bonuses last year while losing money.
Reuters: The US closed its car “clunkers” program just as it began as funds ran out.
Reuters: Obame faces more questions about his health care plan.
Reuters: A Congressional bill would affect OTC derivative holdings. Read More
So far we have three DJIA components with earnings out. DuPont (NYSE: DD), Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK), United Technologies (NYSE: UTX) have all posted earnings. So far there are no train wrecks and technically these are above the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates as far as the earnings per share numbers numbers are concerned. All details are below.
Read More
If the rumor mill has any truth to it, then Allergan Inc. (NYSE: GSK) may by the next biotech takeover target. There is roughly $150 billion in new equity investor capital that can be put to work in this space now that Genentech Inc. (NYSE: DNA) is being bought by Roche and that Pfizer Inc. (NYS: PFE) is buying Wyeth (NYSE: WYE) and that Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) is buying Schering-Plough (NYSE: intra-day trading trends for day traders and options volume at Volume Spike Investor. And then there is the deeper down assumed valuation assessments using forward P/E’s and other balance sheet data at Biohealth Investor.
Allergan has now just crossed over the 10 million share mark and shares are up 11.7% at $48.23. In today’s world of the market whip-around and the world of M&A, we won’t be shocked if Allergan denies the rumors saying they would rather be an acquirer. Nor would we be shocked if the company halts or just says “No Comment!” in response to this.
Jon C. Ogg
March 24, 2009
Merck (MRK) is merging with Schering-Plough (SGP) in a deal that the companies say is worth $41.1 billion. In reality, Merck is making an acquisition. Its shares will be the currency to compete the deal and its CEO will run the new company.
No matter what they two companies have to say about “synergy”, the deal is based on saving money in a rough economy and in a world where Big Pharma companies are losing many of their profitable drugs as their patents expire. Read More
We compiled a list of the equity holdings of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and for Bill Gates’ personal investment vehicle Cascade Investment. These are as of December 31, 2008 and we have taken out the positions listed as under $50 million to make this list easier to read. This list also excludes the massive holdings in Microsoft (MSFT).
Read More
There may be some speculation that drug giant Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) is looking at expansion through acquisitions. The FT reported that the world’s largest pharmaceutical company is willing to acquire a large rival drug company. It even cites the CEO as saying the company real goal is to grow revenue, which is different than many other goals out there from other peers in the new market. It also brings about the questions about who could be on the buyout target list.
These are the top analyst downgrade calls we are seeing this Friday morning with two hours to the open:
Jon C. Ogg
October 3, 2008
The evidence that sales at many companies are struggling and that employment will suffer are almost everywhere. Recently, a division of GMAC said it would let 5,000 people go. According to MSNBC, "Job cuts announced by U.S. employers last month jumped 12 percent over a year ago to cap the busiest summer of downsizing in six years." Job cuts through October could top what they were for all of 2007.
The economy is beginning to look like it did during the deep recessions in the early 1990s and 1973. Eric Rosengren, the president of the Boston Federal Reserve Bank, sees the situation getting much darker in the second half. Speaking of deteriorating financial conditions he said, "It may push the unemployment rate up to 6%, with more than 2 million people losing their jobs since the financial turmoil began last summer.".
Merck (MRK) and Schering-Plough (SGP) make two of the most widely sold drugs in the world. One is cholesterol drug Zetia. Another is a related drug called Vytorin. The sales of the treatments topped $5 billion last year.
Zetia and Vytorin are more examples of how little the FDA cares about the health of the general population.
These are some of the top upgrades or positive analyst calls we have seen this Tuesday morning in early pre-market trading hours:
Jon C. Ogg
July 15, 2008
The profit-mongering Big Pharma companies don’t want the FDA to take so long approving their drugs. It cuts into profits and delays their chances of making money on new blockbuster treatments.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the head of Schering-Plough, almost certainly representing the sentiments of his industry expressed profound concern that "an intensifying focus on safety and a diminished tolerance for side effects at the Food and Drug Administration have dramatically lowered the odds that the drugs would make it to market — at least not without a lot of extra time and money."
If many new pharmaceuticals did not cause people to grow extra legs or go batty, the drug companies would have an argument. But, it was only recently that Avandia, a diabetes treatment, was found to increase or cause heart failure in some patients. With a few weeks, the agency warned that the Ortho Evra Birth Control Patch could cause blood clots. These kind of alerts seems to come out of the FDA at least once a month.
Drug companies have to deal with the FDA because their products are "under-researched" before they come to market. That is understandable. Drug companies are in the business of making money. It may be the screening their own products is sometimes secondary to that.
Over at the FDA, dead patients still trump making money.
Douglas A. McIntyre
Superior Offshore (DEEP) Company warns of liquidity problems. Down to $1.20 from 52-week high of $19.58.
Medarex (MEDX) Pfizer ends joint drug trial. Sells off to $7.44 from 52-week high of $18.23.
Crocs (CROX) Downgrade by JP Morgan. Falls to $15.53 from 52-week high of $75.21.
Riverbed Technology (RVBD) No big, bad news. Stock down to $13.62 from 52-week high of $52.81.
Verifone (PAY) CFO is out after restatement. Shares drop to $12.65 from 52-week high of $50.
Schering-Plough (SGP) Fitch downgrades after negative comment on key drug product. Falls to $13.91 from 52-week high of $33.81.
Douglas A. McIntyre
According to Reuters, US car sales for March are likely to be off sharply.
Reuters writes that Microsoft (MSFT) will not raise its bid for Yahoo! (YHOO)
Reuters reports that UBS (UBS) will take a write-down of $19 billion on U.S. real estate and related assets and have a large loss in Q1.
Reuters writes that Wal-Mart will offer its own private lable brand of coffee.
Reuters reprots that Lehman Brothers (LEH) will raise $3 million.
The Wall Street Jounal writes that the chairman of UBS will leave and the bank will raise to $12 billion.
The Wall Street Journal writes that Deutsche Bank (DB) will write-off almost $4 billion
The Wall Street Journal writes that US farmer will plant less corn
The Wall Street Journal writes that Schering-Plough (SGP) and Merck (MRK) are defending the effectiveness of a cholesterol drug which the FDA panel says does not work well.
The Wall Street Journal says IBM (IBM) was suspended from new federal work.
The Wall Street Journal writes that the market in credit-default swap has gotten huge but is largely unregulated.
The Wall Street Journal writes that Dell (DELL) will close on of its large plants.
The New York Times writes that banks are trying to get courts to dismiss claims that they must fund a buy-out of Clear Channel (CCU).
The FT writes that hedge funds had one of their worst quarters ever.
Bloomberg writes that the NYC real-estate market is slowing due to trouble on Wall St.
Douglas A. McIntyre
The largest losers among the big companies in the S&P 500 for the first quarter were:
Microsoft (MSFT) down 21.6%, Google (GOOG) down 36.7%, Apple (AAPL) down 27.8%, Intel (INTC) down 22%, Citigroup (C) down 29.3%, AIG (AIG) down 26.6%, Verizon (VZ) down 17.9%, Schering-Plough (SGP) down 22.1%, Merck (MRK) down 23.4%, Wachovia ((WB) down 31.7%, United Health (UNH) down 40.9%, Merrill Lynch (MER) down 26.3%, Marathon Oil (MRO) down 23.6%, EMC (EMC) down 22.8%, Amazon (AMZN) down 24.7%, Valero (VLO) down 30.1%, Fannie Mae (FNM) down 34.9%, CME Group (CME) down 30.1%, WellPoint (WLP) down 50.7%, Motorola (MOT) down 42.6%, Lehman (LEH) down 42.3%. Spint (S) down 51.1%, Best Buy (BBY) down 23%, Freddie Mac (FRE) down 25.3%, and NYSE Euronext (NYX) down 30.4%.
The largest winners among the big companies in the S&P 500 in the first quarter were:
Wal-Mart (WMT) up 9.7%, Devon Energy (DVN) up 17.3%, Yahoo! (YHOO) up 24.6%, Burlington Northern (BNI) up 10.5%, XTO Energy (XTO) up 18.2%, EOG Resources (EOG) up 33.2%, Calgene (CELG) up 28.6%, Chesapeake Energy (CHK) up 16.1%, CSX (CSX) up 28.6%, and Nucor (NUE) up 16.2%.
Douglas A. McIntyre
Schering-Plough (SGP) Bad news on key cholesterol drug marketed with Merck. Shares fall to $14 from 52-week high of $33.81.
Merck (MRK) Pulled down for the same reason. Sells off to $36.82 from 52-week high of $61.62.
Altria Group (MO) Stock down because of spin-out of international unit. Falls to $21.95 from 52-week high of $87.81.
Ampex Corp (AMPX) Files Chapter 11. Drops to $.38 from 52-week high of $20.83.
Secure Computing (SCUR) Brokerage firm downgrade. Moves off to $6.27 from 52-week high of $10.54.
Citrix (CTXS) Companies like this and VMWare (VMW) suffering from concerns about growth of vitualiztion software busiess.
Douglas A. McIntyre
Usually drug companies look forward to presenting data on their drugs and medical treatments. The the American College of Cardiology meeting was this weekend, and the findings and recommendations are worse than bad.
Shares of Schering-Plough Corp (NYSE: SGP) and Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) are being hit sharply this morning. Doctors at this prominent medical meeting recommended that patients try older cholesterol drugs before trying these companies’ newer medicines.
Vytorin and Zetia generate roughly $5 Billion in annual sales and many have questioned the overall results of these for several months. Doctors are now recommending older statins in high doses, followed by other treatments before putting clients on these drugs. So these will be garnered to a last line of defense drug group, which will effectively kill the sales if doctors on the local level follow this recommendation.
So far, we have seen Schering-Plough downgraded at both Lehman Brothers and at Goldman Sachs. Lowering cholesterol doesn’t seem to matter if the arterial plaque still builds up.
Schering-Plough shares had been hit by almost 30% since the questions had started coming out about the efficacy of the drugs. That was before the drop today. Shares of Schering-Plough Corp (NYSE: SGP) are down 22% pre-market at $15.08 and shares of Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) are down 10% at $39.70 in pre-market trading this Monday.
Jon C. Ogg
March 31, 2008
These are not all of the calls we are seeing this morning, but these are the top analyst calls we see affecting shares in pre-market trading this Monday morning:
Jon C. Ogg
March 31, 2008
According to Reuters, the Treasury Department will announce a proposed major overhaul of the US financial regulatory system.
Reuters writes that Yahoo! (YHOO) introduced Shine, a site for women.
Reuters writes that the Apple (AAPL) brand is the one which has the most impact on world consumers according to a new survey.
The Wall Street Journal writes that IAC/Interactive (IACI) faces a number of market challenges now that it has won a case giving CEO Barry Diller the right to break-up the company.
The Wall Street Journal writes that Lehman (LEH) lost $350 million in a fraud and will sue Japanese company Marubeni.
The Wall Street Journal writes that a medical panel found that cholesterol drugs sold by Merck (MRK) and Schering-Plough (SGP) were no more effective than older, less expensive drugs.
The Wall Street Journal writes that US stock markets are doing better than most exchanges in other countries.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Google (GOOG) and DoubleClick now dominate the ad serving market.
The New York Times writes that several groups have attacked Wal-Mart’s (WMT) claims about how much it saves consumers.
The New York Times writes that the number of people using food stamps will hit a record this year.
The New York Times reports that Wall St. is nervous that there will be another financial catastrophe involving debt instruments which have not gotten into trouble yet.
The FT writes that investors have pulled almost $100 billion out of equity funds in the first quarter.
Bloomberg writes that Citigroup (C) will separate its credit card unit from its consumer bank.
Douglas A. McIntyre
Below are the top analyst calls that 247WallSt.com is looking at this morning:
Jon C. Ogg
February 13, 2008
Schering-Plough Corp. (NYSE: SGP) is probably breathing a sigh of relief this morning after Merck’s earnings as it is partners with the drug giant on Vytorin and Zetia for cholesterol treatments.
The combined Vytorin & Zetia franchise was noted as having some $5.2 Billion in 2007 annual sales, with some $1.5 Billion being reported in the fourth quarter alone.
Merck did disclose some 50 lawsuits over these sales and noted that it is complying and cooperating with investigations. But the good news is that the company’s guidance wasn’t sharply changed.
Schering-Plough has a large portion of its profits that come directly as a result of its Merck partnership. It is still too early to get a solid read on Schering-Plough shares and obviously the situation can change based on Merck comments in their earnings conference call.
So far shares are indicated up marginally for Schering-Plough at $19.20 after a $19.11 close yesterday. Its 52-week trading range is $17.45 to $33.81, and shares were north of $26.00 at the start of 2008.
Jon C. Ogg
January 30, 2008
| Today’s top tickerspy Indexes | |
| Home Furnishing R... | +14.1% |
| Ethanol and Biofu... | +5.1% |
| Electronics Retai... | +2.1% |
| Diabetes Stocks | +2.0% |
| Memory Chip Stock... | +2.0% |
 | |
| |
RSS Updates
Email Updates
