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HTZ... | Hot Stocks19:58 EDT Fly Intel: Top five weekend stock stories - Catch up on the weekend's top five stories with this list compiled by The Fly: 1. Hertz Global (HTZ) has announced that it and certain of its U.S. and Canadian subsidiaries have filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. "The impact of COVID-19 on travel demand was sudden and dramatic, causing an abrupt decline in the Company's revenue and future bookings. Hertz took immediate actions to prioritize the health and safety of employees and customers, eliminate all non-essential spending and preserve liquidity. However, uncertainty remains as to when revenue will return and when the used-car market will fully re-open for sales, which necessitated today's action. The financial reorganization will provide Hertz a path toward a more robust financial structure that best positions the Company for the future as it navigates what could be a prolonged travel and overall global economic recovery," the company said in a statement. Hertz's principal international operating regions including Europe, Australia and New Zealand are not included in the U.S. Chapter 11 proceedings. In addition, Hertz's franchised locations, which are not owned by the company, also are not included in the Chapter 11 proceedings. 2. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) announced the commencement of an underwritten public secondary offering of its common stock through which Sanofi (SNY) intends to exit its investment in Regeneron shares. The shares being offered by Sanofi will be sold in an underwritten public offering. Sanofi currently owns approximately 23.2M Regeneron shares and intends to sell approximately 12.8M shares in the public offering. Sanofi also expects to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase an additional 10% of the shares offered in the base offering. The registered offering and share repurchase will have no impact on the ongoing collaboration between Regeneron and Sanofi. Regeneron also announced that subject to and immediately following the close of the secondary offering, Regeneron agreed to repurchase approximately $5B of common stock directly from Sanofi. The purchase price to be paid by Regeneron will be equal to the net offering price per share after deducting any underwriters' discount and commission. Following the offering and Regeneron's $5B share repurchase, and assuming that the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares in full, Sanofi will have disposed of all of its shares, other than 400,000 shares it intends to retain. 3. The impact of COVID-19 hasn't been evenly felt among the nation's retailers, with the biggest and strongest not just surviving, but thriving, while many smaller store chains and mom-and-pop shops face disaster, Teresa Rivas wrote in this week's edition of Barron's. In the past five years, the rise of e-commerce has changed the retail industry, tilting the landscape in favor of behemoths such as Amazon (AMZN) and Walmart (WMT) that can afford slick websites and fast, free delivery service, the author noted. Now, without a vaccine or effective treatment for coronavirus available near-term, these well-capitalized companies are likely to keep gobbling up market share at the expense of smaller operators, Rivas contended. 4. Novavax (NVAX) announced enrollment of the first participants in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial of its coronavirus vaccine candidate, NVX-CoV2373, a stable, prefusion protein made using its proprietary nanoparticle technology. NVX-CoV2373 includes Novavax' proprietary Matrix-M adjuvant to enhance immune responses and stimulate high levels of neutralizing antibodies. Preliminary immunogenicity and safety results from the Phase 1 portion of the trial are expected in July 2020. The Phase 1/2 clinical trial is being conducted in two parts. The Phase 1 portion is a randomized, observer-blinded, placebo-controlled trial designed to evaluate the immunogenicity and safety of NVX-CoV2373, both adjuvanted with Matrix-M and unadjuvanted. The trial is enrolling approximately 130 healthy participants 18 to 59 years of age at two sites in Australia. The protocol's two-dose trial regimen assesses two dose sizes with Matrix-M and without. The Phase 2 portion is expected to be conducted in multiple countries, including the United States, and would assess immunity, safety and COVID-19 disease reduction in a broader age range. This Phase 1/2 approach allows for rapid advancement of NVX-CoV2373 during the pandemic. The trial is being supported by the recently announced funding arrangement with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. 5. Winnebago Industries (WGO), Pool Cor. (POOL), Yeti (YETI) and DropBox (DBX) saw positive mentions in this week's edition of Barron's.
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NVAX | Hot Stocks17:02 EDT Novavax initiates Phase 1/2 clinical trial of COVID-19 vaccine - Novavax announced enrollment of the first participants in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial of its coronavirus vaccine candidate, NVX-CoV2373, a stable, prefusion protein made using its proprietary nanoparticle technology. NVX-CoV2373 includes Novavax' proprietary Matrix-M adjuvant to enhance immune responses and stimulate high levels of neutralizing antibodies. Preliminary immunogenicity and safety results from the Phase 1 portion of the trial are expected in July 2020. The Phase 1/2 clinical trial is being conducted in two parts. The Phase 1 portion is a randomized, observer-blinded, placebo-controlled trial designed to evaluate the immunogenicity and safety of NVX-CoV2373, both adjuvanted with Matrix-M and unadjuvanted. The trial is enrolling approximately 130 healthy participants 18 to 59 years of age at two sites in Australia. The protocol's two-dose trial regimen assesses two dose sizes with Matrix-M and without. The Phase 2 portion is expected to be conducted in multiple countries, including the United States, and would assess immunity, safety and COVID-19 disease reduction in a broader age range. This Phase 1/2 approach allows for rapid advancement of NVX-CoV2373 during the pandemic. The trial is being supported by the recently announced funding arrangement with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.
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VFF | Hot Stocks16:59 EDT Village Farms' Pure Sunfarms to being roll out of vape products this summer - Village Farms announced that its majority-owned joint venture for large-scale, low-cost cannabis production, Pure Sunfarms, has received from Health Canada its cannabis cultivation sales license based on an initial production area within its second 1.1M square foot greenhouse facility in Delta, British Columbia, allowing it to expand capacity as needed through successive license amendments. The Delta 2 facility is located adjacent to the 1.1M square foot Delta 3 greenhouse facility and when in production, is expected to contribute to further lowering Pure Sunfarms' cost of cultivation. Pure Sunfarms is now preparing to begin the roll out of its first bottled cannabis oils, as well as its first Cannabis 2.0 offerings this summer. Pure Sunfarms' Cannabis 2.0 roll out will begin with the launch of a selection of pre-filled 510 vape cartridges, available in the extract forms of its dried cannabis strains, as well as a selection of disposable vape pens - all under the Pure Sunfarms brand.
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VET | Hot Stocks16:49 EDT Vermilion Energy announces CEO departure, appoints new President - Vermilion Energy announces that Anthony Marino has stepped down as President and Chief Executive Officer and as a director of the company, effective immediately. The Board also announced that Lorenzo Donadeo has been appointed Executive Chairman, and that Curtis Hicks is rejoining the company and has been appointed President. In lieu of filling the role of Chief Executive Officer, Vermilion has created an Executive Committee consisting of a minimum of five senior executives from within the company. It will include the Executive Chairman, President, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice-President People and Culture and Vice-President of Business Development. The Executive Committee will be used by the organization to review and approve key organizational, financial, operational and strategic decisions for the company. Larry MacDonald will continue as lead director.
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TEVA | Hot Stocks16:38 EDT Teva presents data evaluating AJOVY experience in difficult-to-treat migraine - Teva Pharmaceutical presented a wide range of important new data on AJOVY and the societal and economic impact of migraine in Europe at the 6th Congress of the European Academy of Neurology. The fremanezumab data included pooled analyses of the AJOVY Phase 3 clinical trials, which focused on the safety, efficacy and improved quality-of-life for patients experiencing difficult-to-treat migraine. Post-hoc analyses were also evaluated in patients who may experience challenges when managing their migraine due to comorbidities. Pooled analyses of the Phase 3 FOCUS, HALO-EM and HALO-CM clinical trials in patients 60 years of age or older with EM or CM, examined treatment with fremanezumab versus placebo over 12 weeks. Reductions from baseline in monthly migraine days, headache days of at least moderate severity, and days with acute headache medication use over 12 weeks were significantly greater with quarterly and monthly fremanezumab versus placebo. The analyses also examined early onset of efficacy and improved headache-related disability, health-related quality-of-life, productivity, and satisfaction in this patient population. Additionally, the analyses looked at cardiovascular adverse events in fremanezumab and placebo treated patients in this group, regardless of whether or not they had a cardiovascular medical history. Additional pooled analyses of the Phase 3 trials were also conducted to examine cardiovascular safety across all patients. The analyses were performed in migraine patients with cardiovascular/cerebrovascular risk factors. The overall incidence of cardiovascular adverse events in these patients were low and comparable between fremanezumab and placebo treated groups. An increase in the number of risk factors did not seem to correlate with an increase in frequency of cardiac and vascular adverse events. Additionally, the analyses examined patients with migraine using cardiovascular medications at baseline, and patients using concomitant triptans with those who did not use triptans. Similar to the overall trial populations, the most common adverse events reported in all of these subgroups were injection site reactions. Two analyses evaluated the economic and disease burden of migraine across patients in the United Kingdom, France and Spain. The first analysis found that CM patients experienced greater disability caused by migraine versus EM patients. CM patients also reported lower health status than EM patients for their most recent migraine. The second evaluation, which included examining electronic medical records from 84,266 adult patients with EM and CM, found CM patients had more migraine-related consultations with their general practitioners than EM patients. Additionally, average quarterly treatment costs were higher for CM patients in all three countries. These results point to substantial migraine disability and unmet treatment needs across the three countries. They also associate migraine with a significant healthcare and economic burden that includes higher costs for CM patients.
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CHDN ARLUF | Hot Stocks16:33 EDT Churchill Downs, Aristocrat announce agreement in principle to settle lawsuits - Churchill Downs (CHDN) and Aristocrat Leisure (ARLUF) announced that they have entered into an agreement in principle to settle the Kater v. Churchill Downs, and Thimmegowda v. Big Fish Games lawsuits. CDI completed its sale of Big Fish Games to Aristocrat in January 2018. The agreement in principle remains contingent on final court approval by the U.S. Federal District Court for the Western District of Washington. Under the terms of the settlement, which will take effect only after final court approval of the proposed class settlement: A total of $155M will be paid into a settlement fund. CDI will pay $124M of the settlement from its available cash. Aristocrat will pay $31M of the settlement. All members of the nationwide settlement class who do not exclude themselves will release all claims relating to the subject matter of the lawsuits. Aristocrat has agreed to specifically release CDI of any and all indemnification obligations under the Stock Purchase Agreement dated November 29, 2017, between CDI, Aristocrat, and Big Fish Games arising from or related to the Kater and Thimmegowda Litigations, including any claims of diminution of value of Big Fish Games and any claims by any person who opts out of the proposed class settlement. The parties have agreed to provide notice to the District Court that the parties have reached a settlement in principle and to request that the cases be stayed pending execution and filing of a formal settlement agreement.
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REGN SNY | Hot Stocks13:49 EDT Regeneron to repurchase $5B of shares directly from Sanofi - Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) announced that subject to and immediately following the close of its secondary offering, Regeneron agreed to repurchase approximately $5B of common stock directly from Sanofi (SNY). The purchase price to be paid by Regeneron will be equal to the net offering price per share after deducting any underwriters' discount and commission. Regeneron will fund the purchase with a combination of $3.5B of cash on hand and $1.5 billion of fully-committed bridge financing from Goldman Sachs Bank USA.
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REGN SNY | Hot Stocks13:45 EDT Sanofi to sell investment in Regeneron, says will not impact collaboration - Sanofi (SNY) announced its intent to sell its equity investment in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) through a registered public offering and related share repurchase by Regeneron. The registered offering and share repurchase will have no impact on the ongoing collaboration between Sanofi and Regeneron, the company said in a statement. A preliminary prospectus supplement relating to the offering of Regeneron's shares will be filed with the SEC. Sanofi currently holds approximately 23.2M shares of Regeneron's common stock, representing approximately 20.6% ownership. Regeneron has agreed to repurchase $5B of its stock from Sanofi conditional on completion of the proposed public offering. If the offering and repurchase are completed and the underwriters fully exercise their option to purchase additional shares, Sanofi will continue to own approximately 400,000 shares of Regeneron's common stock, which Sanofi is retaining in support of the ongoing collaboration with Regeneron. "Sanofi and Regeneron's collaboration has been one of the most productive in the industry, creating significant value for both companies but more importantly, resulting in five important medicines for patients. Sanofi remains committed to continuing our collaboration with Regeneron which remains an integral part of our overall strategy, and this decision was fully aligned with Regeneron, said Paul Hudson, Chief Executive Officer, Sanofi. "The decision to divest our holdings is consistent with our efforts to enhance value creation for our shareholders. We believe the proceeds from this transaction will help further our ability to execute on our strategy to drive innovation and growth."
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