Gapping down
Other news:
- PCG -14.5% (issues statement on Senate Bill 492)
- PINS -3.4% (discloses resignation of CFO Julia Donnelly)
- ONC -1.9% (posts new Phase 3 survival data for ZIIHERA regimens in first-line HER2+ gastroesophageal cancer)
Gapping up
In reaction to earnings/guidance:
In reaction to earnings/guidance:
- SAIC +7.7%, GME +4.6% (also amends convertible note exchange; fixes share issuance and adds $358.4 mln cash settlement)
Other news:
- GDEV +6.3% (launches $20 mln self tender offer at $11.03/share)
- IPX +4.7% (secures second U.S. army task order to accelerate industrial-scale American titanium production)
- OBX +4.3% (files for 29,164,045 share common stock offering by selling shareholders)
- HCM +2.6% (says SANOVO Phase 3 trial met PFS endpoint for ORPATHYS plus AstraZeneca's TAGRISSO in first-line EGFR-mutant NSCLC)
- RNGR +2.6% (to acquire STEP Energy Services' U.S. coiled tubing assets)
- JMIA +2.3% (files for 2,717,389 share ADS offering by selling securityholders)
- BMRN +2.3% (settles global patent disputes with Ascendis; royalties set on Yuviwel sales)
- TMQ +2% (executes definitive agreements with the US Dept of War in connection with previously announced strategic equity investment)
- GILT +2% (announces $100 mln private placement of 3.75% convertible notes due 2031 at 60% conversion premium)
- PTCT +2% (FDA approval of hepcidin mimetic peptide MIMRYLO(TM) (rusfertide) for polycythemia vera)
- KRP +1.9% (files for 9,500,000 common unit offering by selling unitholders)
- SLB +1.5% (to buy Kelvion from Apollo Funds (APO) for $4.1 bln - SLB to host call at 10 a.m. ET; expects the transaction to be accretive to both earnings per share and free cash flow per share in the first 12 months)
- MTLS +1.3% (announces their share buyback program will restart with effect from August 31)
- DKS +1.2% (discloses several insider purchases)
- NWFL +1.1% (adopts new stock repurchase program for up to 550,000 shares)
- TAK +1.1% (wins FDA approval for MIMRYLO in adults with polycythemia vera)
- BBIO +1.1% (presents new acoramidis ATTR-CM data showing structural and hospitalization benefit)
Research Calls I
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Upgrades:
- Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Argus; tgt $162
- AGCO (AGCO) upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Robert W. Baird, tgt $150
- Chagee (CHA) upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Macquarie, tgt $15.70
- CNH Industrial (CNH) upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Robert W. Baird, tgt $15
- Deere (DE) upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Robert W. Baird, tgt $800
- Estee Lauder (EL) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at CICC, tgt $122
- Kaiser Aluminum (KALU) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS, tgt $184
- STAG Industrial (STAG) upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Robert W. Baird, tgt $42
- Titan Machinery (TITN) upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Robert W. Baird, tgt $29
- XP Inc. (XP) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Itau BBA, tgt $22
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Downgrades:
- Aura Minerals (AUGO) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Grupo Santander, tgt $114.70
- Edison (EIX) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Mizuho, tgt $70
- HDFC Bank (HDB) downgraded to Hold at HSBC
- Miniso (MNSO) downgraded to Hold from Buy at HSBC, tgt $10.80
- Miniso (MNSO) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup, tgt $11.30
- PG&E (PCG) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Wells Fargo, tgt $24
- PG&E (PCG) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital, tgt $21
- PG&E (PCG) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Mizuho, tgt $16
- Sempra Energy (SRE) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Mizuho, tgt $84
- Tenax Therapeutics (TENX) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Guggenheim
- Aura Minerals (AUGO) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Grupo Santander, tgt $114.70
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Others:
- AirJoule Technologies (AIRJ) initiated with a Hold at Needham
- Attovia (ATTO) initiated with an Outperform at Leerink, tgt $52
- Attovia (ATTO) initiated with an Outperform at LifeSci Capital, tgt $45
- Attovia (ATTO) initiated with a Buy at Citigroup, tgt $30
- Attovia (ATTO) initiated with an Overweight at Morgan Stanley, tgt $39
- Attovia (ATTO) initiated with an Outperform at RBC Capital, tgt $45
- Babcock & Wilcox (BW) initiated with a Buy at Needham, tgt $20
- Braveheart Bio (BRVE) initiated with an Overweight at Cantor Fitzgerald, tgt $40
- Braveheart Bio (BRVE) initiated with a Buy at Goldman, tgt $48
- Braveheart Bio (BRVE) initiated with a Buy at Jefferies, tgt $48
- Braveheart Bio (BRVE) initiated with a Buy at Stifel, tgt $45
- Braveheart Bio (BRVE) initiated with a Buy at TD Cowen
- Deep Fission (FISN) initiated with a Buy at Maxim Group; tgt $17
- Lumentum (LITE) initiated with an Outperform at Evercore ISI, tgt $1,100
- Quantum Group (QNTM) initiated with a Buy at Rodman & Renshaw, tgt $8
- Red Cat Holdings (RCAT) initiated with an Outperform at Evercore ISI; tgt $15
- River City Bank (RCBC) initiated with an Equal Weight at Stephens, tgt $54
- River City Bank (RCBC) initiated with a Neutral at DA Davidson, tgt $55
- Scribe Therapeutics (SCTX) initiated with a Buy at H.C. Wainwright, tgt $60
- Smith & Nephew (SNN) initiated with a Neutral at BTIG
- Ticketplus (TP) initiated with a Buy at Roth Capital, tgt $14
- AirJoule Technologies (AIRJ) initiated with a Hold at Needham
Apple’s Changing of the Guard
Tim Cook winds up 15 years as Apple CEO tomorrow, succeeded by John Ternus, which is probably the most significant event of the week in tech. We can’t call it news, as it was announced a few months ago, but it’s worth taking note of now that it’s actually happening. After all, while CEOs of small to midsize tech companies come and go fairly often—PayPal has had three in the past five years, for instance—we don’t get a CEO changeover at the half-dozen biggest tech companies very often.
The last CEO transition at one of those big companies was Andy Jassy, who took the reins at Amazon in 2021 (yes, five years ago!). You have to go back to 2015 for the one before that, when Sundar Pichai took over at Google, and a year before that, when Satya Nadella became Microsoft CEO. It may be a few years before we get another one. With Cook’s exit, the oldest big tech CEO is Jensen Huang, who is reportedly 63, while his counterparts at other companies aren’t yet 60. It’s hard to imagine Huang stepping down anytime soon: He seems to have the energy of a 25-year-old.
As for Ternus, what should we expect? This isn’t a case, as frequently happens with CEO changeovers, of anything needing to be “fixed” at Apple. The iPhone maker has done very well under Cook—revenue has expanded to an expected $477.7 billion for the year to September from $108 billion in fiscal 2011 when he took over. In the near term, the expected AI overhaul of Siri and the release of the new foldable iPhone should give sales something of a tailwind.
In the medium term, though, Apple still faces the lack of a major new product, the same issue that has clouded its future for a while. After all, the iPhone market is mature. Meanwhile, Apple faces potential competition from OpenAI, which plans to release new devices tailored for the AI world sometime in the next year. Ternus has time to make his mark, but not that much time.
Cook, by the way, is not departing Apple completely. He becomes executive chair, while John Ternus succeeds him as CEO. Apple described Cook’s new role as “engaging with policymakers around the world,” which is an important job given the geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China. Will his presence constrain Ternus from pursuing his own agenda? We’ll have to see.
China’s CXMT Makes Breakthrough in Advanced Memory Chips
The Takeaway
- China’s CXMT begins small-scale production of advanced HBM3E memory.
- HBM3E production could ease a key constraint for China’s homegrown AI processors.
- Chinese chip designers including Cambricon and Alibaba’s T-Head will test CXMT HBM for products as early as next year.
China’s leading memory-chip maker, ChangXin Memory Technologies, has begun producing advanced high-bandwidth memory in small quantities, a milestone that could ease a key constraint on the country’s development of homegrown AI processors.
CXMT is making HBM3E, an advanced type of high-bandwidth memory used in many of today’s leading AI processors, according to two people familiar with the matter. That means its product is now only one generation behind the memory entering mass production at the world’s leading manufacturers, Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron Technologies. CXMT plans to expand production in 2027, the two people added.
Several Chinese chip designers are testing the memory with their processors, including Alibaba Group’s T-Head and Beijing-based Cambricon Technologies. If all goes to plan, these companies will use CXMT’s memory in products as early as next year, according to the two people. Their orders could give CXMT the production experience and customer feedback it needs to make HBM on a larger scale.
CXMT and Cambricon didn’t respond to requests for comment. Alibaba’s T-Head didn’t have a comment.
CXMT’s progress with HBM is a major advance for China’s chip industry, coming as demand for high-bandwidth memory has never been more intense, thanks to the AI boom. U.S. export restrictions limit Chinese companies from buying the most advanced HBM from Western companies, one of the major factors holding back Chinese AI chip designers.
News of CXMT’s advances comes just a few weeks after the company went public in Shanghai, raising $8.6 billion to expand production and improve its technology. The initial public offering was a big hit with Chinese investors, with CXMT shares soaring 472% in the debut.
The company said on Friday that its first-half revenue this year increased almost tenfold to 150.3 billion yuan ($22.3 billion), while it reported a net income of 77.6 billion yuan ($11.5 billion), reversing a loss year earlier. CXMT did not mention its progress in HBM development in the earnings release.
HBM is made by stacking memory chips and placing them close to a processor, allowing data to move rapidly between the two components, which is essential for training and running large AI models. The AI boom, which has made advanced AI chips highly sought after, has also strained demand for HBM. The three leading manufacturers are racing to fill orders from Nvidia, Google and other large developers.
Washington restricted shipments of advanced HBM to China in 2024, and Chinese companies need U.S. approval to buy less advanced memory.
CXMT’s entry into the market could therefore have a big impact on local tech firms. But much remains uncertain, as its ability to manufacture the chips is also constrained by U.S. restrictions that block Chinese companies from buying some of the most sophisticated foreign equipment used by leading memory manufacturers, the two people said.
Founded with local government backing in 2016, CXMT has become a centerpiece of the Chinese government’s plan to make China more self-reliant in advanced chips. It has grown into the world’s fourth-largest producer of DRAM, the standard memory used in computers and servers.
Advanced HBM is harder to make than conventional memory such as DRAM. HBM requires manufacturing, stacking and packaging multiple DRAM chips together, and each step creates another chance of failure. Products with more layers get progressively harder to produce.
Despite the progress CXMT has made in producing HBM3E, it is three to five years behind the leading memory chipmakers in HBM technology. SK Hynix, for instance, Nvidia’s main supplier of memory, started mass producing HBM3E in 2024. CXMT continues to struggle with low yields, one of the two people said. Yield refers to the proportion of products leaving a production line that work as intended.
Cambricon and T-Head have reason to use CXMT’s memory anyway, even though it is less reliable and slower than what the three leaders sell. The companies are working on how CXMT’s HBM can function with their processors, the people said.
The state absorbs much of the cost of going first. National and regional authorities offer tax benefits, subsidies and other incentives to companies that develop, buy or operate domestic semiconductor technology.
The version of HBM CXMT is now producing, HBM3E, works with leading AI processors including Nvidia’s Blackwell graphics processing units and Google’s latest tensor processing units. Numbered versions such as HBM3 and HBM4 mark major generations, while the “E” denotes a faster version of the preceding generation. Nvidia’s H100 uses HBM3, its H200 and Blackwell processors use HBM3E, and the newer Rubin uses HBM4.
Meanwhile, SK Hynix, Samsung and Micron are mass-producing HBM4 and have begun supplying samples of HBM4E, a faster version intended for processors, expected next year.
Objet: La Lettre de L'Expansion, 31 August 2026: summary
Summary of La Lettre de L'Expansion, 31 August 2026.
Editorial
Yves de Kerdrel warns of a possible Le Pen versus Mélenchon run-off. The LFI candidate polls at 16 to 17 % and is, for the first time, within reach of the second round. The editorial describes his platform as a blueprint for ruin: partial debt restructuring, income tax above the confiscatory threshold set by the Constitutional Council, a revived wealth tax, and disobedience of EU treaties.
Cover story: gas ahead of winter
EU storage stood at 62 % on 21 August against 74 % a year earlier, with Germany at 50 % and France at 65 %. Since the closure of Hormuz in March, traffic has collapsed by 95 % and 17 % of Qatari export capacity is out of service for three to five years. TTF has moved from 32 to 63.70 euros per MWh. The issue is price rather than volume: the United States already supplies 57 % of Europe's LNG and could reach 80 % by 2028-2030, matching the pre-war dependence on Russian gas. France's regulated reference price rises another 5.6 % on 1 September. Forward curves point to 46 euros in 2027, then 30 and 25 euros.
Deals
Ardian has been hit by Belgium's first foreign investment veto, blocking the sale of helicopter operator NHV to China's GDAT, echoing the Photonis case and its roughly 30 % valuation discount. Panoro Energy is buying a third of Foxtrot from DNO, implying a valuation of about 760m dollars for Côte d'Ivoire's CI-27 gas block and close to 350m dollars for the Bouygues family's discreet stake. AXA XL is acquiring the balance of cyber advisory firm S-RM ahead of its 15 September strategic plan. Louis Roederer has bought Domaine Pierre Damoy for around 300m euros, close to 40m euros per hectare of grand cru. Meridiam is preparing a bid for the Bosphorus bridges while taking 66 % of the Greece-Cyprus interconnector. Thales issued one billion euros of bonds in two tranches to fund its 3.9bn euro acquisition of Exail.
Long view
A forty-year retrospective on European deindustrialisation: electricity two to three times more expensive than in the United States, gas roughly five times, French production taxes at 2.7 % of GDP against 0.7 % in Germany, and EU GDP down to two thirds of the US level by 2023.
Objet: Bulletin Quotidien, 31 August 2026: summary
Summary of Bulletin Quotidien no. 13381, Monday 31 August 2026.
Presidential race
The political season reopened with all contenders positioning ahead of the spring 2027 elections. Olivier Faure confirmed his entry into the Socialist and Place Publique primary, where Raphaël Glucksmann is the favourite. Édouard Philippe is already sketching a new party or party confederation to contest the snap legislative elections expected after the presidential vote. Bruno Retailleau is holding his candidacy, which he calls essential. Hollande, Cazeneuve and Bayrou each called for a broad centrist or centre-left alliance, on differing terms. Jordan Bardella focused his attacks on LFI and acknowledged that no French bank has so far agreed to lend to his party for the campaign.
2027 budget
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu will table the finance bill on 30 September, built around measures that are, in his words, largely reversible by whichever majority emerges from the polls. In practice it may only be a first-half budget. He rules out de-indexing small pensions, plans to cap workplace-injury daily benefits at 1.8 times the minimum wage from 1 November (around 270m euros of savings) and to tax them in full (a further 285m euros). He warns that rolling over the corporate income tax surcharge unchanged would send a very poor signal to international investors. Agriculture is his stated priority, with a drought support plan due Thursday.
Macro and markets
INSEE revised Q1 GDP to -0.2 % and Q2 to zero. Fitch affirmed France at A+ with a stable outlook, forecasting deficits of 5.2 % of GDP in 2026 and 5.5 % in 2027. Moody's reports on 23 October, S&P on 27 November.
Elabe poll (26-28 August): Marine Le Pen leads the first round with 34 to 35.5 %, and wins every second-round configuration tested.
Objet: La Lettre, 31 August 2026: summary
Summary of La Lettre, 31 August 2026.
Casino versus Carrefour, latest legal round
Jean-Charles Naouri has filed a request with the investigating magistrates, dated 22 July and supplemented on 5 August, seeking the questioning of Carrefour chief executive Alexandre Bompard. His lawyers rely on more than 1,500 documents from the 2019 searches at Carrefour, Lazard and adviser Alain Minc, to which they gained access in mid-June. They argue the material evidences a 2018 takeover project on Casino, which Bompard denied under questioning in 2024. The documents point to 17 meetings in September 2018, eight of them attended by Bompard, the code name Crush appearing in 590 emails, and an email from Matthieu Pigasse to Lazard's leadership referring to a potential offer. No bid was ever filed. Naouri's objective is to overturn on appeal the misleading-information count on which he was convicted in January 2026.
Brussels
Benedikta von Seherr-Thoss, a former political adviser to Ursula von der Leyen and currently a managing director at the EEAS, is tipped to become deputy head of DG DEFIS. The move sits within a wider influence contest between the Commission and Kaja Kallas's diplomatic service.
Biotech
EuropaBio is lobbying ahead of the drug pricing agreements Donald Trump is due to sign on 31 August, based on most-favoured-nation pricing. The industry body fears for the financial stability of smaller European firms and for R&D funding.
Banking and AI
BPCE is setting up an AI Factory, to be operational by year end, under Yves Tyrode and with Boston Consulting Group support. Half of the group's 100,000 staff already use generative AI tools. Its suppliers are OpenAI, Mistral AI, Gemini and Anthropic.
Separately, André Citroën's grandson is running a short campaign, backed by a business-heavy support committee, to have the carmaker's founder interred in the Panthéon before October. The Élysée is holding back.
From: Laurent Chekroun (MAKOR CAPITAL MARKET) At: 08/29/26 17:26:21 UTC+2:00
Subject: WSJ : Pharma Industry Stares Down Biggest Patent Cliff in Decades More than $500Pharma Industry Stares Down Biggest Patent Cliff in Decades
More than $500 billion in projected annual drug sales face patent expirations in the coming years
- More than $500 billion in projected annual drug sales face patent expirations in the coming years.
- The looming patent cliff has driven drugmakers to seek acquisitions, pushing dealmaking to its highest level in seven years.
- Novo Nordisk faces the most exposure of any major drugmaker, with 77% of its 2025 sales set to lose patent protection by the end of 2033.
Most companies sell a hit product for as long as customers want it. For drugmakers, a clock starts before a drug is even approved: Patents run out, lower-priced copycats flood in and sales collapse. Billions of dollars of annual sales can evaporate, sometimes within a year.
The pharma industry is entering its biggest wave of patent expirations in decades. The world’s bestselling drug in 2025, Merck’s cancer immunotherapy Keytruda, loses U.S. patent protection in 2028, and nearly every pharma company has at least one blockbuster drug that will go off patent in the next five years.
It explains why stocks went wild when Moderna and Merck announced their experimental cancer vaccine had succeeded in a major trial. The vaccine could give Merck a new revenue stream to offset the Keytruda cliff. Biotechs like Revolution Medicines, which had its pancreatic cancer drug approved this week, have attracted takeover interest this year as companies look for partnerships and takeover targets.
The scale of the cliff “is what has driven, and will continue to drive, companies to seek out new growth opportunities,” said Greg Graves, a senior partner in the life sciences division of McKinsey.
In all, more than $500 billion of projected global sales are at risk of losing patent protection by 2033, according to biopharma market-research company Norstella. The patent cliff has driven a wave of acquisitions as drugmakers race to replace expiring revenue before it vanishes. Dealmaking is at its highest level in seven years.
The blockbuster Ozempic, which put the idea of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs on the map, is one of the bigger upcoming patent losses. Its maker, Novo Nordisk, faces the most exposure of any major drugmaker: 77% of what made up its 2025 sales is set to lose patent protection by the end of 2033. Most of that is because of the early 2030s patent expiration of Ozempic, which generated nearly $20 billion in sales last year.
“Patent expiry is a natural part of a pharmaceutical product life cycle,” a Novo Nordisk spokesman said, adding that the company is “well equipped to navigate the evolving landscape that accompanies loss of exclusivity.”
Cancer immunotherapies like Keytruda and rival drug Opdivo are some of the other major blockbusters set to lose patent protection this decade. That means Merck, the maker of Keytruda, and Bristol Myers Squibb, who produces Opdivo, each have more than 65% of last year’s sales exposed because of these patent expirations along with others.
Keytruda, which is used to treat more than 20 different types of cancer and generated nearly $32 billion last year, is the bestselling product set to expire before the end of this decade.
Some blockbuster patent expirations affect multiple companies.
For New Jersey-based Bristol Myers, one of its biggest drugs, blood-thinner Eliquis, is also losing exclusivity. That drug brought in more than $14 billion last year—30% of the company’s total revenue—though much of that was split with Pfizer.
Bristol Myers and Pfizer co-market Eliquis and share profits equally throughout much of the world, so both companies face a hit. For Pfizer, Eliquis made up 13% of total pharmaceutical sales last year.
The speed at which rivals move in to capture sales varies by the type of drug and how expensive it is to produce.
Patents expire at different times depending on the country, too, meaning that competition could enter in Europe or Canada at a different time than in the U.S. That has already happened with Ozempic in Canada. The risk for drugmakers is that Americans start buying the drugs for lower prices through online Canadian pharmacies, which is technically not legal but rarely policed.
Companies have a playbook for fighting their revenue cliffs—and holding on to sales for drugs losing patent protection for as long as they can.
Take the case of Bristol Myers’ blood cancer therapy Revlimid. Its main patent expired in 2019, but the company settled lawsuits with generic makers years earlier. The deals pushed back generic entry to 2022 and restricted how much of the market they could take at first.
Many generic drugmakers agreed to hold off launching in the U.S. until 2022, then sell only up to limited quantities, starting at a low single-digit percentage of the market and rising to 30% by 2025. Bristol Myers’ sales peaked at $12.8 billion in 2021, and unrestricted competition didn’t arrive until January 2026, seven years after the underlying patent expired.
The process unfolded differently outside the U.S. Generics launched outside of the U.S. in 2022 with no volume limits. International sales of brand-name Revlimid fell more than 60% the first year after generics went on sale.
AbbVie protected its blockbuster drug Humira by filing more than 100 patents in the U.S. Rival copies, known as biosimilars, didn’t go on sale until 2023, five years after they launched in Europe.
In search of new sources of sales, pharmaceutical companies opened their wallets.
Companies spent $114 billion on dealmaking last quarter—the most since 2019 and the fourth-most of any quarter since 2010, according to financial-data provider LSEG. Merck, AbbVie and GSK have each announced deals valued at more than $5 billion since the start of this year.
Deals and partnerships like these can move the needle for big drugmakers. It became clear that Merck’s 2016 cancer vaccine partnership with Moderna paid off when the companies announced last week that the treatment had prevented the spread of melanoma. Merck added more than $40 billion to its market cap in one day.
The patent cliff is bringing private investors into biotech and pharma as well. Companies raised nearly $15 billion in the June quarter—the most since 2021.
The promise of more deals is driving shares higher. The S&P Biotechnology Select Index is up more than 30% year to date.
Not all companies are facing the same cliff. With its relatively newer GLP-1 drug, Eli Lilly stands apart from most of the big drugmakers. The drugmaker isn’t staring down large near-term patent losses.
Patents protecting Mounjaro and Zepbound, the company’s popular obesity and diabetes drugs, won’t expire until the latter half of the next decade.