Gapping up
In reaction to earnings/guidance:
- ATRO +7.5% (Q4 guidance), NFLX +6.4%, PPG +2.6%, RF +1.9%, HBAN +1.6%, SLB +1.5%, SIVB +1.2%
Other news:
- W +6.1% (update to cost efficiency plan - to reduce workforce by ~10%; expected to accelerate the timeline for adj EBITDA breakeven to earlier in 2023)
- CMPX +5.3% (announces Phase 2 data of CTX-009 to be presented)
- SGML +4.4% (files NI 43-101 Technical Report for production expansion supporting the previously announced 60% increase in mineral reserves and $ 15.3 billion NPV)
- GOOG +3.6% (decided to reduce its workforce by approximately 12000 roles)
- EXEL +3.3% (provides update on patent litigation with MSN Laboratories)
- EOSE +2.9% (investors pour $13.75 mln into convertible senior notes)
- MGNI +2.3% (reducing workforce by 6%)
- FTK +2.2% (appoints interim CEO and Chairman upon current CEO and Chairman's departure)
- ABCL +1.4% (announces that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board upholds microfluidic cell culture patent)
- COST +0.9% (reauthorizes repurchase program)
Analyst comments:
- PVH +1.3% (upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays)
- QSR +1.1% (upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets)
Early premarket gappers
- Gapping up:
- ATRO +6.4%, NFLX +5.8%, PPG +5.1%, SGML +4.5%, ABCL +3.4%, EXEL +3.3%, EOSE +2.9%, GOOG +2.7%, MGNI +2.3%, FTK +2.2%, BGNE +2%, CMPX +1.3%, ARCC +1.3%, COST +1%, ABB +0.9%, SAVE +0.8%, TXN +0.6%
- Gapping down:
- BBBY -8.4%, JWN -5.7%, CNXC -4.9%, ERIC -4.6%, TWO -3.7%, SWIM -3.1%, KSS -2.9%, LLY -1.8%, AKTS -1.7%, FFIN -1.6%, TMUS -1.3%, SPT -1.1%
Hedge fund Oasis takes 5% stake in The Restaurant Group
Hong Kong-based fund could shake up owner of Wagamama and Frankie & Benny’s chains
Hong Kong-based activist hedge fund Oasis Management has taken a 5 per cent stake in Wagamama-owner The Restaurant Group in a move that could lead to an overhaul of the casual dining and pub operator.
Oasis came to prominence in the UK after it bought up nearly a fifth of the shares of British manufacturer Premier Foods and led an activist rebellion to remove the Mr Kipling-cakemaker’s longtime chief executive.
Oasis bought its stake in The Restaurant Group, which owns 423 venues across the UK including the Chiquito and Frankie & Benny’s chains, in late November last year, according to a company filing.
The Restaurant Group has bounced back from the lows of the coronavirus pandemic, when it was forced to shut 125 of its worst-performing venues. The group reported sales in the six months to July last year of £423mn, almost double the group’s half-year sales in 2021.
But, as with much of the hospitality industry, the group has been weighed down by soaring energy, labour and food and drink costs, alongside exposure to rising interest rates.
Investors also fear that the cost of living crisis could precipitate a downturn in the hospitality sector. The London-listed group’s share price has fallen about 65 per cent over the past year, to 35p. In December, The Restaurant Group’s lenders agreed a £340mn funding package for the business.
Chief executive, who previously led HBOS through its near-collapse during the 2008 financial crisis, said the company was making “good progress” and “decisive management actions”, including hedging energy costs, had limited cost pressures.
The Restaurant Group declined to comment. A representative for Oasis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Founded in 2002 by Seth Fischer, a former portfolio manager in Asia for JPMorgan Chase’s Highbridge Capital, Oasis makes the majority of its investments in Asia.
In 2017, the Hong Kong-based hedge fund was invited on to the board of Premier Foods after becoming its second-biggest investor.
At the annual meeting the following year, Oasis alongside US hedge fund Paulson & Co, pushed for the group’s CEO Gavin Darby to be removed after five years in the job, accusing him of “persistent value destruction”.
Despite fending off the activists, Darby stepped down shortly afterwards. In July last year, Daniel Wosner of Oasis left the Premier board after the fund reduced its position.
What Shakira gets wrong about men and their cars
The star’s diss track about her ex, Gerard Piqué, proves our stereotypes about motors need updating
The lips don’t lie. The pop-star Shakira is seriously seething at the ex-partner who ditched her for a younger woman and is venting her fury in a “diss track” aimed at her faithless footballer. The self-proclaimed she-wolf has delighted her fans, everyone who has ever been at the wrong end of a bad break-up and those labouring under the misapprehension that revenge songs are a way to reclaim power.
Her ex-boyfriend, the former Barcelona defender Gerard Piqué, is mocked as dim, shallow and unappreciative of the person he has forsaken. I’m not best placed to figure out where the fault lies for the split, though one’s prejudice is always against the bloke who allegedly ditched the 45-year-old mother of his children for a 23-year-old student.
Personally, I’ve always thought happiness is a better revenge than parading your pain, but the song has done amazingly well, racking up more than 100 million views on YouTube. And yet I worry about some of the lyrics, in particular the couplet where she dismisses Piqué and his new flame with the words, “You traded a Ferrari for a Twingo/You traded a Rolex for a Casio”. Piqué has since responded by mockingly posing with both.
The premise is that he lacks the class to carry off luxury goods, just as he lacks the confidence to love a strong woman. This, obviously, is where the track goes wrong. If Piqué were indeed a Twingo and Casio guy, which as a top-flight footballer seems doubtful, then this would be a clear point in his favour, the sign of a well-grounded man whose head is not turned by shallow consumerism.
While the man who dumps his partner for one half her age is obviously suspect, the man who has the money for fast cars and flash watches but who chooses the other options is clearly a keeper. More sensible, practical and, dare I say it, probably more faithful.
Why pick an expensive, ostentatious, clunky watch over a lightweight functional option that doesn’t get you mugged? As for the Ferrari, again, Shakira goes wrong. It may seem fun in your twenties, but the ideal man is driving a Škoda. The Twingo is a bit dinky, but compared with a Ferrari, it is cute, kinder to the environment, better suited to city living and far easier to park. One other advantage of the Twingo is that you do not have to worry about scraping your undercarriage every time you turn into a driveway.
And speaking of undercarriages and the penchant for fast cars, I was naturally delighted to read this week about a new survey suggesting that men with flash sports cars are less well fitted-out in the trouser department.
For motorists like me whose list of vehicles runs from Mini Metros to small Škodas, surveys like this validate your life choices, pander to your prejudices and offer the dream of a world in which sex-hungry she-wolves walk up to you in a bar and utter those immortal words, “I need a man who drives a Twingo.”
We family car-owners cheered on Greta Thunberg’s “small dick energy” jibe at professional misogynist Andrew Tate after he boasted to her about his range of sports cars.
So I’ve always hoped this sort of story is true but have never really wanted to do the research myself. The survey, it has to be said, was a curious affair, relying not on raw data but on a set of trick questions designed to expose consumer attitudes and personal insecurities. Apparently, the more insecure the participant was made to feel, the more instantly he lurched towards the Ferrari. There doesn’t appear, sadly, to be equivalent research into the drivers of saloons and hatchbacks. It may be that they are every bit as deficient but lack the funds to compensate for it.
But let’s not carp. It’s good to see our academics engaged in this sort of cutting-edge analysis. In China, teams are wasting their time on quantum computing, but London has cornered the market on research in overcompensating males. Meanwhile, Shakira needs to reframe her lyrics and forget about the Ferraris. The data show that real men drive Twingos.
Men Live Longer (Happier?) Lives Taking 'Little Blue Pill'; New Study Finds
The second study in two years shows Viagra might reduce the risk of heart disease in men.
Researchers from the University of Southern California (USC) found that men who took the little blue pill experienced a 39% reduction in heart disease.
USC researchers gathered data from 70,000 men with an average age of 52 who were diagnosed with erectile dysfunction within the last decade. They believe Viagra increases blood flow and oxygen into the heart and throughout the body.
Viagra users also were 17% less likely to suffer heart failure and had a 22% reduction in developing unstable angina. All of those conditions are fatal if untreated. Men who used the drug achieved longer life and decreased the risk of early death by 25%.
"Viagra was associated with lower incidence of [heart complications], cardiovascular death, and overall mortality risk compared to non-exposure," the researchers wrote.
The last study, published in the American College journal of Cardiology and titled "Association of Phosphodiesterase-5 Inhibitors Versus Alprostadil With Survival in Men With Coronary Artery Disease," showed older men with cardiovascular disease who took the erectile dysfunction pill lived a healthier life.
According to the American Heart Association, erectile dysfunction could be an early warning sign of heart disease in otherwise healthy men.
>>> Up
* 3i Infra Raised to Buy at Jefferies
* Asos Raised to Buy at BofA (+)
* Boohoo Raised to Buy at BofA (+)
* Cellavision Raised to Buy at Pareto Securities; PT 260 kronor
* Covestro Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse (+)
* Credito Emiliano Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank; PT 9.30 euros
* Flutter PT Raised to 17,210 pence from 15,370 pence at Goodbody
* Lufthansa Raised to Outperform at Oddo BHF; PT 10.50 euros
* Lufthansa Raised to Outperform at Oddo BHF; PT 10.50 euros
* PVH Raised to Overweight at Barclays
* Ralph Lauren Raised to Overweight at Barclays
* Zalando Raised to Buy at BofA (+)
>>> Down
>>> Down
* Almirall Cut to Neutral at CaixaBank BPI; PT 10.80 euros (+)
* BASF Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse (+)
* Boiron Cut to Neutral at Oddo BHF; PT 50 euros (+)
* Continental Cut to Hold at Jefferies; PT 70 euros
* Credit Suisse Cut to Underperform at Oddo BHF
* DEME Group Cut to Neutral at Oddo BHF; PT 140 euros (+)
* Europris Cut to Hold at Nordea
* Faron Pharma Cut to Reduce at Kepler Cheuvreux; PT 1.70 euros (+)
* FinecoBank Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank; PT 17.60 euros
* Geberit Cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank; PT 430 Swiss francs
* Harbour Energy Cut to Hold at Peel Hunt; PT 325 pence
* Hargreaves Lansdown Cut to Underperform at Jefferies
* Hargreaves Lansdown Cut to Underperform at Jefferies
* Michelin Cut to Sector Perform at RBC; PT 28 euros
* Sabadell Cut to Underperform at Oddo BHF; PT 1.05 euros
* Sinch Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan; PT 55 kronor
* Spirent Cut to Hold at Canaccord; PT 280 pence (+)
* Virgin Money UK Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank; PT 220 pence
* Vitesco Cut to Hold at Jefferies; PT 58 euros
* *WACKER CHEMIE CUT TO NEUTRAL AT CREDIT SUISSE, PT EU160 (+)
* Wizz Air Cut to Neutral at Oddo BHF; PT 3,140 pence
>>> Initiation
>>> Initiation
* Hybrid Software Group Rated New Accumulate at KBC Securities (+)
* SIG Group Rated New Buy at Berenberg; PT 28 Swiss francs
>>> Call
* SIG Group Rated New Buy at Berenberg; PT 28 Swiss francs
>>> Call
* 4imprint Offers ‘Exceptional Momentum,’ PT Raised at Liberum (+)
* Autoneum Volumes Disappoint, ‘Clearly Below Market’: Vontobel (+)
* Auto Supplier Cost Inflation Risk Sees 3 Downgrades by Jefferies
* Citi’s Buckland Says US Stocks More Vulnerable to Fund Outflows
* Ericsson Sees ‘Uncertainties’ After Earnings Miss Estimates
* Ericsson Sees ‘Uncertainties’ After Earnings Miss Estimates
* Hargreaves Lansdown Cut at Jefferies on Customer Growth Concerns
* Orsted’s ‘Low Ball’ Guidance is Below Expectations: Street Wrap
* RBC Prefers Trucks and Ferrari in 2023, Downgrades Michelin
* Siemens Energy Beat Weighed Down by Siemens Gamesa Warning: Citi (+)
* SIG Benefits From Position, Scholle Deal, Berenberg Rates Buy
- SSE (SCT TH) +2%
- *SSE SEES FY ADJ EPS ABOVE 150P, SAW AT LEAST 120P, EST. 130P
- Rio Tinto (RIO1 TH) +1.8%
- Equinor (DNQ TH) +1.7%
- Reckitt (3RB TH) +1.6%
- Covestro (1COV TH) +1.4%
- HelloFresh (HFG TH) +1.2%
- Zalando (ZAL TH) +1.2%
- Watch European Retailers as Nordstrom Cuts Outlook on Soft Sales
- Aixtron (AIXA TH) +1.2%
- Continental (CON TH) -0.9%
- RBC Prefers Trucks and Ferrari in 2023, Downgrades Michelin
- Vestas (VWSB TH) -1.3%
- Rheinmetall (RHM TH) -1.5%
- Orsted (D2G TH) -2.6%
- Orsted’s ‘Low Ball’ Guidance is Below Expectations: Street Wrap
- Orsted Prelim FY Ebitda Meets Estimates
- Faurecia (FAU TH) -2.9%
- Auto Supplier Cost Inflation Risk Sees 3 Downgrades by Jefferies
- Siemens Energy (ENR TH) -5%
- Siemens Energy Cuts 2023 Outlook to Net loss on 2022 Level
- Ericsson (ERCB TH) -6.1%
- Ericsson Sees ‘Uncertainties’ After Earnings Miss Estimates
DAX:
- Zalando (ZAL TH) +1.5%
- Watch European Retailers as Nordstrom Cuts Outlook on Soft Sales
- Covestro (1COV TH) +1.4%
- Porsche SE (PAH3 TH) +1.4%
- Vonovia (VNA TH) +1%
- Deutsche Post (DPW TH) +0.9%
- German Union Calls Postal Staff to Strike as Wage Talks Flounder
- Deutsche Telekom (DTE TH) -0.6%
- T-Mobile to Take ‘Significant Expenses’ from Cyber Incident
- BASF (BAS TH) -0.7%
- Continental (CON TH) -0.9%
- RBC Prefers Trucks and Ferrari in 2023, Downgrades Michelin
- Siemens Energy (ENR TH) -4.9%
- Siemens Energy Cuts 2023 Outlook to Net loss on 2022 Level
MDAX:
- HelloFresh (HFG TH) +1.6%
- Kion (KGX TH) +1%
- Rheinmetall (RHM TH) -1.3%
SDAX:
- Varta (VAR1 TH) +2.2%
- SUSE (SUSE TH) +1.7%
- MorphoSys (MOR TH) +1.2%
- Hensoldt (HAG TH) +1%
- SMA Solar (S92 TH) -1.3%
- Vitesco (VTSC TH) -1.5%
- Auto Supplier Cost Inflation Risk Sees 3 Downgrades by Jefferies
- Nordex (NDX1 TH) -2.3%
- Hypoport (HYQ TH) -5.2%
- Hypoport Offering of New Shares Prices at €132/Share