Research Calls I
- Downgrades:
- Altria (MO) downgraded to Underweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley; tgt lowered to $50
- Canopy Growth (CGC) downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets
- Cazoo (CZOO) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup; tgt $1.50
- Chart Industries (GTLS) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays; tgt $189
- Dutch Bros (BROS) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan; tgt $40
- Moody's (MCO) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Atlantic Equities
- Target (TGT) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA Securities; tgt lowered to $165
- Others:
- Affirm (AFRM) initiated with an Underperform at Wedbush; tgt $15
- Ares Management (ARES) initiated with a Mkt Perform at JMP Securities
- Ballard Power (BLDP) resumed with an Underweight at Piper Sandler; tgt $5
- Bloom Energy (BE) resumed with a Neutral at Piper Sandler; tgt $20
- Blue Owl Capital (OWL) initiated with a Mkt Outperform at JMP Securities; tgt $18
- Canaan (CAN) initiated with a Buy at The Benchmark Company; tgt $9
- Carlyle Group (CG) initiated with a Mkt Outperform at JMP Securities; tgt $60
- IonQ (IONQ) initiated with a Buy at Needham; tgt $9
- IVERIC bio (ISEE) initiated with a Buy at BofA Securities; tgt $18
- Plug Power (PLUG) resumed with a Neutral at Piper Sandler; tgt $18
- Rigetti Computing (RGTI) initiated with a Buy at Needham; tgt $11
- TPG Inc. (TPG) initiated with a Mkt Perform at JMP Securities
- Weatherford (WFRD) initiated with a Buy at Goldman; tgt $43
Ms Marvel, Disney Plus review — the franchise unveils its first Muslim superhero
Iman Vellani charms as teenager Kamala Khan in an adventure story as much about heritage as battling evil
For those who struggle to tell a “cinematic universe” from a “multiverse”, the news of another addition to the Marvel stable might not quicken the pulse. But the release of Ms Marvel, a new six-part series on Disney Plus, is a small yet significant piece of pop culture history. For the first time on screen, the franchise presents a superhero story fronted by a Muslim character.
She is Kamala Khan, a seemingly typical, gawky high-schooler, played by newcomer Iman Vellani in a charming debut performance. Still only 16, Kamala finds herself under pressure from all sides to figure out what she wants to be in life. Unfortunately, her dream of becoming an Avenger is hardly viable; she’s clumsy, scared of the dark, and lacks supernatural gifts. Yet there is another, more systemic issue standing in her way. “It’s not the brown girls from Jersey City who save the world,” she laments. That won’t be true for much longer, you suspect.
For now, the best she can do is try to win a costume competition at an Avenger fan convention. Rooting around in a box of old ancestral trinkets for something to embellish her outfit with, Kamala stumbles upon an ornate bracelet that once belonged to her great-grandmother, a woman fabled to have had mystic abilities. Sure enough, as soon as Kamala puts it on, she is transformed from a mere lookalike into the real deal, equipped with the (as yet unharnessed) ability to crystallise light and jump dimensions.
Ms Marvel is as much about heritage as it is about adventure. That Kamala is a practising Muslim of Pakistani origin isn’t treated as incidental. Much of the first two episodes is devoted to giving a sense of her world, showing a service at her mosque and the streets of Little Pakistan. At an Eid celebration, Kamala gives her schoolmate a run-through of her community’s cliques, from the “pious bros” to the “illumin-aunties”.
Numerous battles no doubt await her alter ego, but it’s the conflict at home that promises to deliver the richest narrative thread. Like the recent Pixar film Turning Red (and everything from Bend It Like Beckham to The Big Sick), the series humorously and sensitively reflects on the cultural gulf between parents rooted to tradition and children caught between their sense of identity and the desire to assimilate.
“Focus on you, your family, your story,” tigerish mum (Zenobia Shroff) tells Kamala after she catches her sneaking back from the convention. Early indications suggest that Ms Marvel will be doing exactly that.
Gapping down
In reaction to earnings/guidance:
- SMG -13.1% (lowered guidance), OLLI -7.2%, SMAR -6.4%, CS -5.6% (Trading update), LOVE -3.2%, OI -2.7%, GWRE -2.1%, CASY -2.1% (also increases dividend)
Other news:
- RIGL -60.2% (Top-line Results from FORWARD Phase 3 Clinical Trial of Fostamatinib)
- CDRE -4.6% (stock offering)
- TER -2.8% (names Greg Smith as president)
- WTFC -2.7% (prices offering of 3.0 mln shares of common stock at $86.00 per share)
- EURN -2.7% (INSW completes transaction to sell 50% stake in FSO vessels to EURN)
- TALS -2.1% (presents additional Phase 2 data and analyses)
- CCSI -2% (files for 2 mln share offering by selling shareholders)
Analyst comments:
- CGC -4.2% (downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets)
- MO -2.4% (downgraded to Underweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley)
- BROS -2.2% (downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan)
- TGT -1.1% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA Securities)
Gapping up
In reaction to earnings/guidance:
- CURV +11%, THO +7.2%, KC +5.7%, CPB +4.1%
Other news:
- DBVT +23.5% (positive topline results from Phase 3 EPITOPE Trial)
- ALDX +19.2% (achieves primary endpoint in phase 3 tranquility-2 trial)
- MNOV +11.9% (top-line results from phase 2 clinical trial of MN-166)
- NVAX +10.1% (FDA advisory committee recommends EUA for its COVID-19 vaccine)
- PASG +6.9% (cleared its Investigational New Drug application for PBML04)
- DTIL +5.3% (announces its latest program updates across its allogeneic CAR T pipeline)
- DOCU +4.6% (expands partnership with MSFT to accelerate anywhere work)
- WDC +4.1% (provides update on review of strategic alternatives)
- IMVT +3.3% (Achieves Alignment with FDA on Plans for Phase 3 Clinical Trials of Batoclimab)
- OCFT +2.3% (upsizes its share repurchase program)
- GENI +2% (stock offering)
- EIGR +1.3% (enters into $75 mln term loan agreement with Innovatus)
- LMDX +1% (achieved CE Mark for two new Fast Lab Solutions molecular tests)
Analyst comments:
- WFRD +3.9% (initiated with a Buy at Goldman)
Moderna’s Covid-19 Vaccine Targeting Omicron Produces Stronger Immune Response
Experimental vaccine, designed to fight Omicron and original virus, found to be more effective against new variant than current shot
Moderna Inc. said a modified Covid-19 booster shot provided a stronger immune response than the company’s original vaccine against the Omicron variant in a new study.
The Cambridge, Mass., company said Wednesday it will submit preliminary data from the study to U.S. health regulators in the coming weeks with the hope of making the modified booster shot available in late summer.
Researchers found that the levels of neutralizing antibodies against Omicron among people getting the modified shot were 1.75 times higher than in people who received a booster shot of the original vaccine, Moderna said.
“I think the data clearly show this is a superior booster,” Moderna President Stephen Hoge said in an interview.
The study didn’t measure the efficacy of the modified booster shot—whether it actually reduces the risk of Covid-19 disease caused by Omicron. The company disclosed the results in a press release. The data haven’t been published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.
Moderna’s modified, “bivalent” booster shot was designed to target in a single shot both the Omicron variant and the original coronavirus strain. The company’s original vaccine, Spikevax, was designed to target the original coronavirus, both as a two-dose primary series and as a booster shot.
Yet the Omicron variant, which began spreading rapidly late last year and is now the dominant strain, has been able to evade some of the protection conferred by the original vaccine because of mutations in a surface protein targeted by the shot.
In response, Moderna and other vaccine makers including Pfizer Inc. have developed new shots that may better target Omicron and other variants.
U.S. health officials are considering whether modified booster shots targeting variants should be used for a fall vaccination drive. Data from studies like Moderna’s will be crucial to the officials’ decision making.
Pfizer and its partner BioNTech SE are also expected to soon release study results on their Omicron-targeting shot.
Moderna said its bivalent vaccine could be used for a fall booster campaign that would potentially give people protection through the winter.
“It’s time to update the vaccines to reflect the virus as it is today,” Mr. Hoge said.
Moderna began testing the bivalent booster shot, code-named mRNA-1273.214, in an ongoing study in March. Some 437 people, who had already received a two-dose primary series and the original booster shot, were given the bivalent shot. Researchers measured their immune-system antibody responses against the Omicron variant one month later.
In addition to finding greater neutralizing antibody levels against Omicron, the study also found that the bivalent shot boosted antibodies against the original strain to higher levels than the original vaccine.
Moderna expects to report in the summer how the antibody levels are holding up in people three months after getting the bivalent booster.
Moderna said the bivalent vaccine had a similar set of side effects as the original booster shot.
The company has already started manufacturing doses of the modified booster and should be able to meet demand if it becomes available for a booster campaign in the fall, Mr. Hoge said.
Moderna also has studied a booster shot that targets only the Omicron variant. But the company concluded that a bivalent shot could offer broader protection against Omicron and other potential circulating variants.
Early premarket gappers
- Gapping up:
- DBVT +17.6%, NVAX +17.4%, CURV +7.4%, DOCU +4.6%, WDC +3.7%, LMDX +2.6%, OCFT +2.3%, AWK +2%, GENI +1.4%, EIGR +1.3%, CPLP +0.9%, VIRT +0.9%, VRNT +0.6%
- Gapping down:
- SMAR -7%, CCSI -6.2%, CS -5.9%, CDRE -4.6%, WTFC -4%, TER -2.8%, OI -2.7%, EURN -2.4%, GWRE -2.1%, CF -1.3%, GT -0.7%, PNTG -0.6%, CASY -0.6%, SNY -0.5%
Lira slide accelerates as Erdoğan vows to continue slashing rates
Turkish currency has shed 22% this year and analysts warn fall is ‘likely to continue’ without rate rises
Turkey’s lira continued its slide towards a record low after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed once again to cut interest rates despite spiralling inflation.
The currency fell to 17 against the dollar on Wednesday, extending a steep slide this week that has come after Erdoğan, a life-long opponent of high borrowing costs, launched an impassioned tirade against them.
The Turkish president said earlier this week that the country had “wasted years” with the misguided view that prices should be controlled by using higher borrowing costs to suppress consumption. Such policies, he said, only benefited “those living a charmed existence and filling their pockets with [the proceeds of] high interest”, including foreign investors.
Erdoğan promised to cut interest rates further even though inflation reached a 23-year high of 73.5 per cent last month, saying: “This government will not raise interest rates. On the contrary, we will continue to cut rates.”
The lira fell about 2 per cent on Wednesday, bringing its losses for the year to 22 per cent after falling almost 45 per cent in 2021. A year ago, the currency traded at just over TL8 against the dollar.
The currency’s steady decline in recent weeks has threatened to test the record lows hit in December, when the country was thrust into a currency crisis after Erdoğan ordered the central bank to announce a series of interest rates cuts despite rising inflation. Besides a fleeting decline past TL18 during last year’s rout, the currency has never consistently traded at such weak levels.
Turkey has one of the world’s lowest interest rates in real terms, standing at minus 59.5 per cent once inflation is taken into account. Negative real interest rates have deterred Turkish citizens from keeping their savings in lira, and have tarnished the allure for foreign investors of holding Turkish assets compared with emerging market rivals.
Erdoğan and senior Turkish officials justified last year’s aggressive rate cuts by arguing that they were pursuing a “new economic model”. They argued that they would be able to tame inflation by harnessing the weak currency to boost exports and investment and eliminate the country’s longstanding trade deficit.
Even before Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, critics warned that the plan was a risky economic experiment that was in danger of causing a collapse in the value of the Turkish lira and runaway inflation.
The conflict has compounded the challenges facing Turkey, which imports most of its energy, by pushing up global oil and gas prices and causing a widening current account deficit that has created extra demand for foreign currency.
MUFG analysts Ehsan Khoman and Lee Hardman said in a note to clients this week that it was “unambiguously unsustainable” for Turkey to maintain this approach, warning that the pressure on the currency was “likely to continue in the absence of a policy U-turn”.
The soaring inflation rate has also come with political ramifications for Erdoğan. While Turkey has enjoyed strong growth thanks to loose monetary policy, the escalating cost of living and the pressure on the lira have eroded public support for the Turkish president ahead of elections that must take place before June 2023.
Erdoğan on Monday acknowledged that there was a “cost of living problem” in his country, but insisted that his economic model would soon pay dividends. He said: “We have cast aside the economic prescriptions imposed by imperialist financial institutions that make the rich richer and make the poor poorer by increasing the interest rate.”
>>> Up
* AIB Group Raised to Outperform at KBW; PT 3.30 euros
* Assa Abloy Raised to Hold at HSBC; PT 225 kronor
* Atlas Copco Raised to Buy at HSBC; PT 130 kronor
* BT Raised to Hold at HSBC; PT 185 pence
* Hexpol Raised to Buy at SEB Equities; PT 107 kronor
* Iren Raised to Buy at Intesa Sanpaolo; PT 3.20 euros (+)
* Johnson Matthey Raised to Buy at Panmure Gordon; PT 3,888 pence
* MFE Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan; PT 1.20 euros
* MOL Raised to Buy at Erste Group; PT 3,520 forint
* Monnalisa Raised to Accumulate at Banca Akros (+)
* Safran Raised to Outperform at Exane; PT 134 euros
* Sanoma Raised to Buy at Nordea; PT 15.90 euros
* Standard Chartered PT Raised to 991 pence at Jefferies
* Yara Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley; PT 580 kroner
>>> Down
* Altria Cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley; PT $50
* Banco BPM Cut to Add at Intesa Sanpaolo; PT 3.60 euros (+)
* OCI Cut to Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley; PT 36 euros
* National Express Cut to Hold at Peel Hunt; PT 270 pence (+)
* Schindler Cut to Reduce at HSBC; PT 173 Swiss francs
>>> Initiation
* Investec Rated New Overweight at ABSA Securities
* Kingspan Reinstated Buy at Goldman; PT 105 euros
* Pensionbee Group Rated New Buy at Jefferies; PT 220 pence
* Rockwool Reinstated Neutral at Goldman; PT 2,257 kroner
* Telefonica Deutschland Rated New Sell at Berenberg
>>> Call
* AIB Upgraded at KBW on Strong Deposit Outlook for Irish Banks (+)
* Altria Gets Only Negative Rating as MS Cites Competitive Risks
* Aryzta’s Expected Balance Sheet Deleverage a Positive: Vontobel (+)
* Credit Suisse Warning No Surprise, Yet Weaker Than Expected: JPM (+)
* ‘Hated’ UK Retail Stocks Could See Short Squeeze, Liberum Says (+)
* Inditex 1Q Sales Beat Helped by Strong US Performance, RBC Says (+)
* National Express Cut to Hold at Peel Hunt on School Bus Woes (+)
* Pensionbee New Buy as Jefferies Sees High Growth Continuing
* Pernod Ricard’s Mid-Term Targets Should be Taken Well: Jefferies (+)
* Safran Raised to Outperform at Exane for First Time in 9 Years
* Telefonica Deutschland New Sell at Berenberg on Dividend Risks
* Wizz Air Results In Line, Summer Commentary ‘Bullish:’ Bernstein (+)
* Yara Now Top Fertilizer Pick at Morgan Stanley, OCI Downgraded