Gapping down
Other news:
- AVCT -1.6% (offering)
Analyst comments:
- ATUS -0.8% (downgraded to Peer Perform from Outperform at Wolfe Research)
- KIM -1.1% (downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank)
- KC -1.6% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman)
- MPW -1.1% (downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank)
Gapping up
M&A news:
- ESCA +3% (to purchase the assets of the Brunswick Billiards® business from Life Fitness, LLC, a portfolio company of KPS Capital Partners, LP), RPAY +1.2% (acquired Payix for up to $115 mln) .
Other news:
- TSLA +7% (reports Q4 deliveries +71% yr/yr to 308,000 vehicles)
- GILT +5.2% (announced that one of the world's largest Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) will deploy 4G cellular backhaul over satellite technology)
- HOLI +3.3% (CEO resignation)
- SPRO +3.1% (announces FDA acceptance and priority review of new drug application for tebipenem hbr for the treatment of complicated urinary tract infections including pyelonephritis) LI +3% (Announced that the Company delivered 14,087 Li ONEs in December 2021, representing a 130.0% increase yr/yr)
- NIO +2.3% (provides December and Q4 delivery update)
- XPEV +2.1% (reports 16,000 vehicles delivered in December 2021, a 181% increase yr/yr)
- MLCO +1.5% (reported December gross revs +1.8 yr/yr to HKD 7.962 bln versus +0.1% in November of 2021)
- NMRK +1% (announces agreement with leading commercial real estate services group in Poland),
Analyst comments:
- WOLF +4.7% (upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Sandler)
- IIVI +3.8% (upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Raymond James)
- SE +2.6% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA)
- RKT +2.1% (upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Wedbush)
- BXP +1.5% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank),
Early premarket gappers
- Gapping up:
- TSLA +7.2%, ESCA +3%, LI +3%, XPEV +2.8%, HGEN +2.4%, NIO +2.1%, MLCO +1.5%
>>> Up
* Leroy Raised to Buy at Fearnley; PT 87 kroner
>>> Down
* Aker Solutions Cut to Sell at Fearnley; PT 17 kroner
>>> Initiation
* Maasoeval Rated New Buy at Fearnley; PT 50 kroner
>>> Call
* Active Fund Managers Missed Opportunities in 2021, Says Goldman (+)
* Morgan Stanley Says Stay Defensive in Stocks Amid Fed Tightening (+)
Blue sky ideas: the disruptive promise of tech titans’ immortality quest
Anti-ageing studies could have wide benefits if they can reduce years of ill health
From Gilgamesh onwards, quests for the fountain of youth have not ended well. That has not deterred Silicon Valley billionaires such as Peter Thiel, who once described death as “a problem that can be solved”.
The quest to extend longevity radically is the first blue sky idea Lex is examining in our annual focus on early-stage innovation.
Jeff Bezos is reported to be among the other tycoons backing the endeavour. Altos Labs, incorporated in the UK and US, is pursuing biological reprogramming technology. It will build on pioneering research of Nobel Prize winner Shinya Yamanaka, who will be an unpaid adviser. He discovered that adding four specific proteins can make mature cells revert to something approaching an embryonic state. They can then be transformed into any type of cell needed to treat diseases.
Such an approach might be able to restore vision damaged by glaucoma, a leading cause of age-related blindness. That is the implication of recent experiments on mice by a team from the Harvard Medical School. In September, researchers largely based in Germany reprogrammed heart cells in the same animals. They were able to regenerate cardiac tissue after a heart attack.
Calico, an Alphabet-backed anti-ageing company founded in 2013, is also working on reprogramming, publishing a paper on the topic in 2021. It conducts more than 20 early-stage programmes addressing disease states in collaboration with US-based AbbVie. In June 2021, the partners agreed to invest another $1bn in the pursuit of new insights into the biology of ageing and targets for age-related diseases.
There are numerous challenges to overcome before such treatments can be tested on humans. The main risk is that reprogramming will awaken cancer-causing genes. But advocates for this and other approaches, such as clearing senescent “zombie” cells and reducing inflammation, insist it has great potential.
There are people alive today who will live for 1,000 years, according to one biomedical gerontologist. That, if taken seriously, conjures a dystopian future. If the technology is expensive, only the rich would have access to it; if not, it would further strain environmental resources.
A less contentious and more realistic goal would be delaying the onset of age-associated disorders. Treatments that target multiple disease pathways could lighten the economic burden of an ageing population.
Tech titans chasing after immortality are ridiculed for their hubris. But anti-ageing research could have wide benefits if it is able to reduce years of ill health at the end of every life.
FCC SM : Aqualia unit to take 80% stake in Georgia Global Utilities for $180M - filing
- A fully owned subsidiary of Georgia Capital (GCAP), GGU owns and operates a range of assets including the comprehensive water cycle infrastructure in Georgia's capital city. The process with GGU, the proprietor of water utility and power generation assets, will be conducted in two phases in 2022
- The initial phase, slated for completion by the end of January 2022, in which FCC Aqualia acquires 65% of the current GGU, which includes water and renewable energy assets, for a price of USD 180 million.
- A second phase, in which GGU will spin off the renewable energy assets, with only the water assets remaining in GGU's perimeter (with 4 hydroelectric power plants associated with the water cycle). In this regard, FCC Aqualia will hold 80% in GGU and GCAP shall hold the remaining 20%; as GGU has currently issued a USD 250 million green bond, it will need to be cancelled before the demerger can be completed, after which GGU is expected to issue a new bond, already adjusted to the company's new scope of activity.
- Veolia (VVD TH) +2.9%
- LVMH (MOH TH) +2.5%
- National Grid (NNGF TH) +2.3%
- Lufthansa (LHA TH) +2%
- Diageo (GUI TH) +2%
- Imperial Brands (ITB TH) +1.8%
- EDF (E2F TH) +1.8%
- Verbund (OEWA TH) +1.7%
- Pennon (3PN TH) +1.7%
- Smurfit Kappa (SK3 TH) -1.3%
- HSBC (HBC1 TH) -1.3%
- Banco Santander (BSD2 TH) -1.4%
- Equinor (DNQ TH) -1.5%
- Ashtead (0LC TH) -1.9%
- CD Projekt (7CD TH) -2.2%
- EDP (EDP TH) -2.3%
- Investor AB (IVSD TH) -2.5%
- Prosus (1TY TH) -2.6%
- Rolls-Royce (RRU TH) -2.9%
DAX:
- Siemens Healthineers (SHL TH) +1.2%
- HelloFresh (HFG TH) +1.1%
- Delivery Hero (DHER TH) -0.7%
- Delivery Hero Acquires Majority Stake in Glovo
MDAX:
- Lufthansa (LHA TH) +2.4%
- Fraport (FRA TH) +1.8%
- Thyssenkrupp (TKA TH) +1.5%
- Aroundtown (AT1 TH) +1.3%
- Aixtron (AIXA TH) +1%
SDAX:
- Heidelberger Druck (HDD TH) +3.2%
- LPKF (LPK TH) +2.8%
- Adler Group (ADJ TH) +2.5%
- Adler Gets ~EU800M Net Cash Proceeds on Portfolio Sale to LEG
- About You (YOU TH) +2.4%
- GFT (GFT TH) +2.4%
- SUSE (SUSE TH) -1%
- Shop Apotheke (SAE TH) -1.1%