Gapping down
In reaction to earnings/guidance:
- PBA -2.1%, .
M&A news:
- AZN -5.5% (Alexion Pharma to be acquired by AstraZeneca (AZN) for $175 per share)
Other news:
- ARPO -42.2% (Announces Statistically Significant Topline Results from Razuprotafib Glaucoma Phase 2 Trial)
- SPCE -14.2% (announces an update following its recent test flight on December 12, 2020; rocket motor did not fire due to the ignition sequence not completing)
- GMDA -13.8% (conducted a Type B Meeting for omidubicel with the FDA; Feedback supports proceeding to BLA Submission for omidubicel with additional manufacturing requirements)
- NIO -5.3% (prices offering of 68,000,000 ADSs at a price of $39.00 per ADS)
- SALT -4.6% (files for $500 mln mixed securities shelf offering; also files for 3,107,751 share common stock offering by selling shareholders)
- VXX -3.3% (trading lower with strength in Futures)
- ZNGA -3.1% (private offering of $750 million of convertible senior notes)
- MIRM -2.5% (commences public offering to issue and sell $75.0 mln of shares of its common stock) CMT -2.3% (files for $50 mln mixed securities shelf offering)
- NLTX -1.9% (files for $400 mln mixed securities shelf offering)
- TTGT -1.9% (announced that it proposes to offer $175 mln aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due 2025)
- TGTX -1% (commences underwritten public offering of $200 mln of common stock)
- NVS -0.9% (provides update on RUXCOVID study of ruxolitinib for hospitalized patients with COVID-19)
Analyst comments:
- ABNB -3% (downgraded to Underperform rom Buy at Gordon Haskett)
- MIK -1.3% (downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan)
- DIS -0.8% (downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital Markets)
Gapping up
In reaction to earnings/guidance:
- AVNT +4.1%
M&A news:
- PS +5.4% (to be acquired by Vista Equity Partners for $3.5 bln or $20.26 per share)
- EA +2.7% (acquires Codemasters Group Holdings)
- HBAN +1.9% (to acquire TCF Financial in all-stock deal; Huntington expects the financially compelling transaction to be 18% accretive to earnings per share in 2022)
Other news:
- ARVN +77.1% (releases interim clinical data further demonstrating the powerful potential of PROTAC protein degraders ARV-471 and ARV-110)
- VERU +71.7% (reports positive phase 2 clinical trial results for enobosarm, selective androgen receptor targeting agent, for endocrine resistant metastatic breast cancer)
- INSG +13.3% (Vodafone Qatar is the first operator in the region to launch the next generation Inseego 5G MiFi M2000)
- MARA +12.6% (files for $200 mln mixed securities shelf offering)
- UUUU +10.8% (Energy Fuels set to enter commercial rare earth business in Q1-2021, producing materials that make many clean energy and advanced technologies possible)
- BEP +7.7% (Brookfield Renewable Partners to renew its normal course issuer bid for its limited partnership units and by Brookfield Renewable Corporation (BEPC))
- LIVX +7.4% (expands content slate and original programming with another bluechip franchise)
- NTLA +7% (achieves normal human alpha-1 antitrypsin protein levels in non-human primates through targeted gene insertion)
- CVAC +7% (commences global pivotal Phase 2b/3 Trial for COVID-19 vaccine candidate, CVnCoV)
- BCLI +5.1% (Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics announces NurOwn expanded access program)
- GILT +5% (was selected to equip hundreds of boats, vessels and cruise ships with satellite communication. Gilat's modems and transceivers successfully deployed on maritime vessels in Asia)
- AMRN +4.6% (Highlights Multiple VASCEPA (Icosapent Ethyl)-Related Scientific Findings Presented at National Lipid Association)
- TCRR +4.2% (reports RECIST response in ovarian cancer from ongoing Phase 1/2 Trial of TC-210)
- PSA +3.9% (appoints three new independent trustees; confirms constructive discussions in recent weeks with Elliott Associates)
- MRNA +3.5% (US government exercises option to purchase additional 100 mln doses of mRNA-1273)
- NGA +2.9% (Northern Genesis Acquisition Corp: Lion Electric has been successful in using its electric school buses to supply electricity back to Con Edison utility customers) WFC +1.6% (in talks to sell student loan portfolio to private equity firms APO and BX, according to Bloomberg)
- PSX +1.5% (announces its 2021 capital budget of $1.7 billion)
- PFE +1.3% (BioNTech and Pfizer officially receive first authorization in the U.S. of Vaccine to prevent COVID-19)
- KZIA +1.3% (confirms receipt of $1,018,448 from Australian Taxation Office under the R&D Tax Incentive Program for the financial year ending 30 June 2020)
- FEYE +1.3% (provided update on its investigation)
Analyst comments:
- AMRX +7.6% (upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays)
- INGN +7.3% (upgraded to Overweight from Sector Weight at KeyBanc Capital Markets)
- DLTH +3.6% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel)
- USB +2.1% (upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JP Morgan)
- CLX +1.5% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup)
Early premarket gappers
- Gapping up:
- ALXN +32.1%, MARA +12.8%, PS +6.5%, AMRN +4.8%, MRNA +3.4%, NTLA +3.3%, TCRR +2.4%, WFC +1.4%, PFE +1.4%, IWM +1.2%, DIA +0.8%, DUK +0.7%, SPY +0.7%, QQQ +0.6%
- Gapping down:
- ARPO -42.7%, AZN -5.7%, SALT -4.6%, VXX -3.3%, CMT -2.3%, NLTX -1.9%
UK enters formal EDF talks over £20bn Sizewell C nuclear plant
Ministers’ discussions with French utility to focus on funding model that could see energy bill-payers charged up front
UK ministers have confirmed they will enter formal negotiations with French utility EDF over how to finance Sizewell C, a £20bn nuclear power station proposed for England’s east coast, with talks centred around a funding model that could see consumers pay years before it has started generating electricity.
The government insisted that “no decision has yet been taken to proceed with the project”, but funding talks will probably focus on a so-called “regulated asset base model” (RAB) which has been used for other infrastructure such as the Thames Tideway “super sewer” and energy networks but has attracted fierce criticism as it would see energy bill-payers charged up front.
The government last year launched a consultation on the RAB model and said on Monday that it “remains of the view” that such a mechanism “is a credible basis for funding large-scale nuclear projects”, although it added that it would also continue to explore the viability of “other models”. Ministers have previously raised the prospect of the state taking an equity stake in any large new nuclear plant.
“Consideration will be given to the potential role of government finance in construction, provided there is clear value for money for consumers and taxpayers, and subject to all other relevant approvals,” the government said in a statement on Monday.
The announcement was released separately to a long-awaited energy white paper that sets out plans on how to “overwhelmingly” decarbonise Britain’s power system “in the 2030s”.
The announcement of talks over Sizewell C is likely to dismay environmental campaigning groups such as Greenpeace, which argue that renewable power such as offshore wind is already much cheaper than nuclear.
But it will delight nuclear industry executives who have been waiting since last year for signs that the government was prepared to forge ahead with another large new plant to replace Britain’s current fleet of ageing reactors.
Other developers such as Toshiba and Hitachi, which had also been looking at building new plants in the UK, have backed out in recent years.
Justin Bowden, national secretary of the GMB trade union, welcomed the announcement. “This is brilliant news for the zero carbon electricity it will generate for future generations and the thousands of jobs it will generate being built,” he said.
The £20bn Sizewell C plant is expected to be a replica of EDF’s Hinkley Point C — currently under construction in Somerset — but the French utility has long made clear that it would not proceed with another plant under the same funding terms.
The construction costs of Hinkley Point C have spiralled, with the latest estimate placed at up to £22.5bn. It is funded by EDF and its junior partner CGN of China in return for a controversial agreement that gives them a guaranteed a price of £92.50 per megawatt hour of electricity produced at the plant for 35 years. The rate was agreed in 2012 terms and is index linked.
The government said on Monday that successful negotiations with EDF over Sizewell C would be “dependent on the progress of Hinkley Point C, and the developer's application of lessons learnt from Hinkley Point C across to Sizewell C from development and design, through construction and commissioning, and into operations”.
The government also confirmed that an “ambitious” UK Emissions Trading Scheme would be in place when the Brexit transition period ends on January 1 and will “provide for the continuation of emissions trading for businesses at the end of the transition period”.
“Its scope will initially be the same as that of the EU ETS,” the government said, which will provide relief for companies that had feared the imposition of a carbon tax after the end of the transition period.
It added that the UK scheme would be “more ambitious than the EU system it replaces” because emissions allowed within the system “will be reduced by 5 per cent” from the outset.
>>> Up
* Adevinta Raised to Buy at SEB Equities; PT 160 kroner
* BASF Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse; PT 73 euros
* CNH Industrial PT Raised to 12.50 euros at Banca Akros (ESN) (+)
* EasyJet Raised to Reduce at AlphaValue
* Fiat Chrysler Raised to Buy at Stifel; PT $20.28
* Hammerson Raised to Hold at Peel Hunt (+)
* Heineken PT Raised to 105 euros from 95 euros at Jefferies
* K+S Raised to Add at AlphaValue
* Vilmorin Raised to Buy at Gilbert Dupont; PT 60.60 euros (+)
* Volution PT Raised to 315 pence from 240 pence at Berenberg
>>> Down
* British Land Cut to Hold at Peel Hunt; PT 500 pence (+)
* NewRiver Cut to Reduce at Peel Hunt (+)
* Proximus Cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley; PT 19 euros
* Shaftesbury Cut to Hold at Peel Hunt (+)
* Unite Group Cut to Hold at Peel Hunt (+)
* Valora Cut to Reduce at Baader Helvea; PT 155 Swiss francs
>>> Initiation
* Aena Rated New Hold at SocGen; PT 145 euros
* Anexo Rated New Buy at Panmure Gordon; PT 195 pence
* Hapag-Lloyd Assumed Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley; PT 80 euros
* Kahoot! Rated New Buy at Goldman; PT 847.60 kroner (+)
* PureTech Health PLC ADRs Rated New Buy at Jefferies; PT $63
* Semperit Reinstated Buy at HSBC; PT 33 euros
>>> Call
* Container Shipping Momentum to Continue, Maersk Preferred: MS (+)
* Hammerson Upgraded, British Land and Shaftesbury Cut: Peel Hunt (+)
* Proximus Cut on Cash Flow Outlook, Valuation: Morgan Stanley
* Valora Demand Hit by Lockdowns, Recovery Seen Delayed: Baader