>>> GSK not interested in buying Shire; will focus on acquiring experimental dru

GSK not interested in buying Shire; will focus on acquiring experimental drugs
25 APR 2018
GlaxoSmithKline [NYSE:GSK] of the United Kingdom is not interested in buying fellow UK-based pharmaceutical giant Shire [NASDAQ:SHPG], GSK's Chief Executive Officer, Emma Walmsley said today, according to a newswire report.
Takeda Pharmaceutical [TYO:4502] hopes to purchase Shire for USD 64bn, Reuters reported.
Walmsley talked to journalists following the release of first-quarter results, Reuters reported. She said GSK will focus on acquiring experimental drugs in the early stages as a way to rebuilt its pipeline of pharmaceuticals.

>>> Altice mobile phone towers: Digital Bridge joins fray - sources

Altice mobile phone towers: Digital Bridge joins fray - sources
25 APR 2018
Altice [AMS:ATC], the telecommunications group, has seen Digital Bridge join the bidding for both its French and Portuguese telecoms towers, said two sources familiar and a source briefed with the situation.

Digital Bridge could not be reached for comment.

Bidders for the Portuguese assets include Cellnex [BME:CLNX], Blackstone, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure and Axion, while bidders for the France assets include TDF and American Tower [NYSE:AMT], said the first source.

A consortium of infrastructure funds were said to be bidding for the French assets, said a second source briefed on the situation.

Altice seems rather interested in infrastructure funds, said the first source briefed.

Altice has yet to decide whether to offer a majority stake in its French towers business, said one Madrid-based banker who is following the situation. This means that the French auction will appeal more to financial buyers than strategic ones, who might try to pick up some of the towers in the future, this banker said.

While non-binding bidders have been shortlisted, there is no formal information on the bid timetable, said a person briefed on the situation.

The sale of the Portuguese assets is expected close in the second quarter while France will close in the third quarter, said the first source briefed with the situation and the person briefed. Another person familiar with the situation suggested it was possible the French process could close before June.

Altice is advised by JP Morgan and Lazard, as reported.

The 10,000 French towers could fetch around EUR 0.2m apiece, pointing to a total valuation of EUR 2bn. The Portuguese and French assets have an EBITDA of EUR 35m and EUR 200m, respectively, as reported.

Cellnex, Altice, American Tower and Morgan Stanley declined to comment. Blackstone, TDF, and Axion did not reply to requests for comment.

(Oscar Gruss -Makor) AKRX/FRE GR – OG Risk Arb spoke with AKRX IR.

AKRX/FRE GR – OG Risk Arb spoke with AKRX IR.
AKRX/FRE GR – OG Risk Arb spoke with AKRX IR. Among other things, AKRX IR conveyed the following:
(1) the FDA has been involved for a while at AKRX’s request; AKRX will not say exactly when their involvement started but it sounds like it started more than a week or two ago; the FDA has not done any inspections of its own; the FDA is getting regular updates from the well regarded independent expert consultants AKRX has doing the review; AKRX has submitted an expected timeline for the completion of its investigation to the FDA but cannot share with us what the timeline is; the FDA has agreed to get regular updates about AKRX’s independent investigation rather than conducting its own investigation or inspections because AKRX’s investigation is far more extensive than what the FDA itself would do;
(2) the complaint which will be unsealed on Thursday will have a lot more details about AKRX’s investigation; FRE GR has communicated its concerns to AKRX generally but AKRX will have to wait to see FRE GR answer to the Complaint to see everything FRE GR is arguing; FRE GR has not provided AKRX a memorandum or report with the findings of FRE GR’s investigation; the parties shared information as they conducted their own investigations and all the underlying information regarding AKRX’s data integrity that FR GRE has was provided to FRE GR by AKRX; thus, AKRX knows everything FRE GR knows about the underlying facts; AKRX just does not know exactly what arguments FRE GR will make based on those facts;
(3) Paul Weiss is representing FRE GR in the litigation; we note that Paul Weiss represented ALR in the ALR/ABT litigation and Cravath – AKRX ‘s counsel—also represented ALR;
(4) AKRX refused FRE GR’s offer to delay until after AKRX’s investigation is complete because the deal is not conditioned on the completion of any investigation and AKRX believes FRE GR offer was just an
attempt to delay close; AKRX does not understand FRE GR’s decision to preemptively declare a termination because it allowed AKRX to go to court more quickly resulting in less delay; also suing now allows AKRX to get the judge to force FRE GR to continue to work on obtaining a consent decree from the FTC; AKRX noted that if FRE GR had not preemptively terminated the merger contract, the merger agreement’s termination date would have extended automatically to July 24, 2018 and any litigation likely would have started later;
(5) AKRX will not comment on whether the parties have discussed a price cut or whether FRE GR’s behavior behind closed doors recently implies they want out of the deal at any cost or whether FRE GR seems to be just angling for a price cut;
(6) AKRX sees this case as about whether a MAC has occurred because all the relevant representations are MAC qualified; AKRX feels very strongly that no MAC has occurred and remains confused as to why FRE GR would pursue its position; and
(7) when we suggested that AKRX should agree to a small price cut (less than 10%) to settle the matter because, for instance, FRE GR could hide behind the banks (who they might be able get to refuse to fund) even if ordered by the Court to close, IR pushed back and said AKRX thinks FRE GR has the money to close; this suggest to us that AKRX currently plans to seek to close on terms and is not currently considering accepting a price cut.
OG Risk Arb continues to use an 80% probability of close on either full terms or with a price cut.

>>> Taiwan graphic card makers to see shipments plunge 40% in April

Taiwan graphic card makers to see shipments plunge 40% in April

https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20180425PD205.html

Taiwan-based graphics card makers including Gigabyte Technology, Micro-Star International (MSI) and TUL are expected to see their shipments for April plunge over 40% on month, as many clients have suspended taking shipments in response to drastic slowdown in demand for cryptocurrency mining machines, according to industry sources.
Channel distributors and larger mining farm operators have cut orders with makers of mining graphics cards and mining motherboards or asked them to suspend shipments due to the crypto mining craze waning abruptly from the beginning of April, the sources said.
Quite a few mining farm operators have even stopped purchasing graphic cards, as they are awaiting the rollout of Ethereum mining machines by China's Bitmain in the third quarter of 2018. They anticipate mining rewards to pick up gradually in the third quarter, as Bitcoin and Ethereum values may rebound following sharp declines seen in early 2018, the sources indicated.
In line with the shipment drops, gross margins for graphics card makers are expected to fall sharply to 20-25% from a high of 50% enjoyed earlier as makers and channel distributors are forced to slash prices for sales promotion. They hope the market demand can rebound in May or June.
Most Taiwan makers of graphic cards saw their shipments, revenues or EPS hit new highs in 2017 and the first quarter of 2018, bolstered by raging crypto mining mania.
Gigabyte posted record shipments of 4.5 million graphic cards in 2017, up one million on year, with profits from the shipments doubling to over NT$2 billion (US$67.37 million). The company's first-quarter 2018 revenues also hit a new quarterly high of NT$20.1 billion, surging 29.9% on quarter and 51.38% on year.
MSI raked in record monthly revenues of NT$11.73 billion in March 2018, up 27.17% sequentially and 33.49% on year, helping to push up the firm's first-quarter revenues and profits to new highs.
TUL, dedicated to graphics card business, posted a record EPS of NT$9 in 2017, and also saw its revenues for March and first-quarter 2018 reach fresh highs.

>>> Teradyne: Color on Quarter


Teradyne: Color on Quarter (41.50)

  • Needham notes that Following earnings reports by TSM, ams AG & Hynix [all N/R] suggesting near-term softness in smartphone demand, they heard increased investor concern over TER's large exposure to mobile SoC space. The company's 1Q18 report confirmed what others have been suggesting, as the weakening of smartphone demand substantially hurt TER's Semi Test business, resulting in 2Q18 guidance sharply below the consensus estimate, which had modeled for a seasonal jump in mobile SoC ATE demand. They believe the demand outside of smartphones remains relatively healthy, and as a result, they expect mgmt to provide more upbeat commentary on this morning's earnings call, particularly around its 2H18 outlook. We believe even the most upbeat comments will not prevent the stock from opening firmly lower this morning, but they expect the stock to somewhat recover as investors digest the news and look forward to solid growth in UR and other parts of TER's business.
  • Stifel notes Teradyne (TER, Buy, $41.50) reported 1Q18 (March) earnings results of $487.5 million in revenue and pro-forma EPS of $0.45, including options, above our estimates of $474.6 million and $0.41, respectively (they will update their excluding options results following the call). While the co continues to show steady growth in its robotics business, their concerns over the Apple processor test business were validated but to a much larger-than-expected degree vs. their cautious preview. Because of softness in the Apple processor test business, the June quarter outlook came in significantly below their expectations and is likely to put pressure on the stock on Wednesday.
  • TER call starts at 8:00
  • TER down 11% premarket.

>>> US Gapping down

Gapping down

In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance:

  • TER -10.4%, EW -8.5%, BABY -8.2%, BEDU -6.7%, MRCY -4.5%, DLB -4.3%, GLPI -4%, MKL -3.2%, TRVG -2.8%, WYNN -2.6%, CVE -2.6%, CMCSA -2.5%, MKSI -1.9%, LYG -1.9%, OC -1.6%, STO -1%, LUV -0.9%, NOC -0.7%, AMGN -0.5%

Other news:

  • MNLO -9.5% (discloses that its partners for development and commercialization of serlopitant in Japan have informed that they have decided to halt the recently initiated Japanese Phase 2 clinical trial of serlopitant)
  • SGMO -5.9% (commenced an underwritten public offering of $200.0 mln of shares of its common stock)
  • ABMD -1% (comments on CMS proposed rule for the inpatient prospective payment system)

Analyst comments:

  • N/A.

>>> US Gapping up

Gapping up

In reaction to strong earnings/guidance:

  • VICR +19.7%, CREE +9.7%, STNG +9.7%, JMU +7.9%, SIX +5.6%, (also announces three more Six Flags Parks coming to China), SOHU +5.4%, CS +5%, STM +5%, MANH +4.9%, RHI +4.4%, TXN +4.2%, TWTR +3.5%, VIAB +3.5%, SVU +3.4%, (to sell eight of its owned distribution centers, representing approximately 5.8 million square feet, to a single buyer for an aggregate purchase price, excluding closing costs and taxes, of approximately $483 million; reports earnings), HA +2.9%, TSS +2.8%, SOGO +2.6%, BA +2.4%, IRBT +1.8%, IPHI +1.7%, SLAB +1.7%, JOE +1.4%, YNDX +1.3%, RES +1.3%, SIRI +1.1%, DDR +0.9%, USNA +0.9%, ANTM +0.9%, PAG +0.8%

M&A news:

  • SHPG +1.1% (confirmed revised proposal by Takeda Pharma (TKPYY) which implies an equivalent value of approximately GBP 49/share)

Other news:

  • MNKD +9.8% (Mannkind moving higher in extended trading as traders circulate FDA document showing that the agency determined that a REMS is no longer required for Afrezza (insulin human) inhalation powder )
  • PSTI +6.7% (FDA has cleared its IND for a Phase III study of its PLX-PAD cell therapy in the treatment of muscle injury following surgical repair (arthroplasty) of the hip joint due to fracture)

Analyst comments:

  • VZ +0.7% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS)