Category: Stock Market News

Shares of Johnson & Johnson jumped 1.9% in midday trade Monday, after J.P. Morgan turned bullish on the health care products company for the first time in 4 years on the belief that the recent weakness in fundamentals is on the verge of bottoming. Analyst Michael Weinstein raised his rating to overweight after being at neutral since April 2013. He listed his stock price target to $140, which is about 11% above current levels, from $133. J&J’s stock had fallen 4.1% since the March 15 record close through Friday, with most of the losses coming with the selloff after disappointing first-quarter results on April 18. Weinstein expects the second quarter to be “just as challenging,” but said he believes sentiment, which is currently “particularly negative,” will begin to turn as fundamentals improve in the second half of the year. “We recognize that this is a notably contrarian call today,” Weinstein wrote in a note to clients. “But…once J&J gets the second quarter behind it, [year-over-year comparisons] ease considerably, new products should get approved, and clinical read-outs become potential catalysts for an improving pharma business and a reacceleration of top-line growth.” The stock has gained 11% over the past 12 months, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has rallied 20%.

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Exact Sciences Corp. shares dropped 6.4% to $31.68 on Monday morning after short-seller Citron Research released a report about the company that called its colon cancer test “a seriously inferior product and a disastrous business model.” Exact Sciences’ Cologuard screening test works using a stool sample that patients send in and, if positive, should be followed by a colonoscopy, according to Exact Sciences. But Citron Research alleged in its report that the product is bad and that not only are doctors not ordering more of it, but Medicare will pay less for the test next year. The company has been successful because “some men think they are ‘too cool’ (or too scared) to get a colonoscopy, despite the real dangers of colon cancer,” the Citron Research report said. But, the report continued, “we believe Exact Sciences is what happens when Wall Street meets bad medicine.” Exact Sciences did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Exact Sciences shares have skyrocketed 61.1% over the last three months, compared with a 2.3% rise in the S&P 500 .

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Exact Sciences Corp. shares dropped 6.4% to $31.68 on Monday morning after short-seller Citron Research released a report about the company that called its colon cancer test “a seriously inferior product and a disastrous business model.” Exact Sciences’ Cologuard screening test works using a stool sample that patients send in and, if positive, should be followed by a colonoscopy, according to Exact Sciences. But Citron Research alleged in its report that the product is bad and that not only are doctors not ordering more of it, but Medicare will pay less for the test next year. The company has been successful because “some men think they are ‘too cool’ (or too scared) to get a colonoscopy, despite the real dangers of colon cancer,” the Citron Research report said. But, the report continued, “we believe Exact Sciences is what happens when Wall Street meets bad medicine.” Exact Sciences did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Exact Sciences shares have skyrocketed 61.1% over the last three months, compared with a 2.3% rise in the S&P 500 .

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Nielsen is expanding its role in measuring the impact of Twitter Inc.’s mobile campaigns by expanding to 23 new markets across the globe. Nielsen previously measured Twitter ads just in the U.S. In the 23 new markets, Nielsen will use digital ad ratings to provide clients metrics on total engagement as well as the age and gender demographics the ads are reaching. Shares of Twitter were up 2% Monday morning.

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Energy stocks were broadly and sharply higher Monday, as a big rally in crude oil prices helped light a fire under the sector. The SPDR Energy Select Sector ETF ran up 1.4% in morning trade, making it by far the biggest gainer among trackers of the S&P 500’s 11 key sectors. Crude oil futures shot up 3.3%, after the energy ministers of Saudi Arabia and Russia said they endorsed a nine-month extension to production cuts agreed upon by OPEC. Oil and gas explorer Marathon Oil Corp.’s stock surged 5.2% to pace the S&P 500’s advancers. Among shares of other top S&P 500 gainers, Chesapeake Energy Corp. ran up 3.6%, Transocean Ltd. climbed 3.5%, Helmerich & Payne Inc. rallied 3.3%, Murphy Oil Corp. rose 3.3% and Hess Corp. gained 3.1%. The energy ETF closed at a nine-month low of $66.26 as recently as May 4, down 15% from an 18-month high of $77.83 on Dec. 13.

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U.S. stocks opened higher on Monday, with energy shares among the biggest gainers of the day after Saudi Arabia and Russia called for an extension to OPEC’s production-cut deal. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 30 points, or 0.1%, to 20,931. The S&P 500 rose 2 points to 2,393, a rise of 0.1%. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 7 points to 6,128, a rise of 0.1%. Both the S&P and the Nasdaq were within striking distance of new intraday records. The energy sector spiked 1.5%, rising alongside a 3% gain in the price of crude oil. An extended production-cut deal is seen as supportive for crude prices by limiting supply. Among the most active oil names of the day, Hess Corp. surged 3.4% while Marathon Oil Corp. climbed 4.5%.

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Minerva Neurosciences Inc. shares rose 6.7% in premarket trade Monday after the company said its schizophrenia drug is expected to start late-stage clinical trials in the second half of this year. The drug, MIN-101, is intended to treat symptoms of the disease that affect an individual’s psychosocial functioning, such as decreased motivation, lack of initiative and restricted personal interaction, which are “one of the main sources of burden of illness,” the company said. These symptoms persist and worsen over the course of schizophrenia patients’ lives, said Minerva Neurosciences President and Chief Executive Remy Luthringer, and no drugs are currently approved to treat them. The phase 3 trial is expected to enroll about 500 patients in Europe and the U.S., and will be designed similarly to the phase 2b trial done last year. Minerva also plans phase 4 development of the drug to expand MIN-101’s patient profile, which could include comparing the rate of psychosis relapses to other drugs, or studying the drug in adolescents at high risk for schizophrenia, the company said. Minerva shares have declined 25.4% over the last three months, compared with a 1.8% rise in the S&P 500 .

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Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein jumped Monday on the $1,000-price-target bandwagon for Amazon.com Inc. , saying that while he believes Wall Street’s expectations of margin growth may be too aggressive, the ecommerce giant remains a “must own” in the large-capitalization investment space. Helfstein raised his target to $1,100, which is 14% above Friday’s closing price of $961.35, from $970, and kept his rating at outperform. Of the 45 analysts surveyed by FactSet, 29 have price targets of at least $1,000, with the average target of $1,085.95. Helfstein said he believes the Wall Street consensus for fiscal 2018 margin growth of 1.22 percentage points is “aggressive,” given Amazon’s guidance of second-quarter margins to be down 2.17 percentage points. Still, he believes Amazon’s leading position in global ecommerce, and given it continues to gain market share in the space, makes it a secular story that is unique among the large-cap investing universe. The stock, which tacked on 0.2% in premarket trade, has soared 28% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 6.8%.

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Symantec Corp. said its Norton Core secure Wi-Fi router is now available for pre-order at Best Buy Co. Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. , for shipping beginning in the summer. Symantec said the routers, priced at $249.99, will aim to protect home networks and connected personal devices from malware, viruses and hackers. The announcement comes after a massive cyber attack paralyzed more than 200,000 computers in at least 150 countries over the weekend.Shares of Symantec surged 4.3% in premarket trade. The stock has soared 30% year to date through Friday, while the S&P 500 has gained 6.8%.

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American International Group Ltd. , Hamilton Insurance Group Ltd. and Two Sigma Insurance Quantified LP, a unit of Two Sigma Investments LP, said Monday they have entered a memorandum of understanding to expand their partnership with the aim of boosting their role in data-driven underwriting. As part of the deal, AIG has agreed in principle to acquire Hamilton USA, the U.S. platform of Hamilton Insurance. The companies will expand the target market of their Attune platform, which they launched in September 2016 to serve the U.S. small to medium-sized commercial insurance market. Attune will now target companies with annual revenue of up to $35 million, a market the companies estimate is worth up to $150 billion in annual gross written premiums. AIG and Two Sigma will enter a partnership to advance the latter’s data science and technology for AIG’s commercial insurance business. Hamilton Re and AIG will enter a reinsurance partnership, in which Hamilton Re will participate in more of AIG’s ceded reinsurance. “Putting data science and technology to work in our industry has been on my agenda for some time,” said AIG’s new Chief Executive Officer Brian Duperreault, founder and ex-CEO of Hamilton Insurance. AIG shares were not yet active premarket, but have gained 23% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 7%.

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