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Usually, the announcement of a CEO change at a struggling company brings optimism and maybe even a stock pop. Not for
Walgreens Boots Alliance
Its shares have tumbled since Rosalind Brewer announced on Sept. 1 that she was stepping down. That could present a buying opportunity if the company makes the “right” choice…
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Shares of investment giant Blackstone Inc. and vacation-home rental platform Airbnb Inc. rallied after hours on Friday after both won the nod to join the S&P 500 index
SPX
later this month.
The announcement, from S&P Dow Jones Indices, said that the change would take hold before the start of trading on Monday, Sept. 18. The move, among others announced Friday, will “ensure each index is more representative of its market-capitalization range,” according to a release.
Airbnb
ABNB,
currently has a market value of $83.98 billion, and its shares are up 64.7% so far this year. Blackstone
BX,
currently worth $129.29 billion, has seen its stock rise 43.6% year-to-date.
Shares of Airbnb and Blackstone were up 5.7% and 4.8%, respectively, after hours on Friday.
Blackstone and Airbnb will replace Lincoln National Corp.
LNC,
and Newell Brands Inc.
NWL,
in the index, S&P Dow Jones Indices said on Friday. In the process, Lincoln and Newell will join the S&P SmallCap 600.
Blackstone in July said it had reached $1 trillion in assets under management, aided by a growth trajectory that it said had outpaced its private equity rivals.
“We’ve established an unparalleled global platform of leading business lines, offering over 70 distinct investment strategies,” Chief Executive Stephen Schwarzman told analysts. “We believe our clients view us as the gold standard in alternative asset management.”
Meanwhile, Airbnb last month said that travelers were seeking longer stays and bigger properties in pricier areas, as the rebound in travel endures despite a tidal wave of inflation last year. The company’s second-quarter results and third-quarter sales forecast topped Wall Street’s estimates.
Meanwhile, S&P 500 member Deere & Co.
DE,
will replace Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.
WBA,
in the S&P 100, S&P Dow Jones Indices said on Friday. That change also takes hold on Sept. 18. S&P Dow Jones Indices said Walgreens “is no longer representative of the megacap market space” but will stay in the S&P 500.
Shares of Deere fell 0.2% after hours. Walgreens stock was up 0.4%.
Don’t miss: Walgreens CEO Roz Brewer steps down with stock at decade-and-a-half low
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Rite Aid Corp. said Thursday that its fiscal first-quarter pharmacy sales got a boost from a new class of drug.
Pharmacy sales, which rose 3.4% from a year ago, were boosted by higher sales of Ozempic and other GLP-1 receptor agonists, which are used to treat Type 2 diabetes and obesity.
The higher sales did not translate into profit, however.
“As the cost of these drugs is also high, the impact of the increase in volume of these drugs on our gross profit dollars is minimal,” Rite Aid Chief Financial Officer Matthew Schroeder told analysts on the company’s earnings call, according to a FactSet transcript.
Still, the company
RAD,
cheered investors by raising its full-year revenue guidance due to the sales bump from Ozempic and other high-dollar GLP-1 drugs. It now expects revenue of $22.6 billion to $23 billion, ahead of the FactSet consensus of $22.3 billion.
Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus, which are made by Novo Nordisk
NOVO.B,
NOVO.B,
and Mounjaro, which is made by Eli Lilly & Co.
LLY,
have become so popular in the U.S. that supplies have at times run short and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been forced to warn patients against using knockoff versions.
The drugs are administered by injection and mimic the effects of GLP-1, a gut hormone that can help control blood-sugar levels and reduce appetite. GLP stands for glucagon-like peptide.
Ozempic, Rybelsus and Mounjaro have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of Type 2 diabetes, while Wegovy is approved for people with obesity and for certain people with excess weight combined with weight-related medical problems.
Last year, more than 5 million prescriptions for Ozempic, Mounjaro, Rybelsus or Wegovy were written for weight management, up from 230,000 in 2019, according to data and analytics firm Komodo Health.
Obesity drugs could be a $54 billion market by 2030, up from $2.4 billion in 2022, Morgan Stanley said in a report last year. Reports of people who take GLP-1 drugs seeing improvements in addictive behaviors such as smoking and drinking have lately amplified interest in the medications.
For more, read: The dark side of the weight-loss-drug craze: eating disorders, medication shortages, dangerous knockoffs
Drug companies, including Lilly and Pfizer Inc.
PFE,
are now working to develop treatments in the form of pills that could be more convenient alternatives to the injectables.
See now: Weight-loss drugs in development aim to replace injections with pills
Rite Aid’s overall numbers surprised on the upside, as its loss was narrower than expected and revenue beat the consensus estimate.
For more, see: Rite Aid’s stock soars 7.5% after company surprises with earnings that are less bad than feared
Eleanor Laise contributed.
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When is it a good time to buy stocks? Some investors would say the current negativity dominating the financial media means you are better off sitting on the sidelines. Others would say it is always a good time to buy stocks, provided you can get them for good prices.
Count John Buckingham, editor of the Prudent Speculator, in the latter camp. He is a value investor with decades of experience. During an interview, he emphasized the importance of remaining disciplined through all market conditions. While he favors the value…
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After a long period of underperformance when compared with the U.S. equity market, stocks in other countries are holding their own this year. One way to lower your overall risk with real diversification is to add exposure to an active international management style that doesn’t mirror a broad stock index.
One example is the $2.7 billion Columbia Overseas Value Fund COSZX, which is rated four stars out of five by Morningstar in its Foreign Large Value category. Fred Copper and Daisuke Nomoto co-manage the fund and described…
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Data on the U.S. consumer and housing market, plus several notable earnings reports, will be this week’s highlights. Barring any surprises, federal financial regulators’ Congressional testimony will be the main event on the banking front.
On Wednesday, Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Martin Gruenberg are scheduled to testify before the House Financial Services Committee. They’ll discuss the collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank and efforts to maintain confidence in the U.S. banking system.
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Shares of Alibaba Group Holdings are higher following news that co-founder Jack Ma is ceding control of affiliate company Ant Group Co., potentially paving the way to revive plans for an initial public offering by the fintech giant.
Alibaba’s Hong Kong-listed shares
9988,
advanced as much as 8.3% in early trade Monday, widening its year-to-date gains to 27%. Shares are outperforming a 1.7% gain in the city’s broader Hang Seng Index
HSI,
and helping lift the city’s tech index by 3.0%. Alibaba is a shareholder of Ant.
Ant, which owns China’s most widely used digital-payment platform, Alipay, has been overhauling its operations amid a government crackdown that began with Beijing calling off the company’s plans for an IPO in late 2020. The new change of control, announced by Ant over the weekend, moves the company a step closer to restructuring.
Alibaba added Sunday that its equity interest in Ant remains unchanged.
Shares of Alibaba were last up 7.6%. Shares of unit Alibaba Health Information Technology Ltd.
241,
were 8.0% higher.
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