Biogen (BIIB) Up 40% On Alzheimer's Drug & More

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

A couple of front office shakeups take the headlines this morning, in lieu of new economic data which — outside of new earnings reports — won’t be forthcoming until Thursday, are making headlines today. And one S&P 500 company is up 40% on pre-market earnings.

Japanese conglomerate SoftBank has announced it will be taking over WeWork, the company experiencing delays in its IPO launch thus far in 2019, for around $8 billion. This takeover includes nearly $1.7 billion for beleaguered founder Adam Neumann, including $185 million in “consulting fees,” and $500 million in extended credit to the WeWork founder. For his part, Neumann will be obliged to sell $1 billion in WeWork stock.

Many WeWork employees had been hopeful they would be able to collect from the expected $20 billion IPO, but as it turns out, SoftBank CEO Masa Son appears to be buying out Neumann and perhaps laying off 2000 WeWork employees. Quite a turn of events — we look forward to fleshing out this story as it unfolds.

Also, Under Armour (NYSE:UAA) CEO Kevin Plank has announced he’ll be stepping down from day-to-day duties at the company he founded in 1996. Plank will retain the title of Executive Chairman but turn over the CEO job to Under Armour COO Patrik Frisk, who came aboard in the summer of 2017 to help with UA distribution. This transition is expected to complete on January 1st, 2020.

McDonalds (NYSE:MCD) has missed earnings estimates in its third consecutive quarter, posting $2.11 per share, 9 cents light of the Zacks consensus. Quarterly sales of $5.43 billion was beneath the $5.48 billion expected. While global comps surprised to the upside — +5.9% vs. +5.6% anticipated — U.S. comps missed expectations: +4.8% vs. +5.2%. McDonalds continues to spend on technical acquisitions, which may help explain its earnings shortfall.

Biotech giant Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) , on the other hand, has zoomed up 40% on its Q3 earnings report this morning, but even more on its news that its treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, aducanumab, shows promise in reducing signs of the disease in a sample of patients. Biogen will now seek clearance from the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). This is about as “game changer” as a drug can get, at least in the early stages.

As far as earnings, Biogen posted $9.17 per share vs. $8.28 expected. Revenues of $3.6 billion outperformed the $3.53 billion expected, up 5% year over year. For more on BIIB’s earnings, click here.

Mark Vickery

Senior Editor

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