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☆ J&J carves itself up at a discount
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Robert Cyran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

NEW YORK, April 24 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) is paying a price to dismember itself. That’s nearly a 20% discount to rival Haleon (HLN.L), the consumer business spun off from GSK (GSK.L) last year. The drug and surgical businesses remaining with J&J are higher margin and potentially faster-growing, so perhaps the two firms will appeal to different sets of investors. Even the unknown at the former J&J company is better than the unknown elsewhere. Johnson & Johnson is in the midst of trying to settle tens of thousands of lawsuits that its talc-based products caused cancer.

☆ UnitedHealth flexes market and political power
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, April 14 (Reuters Breakingviews) - UnitedHealth (UNH.N) powered on in the first quarter. Revenue grew 15% compared with the same period last year as the firm added about 2 million customers to its insurance arm. The company’s Optum division, which provides medical care among other things, expanded even faster as it keeps adding services. Health insurance is a highly concentrated business, giving UnitedHealth power over markets in which it operates. Further cuts may be a risk, but history suggests UnitedHealth will keep chugging along.

☆ Buying Pioneer would be iffy use of Exxon capital
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Robert Cyran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

And boss Darren Woods is on track to deliver nearly $10 billion of quarterly net profit with only $11 billion of net debt. All told, Pioneer is expected by analysts to generate about $7.4 billion of operating profit this year. Assume tight-fisted Exxon could manage the same proportion at Pioneer, and it would lead to some $1.8 billion of savings. Pioneer produced about 650,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2022. The company expects total production to rise to 670,000 to 700,000 barrels of oil equivalent in 2023.

☆ J&J’s sweetened talc settlement still unsettling
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Robert Cyran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, April 4 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) is trying a little harder to settle claims that its talc harmed users. The tactic, known as the Texas Two-Step, creates a subsidiary under Texas law which allows what’s called non-divisive mergers. That gets it closer to a threshold that could be enough for a bankruptcy judge to approve the settlement. CONTEXT NEWSJohnson & Johnson said on April 4 that its subsidiary LTL Management had re-filed for bankruptcy in an effort to settle claims that sales of products containing talc harmed users. The new unit then declares bankruptcy, and the legal claims are settled in bankruptcy court.

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☆ Icahn and Khan make for odd bedfellows
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Case in point is Illumina (ILMN.O), which on Monday was ordered by the Federal Trade Commission, led by Chair Lina Khan, to unwind its $7 billion acquisition of Grail (GRAL.O). This puts Khan on the same side as Carl Icahn, who wants Illumina to ditch the deal for seemingly opposite reasons. Illumina makes DNA sequencing machines used in medical research. The commission believes Illumina could use its dominance in DNA sequencing to hurt Grail’s competitors and raise prices. Icahn, on the other hand, worries Grail is burning Illumina’s cash, and this hurts the parent firm’s effort to keep ahead of rivals.

☆ Pharma delivers, for others
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The progressive lung disease, which commonly crops up in heavy smokers, is the third biggest cause of death globally. A 30% reduction in exacerbations and significant lung function improvement means the drug should spin more profit. Deloitte estimates projected returns on drug development for the biggest pharma firms were 1.2% last year. Writ large, the world might be getting too good of a bargain. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Pfizer’s $43 bln deal is a pricey pipeline fix
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, March 13 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Pfizer (PFE.N) has found a partial, costly replacement for waning sales of Covid-19 vaccines. The $225 billion pharmaceutical giant said Monday it had agreed to shell out $43 billion for oncology specialist Seagen (SGEN.O), inclusive of net debt. Snag is, Pfizer’s return will probably be low, and the deal may not even receive antitrust approval. Add estimated savings of $1 billion and the result is $1.2 billion of operating profit after tax, assuming the statutory corporate rate. That’s about a 3% return on the purchase price, similar to what Breakingviews estimated when news of talks leaked in February.

☆ SVB found old concentration risk
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, March 10 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Silicon Valley Bank’s closure on Friday by California authorities is a reminder of an old lesson: Don’t put too many eggs in one basket. The bank, owned by SVB Financial (SIVB.O), counted half of all U.S. venture capital-backed startups as clients. When tech took a disproportionate hit from the recent inflationary downturn, clients burned through savings, pulling out their deposits. SVB focused on tech, but its downfall is an old story of concentration risk. The eggs in the basket cracked, and in 1988 alone, 175 Texan banks, accounting for 25% of the state’s banking assets, failed.

☆ WWE girds for insider-betting fight
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, March 9 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Want to bet on a match where the outcome is fixed in advance? The league is in talks with U.S. state gambling regulators to legalize bets on its staged matches, according to CNBC. For WWE the number of insiders may be bigger: Writers, trainers and wrestlers might be among those with an idea of what’s in store. Overseas bettors can already wager on an upcoming six-woman tag WWE team match, the Eurovision Song Contest and Love Island 2023. Meanwhile, the WWE has put itself up for sale, so some theatrical limbering up for future revenue opportunities is a smart way to juice the price.

☆ Salesforce sufficiently acquiesces to angry mob
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Robert Cyran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The software developer revealed financial progress in its quarterly results, indicated it would throttle pricey deals and installed new board members, including a representative from ValueAct Capital. Co-Founder and Chief Executive Marc Benioff said on Wednesday that improving profitability is the company’s top priority. As evidence of the commitment, Salesforce said in January that it would lay off 10% of its workers. They are Mason Morfit, chief executive of ValueAct Capital; Sachin Mehra, Mastercard’s finance chief; and Arnold Donald, the former CEO of Carnival. Assertive investors Starboard Value, ValueAct Capital, and Inclusive Capital, have held talks with Salesforce, according to Reuters.

☆ Insulin cuts make drug prices a little less bazaar
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

If drug companies don’t play along, insurance companies will go elsewhere. The list price of Sanofi’s (SASY.PA) insulins rose 143% between 2012 and 2021, but the net price fell 54%. Amgen (AMGN.O) offered an autoimmune disease drug earlier this year with two prices. American politicians have been pressuring drug companies to lower prices, and President Joe Biden welcomed the move. In theory, lower list prices mean everyone pays less out of pocket at the pharmacy.

☆ Returning pharma CEO has one prescription: M&A
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Robert Cyran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, Feb 17 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Brent Saunders is back in charge of a pharmaceutical company, which usually means one thing: M&A. The buyer, Actavis, appointed Saunders CEO of the combined company. Bausch + Lomb remains a subsidiary of Bausch Health, which owns nearly 90% of the shares. Considering Bausch Health’s stake in Bausch + Lomb is worth more than $5 billion, the implication is that bondholders are in charge. Saunders was CEO of Bausch + Lomb from 2010 until 2013, when it was acquired by Valeant Pharmaceuticals.

☆ Chevron’s CEO short-termism has benefits
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Robert Cyran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

That helps explain why the $330 billion oil giant is considering extending his contract beyond mandatory retirement age, according to the Wall Street Journal. Wirth faces mandatory retirement in 2025 when he turns 65, a stipulation that was in place when the company appointed him to be CEO in 2018. Chevron's operating margin last year was 18%, the highest in four decades, and the firm earned a record $35 billion. A year later, after oil prices had fallen by a third, Wirth launched a deal to buy Noble Energy on the cheap. If so, oil companies will be well served by executives who can squeeze additional pennies out of existing production, while buying potentially available rivals when they are cheap.

☆ Fear of complacency costs Alphabet $150 billion
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Robert Cyran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The market wiped about $150 billion off the $1.2 trillion company’s market capitalization as a result. A day earlier, rival Microsoft (MSFT.O) unveiled and released a version of its search engine loaded with AI that can answer complex questions using multiple sources of information. Microsoft, no small competitor, hopes being better will result in a more competitive search market. On Feb. 7, Microsoft held an event that unveiled new versions of its search engine and web browser that incorporate artificial intelligence. The company has released a version of its Bing search engine using the technology.

☆ CVS pays exorbitant $10 bln price to diversify
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Robert Cyran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, Feb 8 (Reuters Breakingviews) - CVS Health (CVS.N) keeps marching ahead with its plan to create an American healthcare colossus. Its latest acquisition involves paying $10.6 billion, including debt, to buy Oak Street Health (OSH.N). CVS is buying home-healthcare assessment provider Signify Health (SGFY.N) for $8 billion, and now Oak Street, to beef up its capabilities. CVS is valuing each Oak Street healthcare provider at more than $17 million, and each patient at about $67,000. In September, CVS agreed to buy Signify Health, a home healthcare provider mostly for Medicare patients, for $8 billion.

☆ EV makers fill up on cash before looming pileup
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, Feb 6 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Battery-powered-car makers are pulling off at the cash station. A recent stock rally provides an extra charge before the inevitable pileup. Despite having no revenue, Faraday’s market value has quadrupled since the start of the year after a roughly 90% fall. Likewise, $388 million Canoo, whose top line is nonexistent, is selling 50 million shares and 50 million warrants to raise just $52 million. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Apple tries to be both desirable and predictable
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Robert Cyran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

In 2018, the company’s enterprise value was equivalent to 3 times estimated revenue for the year ahead, according to Refinitiv. One way to make sense of that is to break Apple’s valuation into parts. Deduct that from Apple’s enterprise value, and investors are pricing the services business at $1 trillion, around 10 times forecast revenue. Whether it’s justified, though, depends on what services Apple is peddling, and how steady and subscription-like they are. If 20% of Apple’s services are cyclical, for example, and investors put the same multiple of sales as those peers, the company's fair share price drops 5%.

☆ Big oil can be lean and not mean
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Robert Cyran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The $460 billion firm said on Tuesday that it earned $13 billion in the fourth quarter, while Chevron said last week it earned over $6 billion. Oil demand growth has peaked, and may start to decline soon, according to BP’s 2023 Energy Outlook released on Monday. It’s conceivable both could have more cash than debt at the end of the year if the price of oil rises. Big oil can be lean, but not mean. The oil company retired $7.2 billion of debt in 2022.

☆ Intel is becoming accidental ad for friendshoring
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Robert Cyran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Its plan to catch up to rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (2330.TW) in technology and manufacturing prowess, always ambitious, now looks implausible. If the U.S. government is keen to nurture a domestic chip industry, Intel is becoming an accidental advertisement for friendshoring. And as the building of data centers has cooled, revenue at the Intel unit that makes chips for them declined 33%. The bigger problem for Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger is that its chief rival TSMC is still making strides, and producing smaller chips, at just 3 nanometers. Intel estimated first-quarter revenue would be between $10.5 billion and $11.5 billion.

☆ Microsoft’s revenue sniffles are tech’s flu
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Robert Cyran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, Jan 24 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Microsoft’s (MSFT.O) revenue growth rarely falters. Microsoft’s revenue from computer manufacturers for installing the Windows operating system fell 39%. And companies looking to cut costs will delay, or kill, IT projects, which will hit even Microsoft’s fastest-growing units. Microsoft’s revenue sniffles, however, probably signal bigger problems for tech firms that sell less essential goods to consumers and firms. Follow @rob_cyran on TwitterloadingCONTEXT NEWSMicrosoft said on Jan. 24 that revenue for the quarter ending Dec. 31 was $52.7 billion.

☆ Breakingviews: Layoffs take Big Tech back to more modest future
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Robert Cyran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, Jan 20 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O) plan to cut 12,000 jobs adds to the sense that U.S. technology firms are preparing for a more modest future. Tech firms based in the United States announced over 97,000 job cuts in 2022 according to consulting firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas, the most since the dot-com crash. Moreover, new job postings fell sharply at the end of 2022, according to trade group CompTIA. If all tech firms did the same, that would leave employment at 4.2 million, or about 5% larger than it was at the end of 2019. loadingCONTEXT NEWSAlphabet plans to eliminate about 12,000 jobs, according to a memo seen by Reuters on Jan. 20.

☆ Tim Cook’s pay re-enters earth’s atmosphere
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

His pay has been out of this world, but then so has the iPhone maker’s share price performance. Nonetheless Apple, its investors and its board have agreed Cook’s pay should orbit closer to Earth in 2023. On Friday, Apple said Cook’s targeted pay will fall to $49 million. Apple says it will target his pay between 80th and 90th percentile among peers in future years. A bigger improvement is making Cook’s pay less of a giveaway.

☆ Southwest and Twitter are on a similar flight path
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Robert Cyran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, Jan 11 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Twitter has slashed about three-quarters of employees since Elon Musk completed his buyout. But it’s also possible Twitter is building up what software developers call “technical debt” – where today’s underinvestment becomes tomorrow’s liability. The holiday meltdown at Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) is an example of how technical debt can build up even in non-technology companies. Twitter doesn’t have airplanes to keep aloft, but it too could be building up a kind of technical debt. The company had about $6 billion of operating costs in the four quarters before it went private, compared with $5 billion of revenue, which suggest there was fat to cut.

NEW YORK, Jan 10 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Microsoft (MSFT.O) is mulling a heads-I-win, tails-I-also win, AI deal. A mooted $10 billion investment, reported by Semafor, in the maker of the popular ChatGPT, could reshape Microsoft’s software business. And the investment is a pittance compared to Microsoft’s market capitalization of $1.7 trillion and $107 billion of cash on hand. Even then, Microsoft’s investment may not be wasted. The proposed investment means OpenAI can grow its business faster, which also benefits Azure, a part of Microsoft that investors value highly.

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