Happy Friday the 13th! Another state went for Biden, Arizona, and finally, some GOP pols ended their mindless support of the White House claim that our elections were fraudulent. While Asian markets today fell in the wake of the late sell-off here Thursday, Europe is more upbeat and the Dow Jones also, opening up 250 points. This is because of the shift to more rational US politics.
Bravo to Elon Musk for checking out the validity of rapid testing for COVID-19. The billionaire took 4 tests at the same lab with the same nurses. Two were positive, meaning he is infected, and two were negative, meaning he is not. More for paid subscribers follows with one reporting company:
Energy
*Canada small-cap Computer Modelling reported on its Q2 fiscal year results today in loonies. It suffered from lower drilling for oil and gas in its major market, the USA. Sales came in at C$14.144 mn vs prior-year level of C$16.373 which more or less explains why things did not go well. It managed to nearly match prior year Q2 cash-flow (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) by chopping its operating expenses with wage cuts from the executive suite on down to the roustabouts, and modestly beat in operating profits at C$9.861 mn), but its annuity maintenance revenues were a wipeout. Taxes actually rose (because there was a repayment of back taxes last year by Canadian Revenue, their IRS.) However, even with the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, the net income at CMDXF was only C$6.76 mn (vs $6.868 mn last Q2) and only 8 loony cents vs 9, because of new share issues. This company helps oil and gas drillers figure out where to drill and is a play on the eventual recovery of exploration. So the share actually rose ~2% today despite the bad quarter.
*It is not the only energy stock gaining in the current optimism. BP plc is up 2.3% at $18.7. Royal Dutch Shell B (RDS-B) gained 1.5%. Schlumberger Ltd SLB topped the lot with a gain of 2.7% to $17.77, clearly a lucky number. Even Johnson Matthey, JMPLY, UK refiner of platinum group metals for exhaust cleaning is up 3.57%, helped by a lower pound sterling.
*Green stocks are also buoyant, particularly nuclear which is said to be a Biden pick, but not most solar shares, except for India solar electricity vendor Azure, up 1.4%+ but Canada Solar (CSIQ) lost 0.7%. Our newest play, Atlantica Yield, AY, is up 1.33% but below our basis. Its partner Algonquin lost 0.7% and standard utes also had variable outcomes.
*The big kahuna down today is NIO after the Chinese electric vehicle maker was the subject of a sell call by short-seller Citron Securities on valuation, saying its price “cannot be justified.” His target price for NIO is $25, half of where it started the day in Hong Kong. It fell over 7% and is now in the 40s not the 50s. Having sold half too soon I kept my position as the stock soared.
Pharma
*TEVA was a big options play today when Israel's market is closed and lost 2.2%. As often happens on Friday, the money moved into shares of fellow-Israeli Compugen, CGEN, up 1%. Its Copaxone sales are now under EU scrutiny as well as the US.
*However the newest Israeli hotshot share, BiolineRX, BLRX fell.
*So did Canada's Zymeworks ZYME which has a Muslim CEO and a key US Chinese owner, off fractionally.
*Beigene BGNE lost 0.8% on new barriers to Chinese state-backed companies here. It is not state-backed but suffers from fear all the same.
*Swiss Roche eked out a gain of 0.2% on a mixed bag of news. Its HIV tablet Tivicray (dologlutegravir) won EU CHMP approval for treating children aged 12 and over. Its Her-2 postive breast cancer drug Phesgo, combining rhetuzumab and trastuzumag) will be studied by the CHMP and the result should be known in 2 months. Analysts say it will be ok'd. Its flu medication Xofluza won EU approval for treating people aged over 12.
However, RHHBY's ovarian cancer drug Avastin now faces generic competition from Korean Samsung. Its stock is up but barely.
*Abhimanyu Sidodia writes: “Dr. Reddy’s launched a generic of Pfizer’s Quelicin, succinylcholine chloride anesthetic used for electro-convulsive therapy and tracheal intubation. It had US sales of ~$75 mn in the past year.” RDY is up 25¢ at $64.52.
*The Financial Times today wrote up the current status of covid-19 drugs and credited Astra-Zeneca for a cheap vaccine. AZN is up 0.75%.
*Glaxo GSK gained 3.63% today. Its jab (with Sanofi) is mid-range but its share has lost more.
*Novo Nordisk NVS gained 0.8%. It has no contenders against coronavirus.
*Spanish Grifols is up again by 0.9%. GRFS is now in the black.
*Not surprisingly given the Musk tests, my classic tester Thermo Electron, TMO, rose a half-point.
War
*BAE of Britain is up because the Eurofighter plane Typhoon will continue to use its parts after Brexit, so it can continue its operations in Britain at least until 2025, making about a third of the inputs for the plane, assembled in Germany. It also has a key supplier role to Lockheed for the F-35 US plane. BAESY
*CAE, which I wrote up this week also trains military pilots. It will fly up as global tensions grow.
Technology *Nintendo won an accolade from Abhimanyu: “Its Switch remains best-seller US console for the 23rd month in a row in October when sales were 136% higher this year than last, 735,000 consoles sold, the highest ever. I expect new consoles from Sony and Microsoft will cut NTDOY holiday sales, but I’m confident cheaper better-known Switch will regain its market share in 2021. Both new consoles don't have enough games so other players like me will not give up our PS4.” (In the Mahabharata, Abhimanyu before his birth learned how to enter but not how to exit battle formations. Once old enough, he went straight into battle but never could retreat. He was killed on the 13th day of the war.” We sold half our NTDOY and it is up 1.96% today.)
*Qualcomm is up again by 0.5%. Tower Semiconductor, TSEM, which reported yesterday, is up 1.7% because it is not at all Chinese.
*Sorting-machine ace Tomra TMRAY, of Norway, gained 4.84%, tops in tech.
*British Vodafone VOD gained 3% as it will raise £4 bn with sale of its cell towers.
*Ericsson gained pennies as profits were taken and Nokia NOK rose 1.5% because there is more to come.
*Mercado Libre MELI of Argentina rose a couple of pennies to $1296.84.
*Our duo of buy-back tech stocks, Prosus and Naspers, rose because they are sure winners, up 0.3% and 3% reflecting their current popularity. Their Africa jv Multi-Choice, MCHOY, was a winner, up 2%. Because they are selling their stake in Tencent they are ceasing to be viewed as mere proxies for TCEHY which is up regardless of their sales, being less vulnerable to more Beijing interference in the market's view. I think Xin is more likely to persist in idiotic moves than Trump because he has absolute power. TCEHY is up 4.4%, which is bad luck in Chinese but good for sells PROSY and NPSNY. It claims its businesses are not under threat.
Banksters
*Banco Santander SAN is a winner today, up 4.3%. It is cutting more jobs in Spain and closing branches.
*Multilateral trade bank Bladex (Banco Latino-Americano) is up in Panama by 2.73% because Biden will resume liberal rules. So is Sumitomo in Japan.
*Other banks east and west are down: Mitsubishi by 2%; Bank of Nova Scotia by a fraction.
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