The most important thing in handling the election results is to count every vote, despite what Pres. Trump is saying about fake ballots. If there really were fake ballots out there, it is unlikely that they would show a split between the party picked by the voter for president and the one picked for the Senate. But in fact, many people whose ballots went in by mail or early voting which have not yet been tallied in fact did vote for different parties for president and the Senate, to stop Trump without a “blue wave” giving Democrats control of the Senate.

Today is a terrible Thursday indeed, so enough politics as we turn to the portfolio.

Technology and Telcos

*Our best performer today is bonus stock Qualcomm, up 13.6% after post-market Weds. bang-up earnings and sales results and hopes for 5G. We bought QCOM to gain from its Israeli startup company holdings after I researched distance diagnosis stocks for my college classmate Maggie Morganroth. The analyst chorus which raised QCOM, mostly to buy, predicted target prices of up to $180 (BofA-Merrill) and as little as $125 (UBS) but all chanted buy. There were 9 upgrades, 8 to buy.

*Second best was Argentine Mercado Libre (MELI) which rose 8.7% on results. It had merchandise sales up 62% in Q3, to $5.9 bn. In forex neutral terms, the rise was 117%. Its eps (in GAAP) beat by 4¢ to 28¢ while all revenues rose 91% to $1.15 bn. Its unique active users, mostly in Latin America, rose 92% to over 676 million people. It hit a new high today at $1439.19.

*Canada Solar, CSIQ, which I opted to keep despite China's disgusting air and water, despite Max Deml losing his taste for it, today jumped 12.3%. to over $40 again. Solar power demand is growing according to Fortune Business Insights published today. And of course, if Biden wins there will be a nice market in the USA. Moreover, Spanish Iberdrola will expand its solar capacity 4-fold.

*Nokia (NOK) gained 3.5% in British trading after announcing a multi-channel digital operations software sale to Moviestar, the Colombian cellphone company owned by Spanish Telefonica. There are Moviestar cell systems operating in much of Latin America so if this one works out there will be more deals. It also is working with IBM (IBM) on a cheaper cloud telecom 5G network for companies

*Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio (NIO) hit a new high today at $39.87, up 4.34%, after it had nifty sales in October. It tends to move with Tesla which is applying for a license to produce its SUV in Shanghai.

*Game- and console maker Nintendo of Japan, whose H1 FY earnings came out today (without separating the 2 quarters) had a net profit of ¥106.64 bn, or $1.02 bn in the half with sales of ¥411.42 bn, or $4.06 bn. Both beat consensus forecasts of ¥77.03 bn and ¥333.45 bn respectively. Moreover, NTDOY raised its full-year sales, profit, and dividend guidance, for the year ending next March 31. Its new estimates are sales of 24 mn Switch consoles, up from prior 19 mn, boosting revenues 7% to ¥1.400 trillion, and net profit 16% to ¥300 bn. Its full-year divvie is now expected to be ¥1200/sh up from prior ¥840 and 16% up from the last FY.

Drugs

*Eisai of Japan also reported on 2 quarters of sales together, in the approved Nipponese fashion. Its eps topped ¥89.98 in its H1 while sales for 5.9% to 317.04 bn. Its dividend was kept flat at ¥80. Its stock has jumped a lot yesterday in alignment with Biogen in hopes of an SEC approval tomorrow, ESALY lost 9%+ today on the realization that an SEC okay for aducanumab is possible but not certain. It was initially called ineffective in trials but then a detailed analysis seemed to reverse this. How the regulator will deal with this oddball application as uncertain.

*Israeli Teva (TEVA) fell nearly 3% today but was even lower in European trading, down 4.3%. It reported adjusted eps of 58¢ matching the consensus forecast but its revenues fell 2.8% from forecast to $3.978 bn because of a charge for goodwill impairment in the US of $4.628 bn for coronavirus and other matters. It missed the consensus forecast of $4 bn and failed to match the prior Q3 level of $4.1 bn. Its sales was highly mixed with generics up 41% to $928 mn, and Austedo used for Huntington's disease that may produce Parkinson's-like symptoms if the dose is too high is up 60% to $168 mn. However, its other products saw much lower sales, notably Copaxone for multiple sclerosis, down 13%. The consensus sales forecast was $4.07 bn. It also chopped its full-year forecasts to eps of $2.4-2.55 from $2.51 on average and its net sales to $16.5-16.8 bn from an average estimate of $16.69.

*Fellow Israeli Compugen (CGEN) reported earnings in line with forecasts, a loss of 9¢/sh vs -10¢ a year ago. Its losses came from much higher spend on R&D, $5.5 mn vs $4.3 mn a year ago. It has $133 mn of cash on hand up from $44 mn at the start of the year. The main focus of its report was the start of trials of its anti-PVRIG antibody, COM 701, in a monotherapy phase 1-2 combo against cancer. This will show if it can enhance T-cell priming and infiltration into tumors so checkpoints can stop them from growing with T-cell priming alone.

This supplements earlier trials of TIGIT with other cancer meds like Bristol-Myers' optivo and other checkpoint blocks for PVRIG plus TIGIT. The newest trial will have results next year.

To add to the trial CGEN put BMY exec Dr. Nils Lonberg on its Scientific Advisory Board.

CGEN also plans to develop a new antibody targeting ILDR2, another checkpoint which is being developed with Bayer to treat head and neck squamous cancer along with Keytruda and BAY 1904254.

As we reported earlier, CGEN got Chinese patents for its COM902 solo or together with COM701.

*Astra-Zeneca is up 1.1% thanks to its cancer drug Lynparza being approved by the EU's CHMP for HRD positive ovarian cancer as a first-line treatment and for castration-resistant prostate cancer which grew after hormone treatment with BRCA1/2 mutations. AZN is not just fighting covid-19. It is partnering in its cancer line with Merck (MRK).

Mining

*Kirkland Lake Gold, KL of Canada, rose over 5% at the opening today before its earnings call at noon which I could not attend because of its Thursday. Its EPS was up 11¢ (US) at 91¢ and sales were at $632.84 mn from the prior year's $381.43 mn. Contrary to warnings by a stock writer earlier this week, CEO Tony Makuch said KL is investing in its Australian high-gold mine at Fosterville, presumably because there is more bullion to be found there. He also pointed out that the share buyback has already cut the shares out by 14 mn from a target of 20 mn. It increased its dividend by 50% again to 18.75¢/sh for the final quarter this year. Its financial strength is increasing.

It is drilling in a new site, Detour Lake which was acquired at the start of this year and has already generated $231 mn in free cash flow in its first 8 months of operation and KL now believes the related Saddle Zone will prove to be a large deposit. Its latest buy, Macassa, will be mined starting in 2022. with up to 400,000 oz per year in output.

The bad news is that eps this year was 73¢, down from last year's 84¢. Moreover, tonnes milled were up 150% from last year but gold recovery fell to 95.3% from 97.9% because of much lower grade ore per tonne, 1.8 grams vs 18.8 grams. It also incurred finance costs to engage in buybacks, purchases, and dividend hikes. I assume that sensible executives do not do things like this without having some good reasons. The market agrees with me because KL is up to $3 at $49.53 on the NYSE.

*Anglo-Chilean Antofagasta, likely to become the last FTSE listed copper miner (it already is the first having been listed in London a century ago) is up 3.6% today. The other copper miner in London, KAZ Minerals, is Russian with risks in governance and capital raising and is being delisted. ANFGF. 

*I mistakenly wrote yesterday that an insurance company like Sampo Oyj (SAXPY) wants to have a higher level of combined ratio. As Harry Geisel pointed out, the aim is to have a lower one. Declines are good and rises are bad..

*Banco Santander (SAN) is up 2.5% today on not being a pure US bank despite new branches in Brooklyn and Miami. It was written up today on seekingalpha.com by Larry Saunders who signed his name.

*The Fed did not raise rates today.