Plus, AstraZeneca said its antibody therapy reduced the risk of developing COVID-19 symptoms by 77%, The Topps Co’s SPAC merger is off, and Elon Musk announced the Tesla Bot.
Stocks were higher at the open on Friday with the Dow adding 24 points, or less than 0.1%. The S&P 500 rose by 0.1%, while the Nasdaq gained 0.2%.
Foot Locker shares are up nearly 7% this morning after crushing second quarter earnings estimates. The shoe retailer reported adjusted earnings per share of $2.21 on revenue of $2.28 billion, while analysts expected a reading of earnings per share of $1.01 on revenue of $2.09 billion. “Our strong performance this quarter reflects the health of our category, the deep engagement we have with our customers, and the strategic nature of our relationships with our vendor partners,” Richard Johnson, Foot Locker Chairman and CEO, said in the earnings release. “This quarter reflects strong results in our women’s and kids’ footwear business along with broad demand for our apparel and accessories offerings, which combined with more limited promotional activity, led to the outstanding top and bottom line results.”
Nvidia shares are up 3% at the time of writing even after the U.K.’s competition regulator announced the company’s $40 billion takeover of chip designer Arm should be subject to an in-depth investigation. The Competition and Markets Authority said it found “significant competition concerns” with the deal, and said it worries the acquisition could hamper competition by restricting access to Arm’s intellectual property and “impairing interoperability between related products.” Nvidia said in a statement, “We look forward to the opportunity to address the CMA’s initial views and resolve any concerns the Government may have. We remain confident that this transaction will be beneficial to Arm, its licensees, competition, and the U.K.”
AstraZeneca said its new antibody therapy reduced the risk of people developing COVID-19 symptoms by 77% in a late-stage trial, putting the company on track to offer protection to those who respond poorly to vaccines, including those with a lower immune response to vaccinations. “We need additional approaches for individuals who are not adequately protected by COVID-19 vaccines,” AstraZeneca Executive Vice President of BioPharmaceuticals R&D Mene Pangalos said in a press release announcing the results. “We are very encouraged by these efficacy and safety data in high-risk people, showing our long-acting antibody combination has the potential to protect from symptomatic and severe disease, alongside vaccines. We look forward to sharing further data from the AZD7442 Phase III clinical trial program later this year.”
The Topps Co’s merger with SPAC Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corporation II “has been terminated by mutual agreement” after Major League Baseball decided to end its 70-year old trading card deal with Topps. The SPAC merger had valued Topps—which will now remain a private company—at $1.3 billion. Topps retains its licensing deals with Major League Soccer and the National Hockey League. “Topps expects to be able to produce substantially all its current licensed baseball products through 2025, pursuant to its existing agreements, and will build on the exceptional performance in the second quarter of 2021 in its Sports & Entertainment segment, and its Confections segment,” Topps said in a statement.
And Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company will build a humanoid robot called the Tesla Bot. Musk said the robot is based on the same chips and sensors that Tesla’s cars use for self-driving features, and will be five feet eight inches tall with a screen in its head to display useful information. “We’re also good at sensors and batteries and we’ll probably have a prototype next year that looks like this,” Musk said just after an actor in a body suit modeled on what the Tesla Bot will look like gyrated on stage, adding that the robot is “intended to be friendly, of course, and navigate through a world of humans, and eliminate dangerous, repetitive and boring tasks.”
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Inovalon Holdings (NASDAQ: INOV): Inovalon shares jumped yesterday after the company announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an equity consortium led by Nordic Capital that values Inovalon at around $7.3 billion. “For more than two decades, Inovalon has developed technologies that enable the connectivity, aggregation, and analysis of healthcare data to empower better clinical outcomes and economics across the healthcare ecosystem,” said Keith Dunleavy, M.D., Inovalon’s founder, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board. “We are excited to enter the next chapter in Inovalon’s journey together with such great partners as Nordic Capital, Insight Partners, and 22C Capital. Their significant experience in the areas of software, data, and healthcare is key. This, together with their longer-term focus, operational experience, and international perspective, is an exciting combination for what we see in front of us. We look forward to continuing our mission, together with our greatly appreciated customers, to empower data-driven healthcare.”