Verona Pharma plc (VRNA): Jim Cramer Approves The Merck Acquisition
Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) is a small biotechnology company that focuses on respiratory diseases. Its shares rocketed by 20.6% in July after pharma giant Merck announced that it would buy the firm for a $10 billion price tag. However, even before the acquisition, Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA)'s shares were up by a strong 80%. The stock has been helped by improving revenue and shrinking losses, which are good performance indicators for upstart biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Cramer's comments about Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) covered Merck's acquisition:
'Yeah, I talked to Rob this morning, really liked this. He thinks he's got about 50 billion dollars worth of new drugs, which would therefore make it so you should stop worrying about the Keytruda patent expiration in 2028. I am with Rob. I think this COPD is a really important, another important franchise for them the alternative use steroids. And we've all be discovering that if you have trouble using steroids, one it becomes less effective over time, and two, the side effects are much worse than people realize. So I think this is a first in class, novel, compound that will make it so. . .I like this acquisition very much.'
A patient in a clinic, taking a medication dose from a nebulizer to treat a respiratory disease.
Earlier, the CNBC host had dubbed Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA)'s shares as speculative:
'That stock is a rocket ship. Again, very very speculative, because it loses a lot of money. Does have a couple things in the pipe that people like, but also has a huge amount of insider selling, frankly.'
While we acknowledge the potential of VRNA as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an extremely cheap AI stock that is also a major beneficiary of Trump tariffs and onshoring, see our free report on the .
READ NEXT: 30 Stocks That Should Double in 3 Years and 11 Hidden AI Stocks to Buy Right Now.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
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Well, first of all, thanks for having me. And what we're seeing is early days when these tariffs were announced right after Liberation day, lots of customers maybe went into a little bit of a pause mode to try to predict what was going to happen or to try to understand the uncertainty. Since then, I think people have understood that this isn't going to be quick, and some of these deadlines are going to move. And it's going to take some time. So the forward leaning companies are really getting back to their strategies and executing their strategies. And I think it's not too dissimilar to what we've seen with other supply chain disruptions like COVID and bridge collapses, et cetera. While there's a little bit of a pause in the beginning, I think it very quickly confirms the fact that supply chain is mission critical software. And this is not an area that companies are going to pause or delay for a long time. This is an area that they consider not only mission critical, but strategic. 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Small fleets don't win by working harder; they win by working smarter. Get your systems tight, train your drivers, and keep your trucks hauling freight where they belong. The post How to Track Driver Hours Without Drowning in ELD Reports appeared first on FreightWaves. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
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So the balance of risk in our mind, given kind of these uncertainties and in the context of expectations which are quite optimistic, the balance of risk seems to be towards kind of under-delivering relative to expectations. So is your point, and I'm just looking at the popular average here, we are, you know, agreeing across the board. Again, Mohit, is your point that you think investors are being a bit complacent here? Absolutely. I think that's kind of the view here that investors are being complacent in, say for example, kind of the equity markets, even in lower quality segments of the credit markets where valuations are near historic types. And when we contrast that to higher quality fixed income where investors can get, call it, six percent yield in a very, very high quality manner. That looks like a very attractive alternative in this kind of environment of elevated uncertainty and ongoing complacency. Kevin, bring you in here as well. Mohit's point is well taken. To the extent, Kevin, I wonder whether you get nervous when nobody else seems to be nervous. Absolutely, and I think what we need to understand is that we're pretty far along this bull market run. Through the first 73 trading days of 2025, the S&P 500 was down 10.2%, the fifth worst start in history. Now we've seen a significant move higher since day 74. How much longer can that run last? So I would anticipate some more short-term bouts of volatility ahead, whether it's due to the lack of trade agreements being announced, perhaps tariffs being more severe than when originally anticipated, or the Fed staying on pause for even longer than many are currently forecasting right now. That could all create more volatility. But I think each part of that volatility brings more investors back into the market. Mohit, what do you say to those folks who come on the show and they're, they're bulled up, they're more constructive. 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I think where we are, as we think about kind of where we are, we recognize that because of high debt to GDP for the US federal government, you have some constraints at the fiscal level in order to be able to address the next crisis with larger fiscal deficits. Same thing, you know, with the Central Bank. I think the QE would be somewhat less easier to do next time around, given the prior inflation or concerns around inflation that the prior QEs may have created. So in that context, we recognize that I think certainly you could have an environment where earnings continue to deliver and equities do well, but the balance of risk seems to have shifted to the downside. And I think the last point I would highlight also is that a lot of optimism is being built around the idea that we will realize the productivity enhancements because of all the investments in AI related chips, energy, all of that. 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