Saudi Oil Rig Decline Due to Completion of Projects, Says Aramco
Another factor was the kingdom's decision in January 2024 to maintain its maximum sustainable capacity, or MSC, at 12 million barrels a day, scrapping plans to boost it to 13 million barrels a day, Nasser said.
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2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Is Novo Nordisk Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold Before Q2 Earnings?
Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO) is facing serious headwinds. After enjoying a strong run fueled by demand for its obesity treatments, the obesity drug pioneer is now under pressure from rising competition, particularly from Eli Lilly's (LLY) weight-loss drugs, as well as trial setbacks for its next-generation therapies. In fact, things took a sharp turn on July 29, when the company cut its full-year sales growth guidance for the second time in just three months and named a new CEO. The market response was swift and brutal, with NVO shares plunging over 21% in a single day. Now, with second-quarter earnings just around the corner on Aug. 6, does Novo Nordisk's recent plunge present a golden buying opportunity, or is it a clear signal to keep your distance? More News from Barchart Dear Nvidia Stock Fans, Mark Your Calendars for August 27 Options Traders Expected Palantir Stock's Tamest Earnings Reaction in a Year. Did They Get It Right? Tesla Gains on Elon Musk's New Pay Package. Is TSLA Stock a Buy? Our exclusive Barchart Brief newsletter is your FREE midday guide to what's moving stocks, sectors, and investor sentiment - delivered right when you need the info most. Subscribe today! About Novo Nordisk Stock Best known for its blockbuster weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, Novo Nordisk is a global healthcare leader with a long-standing focus on chronic disease. Founded in 1923 and headquartered in Denmark, the company has built a strong foundation in diabetes care while expanding its reach into obesity and other severe health conditions. The company commands a market capitalization of about $217.9 billion. While Novo Nordisk has been a trailblazer in the obesity drug market, its stock has hit a rough patch. Softer demand for its blockbuster drugs, combined with intensifying competition in the weight-loss space, has taken a toll on investor sentiment. The stock has tumbled a staggering 66% from its 52-week high of $139.74 reached in August 2024, and it's currently down 44.7% year-to-date (YTD). In stark contrast, the broader S&P 500 Index ($SPX) has managed to notch a gain of approximately 7.1% over the same period, while its rival Eli Lilly has seen only a marginal drop so far this year, highlighting just how far Novo has fallen out of favor with the market. Given its underwhelming price action, Novo Nordisk stock is starting to look like a value play. Currently trading at just 12.5 times forward earnings, it's priced well below the sector median of 16.87x, and dramatically lower than its own five-year average of 30.92x. Novo Nordisk's Q1 Earnings Snapshot In early May, Novo Nordisk posted a solid first-quarter earnings report for fiscal 2025, but the shine was dulled by a cautious outlook. Total revenue climbed 19% year-over-year (YOY) to 78.1 billion Danish kroner, powered by a massive 85% surge in Wegovy sales, which hit 17.4 billion Danish kroner. Ozempic also continued to perform, with sales rising 18% to 32.7 billion Danish kroner. Profits also impressed, with net profit climbing 14% to 29 billion Danish kroner, while operating profit increased 22% to 38.8 billion Danish kroner. But despite these promising numbers, Novo trimmed its full-year sales growth and operating profit growth guidance, citing 'lower-than-planned penetration of branded GLP-1 treatments in the US.' The company pointed to the growing presence of U.S. compounding pharmacies, which have been legally producing copycat versions of Wegovy and Ozempic under an FDA-approved exemption for addressing drug shortages. That growing parallel market has begun to chip away at Novo's momentum. On a more promising note, the company completed its REDEFINE 2 trial during the quarter, with its next-generation drug CagriSema delivering an impressive 15.7% weight loss in patients with obesity or overweight conditions and type 2 diabetes. Novo plans to file for its first regulatory approval in early 2026, potentially marking the next significant chapter in its obesity pipeline. Novo Nordisk Slashes Guidance Again and Names New CEO On July 29, Novo Nordisk held a conference call that left investors rattled, as it unveiled major leadership changes and another sharp downgrade to its 2025 financial outlook. The company slashed its full-year sales growth guidance to 8%-14%, down from the previously expected 13%-21%. Operating profit growth was also revised lower, now projected at 10%-16% compared to May's forecast of 16%-24%. The revised outlook sent a strong signal that Novo is bracing for a more challenging year ahead. A big part of the pressure comes from its obesity blockbuster, Wegovy. In its update, Novo pointed to several headwinds weighing on U.S. sales, including the continued rise of compounded GLP-1 knockoffs, slower-than-expected market expansion, and increasing competition. These challenges have clouded the outlook for one of Novo's key growth drivers, sparking concerns about whether the company can maintain its dominance in the rapidly growing weight-loss market. Adding to the uncertainty, Novo also announced a leadership shake-up. Maziar Mike Doustdar, the current EVP of international operations, will take over as CEO on Aug. 7, succeeding Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, whose surprise resignation was announced in May. The transition comes at a pivotal moment, with the company under pressure to protect market share and reignite growth amid shifting dynamics in the obesity drug landscape. What Do Analysts Think About Novo Nordisk Stock? Despite all the swirling uncertainty, there's still a hint of optimism in the air. With Novo Nordisk set to unveil its Q2 earnings on Aug. 6 and a new CEO stepping in shortly after, Wall Street hasn't lost faith, with analysts leaning cautiously bullish, giving the stock a consensus rating of 'Moderate Buy' overall. Of the 19 analysts offering recommendations, seven advise a 'Strong Buy,' nine suggest a 'Hold,' one advocates a 'Moderate Sell,' and the remaining two maintain a 'Strong Sell.' NVO's average analyst price target of $71.75 suggests 47% potential upside from current levels. However, the Street-high target of $112 implies that shares can rally as much as 129.5% from current price levels. On the date of publication, Anushka Mukherji did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Unity CEO breaks down Q2 beat & video game industry
Unity (U) stock falls despite beating second quarter expectations, as guidance came in slightly below forecasts. Unity CEO and president Matt Bromberg joins Asking for a Trend to break down the results but share how the company's new artificial intelligence (AI) ad platform is fueling ad growth. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Asking for a Trend. Matt, great to see you on the show. Let let's start with that earnings report, Matt, because you all did report. I did see the stock finish lower today by about uh 6%. I saw analysts at City, uh Matt cited saying the results beat expectations, but they did say the outlook slightly below consensus on a midpoint basis. But but I'm interested to get your thoughts on the report, Matt. Walk us through the results. What what are you seeing in the business? Yeah, I will thank you for having me. It won't surprise you to hear from me that where the stock moves on any given day is not not much of a concern. I think when with the benefit of time, what folks will do when they look back at the second quarter of 2025, is they'll understand that this was really the inflection point for the unit's turnaround. When investments in fundamental investments in in product development and velocity and relationships with our customers really started to show uh financial performance on our top line. Uh and that's mostly what this quarter was about. We we handily beat both on the top and bottom in Q2 and also guided Q3 really aggressively for renewed growth in our advertising business. So in general, we're feeling really terrific. Matt, in terms of those creation tools that you're offering folks, how much do those tools uh cost, Matt? And how much pricing leverage do you have? Could you could you charge more? Yeah, the the vast majority of the of the folks who use Unity pay nothing because we uh invest very much in the support of our broader community so that people can learn to use Unity, so that they can create freely, uh and they can invest their time and creative energies with us. At the high end, large corporate customers who are operating significant businesses with Unity, um do pay uh substantial sums for unity. And um I so we think we've we've priced the of offering fairly. Um, we did have a price increase um earlier this year and uh it seems to be being tolerated and embraced uh really well by customers. So we think we're in a pretty good place. Um, that's and that's sort of how we feel about it. In terms of the you have this new AI powered ad platform, Matt, called Vector. Can you walk us through that product, what it means for your business and the customers and and how you think it it compares and contrasts with what what what uh the competition offers? Yeah, a year ago when we when we began here at Unity, we were fundamentally uncompetitive in the advertising space. And we immediately realized that we were going to have to invest significantly to build a new neural network uh driven engine to power our ad business forward. And so we set to work immediately and over the last 10 weeks since the launch of Unity vector, what we've seen is that those investments are really starting to pay off. Um the Unity ad network grew 15% in the second quarter, expected to grow um mid-single digits in next quarter. And really from a standing start, we've been delivering uh significantly more value and more return to customers. And we think that there's multiple years of runway available for us in this space. Performance advertisers in our world who are buying installs for their uh for their games will spend effectively infinitely up to their return targets. So as we develop um uh better products, we deliver more return to those customers, they will spend more with us and we're feeling great about that over the long term. Matt, I talked to an analyst today who knows your company in the industry and he brought up a question, want to ping it off you. He said, you know, what what if and he was talking about the Apple Epic fight, right? which has dragged on for a long time, as you know, what if he said those developers that ended up they didn't have to pay Apple and it freed up a whole bunch of money. What could that mean for unity? Could that mean, for example, an uptick and ad spend? How do you answer that question? Listen, I think if you're in a business where overnight that business becomes, you know, more compete a more profitable, call it double digit and a double digit amount. Well, you're typically going to see is those game developers will invest a significant portion of that savings in growth. Uh and when they look to do that, they absolutely will come to us. Um and and and that's one of the most exciting things about um about the environment we find ourselves and the environment is so dynamic. Um and there's so much interest in uh in growth and investment and we feel really well positioned to take advantage of it. Broader question, Matt, you know, we got some data points recently which suggests maybe the economy is is showing some weakness here. If the economy were to wobble, Matt, if, you know, the consumer comes under some more pressure, what would that mean potentially for unity? I think by and large over time, the games uh video game business has proven to be pretty recession resistant. Um especially when you're talking about free to play mobile games and 70% of the top mobile games in the world are built on unity. That's a very, very nice price to value uh equation for consumers. free. So, you know, we feel like we're in a really good spot and you know, I'm hopeful that that won't happen to the economy, but uh, you know, we've been through cycles before and and we tend to weather them just fine. Uh you know, you've worked in the video game industry for for a while. I'm curious to get your just your general thoughts on the industry. You know, you got the new the new switch just came out, Grand Theft Auto, that that's on the way, that's on deck. How generally excited, how enthusiastic are you about the industry right now? What do you see ahead? I'm enormously optimistic about the future of our industry. I I know there's from time to time folks will say that growth is slowing and there have been some some games that haven't haven't released well, there've been some layoffs, but I see this as a period of creative destruction um and dynamism. To your point, I've been in this business for a while. I've seen some hardware cycles and right now we're at the end of a hardware cycle and that always tends to be a point of a little bit slower growth. But as you've seen from the release of the switch 2, which is now the fastest growing uh game console in history, there's a lot of dynamism in this market. And when you make hit games, consumers will buy them. We'll have Grand Theft Auto, the Grand Theft Auto coming out. Um we're going to have innovation in the space, um and there will be some changes, but this space will grow and it'll grow durably for many years to come. Related Videos Opendoor's Q2 beat isn't enough: Here's what's holding them back Applovin, DraftKings, E.l.f. Beauty: After-hours trending stocks Fed's Mary Daly says it's time to cut rates Lyft stock tumbles on Q2 earnings miss 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
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Rivian Stock Plunges After Brutal Q2 Earnings and Weak Outlook
Aug 6 - Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ:RIVN) dipped more than 3% on Wednesday after posting mixed Q2 results that left Wall Street unimpressed. The EV maker reported a loss of $0.97 per share, missing consensus expectations by $0.32, though revenue came in slightly ahead at $1.30 billion versus the expected $1.27 billion, a 12.5% year-over-year increase. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 5 Warning Signs with RIVN. The revenue beat didn't do much to soften the blow of the wider-than-expected loss, as investors responded with a sell-off that pushed shares down to $12.00 during mid-day trading. Adding to the market's hesitation, the company continues to burn cash aggressively, with negative margins and return on equity weighing heavily on investor sentiment. Analyst ratings remain mixed, with a wide price target range from $12 to $18 and a consensus near $14.30. Insider selling by Rivian's CEO and CFO in recent months also added downward pressure, even as institutional ownership remains strong. While Rivian's long-term vision in EVs and autonomous tech continues to attract attention, the company faces mounting challenges balancing growth and profitability in a capital-intensive space. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. 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
