stocks, news, data and earnings

Danish pharmaceutical company ALK-Abello fell 19.2% in the morning after the company missed expectations for its first-quarter tablet sales on Monday.

It recorded no growth in Europe and cut its full-year sales forecast.

Meanwhile, fintech Wise fell 14.7% after reporting a 25% rise in total quarterly volume to £26.7bn, but missed expectations.

Shares of the company are down nearly 50% since listing in July 2021.

Shares of Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson fell 4.5% in early trading after the company reported a drop in adjusted operating profit to 4 billion Swedish kronor ($386.77 million) against 4.8 billion crowns in the first quarter.

That was ahead of analysts’ forecast of 3.28 billion crowns, per Refinitiv.

In February, the company said it would lay off 8,500 workers as its margins are squeezed by low-cost competitors around the world, including India.

CEO Börje Ekholm told CNBC it had a “challenging” quarter, with sales impacted by an adjustment to customer inventory, but he had seen growth in new markets for his 5G offering and had a plan. to maintain its leadership in mobile networks.

Pharmaceutical giant GSK has announced that it will buy Canadian-based drug development company Bellus Health Inc, in an all-cash deal worth $2 billion.

Its offer of $14.75 per share is more than double the value of Bellus’ stock closing price on Nasdaq on Monday.

Luke Miels, chief commercial officer of GSK, said Camlipixant, a treatment in development for chronic cough, had “the potential to be a best-in-class treatment with significant sales potential”.

GSK shares were down 0.2% at 8:30 a.m. in London.

—Jenni Reid

Europe’s Stoxx 600 index rose 0.2% shortly after the open, with all sectors posting gains, albeit modest ones.

Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.3%, Germany’s DAX 0.26% and France’s CAC 40 0.23% as investors assess corporate earnings and economic conditions.

Online retailer THG reported a 2.7% increase in revenue to £2.24bn ($2.78bn) and adjusted profit of £64.1m for the full year 2022 .

The company’s gross margin increased from 44.7% to 41.3%.

“While FY2022 Adjusted EBITDA was not what we had anticipated at the start of the year, this is largely the result of our strategy to minimize the impact of inflation. on our customer base,” said CEO Matthew Molding.

“This investment in their longer-term retention and growth has been the main driver of the reduction in gross margin.”

The results come after THG shares surged on Monday after it said it had received a “very preliminary” takeover proposal from Apollo Global Management.

British low-cost airline Easyjet said on Tuesday it expects its full-year profits to beat market forecasts by around £260 million ($322.3 million).

He came in a trading update which showed a pre-tax loss of £133m in the first quarter, compared to a loss of £213m last year. The number of passengers increased by 47%.

CEO Johan Lundgren said the company was enjoying strong summer booking momentum and saw strong demand over the Easter holiday.

European markets are heading for a higher open on Tuesday.

Britain’s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 17 points higher at 7,899, Germany’s DAX 30 points higher at 15,821, France’s CAC 14 points higher at 7,516 and Italy’s FTSE MIB 116 points higher at 27,303. according to IG data.

Earnings come from Easyjet and data releases include Germany’s ZEW Economic Sentiment Survey for April.

—Holly Ellyatt

China’s gross domestic product grew 4.5% in the first quarter of 2023, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.

This was compared with the 4% forecast in a Reuters poll and marks the fastest growth seen since the first quarter of last year. The economy grew 2.9% in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Retail sales jumped 10.6% in March, beating Reuters expectations of 7.4% growth – industrial production rose 3.9% for the month, below forecasts 4% from Reuters.

The Chinese yuan strengthened 0.1% to 6.8712 against the US dollar after the release.

– Jihye Lee

Investments in environmental, social and governance stocks underperformed the broader market in 2022, but strategists at Wall Street bank Citi believe the theme should rebound this year.

The investment bank has identified several ESG stocks set to rebound this year, with at least three stocks poised to show 30% upside potential.

CNBC Pro subscribers can learn more here.

—Ganesh Rao

The e-commerce sector has seen its growth slow after two years of pandemic-fueled growth. But the industry is far from in decline, according to Goldman Sachs.

The bank says e-commerce will benefit from tailwinds for secular growth and forecasts global sales to hit $4.8 trillion by 2026.

Pro subscribers can learn more here.

— Zavier Ong

Despite lingering inflation, higher rates and fears of a looming recession, the earnings season is off to one of its best starts in just over a decade, according to data from Bank of America.

Of the 30 companies that have reported so far, 90% have exceeded earnings per share expectations, marking the best beat rate after the first week since at least 2012, Savita Subramanian wrote in a note on Monday. to customers.

She added that 73% of companies reporting last week exceeded sales expectations, while 67% exceeded both metrics. Results for the first week of the last quarter showed that only 46% of companies beat both EPS and sales, while the historical average stands at just 48%.

“Fueled by bank beats, 1Q EPS tracks a 30 basis point surprise,” the equity and quant strategist said. “We expect a quarter in line, but expect more downside guidance and commentary on changes in cash usage if credit conditions deteriorate.”

Overall, consensus expectations call for a more than 7% decline in first-quarter S&P 500 earnings year-over-year, she noted.

Big bank earnings may have offered some relief, but the market is not yet out of the woods as credit impacts emerge in areas like industrials.

“A massive, systemic financial confidence shock appears to have been averted, but a credit crunch is playing out in the real economy,” she said.

— Samantha Subin