
BMO's Kostas Biliouris: It will be challenging for the FDA to force a market withdrawal for Sarepta

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CNBC
14 minutes ago
- CNBC
Europe's most valuable firm SAP flags U.S. trade slowdown but says Japan deal gives 'hope'
German software giant SAP said Wednesday that U.S. tariff tensions were slowing down its customers' decision-making, but that the Japan trade deal announced Tuesday was cause for cautious optimism. "In some sectors which are most affected by these [policy] decisions, like public sector U.S. and also the very big manufacturing industrial companies with complicated global supply chains, there was the one or other large transaction which has slipped over the turn of the last quarter," SAP Chief Financial Officer Dominik Asam told CNBC's "Europe Early Edition." Deals were not disappearing entirely, but approvals were being passed higher up the chain of command and holding up processes due to uncertainty, he noted. "Now we have to see how quickly we can catch up. That is very much a question of how the overall environment will evolve. I mean, obviously the most recent developments in Japan give us some hope, but too early to speculate on that," Asam said. "The faster the uncertainty abates, the more confidence we have in the outcome for the full year," he added. SAP in March became Europe's biggest listed company, overtaking French luxury group LVMH and Ozempic-maker Novo Nordisk in market capitalization, after pivoting the business firstly toward cloud computing and then toward opportunities in artificial intelligence. SAP now brings in the majority of its revenue from cloud services, and has focused on how AI can tap into its huge set of finance, sales and supply chain data to make efficiencies for businesses. The U.S. is one of its core markets, and investors have been questioning how SAP would be impacted by a potential pullback in spending as the administration of President Donald Trump engages in tense trade disputes and tariff negotiations with much of the world. The status of any framework deal with the European Union remained mired in uncertainty as of Wednesday, but global stock markets were buoyed by the announcement Tuesday of an agreement with Japan setting tariffs on its exports to the U.S. at 15%. SAP reported late on Tuesday a 9% year-on-year revenue rise to 9.03 billion euros ($10.6 billion) in the second quarter, just shy of an LSEG-compiled consensus forecast of 9.08 billion euros. Operating profit was just ahead of estimates at 2.57 billion euros. The company reiterated its full-year 2025 outlook, despite noting that the "prevailing dynamic environment implies elevated levels of uncertainty and reduced visibility." On an analyst call Tuesday, CEO Christian Klein said SAP was seeing "strong momentum" from the recent national security spending push in Europe, which has driven massive gains in defense stocks this year, some of which are SAP customers. Its current cloud backlog, a key metric for the firm, was up 28% on a constant currency basis to 18.05 billion, which analysts at Deutsche Bank said were "strong" in a Wednesday note. "Overall, we see SAP continuing to execute very well in a challenging environment, helped by its strong product offerings, AI roadmap and structural long-term Cloud migration projects. New wins included landmark customers such as Alibaba in Q2," the Deutsche Bank analysts said. However, other reactions were less positive, with analysts at TD Cowen and Piper Sandler trimming their target prices on the stock. One drag on the results came from fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, particularly weakness in the U.S. dollar against the euro, in which SAP reports. The firm forecast a 5 percentage-point drag on cloud revenue growth figures in the third quarter, assuming exchange rates as of June 30. SAP's Frankfurt-listed shares were 3.5% lower in early deals on Wednesday.


Business Insider
2 hours ago
- Business Insider
Why Is Replimune Stock (REPL) Down 75% Today?
Replimune (REPL) stock plummeted on Tuesday after the biotechnology company received a Complete Response Letter (CRL) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA didn't approve the Biologics License Application (BLA) for RP1 in combination with nivolumab as a treatment for advanced melanoma. Advanced melanoma occurs when the cancer spreads beyond the skin, such as to the lymph nodes, distant organs, or bones. Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. Replimune CEO Sushil Patel said, 'We are surprised by this FDA decision and disappointed for advanced melanoma patients who have limited treatment options as highlighted by the granting of breakthrough status at the time we provided the IGNYTE primary data.' Replimune intends to request a Type A meeting with the FDA to seek a timely and accelerated approval of RP1. It expects this meeting to be granted within the next 30 days. Replimune Stock Movement Today Replimune stock was down 76.88% in pre-market trading on Tuesday, following a 1.94% rally yesterday. The company's shares have rallied 1.78% year-to-date and 22.76% over the past 12 months. Today's drop came with heavy trading, as some 10 million shares changed hands, compared to a three-month daily average trading volume of 1.63 million shares. Is Replimune Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold? Turning to Wall Street, the analysts' consensus rating for Replimune is Strong Buy, based on nine Buy ratings over the past three months. With that comes an average REPL stock price target of $22.43, representing a potential 81.99% upside for the shares.


CNBC
2 hours ago
- CNBC
How much investment does Syria need to rebuild?
Billions of dollars in deals are expected to be signed at a Syrian-Saudi Investment Forum in Damascus on Wednesday. Carla Slim, MENA Economist at Standard Chartered, speaks to CNBC's Dan Murphy about the GCC's investments in Syria and lower oil price impact on growth throughout the region.