Bernie Sanders addressed reporters at an afternoon news conference in Burlington, Vt and many people expected he was going to concede the race to Joe Biden and suspend his campaign. Instead he was defiant and trumpeted his liberal agenda. He said he’s going to attend the scheduled debate on Sunday and said that a strong majority of Democrats support his causes, even though he admitted his path to the nomination is hard to see right now.
He admitted that he’s losing the case of electability, but contradicted himself by ticking off a series of questions starting with the line “Joe, what are you going to do” about climate change, about free health care, etc. There are delusional Democrats and Republicans, but the idea that Bernie Sanders thinks that a great majority of Democrats support his causes but don’t support him just doesn’t make sense.
He and Joe Biden are different on a lot of issues, and really the only thing they have in common is they’re both late 70s white men running for president as Democrats, which lately seems to be everything the Democratic Party is against.
Healthcare Stocks
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (NYSE: BMY) might be a buy
The share price of BMY has seen a decline of 10% since the fourth quarter release of its earnings and is falling along with the rest of the market the last two days, but unlike the rest of the market it keeps finding buyers on the lows. It’s trading well below fair value, maybe 20% below if you use the traditional accounting definition of assets minus liabilities.
The BMY merger with Celgene is now virtually complete, which puts the firm in a stronger position than it was a year ago in terms of revenue and product mix. Celgene has a strong presence in oncology which BMY didn’t. People are forgetting that coronaviruses not the only game in town in pharmaceuticals and health care.
There are risks. For example, a Democratic Congress and Joe Biden as president (or God forbid, Bernie Sanders) or even President Trump coming after pharmaceutical and health care companies to control drug prices. But given the economic shock from the virus, it seems like they might have their hands full long enough for this stock to rally.
If people could spend 5 minutes not thinking about the coronavirus, they might see some opportunities that are being made available by this overdone sell off. But they won’t, so we are doing it for you.
Ever Heard of The Nikola Badger? You May Soon
Nikola Motor Co has gone public after joining publicly traded special purpose acquisition company, VectoIQ Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:VTIQ) in a merger valued at $3.3 billion.
NASDAQ-listed Nikola Corp will focus on next generation smart transportation as it looks to ramp up production ahead of building a new production plant in Coolidge, Arizona and infrastructure for its hydrogen station network.
Nikola Motors is said to be releasing it’s Nikola Badger electric pickup truck in 2022, with an estimated range of 600 miles and a 0-60 time of 2.9 seconds. According to the company, the Badger is engineered to deliver 980 ft. lbs. of torque, 906 peak HP and 455 continuous HP through advanced software blending of batteries and hydrogen fuel-cells.
Plus it’s not a hideous silver triangle of a door-stop-looking thing, like the Tesla truck. It looks like the kind of truck that pickup truck enthusiasts, not tech CEO’s will want to own. It’s designed with a construction site in mind comma and it sure looks like it belongs on a construction site. Well done, fingers crossed that it makes it to market.
Uber’s Forced COVID-19 Saftey Plan
Uber technologies (UBER:NYSE) announced on Wednesday that it may temporarily suspend accounts of riders and drivers who have tested positive for the coronavirus or have been exposed to it, although I’m not sure how they would know the 2nd part.
Just like most large companies, Uber has put out a public plan to help slow or stop the spread of the virus, and it said on Saturday would offer compensation to drivers and delivery people diagnosed with the virus or placed in quarantine for up to 14 days. Last month Uber suspended 240 accounts of users in Mexico who may have recently come in contact with someone potentially infected.
The stock is really getting beaten up along with the broader market, but for better reason than just that. Uber and Lyft could be major transmission mechanisms for the virus, and the public has been reacting by riding less.
Uber has also been providing drivers with disinfectants to keep their cars clean, but if you’ve been in an Uber lately that seems pretty silly. I haven’t seen drivers stopping in between rides and spraying down the door handles or the seats. Picking up Uber stock at these prices won’t be a mistake, but it may be a while before it recovers.
Even Superheroes Can’t Avoid COVID-19
Phase four of the Marvel cinematic universe has run into a small problem, in the form of a novel coronavirus. When the Walt Disney Co (NYSE: DIS) streaming service launched, there was a rush of subscribers which now is said to exceed 30,000,000, most of them looking for the next phase of the Marvel universe. Disney’s stock rallied, but of course has since fallen like everything else.
Regardless of the stock price, fans are still anxiously awaiting the streaming services’ original series, and one of the headliners is The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, which has now shut down production due to the risk of the coronavirus. The series is midway through production and was filming in Prague when the decision was made. The local government had already decided to close schools and take other actions, so Marvel shut down as well.
Right now, it doesn’t seem like the premiere is going to be pushed back, especially since so much filming had been done already. But you could see an oddly shortened first season or a big pause in the middle if things don’t get straightened out soon. That would be a shame, because the first few of these original series, including She-Hulk and Wanda-Vision, are sure to be huge hits will help the stock price recover.