DAILY UPDATE: PBMs, Cable Companies Merge as Stock Markets Rise

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Arkansas just passed a first-if-its-kind law banning vertical integration between pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and pharmacies. Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders on April 16th signed a law prohibiting any company that owns a PBM from also owning or operating pharmacies in the state. The goal of the law is to eliminate “conflicts of interest” that lead to higher drug prices and care delays, according to a press release.

CITE: https://tinyurl.com/2h47urt5

🟢 What’s up

  • Nvidia climbed 0.42% on reports that the US and United Arab Emirates are nearing a deal that would allow the UAE to import 500,000 chips per year. But shares lost some ground after the company denied reports that it will build a new R&D center in Shanghai.
  • Galaxy Digital made its long-awaited debut on the Nasdaq today, with the crypto/data center company climbing 4.06%. The company is reportedly in conversation with the SEC to tokenize its stock.
  • Virgin Galactic rocketed 43.28% higher on the space tourism company’s announcement that it will restart commercial spaceflights.
  • Coinbase climbed 9.01% after Oppenheimer analysts said the market’s reaction to recent news of a hack and an SEC probe were “overblown.”
  • CoreWeave soared 22.09% after Nvidia disclosed a larger stake in the data center provider than expected.
  • Quantum computing stocks popped on news that the company Quantum Computing has finished laying the groundwork for a quantum chip foundry. Shares of Quantum Computing rose 39.29%, while D-Wave Quantum gained 11.06%.
  • Archer Aviation soared 9.11% after being named the Official Air Taxi Provider of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Games, which sounds made up but is apparently very impressive.
  • Vistra Corp popped 3.06% on the news that it has acquired seven natural gas facilities from Lotus Infrastructure Partners for $1.9 billion.

What’s down

  • Novo Nordisk slipped 2.69% on the news that its CEO is stepping down after eight years at the helm, due to the pharma giant’s recent challenges.
  • Applied Materials sank 5.25% after the semiconductor maker’s revenue last quarter came in under analyst estimates.
  • Cava crumbled 2.27% thanks to financial forecasts of slower growth for the salad bowl chain in the coming year.
  • Take-Two Interactive Software lost 2.41% due to weaker-than-expected projections for net bookings this quarter and this year.
  • Doximity plunged 10.08% after the healthcare platform issued fiscal guidance for the current quarter and full year that came in below analyst expectations.

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Two of the biggest cable companies in the United States have agreed to merge, marking a major milestone in consolidation as cord-cutters continue to ditch their pricey TV packages, thus forcing companies to adjust to their dwindling futures. Charter Communications, which operates under the Spectrum branding, is combining with its privately held rival Cox Communications, which it values at $34.5 billion including debt, the two companies announced Friday.

Visualize: How private equity tangled banks in a web of debt, from the Financial Times.

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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: Big Technology Stocks

By Staff Reporters

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After its AI-related earnings disappointed Wall Street last quarter, Big Tech doubled down in the latest period:

  • Amazon spent $22.6 billion on property and equipment like data centers and chips. That’s an 81% spike from the same time last year.
  • Meta raised its low-end guidance for capex (capital expenditures), which could reach $40 billion by the end of the year. It beat earnings estimates, even with AR glasses subsidiary Reality Labs costing $4.4 billion in operating losses.
  • Apple is still betting on Apple Intelligence to boost sales. Most revenue came from the new iPhone 16, Apple Watch, and AirPods, but Apple services like TV+ and iCloud also grew massively to account for a quarter of the business.
  • Google crushed earnings estimates and revealed that more than 25% of all new code it writes is generated by AI (and reviewed by engineers).

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MEDICARE ADVANTAGE PLANS: TV Ads are Deceiving?

By Dr. Keith L. Gurnick, DPM

[Los Angeles, CA via PM Online]

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Paid spokespersons consisting exclusively of older celebrities, including William Shatner, George Forman, Joe Namath, and Jimmie “J.J.” Walker read similar, if not exact, scripts in an attempt to induce the elderly to phone and check their “zip code” to see if they are eligible. I can’t figure out what the zip code has to do with anything, but maybe someone can help me to understand this fish hook?

As of November 2021, 42% of all Medicare eligible patients are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans. Does the viewing public not wonder why there is never any mention at all during these commercials that changing to a Medicare Advantage plan means switching their traditional Medicare over to an HMO, and that most likely they will lose their network of doctors and possibly hospitals as well? 

Why don’t they just tell the truth?

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