Sabra Health Care Q1 FFO beats consensus; no rent disruption yet

Sabra Health Care REIT (NASDAQ:SBRA) Q1 normalized FFO per share of 45 cents beats the 44-cent Visible Alpha consensus.

To date, the REIT hasn’t seen a material disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic in the monthly payment of rents and hasn’t utilized any deposits or other credit enhancements for payment of rent as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of April 30, SBRA hasn’t granted any rent deferrals or other rent relief related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Its operators have received or expect to receive an aggregate of ~$320M in assistance under various provisions of the CARES Act and other state and federal assistance programs.

Based on data received from its operators, through the last week of April, Senior Housing – Managed occupancy declined 160 basis points from the February average.

Does not expect to make any material acquisitions or other investments in the near term, including the exercise of its option on the remaining 51% interest in the Enlivant joint venture.

Balance sheet has liquidity of $953.1M as of March 31, 2020 with no material debt maturities until 2024.

Conference call on May 7 at 1:00 PM ET.

Previously: Sabra Health Care EPS misses by $0.04, misses on revenue (May 6)

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3570790-sabra-health-care-q1-ffo-beats-consensus-no-rent-disruption-yet

CVS Health Warns of Surge in Non-Coronavirus Health Problems

CVS Health Corp. executives warned Wednesday of an impending surge in medical problems unrelated to coronavirus, as the pharmacy chain’s data suggest Americans are delaying routine health care during the pandemic.
CVS, which owns insurance giant Aetna, says patients in April received fewer new prescriptions, starting fewer new treatments and seeing doctors less frequently, a concern especially for patients who have chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease, which can lead to costly hospitalizations when not treated consistently.
Meantime, store and prescription sales dropped in April following a pandemic-driven surge in business earlier in the year, the company said. Aetna also saw a decline in commercial contracts as businesses dropped insurance coverage for workers to cut costs, laid off workers or closed.
The emerging trends follow a first quarter during which CVS had higher sales as the pandemic prompted consumers to fill more routine prescriptions and to spend more at the pharmacy chain’s stores.
The pandemic has led to dramatic shift in consumer patterns, the company said. Virtual visits to the company’s urgent-care clinic grew sixfold while prescription home delivery grew 10-fold. Online prescription refill requests grew 50%.
“We are seeing a new normal emerge,” CVS CEO Larry Merlo said. “We expect elements of today’s new norm will become part of tomorrow’s everyday routines.”
CVS’s Aetna unit saw a drop-off of around 30% in use of health-care services in April, as much of the health-care system paused elective procedures to brace for coronavirus surges.
But Mr. Merlo said in an interview that the Aetna business has picked up slightly in response to shelter-in-place orders being lifted in certain locations. The company expects “the trough, the low point will be in the second quarter, and we will see some pickup in the second half of the year,” but it is too soon to tell how soon or how much, Mr. Merlo said.
While people weren’t starting new drug therapies for health conditions, Mr. Merlo said it appeared that patients with chronic conditions were keeping up their existing prescriptions.
Prescription volume for the quarter ended March 31 grew more than 8%, as customers rushed to stock up on medications amid the pandemic, either by refilling prescriptions early or switching to 90-day prescriptions. Same-store sales grew 8% and shoppers scooped up health-related items and other goods.
“We’re uniquely positioned to understand consumer and patient needs and how to address them,” Mr. Merlo said in a statement.
CVS reported first-quarter net income of $2 billion, or $1.53 a share, compared with $1.4 billion, or $1.09 a share, in the comparable quarter a year before. Adjusted earnings were $1.91 a share.
Analysts were looking for earnings of $1.22 a share, or $1.62 a share on an adjusted basis.
CVS said its revenue rose 8.3% to $66.8 billion from the same period the year before as revenue grew across all segments. Analysts were targeting $64.1 billion.
Revenue in its retail segment, which fulfills prescription medications and sells a range of merchandise, was $22.7 billion, up 7.7% compared with the year-earlier period. CVS has faced pressure in its retail-pharmacy business but has begun to fare better than rival Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.
Walgreens also generated stronger-than-expected sales during its latest quarter, though the company’s operating income fell 19%, in part because of reimbursement pressure on prescription drugs. Like CVS, Walgreens said sales in April dropped off following a surge in March.
CVS’s health-care benefits business, which includes Aetna, posted revenue of $19.2 billion, an increase of 7.4%. The company last year sold its Medicare Part D prescription business to a WellCare Health Plans Inc., but said it generated more revenue in the quarter from government products.
Revenue grew 4.2%, to $35 billion, in the pharmacy-services segment.
CVS said its expectations for full-year earnings and cash flow remain unchanged while withdrawing guidance for all other metrics due to uncertainty around coronavirus.
CVS shares were up nearly 1% in afternoon trading.

https://www.marketscreener.com/CVS-HEALTH-CORPORATION-12230/news/CVS-Health-Warns-of-Surge-in-Non-Coronavirus-Health-Problems-2nd-Update-30551539/

China’s BGI gets Australian foothold through mass coronavirus test delivery

Australia says its purchase of 10 million coronavirus test kits from Chinese genomics company BGI will not risk patient privacy, as researchers hope for greater price competition in a biotech market dominated by a U.S rival.
The deal was struck even as relations between Australia and China have been strained by Australia’s call for a global enquiry into the coronavirus outbreak, which China has framed as a U.S.-led attempt to blame it for the pandemic.
BGI – Beijing Genomics Institute – has grown into one of the world’s largest genomics companies in the two decades since it worked on the Human Genome Project. It has one lab in Australia and had been seeking to expand its genome sequencing services.
BGI, whose BGI Genomics Co is listed on the Shenzhen stock exchange, was named as having “evident links” to the Chinese government in a U.S. Trade Office report into Chinese technology transfer practices that was used to justify the U.S. imposition of tariffs on Chinese exports.
There are also concerns about its work in China, including providing gene technology used for surveillance of the Uighur ethnic minority in China’s western Xinjiang region.
BGI is also defending multiple patent lawsuits from U.S. firm Illumina Inc, the dominant player in the Australian market.
But unlike the Australian government’s move to effectively exclude Chinese telecom giant Huawei from its 5G network on national security grounds because of its perceived links to Beijing, security agencies have approved the mass use of BGI technology to combat the novel coronavirus.
Australian pathology companies have installed BGI’s nucleic acid extraction machines in 11 laboratories, to process the tests automatically, BGI said in a statement.
A spokesman for Australian health minister Greg Hunt said privacy laws covered pathology tests and patient data, and the use of BGI equipment had been approved by security agencies.
“BGI will have no access to patient information as they will not be operating the labs,” the spokesman said in a statement, with pathology companies required to comply with security agency advice on installing BGI’s technology.
“The extent of BGI’s involvement with existing Australian laboratories will be limited to the installation of COVID-19 pathology testing platforms and training of staff.”
‘COMPLEX COMPANY’
Asked about privacy concerns, BGI Australia Director Bicheng Yang said Australian pathology labs would operate under national guidelines.
“BGI provided technology transfer and the equipment does not collect personal data. The process tests the viral RNA (ribonucleic acid) only, if it is present,” Yang said in a statement to Reuters.
The technology used to test for the coronavirus is different from those used in the diagnosis of other rare diseases, cancer and birth defects in pregnancy, but the scale of the coronavirus programme will boost BGI’s links with Australian laboratories, Australian researchers who work with BGI said.
Marcel Dinger, president of the Australian Genomics Technologies Association and a director of Pryzm Health, a data science company that develops rare disease diagnosis software, said most gene sequencing in Australia was supplied by Illumina.
“They have the lion’s share by a long way in the market when it comes to genome sequencing. BGI have a fairly equivalent technology now … They are really a competitor in the market with real potential to disrupt,” he said.
BGI wants to bring the cost of sequencing a patient’s whole genome down to a few hundred dollars, Dinger said.
“It would make genome sequencing more widely available”.
BGI owns the China National Genebank, containing 11 million human, plant and animal DNA samples.
Australia does not have a national genome database because privacy concerns have stopped its development, Dinger said.
La Trobe University associate professor James Leibold said there were “larger ethical issues” associated with BGI, including data privacy, its use of the world’s largest gene database, and providing gene technology for surveillance of the Uighurs in Xinjiang.
“They are a complex company that operates under a different ethical framework,” Leibold, who is an expert in Uighur studies and is critical of the Australian health agency’s decision to work with BGI, told Reuters.
https://www.marketscreener.com/ILLUMINA-INC-9659/news/Illumina-China-s-BGI-gets-Australian-foothold-through-mass-coronavirus-test-delivery-30547306/

Smith & Nephew April sales halve as elective surgeries take backsea

British medical products maker Smith+Nephew said on Wednesday sales in April nearly halved as more patients delayed elective surgeries, such as hip replacements, due to coronavirus-driven lockdowns.
The company had withdrawn its annual forecast in March due to demand-related uncertainty for its products that include orthopaedic implants and prosthetics.
The company said April sales slumped 47% on an underlying basis, while first-quarter revenue fell 7.6% to $1.13 billion, scraping past analysts average expectation https://www.smith-nephew.com/inves
tor-centre/reporting/analyst-consensus/smith-and-nephew of $1.12 billion. (https://reut.rs/3frFu7e)
The London-listed company said elective procedures had resumed in China, a key growth market, which helped counter a fall in demand.
“The recovery in China is encouraging, as is the restart of elective surgeries in many other countries, and especially within the US,” said Roland Diggelmann, chief executive officer of Smith+Nephew.
The company said its biggest market, the United States, had seen some resurgence of elective surgeries but warned of lingering uncertainty across markets.
Sales from emerging markets fell 17.9% in the quarter.

https://www.marketscreener.com/SMITH-NEPHEW-PLC-9590181/news/Smith-Nephew-Nephew-April-sales-halve-as-elective-surgeries-take-backseat-30546797/

Roche : Actemra studies against COVID-19 could be done this month

Roche could complete studies of its medicine Actemra in COVID-19 patients as early as this month, the head of the Swiss drugmaker’s U.S.-based Genentech unit told a Swiss newspaper, as it seeks to repurpose the rheumatoid arthritis drug.
“We’re testing all over the world and we’ve reached half of the planned 330 patients, perhaps it will be more,” said Alexander Hardy, Genentech’s head, in the interview with the Neue Zuercher Zeitung published on Wednesday.
“We’ll be finished in May or June. Parallel to that, we have 15 control studies worldwide. There are many questions: Does Actemra help reduce the need for ventilators? When should Actemra be administered? And which patient groups?”
Hardy acknowledged success would not solve the pandemic, but said it could help reduce mortality and health problems and take the heat off intensive care units where ventilators in some regions are in high demand and where many COVID-19 patients who eventually need breathing assistance die.
Should the anti-inflammation drug Actemra — beyond arthritis, it is also used for cancer patients to counteract massive, life-threatening immune system reactions called cytokine storms — turn out to help, Hardy said Roche has boosted its production from several hundred thousand doses to more than a million.
“We’re taking a big risk and expect that the studies will be positive,” Hardy told the newspaper. “If that’s not the case, then we’re going to have a surplus.”
In the former case, he sees demand for Actemra for COVID-19 peaking over the next 12-18 months until a vaccine is available.

https://www.marketscreener.com/ROCHE-HOLDING-AG-9364975/news/Roche-Actemra-studies-against-COVID-19-could-be-done-this-month-NZZ-30547185/

NOVO NORDISK Gets a Buy rating from JP Morgan

Richard Vosser from JP Morgan retains his positive opinion on the stock with a Buy rating. The target price is unchanged at DKK 460.
https://www.marketscreener.com/NOVO-NORDISK-A-S-1412980/news/NOVO-NORDISK-Gets-a-Buy-rating-from-JP-Morgan-30547717/

CVS Health Sales Jump as Shoppers Stock Up on Medication

CVS Health Corp. saw higher sales in the most recent quarter as the coronavirus pandemic led people to fill more prescriptions and to spend more at the pharmacy chain’s stores.
Prescription volume grew more than 8% as customers rushed to stock up on medications amid the pandemic, either by refilling prescriptions early or switching to 90-day prescriptions. Same-store sales grew 8% and shoppers scooped up health-related items and other goods.
“We’re uniquely positioned to understand consumer and patient needs and how to address them,” CVS CEO Larry Merlo said in a statement.
CVS reported first-quarter net income of $2 billion, or $1.53 a share, compared with $1.4 billion, or $1.09 a share, in the comparable quarter a year before. Adjusted earnings were $1.91 a share.
Analysts were looking for earnings of $1.22 a share, or $1.62 a share on an adjusted basis.
CVS said its revenue rose 8.3% to $66.8 billion from the same period a year earlier, as revenue grew across all segments. Analysts were targeting $64.1 billion.
Revenue in its retail segment, which fulfills prescription medications and sells a range of merchandise, was $22.7 billion, up 7.7% compared with the year-earlier period. CVS has faced pressure in its retail-pharmacy business but has begun to fare better than rival Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. Walgreens also generated stronger-than-expected sales during its latest quarter, though the company’s operating income fell 19%, in part because of reimbursement pressure on prescription drugs.
The company’s health-care benefits business, which includes Aetna, posted revenue of $19.2 billion, an increase of 7.4%.
Revenue grew 4.2%, to $35 billion in the pharmacy-services segment.

https://www.marketscreener.com/CVS-HEALTH-CORPORATION-12230/news/CVS-Health-Sales-Jump-as-Shoppers-Stock-Up-on-Medication-30549037/