Grifols Analyst Breaks Ranks With Peers After Short Seller Chaos

 An analyst covering Grifols SA, the Spanish blood plasma company plunged into chaos after a recent short-seller report, has broken ranks with peers defending their positive ratings on the stock.

Oddo BHF’s Juan Ros-Padilla acknowledged that while the Jan. 9 report by Gotham City Research LLC, was lacking in new information, it had put the spotlight on Grifols’ “unorthodox way of conducting M&A.”

“Us analysts were somewhat forgiving with this, given its (apparently) undemanding valuation, its purpose of amendment (new CEO, efficiency plan, asset disposals…) and the earnings momentum,” Ros-Padilla told clients in a report published Wednesday.

Ros-Padilla, who last week suspended his outperform rating on Grifols, said he was resuming coverage at underperform, while halving his price target to €9. The stock currently trades at about €8.6, having lost close to 40% of its value since the short-seller report criticizing the company’s accounting and corporate governance. It slid as much as 4% on Wednesday, following Ros-Padilla’s note.

“The market has shown to be far less merciful and the damage, in our view, will take some time to repair,” the analyst wrote.

Grifols has denied any wrongdoing.

Oddo is the first broker to change its bullish stance on Grifols, which still has 18 buy recommendations, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Many analysts have reiterated their positive calls, including Bestinver Securities’ Patricia Cifuentes, Alvaro Lenze at Alantra Equities and Banco Santander SA’s Jaime Escribano.

Oddo’s Ros-Padilla, meanwhile, sees more trouble ahead. Yields on Grifols’ bonds remain high, despite management’s reassurances, he noted, adding that the market is discounting a sustained increase in the cost of debt, alongside a dilutive capital increase or asset sales.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/grifols-analyst-breaks-ranks-peers-104430683.html

Davos Rattled Over Trump; Zelensky Warns Europe Will 'Lose Ukraine'

 As the World Economic Forum (WEF) kicks off in Davos, Switzerland, two people are the talk of the town - Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky - the former of whom just cemented his position as the leader of the Republican party going into the 2024 US election, and Zelensky, who was freaking about about it.

According to the NY Times, "Zelensky used an expletive to describe a Trump claim about containing Vladimir Putin," (without revealing said expletive), and suggested that if the US withdraws support, Europe will 'lose Ukraine.'

At a Q. and A. with journalists that Andrew moderated, Zelensky dismissed the idea that Trump could stop the Russian president from going after other parts of Europe. Putin, he added, “will not stop — but the question is what will the U.S. and Trump do after this point, because in this case it will mean that Europe lost the most useful and most strong army in Europe because we lost Ukraine.”

He also demanded EU troops for Ukraine.

Following his decisive victory in this week's Iowa Caucus, Trump pledged that if he wins the election, he'll solve the war in Ukraine "very quickly" because he knows Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky "very well."

According to the Times, Zelensky initially downplayed worries about Trump, and whether the former US president's re-election would lead to a drop in support for Ukraine. "One man cannot change the whole nation," he said during the Q&A.

Zelensky later acknowledged that a win for Trump could affect his country's military campaign or settlement talks, claiming that "radical voices from the Republican Party" have caused tension and pain for Ukrainians.

More via DealBook:

Zelensky isn’t the only leader at Davos worried about Trump. Multiple attendees have told DealBook that the outcome of the election is a potential risk for business, particularly after the former president thumped his Republican rivals in the Iowa caucuses.

The Ukrainian leader has sought to shore up global business support. He spoke at a private gathering of executives organized by JPMorgan Chase, which is advising Ukraine on its reconstruction efforts.

In the audience at the Congress Center for the talk were Steve Schwarzman of Blackstone, Ray Dalio of Bridgewater, David Rubenstein of Carlyle and Michael Dell of Dell, DealBook hears.

Zelensky also said that US-China tensions are affecting Ukraine, and that bringing Beijing in for postwar reconstruction is important.

He also called on anyone of 'mobilization age' in Ukraine to fight, and for punishing Putin's children and grandchildren.

Well then.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/davos-rattled-over-trump-zelensky-warns-europe-will-lose-ukraine

Watch: The Most Ridiculous 75 Seconds Of Bullshit From Davos Yet On "Ecocide"

 Just when you thought you had heard it all...

This lady (we are presuming she/they is/are a lady) - who looks like she has not missed a meal in her life - explains - with no sense of irony or shame - that farming the land, fishing for food, and worse still 'making money' is now on par with mass murder or genocide.

Jojo Mehta - founder of 'Stop Ecocide Now' - explains in her upper-class English accent to her ultra-rich peers in Davos that:

"We have this cultural, very ingrained habit of not taking damage to nature as seriously as we take damage to people or property."

Her goal is to have "mass damage and destruction of nature" legally recognized as "a serious crime."

"With human rights, mass murder and genocide are serious crimes, but there is no equivalent in the environmental space."

"Unlike an international crime like genocide that involves a specific intent, with ecocide, what we see is that people are trying to do is make money, is farm, is fish... and what's missing is an awareness of the side effects and collateral damage that happens..."

Enjoy...

You literally cannot make this shit up! The socials quickly responded...

"Do as I say, not as I do..."

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/watch-most-ridiculous-75-seconds-bullshit-davos-yet-ecocide

Enlivex OKd for Phase I/II Trial Evaluating Allocetra in Knee Osteoarthritis

 

• Second study of Allocetra in knee osteoarthritis, following the on-going Phase I/II trial in pre-surgery, end-stage osteoarthritis, that is continuing to enroll patients
  

 Enlivex Therapeutics Ltd. (Nasdaq: ENLV, the “Company”), a clinical-stage macrophage reprogramming immunotherapy company, today announced that the Israeli Ministry of Health (IMOH) authorized the initiation of a Company-sponsored multi-country, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled Phase I/II trial to evaluate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of Allocetra™ following injections into the target knee joint of up to 160 moderately to severely symptomatic osteoarthritis patients.

The Phase I/II multi-center trial is composed of two stages. The first stage is a safety run-in, open-label dose escalation phase to characterize the safety and tolerability of Allocetra™ injections to the target knee in order to identify the dose and injection regimen for the randomized stage. The second stage is a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled stage, which the Company expects to initiate following the completion of the safety run-in stage and confirmation by the safety and tolerability independent Data Safety Monitoring Board. On top of evaluating safety, the blinded randomized stage is statistically-powered to assess the efficacy of Allocetra™ injections into the knee. The primary measurements will be comparisons of joint-pain and joint-function compared to placebo at three months, six months and 12 months.

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/01/17/2810641/0/en/Enlivex-Receives-IMOH-Regulatory-Authorization-for-the-Initiation-of-a-Multi-Country-Randomized-Controlled-Phase-I-II-Trial-Evaluating-Allocetra-in-Up-To-160-Patients-with-Moderate.html

'New Biden rule to streamline prior authorization'

 A new Biden administration rule released Wednesday aims to streamline the prior authorization process used by insurers to approve medical procedures and treatments. 

Prior authorization is a common tool used by insurers but much maligned by doctors and patients, who say it’s often used to deny doctor-recommended care. 

Under the final rule from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, health insurers participating in Medicare Advantage, Medicaid or the ObamaCare exchanges will need to respond to expedited prior authorization requests within 72 hours, and standard requests within seven calendar days. 

The rule requires all impacted payers to include a specific reason for denying a prior authorization request. They will also be required to publicly report prior authorization metrics. 

“When a doctor says a patient needs a procedure, it is essential that it happens in a timely manner,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “Too many Americans are left in limbo, waiting for approval from their insurance company. Today the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing strong action that will shorten these wait times by streamlining and better digitizing the approval process.”   

The rule, which could impact millions of people, was released more than a year after it was proposed. It represents the Biden administration’s strongest efforts to force insurers to make changes to one of the most contentious practices in health care.  

A bipartisan majority from both chambers of Congress have been calling on the White House to finalize a regulation that would overhaul prior-authorization requirements within Medicare Advantage. 

Insurers have said prior authorization is a necessary way to control costs and cut down on unnecessary and expensive treatments. But doctors and patients accuse insurers of using the process as an obstacle to necessary patient care, often forcing providers to navigate complex and widely varying paperwork requirements or face long waits for decisions. 

A KFF study found that Medicare Advantage plans issued more than 35 million prior authorization requests in 2021. More than 2 million of these requests were fully or partially denied. 

Traditional Medicare patients are only required to obtain prior authorization for a limited set of services. However, virtually all Medicare Advantage enrollees were enrolled in a plan that required prior authorization for some services in 2022. 

But the new rules don’t apply to veterans who receive their care through the Department of Veterans Affairs or the estimated 153 million Americans covered by private, employer-sponsored plans. 

For some payers, this new time frame for standard requests cuts current decision timeframes in half, HHS said. 

The agency estimated that the requirements would lead to cost-saving efficiencies, saving doctor practices and hospitals more than $15 billion in 10 years. 

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/4413508-biden-rule-health-insurer-prior-authorization/

Fed's Beige Book finds signs of cooling labor market across most of the country

 Consumers also pushing back on higher prices

There were signs that the labor market was cooling in nearly all regions of the country, according to a Federal Reserve survey released Wednesday.

The survey, known as the Beige Book, is a collection of anecdotes from business contacts collected before Jan. 8.

The contacts spoke of larger applicant pools, lower turnover rates, more selective hiring by firms and easing wage pressures.

Cooling wages in particular would help keep inflation on a downward path.

Fed officials will meet at the end of the month to plot interest-rate policy. They use the Beige Book to get a sense of conditions on the ground.

The business contacts seemed optimistic about future growth. Expectations were positive, had improved, or both, the survey found.

There were also many reports that consumers' "price sensitivity" was forcing retailers to narrow their profit margins and put pressure on their own suppliers to keep prices contained.

Stocks DJIA SPX were down sharply in afternoon trading, while the yield on the 10-year Treasury note BX:TMUBMUSD10Y rose to 4.11%.

https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/20240117330/feds-beige-book-finds-signs-of-cooling-labor-market-across-most-of-the-country

Twist upped to Buy from Neutral by Goldman

 Target to $45 from $25

https://finviz.com/quote.ashx?t=TWST&p=d