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Thursday, February 6, 2025

Illumina forecasts 2025 revenue largely below estimates

 Gene sequencing machine maker Illumina forecast 2025 revenue largely below Wall Street estimates on Thursday, signaling subdued demand for its genetic tests and diagnostic tools, sending shares down nearly 4% in extended trading.

Diagnostic tool makers such as Illumina have witnessed reduced spending from biotech clients in the past two years, but recent interest rate cuts could improve the funding environment for biotechs as borrowing costs might ease.

The company forecast annual revenue of $4.28 billion to $4.4 billion for 2025, the midpoint of which is below analysts' average estimate of $4.39 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Illumina said its forecast does not attempt to reflect any impact from the recent China Ministry of Commerce announcement.

Earlier this week, China, which accounts for about 7% of Illumina's sales, placed the company on its "unreliable entity" list.

Companies added to the blacklist can be subject to fines and other sanctions, including a freeze on trade and a revocation of work permits for foreign staff.

Illumina had said it is "assessing the announcement with the goal of finding a positive resolution."

The San Diego, California-based company's revenue was $1.10 billion in the fourth quarter, above analysts' estimate of $1.08 billion.

On an adjusted basis, it earned 95 cents per share during the quarter ended December 29, while analysts, on average, expected 91 cents per share.


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/illumina-forecasts-2025-revenue-largely-214208643.html

Why Mass Deportations Are Necessary And How To Keep Illegals From Coming Back

 By Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us

For months before and after Donald Trump’s election win there was an army of naysayers crawling the internet claiming that he would “never follow through” on his promises and that deportations “were not going to happen”. Most of these people were leftists trying to sow the seeds of doubt. At least some claimed to be conservatives and were perhaps disenchanted with the inaction of Donald Trump’s first term in office. I know I was not expecting much back then.

In 2017 Trump’s cabinet confirmations took a decidedly swampy turn and his administration was overrun with Neo-Cons and banking elites. I criticized this outcome harshly at the time. However, I was willing to acknowledge a reasonable explanation – That Trump was being misled by advisers with ulterior motives. After all, every president has around 4000 positions to fill in their administration and most of them will defer that duty to their advisers.

Trump would go on to admit in multiple interviews that he had trusted his inner circle too much and made mistakes in choosing his cabinet. They had sabotaged his efforts.

His second term is so far a 180 degree flip from his first, and Trump’s shift in focus is evident. Like most liberty movement conservatives I’ll reserve judgment.  Trump’s presidency will likely be the most scrutinized in recent history, not only by his political opponents but by those who supported him.  We’ll be scrutinizing everything he does with primary attention on his policy efforts. “Will he take action?” is the question everyone is asking.

The answer has been a resounding “yes”. The illegal immigration issue is of course one of the most pressing crises of our era and I would consider Trump fulfilling his promise to counter the threat a bare minimum. He has to, or he loses his entire base of support and the country falls apart at the same time. Trump’s swift move to execute mass deportations is redeeming.

For decades conservatives and right leaning independents have been disillusioned with the Republican Party because of their incessant inaction. When leftists take power in government they waste no time exploiting every advantage – The only thing that stops them from total dominance is patriot culture and the fact that 50 million+ Americans are heavily armed. When the GOP takes power they change very little.

One factor that truly sets the Trump Administration apart from all other modern Republican Presidencies is the acknowledgment of the culture war. The leftists have been waging this war for at least 50 years and GOP leaders have mostly dismissed it as trivial compared to politics. It’s the reason why we came within a razor’s edge of total moral relativism and degeneracy under the Biden Administration. The left has been normalizing the hatred of basic American principles for generations.

Part of that effort has been the introduction of open borders ideology and mass illegal immigration. I consider this a kind of “final stage” of the leftist/globalist agenda – If you can demonize western culture to the point of self hatred, then people won’t care when you saturate the west with third-world migrants and put the final nail in the coffin.

Illegal aliens don’t want to assimilate, they want to pillage and if possible to conquer.  This is why you see hundreds of Mexican flags flying at every migrant protest march; they have no interest in becoming American, they only want access to American wealth.  They look at the US citizenry as rubes and easy targets for plunder.

There is also the danger of cultural replacement.  Many migrants from Latin American identify with the Marxist “La Raza” ideology, which asserts that America is “stolen land” that they have an ethnic claim to.  The globalists know this and use mass migration as a weapon, opening the gates and making it easy for the invasion to happen.  As we have seen in Europe and the UK, migrant hordes are like a mercenary army perfect for oppressing native citizens and preventing future rebellion against multicultural erasure.

The core of this process is to incentivize migrants with subsidies and jobs. And this lead me to the greater dilemma of the border crisis – Locking down the border is not so hard, but getting rid of the tens-of-millions of illegals that are already in the country is much more difficult.  Making sure they don’t come back is also a conundrum.

As we’ve seen in the first weeks of Trump’s presidency, establishment Democrats are intent on interfering with deportations in any way they can (all the future power of leftists requires forced immigration to the US from socialist leaning countries). By extension, leftist activists will seek to disrupt deportation efforts using civil unrest (when the weather warms up these goblins will come out in droves, bank on it).

On top of the internal sabotage, there are many foreign governments that will desperately try to obstruct the return of so many unwanted citizens. Keep in mind that the US is seen by these governments as a dumping ground for their refuse. America is a steam valve to release the pressure so that these countries can get rid of their criminals, revolutionaries and those in poverty.

Mexico, Columbia, Haiti and others continue to argue that they can’t take their own people back because it would lead to “societal catastrophe”. Why? Because these governments have been knowingly sweeping their problem children under the rug for years, and America is the rug.

At the current rate of deportations (around 1500 per day) we are looking at around 500,000 per year. At least 10 million illegals are projected to have entered the US under Biden’s watch, and that’s not counting the millions that were in the US previously. Estimates indicate that 16 million to 20 million illegals are living in America today. To expedite matters, illegals will have to be convinced to self deport.

There is evidence that this is happening to some extent. Border stations have seen an uptick in outgoing traffic into Mexico and border encounters have slowed (Texas has played a big part in the border slowdown with their Operation Lone Star). But how could the US pressure a majority of aliens to self deport and never come back?

Here are a few surefire methods…

Increased Penalties For Businesses That Hire Illegals

This is common sense, but a large part of mass immigration depends on access to the US jobs market. Our government has been turning a blind eye to low-wage migrant labor for a long time and usually, if caught, businesses will only be fined a few hundred dollars for each migrant they employ. The savings on wages make it worth the risk.

Federal fines should be increased greatly, changing the cost benefit ratio and making it less enticing for companies to gamble on illegal migrant labor. If companies stop hiring migrants then most aliens will leave the US overnight.

If an industry desperately needs foreign labor then they can hire people with work visas. The process could be streamlined for certain jobs, but there has to be PROOF that these industries cannot find American workers to fill those positions. Furthermore, migrants should not be allowed to work in the US for greatly reduced wages (this drives down wages for Americans). Companies should be required to pay the same wage they would normally pay an American citizen of equivalent skill and experience.

Permanently Cut All Government Welfare Subsidies For Asylum Seekers

A general cancellation of amnesty and “catch and release” policies might make this action a moot point, but under the Biden Administration most migrants had access to a list of welfare subsidies. These subsidies and various migrant programs are projected to cost American taxpayers over $150 billion dollars per year. This isn’t counting state and city expenditures on illegals (New York City alone spent over $5 billion on migrants in 2024).

Housing programs under HUD do not distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants and often migrants will receive preferential treatment by landlords because of guaranteed government payouts and tax incentives. This has helped to exacerbate the housing crisis in the US, driving up rent prices to extreme levels.

Shut Down NGOs Engaged In Supporting Illegal Immigration

The shut down of the USAID department is a good start in the battle against rogue NGOs, but there’s a lot more to be done.  Globalist NGOs are the worst perpetrators behind mass immigration movements and many use religious organizations as a front (the female Bishop who famously woke-lectured Trump at a church service held after his inauguration is coincidentally a recipient of NGO cash in exchange for helping illegal immigrants into the US).

These groups are very difficult to legally obstruct or punish for such actions. One thing Trump can do is take away the 501C3 tax exemption status of NGOs involved in encouraging mass immigration to the US; these efforts are entirely political in nature, which negates tax exemption. NGOs are also subject to lawsuits.

Ultimately the NGO problem needs to be addressed on a larger scale and as a country we need to examine the harm some of these organizations are doing. In many cases international NGO operations spend millions in foreign countries to entice migrants to cross the border, but they also run numerous programs to support migrants that are already in the US, mostly through litigation and interference with deportations.  Getting rid of them would go a long way in keeping illegals out of the country.

Cut Off Federal Funding To Sanctuary Cities

Trump has already threatened this response in light of Democrat resistance to deportations, but action may need to be taken sooner rather than later. The problem is that city governments often use federal dollars as a slush fund to fill the coffers of their migrant programs. Most cities do not have the funds to subsidize migrants on their own for very long, not without making extensive cuts to other parts of their budget.

Democrats claim cutting federal funding to sanctuary cities violates the underlying principle of the Tenth Amendment, which protects states and localities from federal overreach. This is a disingenuous argument – Cities are not entitled under the 10th Amendment to federal funds without restrictions or requirements. The Spending Clause, Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution has been widely recognized as providing the federal government with the legal authority to offer federal grant funds to states and localities that are contingent on the recipients engaging in, or refraining from, certain activities.

There are legal restriction on the federal government as well in terms of how they refuse funds, but generally speaking cities and states cannot use federal funds to support people breaking federal law. The Constitution also specifically gives the federal government broad powers over border enforcement. Cities and states are not allowed to harbor foreign threats in the US in violation of border law. Without federal funds cash will dry up quickly in sanctuary cities and migrants will leave on their own.

Use “Griefing” Deportations For Repeat Offenders

There’s an endless supply of migrants boasting on social media this past week that even if they are deported they will simply pop right back across the border with little effort.  Since border encounters have plummeted significantly, these claims might just be bluster.  That said, what should the US do about repeat offenders?

Putting them in jail for months or years would cost taxpayers more money than deportations would.  We could take away their future ability to gain citizenship, but this assumes that they care.  My suggestion?  What if we use a different method – what the kids call “griefing”.

In other words, we make the lives of repeat offenders as difficult as possible.  For example, why does border patrol keep transporting migrants to cities directly across the national line where they can easily come right back?  If a repeat illegal is captured, why not put them on a plane and drop them off as far away from the border as possible (Mexico is 3000 miles long) and let them figure out how to get home?  There’s also the option of slowing down their processing for weeks, making them wait in lockup instead of sending them back quickly.  Do this for a year and watch the the number of returning illegals drop to zero.

The Economic Time Table

In order to have a dramatic effect on price inflation in the US many millions of migrants will have to be removed in a short period of time. To save the housing market and cut product costs, demand has to be diminished and the fastest way to do that is boot out the people that shouldn’t be here. Deportations through ICE are a good start, but they are slow. Even with the expansion of agents and enforcement the only way to achieve visible results is to make self-deportation an imperative for illegals.

Most migrants will have to leave on their own. It saves the taxpayer a lot of money in deportation costs, it saves time on arrests and makes it easier for everyone to get on with the process of making America better for Americans.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/why-mass-deportations-are-necessary-and-how-keep-illegals-coming-back

10 Days That Shook The World

 by Jeffrey A. Tucker via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

In 1917, American journalist Jack Reed, a naive but talented communist ideologue with a blue-blood education, was in Russia to watch and cheer on a revolution. He was there in October when the provisional government of Alexander Kerensky held power—Czar Nicholas II had been overthrown—but refused to pull the nation out of the murderous Great War or otherwise reform.

Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th President of the United States by Chief Justice John Roberts as Melania Trump holds the Bible in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025. Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AFP via Getty Images

The government was thus overthrown again, this time by the Bolsheviks who ruled for 70 years thereafter. Reed chronicled the moment in his famous book “Ten Days that Shook the World.” It set forth the narrative of these days for a century. It was a major reason why that generation of literate Americans, lacking access to other information sources, considered Vladimir Lenin to be a hero. Reed, by the way, later died and was buried in the Kremlin.

That book and the events it valorized has now been superseded by another 10 days that have shaken the world. Donald Trump took the oath of office to become U.S. President on Jan. 20, 2025, following a sweeping and decisive victory that the entire establishment fought ferociously.

I’m typing this 10 days later. It is clear to me and many others that nothing will ever be the same, not in the United States and not anywhere in the world that is watching the exciting events unfold. It’s nothing like we’ve ever seen, and far beyond anything we had expected or even been promised.

Whereas Reed’s Ten Days were about the building of the Leviathan state, our own 10 days is about tearing it down and restoring freedom. Already what has been uncovered and stopped is for the ages, to the point that as I write the United States has plugged scandalous spending leakage at a rate of $4 billion per day, thanks to the work of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency.

That appears just to be the beginning. Agencies and funding sources are being shut down by the day and hour. The whole spending machine was shut down for a few days before a federal judge intervened. Even that did not stop the push to shut down the spigots: it took a second judge to intervene and finally restart it all. Even then, it was just the beginning.

What is popularly known as the “deep state” has never faced such disruption.

Hardly a minute goes by when we do not get news of various outrages operating at all agencies of government, spending that gives new meaning to the word decadence. It’s all been happening for many years, even decades, even as the American middle class has been hollowed out, real incomes have declined, and economic opportunities for average people have thinned out to create culture-wide despair and ill-health.

The excitement began minutes after inauguration when the team of Elon Musk, tasked by Trump to figure out what is going on with this empire of lies, unfurled a plan that had long been in the works but never announced. They installed sofa beds on the 5th floor of the Office of Personnel Management and tossed out the chief of staff. The plan was to work 24/7 to get the job done, never leaving the offices. Yes, in Godfather parlance, they literally “went to the mattresses.”

They gained access to the computer system and sent a memo to 2.3 million federal government employees. It invited all of them to resign immediately and get 8 months of severance. They only needed to hit reply and type “resign.” The expectation going into this was that 10 percent would flee but it could be more. We are still waiting for the numbers.

All the while, the Trump administration was issuing executive orders, more than 300 in these magical 10 days. They froze regulations. They froze spending. They issued a universal fatwa against all DEI policies and abolished “affirmative action”—all while heralding the single principle of non-discrimination. They proclaimed that no government agency may ever again tell private media and social media accounts how to operate, either directly or indirectly through third-party cutouts. They banned the absurdities of the transgender movement and made adolescent mutilation illegal.

The orders were so sensible that they generated almost no resistance other than predictable sputtering. There were of course muttering that Trump was behaving like an authoritarian. If so, it is an odd form of authoritarianism that uses power to take power away from government and give it back to the people. The driving motivation of all these efforts was to reboot the promise of 2016 to drain the swamp. This time they were serious.

Following the takeover of the Office of Personnel Management, the truly great challenge was to get to the source of the largess, the spigot spilling so much money that it was creating $1 trillion in debt every 100 days. This has gotten worse decade after decade. It is the determination of DOGE to get to the bottom of it.

The team—which converted itself quickly into an official government office to evade that obvious criticism—headed to the U.S. Treasury and announced an audit of the entire government. In order to conduct that, they would need the logins to the system. The auditors had already figured out that the whole government was operating on autopay, with billions flowing to enemy regimes and rackets of all sorts. Shutting that down had to be priority number one.

What they found was an acting head of the U.S. Treasury named David A. Lebryk, who turns out to be the highest-ranking person in the civil service. Lebryk had been promoted to that position on January 20, but his former boss was the deputy head of Treasury, a Nigerian émigré named Wally Adeyemo, who had at one time been head of the Obama Foundation. His resignation put Lebryk in the driver’s seat of the world’s biggest outgoing payroll system.

That’s right, you cannot make this stuff up!

Lebryk absolutely refused to turn over the passwordsAfter what was said to be a shouting match, he resigned on the spot. Then Elon’s crew took control of the passwords to the system that was sending out $6 trillion on autopay.

This action generated panicked headlines in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal that the Trump administration has gotten hold of the control center of government spending, strongly suggesting that nothing like this has ever happened. For reasons that are unclear, regime media seemed shocked and alarmed that the Trump administration had broken into the sanctum sanctorum.

When regular people think about this, they start asking serious questions. Why is it not a normal thing for the new administration to be in control of the spending systems? Why is this such a shocking thing to have happened? Isn’t auditing the books just what any new president would do?

Most likely, it is shocking simply because it has never happened. For all the world, this looks to be a situation in which we are witnessing the very first actual transition of power in our lifetimes.

There will be more court challenges, claims, and counterclaims, but mainly we can look forward to an information flood of finding out precisely how our tax dollars have been used these many years if not for decades. This is in many ways the ultimate nightmare of any entrenched bureaucracy that has been unburdened by accountability for a very long time.

Change is now here, and it appears that the Trump administration is not letting up. All the while, Trump’s cabinet picks were facing a brutal grilling from Senators. This time, however, we have the means to discover the hand in the glove. We have tools like Open the Books, Open Secrets, and others, to reveal precisely what industrial interests are behind these politicians. It appears as of this writing that public pressure is going to push all of Trump’s picks through.

No one can say for sure how this story ends but we are getting an intuition. The Trump administration, barring some unforeseen disaster, is well positioned to go down in history as the regime that saved the country from secret and systematic pillaging that has been going on without check for probably all living memory.

Is that an exaggeration? Sadly, it does not appear to be so based on what we are learning by the hour. These are the new Ten Days that Shook the World. The first time around, history was set on a path toward the disaster of communism and totalitarianism. This time, the revolution is being reversed—the people are really taking charge from an elite class that has enjoyed unchecked rule in the Western world for all of living memory.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/10-days-shook-world

Amazon Reverses 7% After Hours Plunge Despite Cloud Miss, Ugly Guidance

 Ahead of Amazon's earnings, UBS said that the online retailer is the "cleanest Mag7 name to own", although in retrospect it may also be the cleanest Ma7 name to sell, which is what is taking place after hours when the stock tumbled after it missed on Q4 cloud revenue and also guided well below estimates.

First, here is a big picture of what the company reported for the just concluded 4th quarter:

  • EPS $1.86 vs. $1.43 q/q, beating estimates of $1.50
  • Net sales $187.79 billion, +10% y/y, beating estimates of $187.32 billion
    • Online stores net sales $75.56 billion, +7.1% y/y, beating estimates of $74.71 billion
    • Physical Stores net sales $5.58 billion, +8.3% y/y, beating estimates of $5.4 billion
    • Subscription Services net sales $11.51 billion, +9.7% y/y, missing estimates of $11.58 billion
      • Subscription services net sales excluding F/X +10% vs. +13% y/y, estimate +10.3%
    • North America net sales $115.59 billion, +9.5% y/y, beating estimates of $114.27 billion
    • International net sales $43.42 billion, +7.9% y/y, beating estimates of $44.13 billion
    • Third-Party Seller Services net sales $47.49 billion, +9% y/y, missing estimates of $48.02 billion
      • Third-party seller services net sales excluding F/X +9% vs. +19% y/y, estimate +10.2%

So far so good (with some exceptions). But what caught the market's attention first was Amazon's AWS revenue, which came in just below estimates:

  • AWS net sales $28.79 billion, +19% y/y, estimate $28.82 billion
  • Amazon Web Services net sales excluding F/X +19% vs. +13% y/y, estimate +19%

Turning to operating results, here the results were uniformly solid:

  • AWS operating profit 36.9%, down from 38.1% but beating estimates of 34.7%
  • Operating income $21.20 billion, +61% y/y, beating estimate $18.84 billion
  • Operating margin 11.3% vs. 7.8% y/y, beating estimate 10.1%
  • North America operating margin +8% vs. +6.1% y/y, beating estimate +6.48%
  • International operating margin 3% vs. -1% y/y, missing estimate 3.08%

As for fulfillment expenses, these came in slightly below estimates, while the seller unit mix was slightly higher than expected:

  • Fulfillment expense $27.96 billion, +7.2% y/y, estimate $28.45 billion
  • Seller unit mix 62% vs. 61% y/y, estimate 60.2%

Of the above, the most notable highlight - as per our preview - was AWS which grew revenue by 19% for a second consecutive quarter to $28.79BN, which however was just below the sellside estimate of $28.82BN. So maybe a little weakness here similar to Microsoft.

Still, if revenue growth for AWS was a bit light, the 36.9% margin likely offset it, beating estimates of 34.7%, but below last quarter's print of 38.1%. Elsewhere, North American profit rose to $25 billion, resulting in a profit of 6.44%, the highest since at least 2015 (although one wonders how much higher this number can rise). Meanwhile, international margins dipped to 3.03% from 3.63%.

As a result of the jump in North American profits, Amazon's consolidated operating margin rebounded strongly, and after dipping modestly in Q2 from the previous record, rose to a new all time high of 11.3% in Q4.

However, while the above data was mixed to modestly solid, it was the company's guidance that led to an after hours drop in the stock; that's because the company projected profit and revenue in the current quarter both of which came in below Wall Street expectations:

  • Sees net sales $151.0 billion to $155.5 billion, below the estimate of $158.64 billion 
  • Sees operating income $14.0 billion to $18.0 billion, below the estimate $18.24 billion

If accurate, that would mean Q4 revenue will grow at the slowest pace since the global financial crisis.

And while any other day the cloud miss and ugly guidance would have been enough to send the stock tumbling - as it did for a bit, sliding as much as 7% after hours, the unprecedented retail BTFD kneejerk reaction has taken the stock after hours and remarkable pushed it back flat on the session as the market plumbs new levels of stupidity.

Why Huntington Ingalls Is Sinking

 Military shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls (NYSE: HII) missed quarterly expectations, and its issues are likely to continue into the new year.

Shares of Huntington Ingalls traded down 17% as of 11:15 a.m. ET, as investors see little reason to get excited about the stock right now.

It's tough to turn a battleship

Huntington Ingalls is one of two major shipbuilders for the military, and its massive Newport News, Virginia, shipyard is responsible for producing the nation's aircraft carriers and other important vessels. But these ships are complex, and issues related to supply chain disruptions and higher-than-expected costs at Newport News weighed down quarterly results.

The defense contractor earned $3.15 per share in the quarter on sales of $3 billion, falling short of Wall Street's $3.38 per share on $3.06 billion expectations. Newport News posted a 2.4% margin and a 4.6% year-over-year sales increase, well below the 6.3% margin on declining sales posted by Huntington's Gulf Coast operation.

Part of the issue is the extended timetable from award to completion. Huntington Ingalls won a lot of the business it is now working to complete prior to the pandemic-related supply chain and labor issues. Deals that made economic sense at the time are now struggling to be completed profitability.

"We continue to make progress on ships put under contract pre-COVID, and are working diligently with our customers to put over $50 billion of new work under contract," CEO Chris Kastner said in a statement. "We enter 2025 focused on our mission to deliver the world's most powerful ships and all-domain solutions in service of the nation."

Is Huntington Ingalls stock a buy?

Eventually the pre-pandemic work will be done, but even then, it will not be clear sailing for Huntington Ingalls. With the U.S. military being judicious with ship purchases, Huntington will struggle to retain trained workers, which adds to the cost each time a new ship is commissioned.

Huntington, unlike most defense contractors, is overly reliant on only one branch of the military. The U.S. government needs Huntington's capabilities, and there should be a stream of new business up ahead. But for investors seeking sustained and predictable returns, there are better options among defense stocks.


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-huntington-ingalls-sinking-today-170910179.html

Amazon stock falls after first quarter sales, profit outlook disappoints

 Amazon (AMZN) reported its fourth quarter results after the bell on Thursday, beating on the top and bottom line, but provided worse than anticipated Q1 guidance. Shares of Amazon fell on the news.

Amazon's earnings come after cloud rivals Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOGGOOGL) missed on expectations for cloud sales in the quarter. Microsoft posted revenue of $40 billion, with Wall Street anticipating $41.1 billion, and Google reported sales of $11.9 billion. Analysts were looking for $12.1 billion.


Both companies blamed their cloud misfires on a lack of capacity to meet demand for AI services.

Amazon is the world's largest cloud provider and, like Microsoft and Google, is furiously investing in building out its AI infrastructure capabilities to meet demand. In Q3, CEO Andy Jassy told shareholders the company planned to spend $75 billion on capital expenditures in 2024, and even more in 2025.

For Q4, Amazon posted earnings per share of $1.86 on revenue of 187.7 billion. Analysts were anticipating EPS of $1.50 on revenue of $187.3 billion. The company saw EPS of $1.00 and revenue of $169.9 billion in the same period last year. AWS revenue came in at $28.7 billion, just shy of expectations of $28.8 billion.

Amazon's guidance for Q1, meanwhile, was well short of the midpoint of Wall Street's outlook. The company says it will see Q1 revenue of between $151 billion and $155 billion. Analysts were anticipating $158 billion.


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-stock-falls-after-first-quarter-sales-profit-outlook-disappoints-192245030.html

Bausch Health Provides Update on Strategic Alternatives

 Bausch Health Companies Inc. (NYSE:BHC)(TSX:BHC) (the "Company" or "Bausch Health"), a global, diversified pharmaceutical company enriching lives through a relentless drive to deliver better health outcomes, issued the following update on a potential sale of its subsidiary, Bausch + Lomb Corporation (NYSE:BLCO)(TSX:BLCO), which was disclosed in December 2024 following a regulatory request:

"In the second half of 2024, Bausch Health engaged with its financial advisors to work on various liability management alternatives. At the same time, Bausch + Lomb was approached by a private equity firm with an indication of interest for a potential sale of Bausch + Lomb at a compelling valuation. In light of Bausch Health's desire to complete the full separation of Bausch + Lomb, the Bausch Health and Bausch + Lomb management teams and their boards considered a sale transaction. However, the process did not lead to an offer that reflected Bausch + Lomb's long-term value and the boards determined not to move forward with a sale. The process will not result in a transaction at this time. Bausch Health will continue to own its 88% interest in Bausch + Lomb.

Bausch Health, along with its financial and legal advisors, will continue its efforts to work on various liability management alternatives, including raising new debt financing.

Our priority is to continue to improve the performance of our businesses, which have been performing well in 2024 as evidenced by the raise of our full-year guidance for revenue, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted operating cash flow communicated in our last earnings release issued on October 30, 2024. Bausch Health looks forward to reporting fourth quarter and full year 2024 earnings as well as providing guidance for the 2025 fiscal year after market close on February 19, 2025."

https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/healthcare-and-pharmaceutical/bausch-health-provides-update-on-strategic-alternatives-980596