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Johnson And Johnson Headquarters In Madrid
(Cristina Arias/Getty Images)

J&J beats analyst earnings estimates, offers upbeat guidance

The company doesn’t think the threat of tariffs will shrink its profits in 2025.

J. Edward Moreno

Johnson & Johnson rose in early trading after it reported earnings that beat analysts’ estimates and gave upbeat guidance.

The company reported adjusted earnings per share of $2.77, compared to the $2.58 analysts polled by Factset were expecting. It also reported $21.9 billion in sales, compared to the $21.5 billion analysts were penciling in. J&Js sales growth was driven by oncology and cardiovascular drugs, which made up for a drag in Stelara, its blockbuster immunology drug whose patent expired in 2023.

J&J said it expects full-year EPS to grow by 6.2%, even with pricing in tariffs costs. President Trump has kept the pharmaceutical industry on its toes, consistently threatening to put tariffs on the industry to pressure companies to reshore manufacturing. According to J&J, the company has more manufacturing in the US than in any other country, and it recently announced a multibillion-dollar investment in US manufacturing.

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Netflix has granted Warner Bros. a 7-day waiver to resume deal talks with Paramount to hear out its best and final offer

Warner Bros. Disney will resume talks with Paramount Skydance to hear out its best and final offer after Netflix granted a limited weeklong waiver, according to a statement released Tuesday morning.

The Warner Bros. Discovery board, per the statement, continues to unanimously back the merger with Netflix, while the streamer will retain its rights to match or exceed any forthcoming offer from Paramount. This fresh negotiation period ends on February 23.

Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery rose on the news, up 2.6% as of 7:46 a.m. ET. Netflix shares also gained about 1% following the press release — suggesting that investors think the streaming giant might be overpaying at the originally agreed-upon price, and that losing out to Paramount could be a blessing in disguise.

Warner Bros. Discovery also confirmed that a Paramount representative told the company it would be willing to pay $31 per share “pending engagement” — that would be up about 3% from the current $30-per-share offer and also doesn’t constitute PSKY’s “best and final” proposal, per the representative.

The headline offer price had, up until now, proved a sticking point for both sides of the Paramount/Warner deal, while a clause covering the $2.8 billion breakup fee with Netflix in PSKY’s most recent offer could also prove enticing.

WBD shareholders will vote on the proposed Netflix merger on March 20. Interestingly, though the WBD board continues to “unanimously recommend” taking the Netflix deal, some prediction markets have now swung to place Paramount as the favorite in the acquisition battle.

(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)

Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery rose on the news, up 2.6% as of 7:46 a.m. ET. Netflix shares also gained about 1% following the press release — suggesting that investors think the streaming giant might be overpaying at the originally agreed-upon price, and that losing out to Paramount could be a blessing in disguise.

Warner Bros. Discovery also confirmed that a Paramount representative told the company it would be willing to pay $31 per share “pending engagement” — that would be up about 3% from the current $30-per-share offer and also doesn’t constitute PSKY’s “best and final” proposal, per the representative.

The headline offer price had, up until now, proved a sticking point for both sides of the Paramount/Warner deal, while a clause covering the $2.8 billion breakup fee with Netflix in PSKY’s most recent offer could also prove enticing.

WBD shareholders will vote on the proposed Netflix merger on March 20. Interestingly, though the WBD board continues to “unanimously recommend” taking the Netflix deal, some prediction markets have now swung to place Paramount as the favorite in the acquisition battle.

(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)

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Norwegian Cruise Line jumps after the WSJ reports that activist Elliott has built a more than 10% stake in the company

Norwegian Cruise Line rose as much as ~12% in premarket trading on Tuesday after The Wall Street Journal reported that Elliott Investment Management has built a more than 10% stake in the company and plans to push for a turnaround at the cruise operator.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the Journal detailed that the activist hedge fund aims to engage with the company to “try to help fix its underperformance” and “make changes to catch up to its rivals.” Per the report, Elliott also privately approached Adam Goldstein, the former president and COO of competitor Royal Caribbean — a company that Elliott sees as having been successfully improving its financial performance and guest experience — as a potential board member nominee for the company.

Indeed, NCLH has seen its stock drop more than 20% in the past year, lagging behind rivals like Royal Caribbean, which is projecting strong demand for the full year driven by affluent customer demand.

Last Thursday, Norwegian appointed former Subway CEO John Chidsey as its new chief executive. Shares fell more than 7% on Friday after the late evening news.

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Rani Molla

Amazon just matched its longest losing streak in 20 years

Amazon shares marked their ninth straight day of losses — the company’s longest losing streak since 2006.

The milestone follows a fourth-quarter earnings miss, downbeat guidance, and a plan to spend a whopping $200 billion on capital expenditure this year.

Amazon is hoping that by spending big on AI infrastructure now, it will reap rewards from the technology later. Investors aren’t so sure.

Interestingly enough, the current situation sounds quite similar to the one Amazon was in two decades ago. Back then, Amazon endured a similar stretch as it was upping spending on tech and an online toy store — moves that would eat into its profits.

At the time, an asset manager told Bloomberg, “They want to capture as many eyeballs as they can on the Internet and be the go-to place on the Internet, but thats costing them earnings, at least right now.”

Sound familiar? In case you’re wondering, Amazon stock has risen 14,849% since that quote.

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