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Lilly reports positive final trial results for weight-loss pill, says it’s headed for regulatory approval

Eli Lilly reported encouraging trial results for its next-generation weight-loss pill, putting it on track to file for regulatory approval by the end of the year.

The pill, orforglipron, resulted in up to 10.5% weight loss in overweight or obese patients with diabetes in a late-stage trial, Lilly said Tuesday. The company shot up more than 4% on Tuesday.

“With these positive data in hand, we are moving with urgency toward global regulatory submissions to potentially meet the needs of patients who are waiting,” Kenneth Custer, Lilly’s head of cardiometabolic health, said in a statement. “If approved, we are ready to offer a convenient, once-daily pill that can be scaled globally — removing barriers and redefining how obesity is treated around the world.”

The company reported similar results in a late-stage trial less than three weeks ago. That trial disappointed Wall Street, which was hoping for higher weight-loss numbers from the once-daily pill. That news overshadowed a cheery earnings report, which showed its weight loss drugs outsold Novo's for the first quarter ever.

Even with Tuesday's gains, the stock is down over 10% in the past month.

Analysts at Bank of American reiterated their "buy" rating and $900 price target on Lilly after the announcement, saying its still ahead of the game when it comes to finding the next weight loss drug. "To us, LLY undisputedly remains in pole position in obesity," they wrote on Tuesday.

While Lilly's pill may not help patients lose more weight than the injectables currently on the market, there are a still some major upsides:

  1. Pills are less scary than needles, so naturally more people will likely be pulled in.

  2. Pills are cheaper to manufacture than injector pens. This is particularly important as both Novo and Lilly struggle to get insurance providers to cover their drugs and build direct-to-consumer models.

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Broadcom jumps after locking down Google as a customer for future generations of TPUs

Shares of Broadcom rose more than 3% in postmarket trading on Monday after its most important customer doubled down on the custom chip specialist’s ability to produce its most valuable commodity.

In a filing, Broadcom said that it entered into a long-term agreement with Google to supply future generations of TPUs (custom AI accelerator chips) as well as a supply assurance agreement for networking and other equipment “through up to 2031.”

Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon indicated that Broadcom’s investor relations team told him that Google’s long-term agreement “has revenue commitments that go along with it through the timeline.”

Gemini 3 launched to rave reviews in November. The model was trained on TPUs co-developed by Broadcom and Google.

The same Monday filing showed that Broadcom, Google, and Anthropic expanded a partnership that will see the Claude developer access 3.5 gigawatts of AI compute capacity beginning in 2027, powered by the TPUs co-designed by the custom chip specialist and the search giant.

Bernstein’s Rasgon added that Broadcom’s team suggested these 3.5 gigawatts are “only part of a larger partnership over time.” He thinks Broadcom’s fiscal year 2027 guidance for AI revenues of $100 billion “is looking increasingly light” thanks to this news.

For what it’s worth, the enhanced pact with Anthropic hinges upon the firm’s ability to afford AI compute. But based on the insane trajectory of its run-rate revenue that may not be a big hurdle to clear.

“Broadcom’s expanded agreements with Google and Anthropic add rare multi-year visibility, reinforcing a $40-$50 billion AI revenue opportunity tied to Anthropic’s 3.5 gigawatt deployment starting in 2027, while building on the previously disclosed 1GW ($10 billion) starting in 2H,” wrote Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Kunjan Sobhani and Oscar Hernandez Tejada.

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Health insurers surge after Medicare agrees to pay 2.48% more in 2027, a bigger-than-expected boost

Health insurance stocks are surging after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said it plans to boost Medicare Advantage and Part D payments by 2.48% in calendar year 2027.

The likes of CVS, Humana, UnitedHealth, Molina Healthcare, Oscar Health, and Elevance Health are gaining in postmarket trading.

Wall Street analysts had anticipated that rates for 2027 would go up between roughly 1% and 1.5%.

These stocks had gotten crushed in late January when the Trump administration proposed relatively flat federal payment rates.

Insurance companies that provide government-sponsored plans, like Medicare Advantage, faced headwinds from higher-than-expected costs in 2025.

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Iran war winners Dow, LyondellBasell downgraded by Bank of America

Dow, Inc. and LyondellBasell — two petrochemicals stocks that surged as markets priced in shortages due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz — should decline as investors focus on the long-term outlook for normalized petrochemical prices once the war resolves, Bank of America analysts wrote in a note downgrading the two stocks Monday.

BofA moved its rating on the shares from “neutral” to “underperform,” writing:

“Over time, as chemical markets normalize, we expect 1) investor focus to shiſt back to ‘normal’ or ‘sustainable’ earnings profiles and 2) the conflict to resolve without material asset rationalization, both of which likely bias shares lower over the next twelve months.”

Analysts also lowered their stance on another petrochemicals and building materials stock, Westlake, to “neutral” from “buy.”

While cutting those ratings, BofA actually raised its more near-term price targets for the shares. It upped LyondellBasell to $68 from $55, and Dow to $35 from $31.

But those price targets still imply declines of more than 10% compared to where both shares were trading late Monday morning. Both stocks are up roughly 30% since the start of the Iran war.

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