Daily Brief United States: Tesla , Ubiquiti Inc., Johnson Controls, Cocoa Futures, Immersion Corporation, GSK , WinVest Acquisition Corp, Yum! Brands Inc, Achieve Life Sciences , Ethereum and more

• Takeaways: Biden plans to quadruple US/EU tariffs on Chinese EV imports.
• This will further defend TSLA’s domestic beachhead: 1) 50% EV market share in the USA (No. 2: Ford 7% ) + 2) huge headstart over domestic auto incumbents in assembly line processes (Gigapress) & high manufacturing concentration .
• Together, this should result in superior economies of scale which translates into lower unit costs — increasingly important in a commoditizing US EV sector.

• UI reported fiscal third quarter (March) results in line with our revenue forecasts suggesting the business could be on the rebound after two years in a challenging environment
• The performance in the June quarter comes even though peers have been reporting a tough selling environment with extended sales process as customers took time to make their decision
• The increase in product availability did backfire in the quarter with Ubiquiti taking a charge for obsolete inventory. Nevertheless, Ubiquiti’s results show a business that is improving

• The second quarter performance for Johnson Controls was strong, with adjusted EPS coming in at the upper limit of company estimations.
• Johnson Controls managed to return to sales growth after experiencing a cybersecurity disturbance at the beginning of the fiscal year.
• Backed by productivity and the conversion of their higher-margin backlog, the company achieved robust margin expansion.

• Investors Flock Back Into Commodity Funds Investors are increasingly flocking to commodity funds again.
• A net €353 million flowed into funds from the Morningstar Broad Basket Commodities category in Europe in April.
• This was by far the best month for the category in over two years.

• Immersion Corp. is a high-margin licensing business with no debt and significant cash reserves
• Recent settlement with Meta in patent lawsuit could exceed company’s current enterprise value
• Previous settlements with Apple resulted in significant increase in Immersion’s share price, potential upside not fully reflected in current share price due to limited access to court documents, presenting possible investment opportunity

This content is sourced through publicly available sources and has been machine generated. Information displayed is for general informational purposes only. This article was originally published 3 months ago on Value Investors Club.

• GlaxoSmithKline demonstrated robust quarterly performance, continuing its commitment to creating long-term value for its stakeholders.
• The company managed to deliver double-digit growth for the quarter, with sales increasing by 13% to GBP 7.4 billion, core operating profit going up by 35% to GBP 2.4 billion, and core earnings per share increasing by 37%.
• Underpinning GlaxoSmithKline’s solid financial results is the successful launch and strong delivery of its new products, reflecting the company’s ability to continue growing and innovating in the highly competitive pharmaceutical industry.

• The last week of SPACs was packed with activity, including deals, bankruptcies, and IPOs.
• Two new deals are announced including a SPAC taking a digital commerce platform connecting buyers and sellers public, and a blank-cheque firm merging with a company producing large format projection screens for the entertainment industry.
• Also, a used car retailer could declare bankruptcy three years after debuting through a SPAC, and an advanced nuclear fission company sees its shares plummet after completing a SPAC merger. 

• Yum!
• Brands, Inc.’s Q1 2024 Earnings highlighted a mixed performance, demonstrating the resilience of the business amidst a challenging operating environment.
• The company saw a growth rate of 6% in its core operating profit this quarter.

• Achieve Life Sciences is developing cytisinicline for use as a smoking cessation treatment in the United States and rest of world.
• Topline results from ORCA-2 were reported in April 2022 and for ORCA-3 in May 2023.
• Results exceeded expectations on safety & efficacy parameters.

• We have entered the week before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) must decide on VanEck’s Ethereum spot ETF application, with a decision due next Thursday, May 23.
• It is expected that the outcome for this application will set a precedent for all the other Ethereum ETF applications.
• This issue of Crypto Crisp focuses extensively on the Ethereum spot ETF.