Southern Copper (SCCO) to Release Quarterly Earnings on Wednesday

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) is scheduled to be releasing its earnings data before the market opens on Wednesday, July 25th. Analysts expect Southern Copper to post earnings of $0.64 per share for the quarter.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61. The firm had revenue of $1.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. Southern Copper had a return on equity of 13.90% and a net margin of 12.80%. On average, analysts expect Southern Copper to post $3 EPS for the current fiscal year and $3 EPS for the next fiscal year.

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NYSE:SCCO opened at $45.11 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $34.86 billion, a PE ratio of 29.28 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 2.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. Southern Copper has a fifty-two week low of $37.13 and a fifty-two week high of $58.09.

In other news, EVP Quintanilla Daniel Muniz sold 1,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.20, for a total transaction of $81,920.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SCCO. B. Riley downgraded Southern Copper from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $57.34 to $57.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Southern Copper from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $45.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, April 13th. ValuEngine raised Southern Copper from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 6th. Finally, Berenberg Bank reissued a “sell” rating and set a $39.00 price target on shares of Southern Copper in a report on Saturday, June 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.06.

About Southern Copper

Southern Copper Corporation engages in mining, exploring, smelting, and refining copper and other minerals in Peru, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Ecuador. The company is involved in the mining, milling, and flotation of copper ore to produce copper and molybdenum concentrates; smelting of copper concentrates to produce blister and anode copper; refining of anode copper to produce copper cathodes; production of molybdenum concentrate and sulfuric acid; production of refined silver, gold, and other materials; and mining and processing of zinc and lead.

Read More: Short Selling Stocks, A Beginner��s Guide

Zacks Investment Research Upgrades ALPS Elec Ltd/ADR (APELY) to “Hold”

Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of ALPS Elec Ltd/ADR (OTCMKTS:APELY) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Tuesday.

According to Zacks, “ALPS ELECTRIC CO., LTD. is a Japan-based company mainly engaged in the manufacture and sale of electronic components and audio equipment. The Company operates in three business segments. The Electronic Component segment offers switches, adjustable resistors, hard disk drive (HDD) heads, tuners, data communication modules, printers, amusement machines, car control units and steering modules, among others. The Audio segment provides car audio equipment and navigation systems. The Logistic segment provides delivery and storage services and packaging materials, as well as system development service, office service, manpower dispatching service and financial management services. The Company has 86 subsidiaries and right associated companies. “

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Separately, ValuEngine downgraded ALPS Elec Ltd/ADR from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 2nd.

APELY stock opened at $55.02 on Tuesday. ALPS Elec Ltd/ADR has a twelve month low of $44.09 and a twelve month high of $68.45. The stock has a market cap of $5.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.30, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.30.

ALPS Elec Ltd/ADR Company Profile

Alps Electric Co, Ltd. manufactures and sells electronic components worldwide. The company operates through Electronic Components, Automotive Infotainment, and Logistics segments. It offers sensors, switches, encoders, potentiometers, connectors, communication modules, multi control devices, power inductors, aspherical glass lenses, toroidal coils, touch input devices, actuators, and printers; and car navigation and audio systems, and information and communication devices.

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Metlife (MET) Downgraded by Zacks Investment Research to “Sell”

Metlife (NYSE:MET) was downgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday.

According to Zacks, “MetLife’s shares have lost more than its industry’s decline in the past year. Moreover, the company has witnessed its 2019 estimates move downward over the last 30- days. The company’s exposure to catastrophe losses and investment in efficiency programs will put pressure on margins. However, its efforts to streamline business, only to focus on core business are really impressive. Its revenues grew in 2017 after declining for two years and the trend is likely to continue in 2018. Its strong international operations and disciplined capital management should drive long-term growth.”

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A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Barclays reduced their price target on Metlife from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Goldman Sachs Group lowered Metlife from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $55.91 to $61.00 in a research report on Monday, June 4th. ValuEngine lowered Metlife from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 2nd. Wells Fargo & Co reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Metlife in a research report on Tuesday, May 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank reduced their price target on Metlife from $51.00 to $48.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.73.

Shares of Metlife stock opened at $44.09 on Tuesday. Metlife has a 12 month low of $43.09 and a 12 month high of $55.91. The stock has a market cap of $46.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.80, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.15 and a quick ratio of 0.15.

Metlife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 2nd. The financial services provider reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $15.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.52 billion. Metlife had a return on equity of 8.70% and a net margin of 6.48%. Metlife’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. equities analysts expect that Metlife will post 5.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Metlife declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, May 22nd that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

In other news, Director Gerald L. Hassell purchased 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 9th. The shares were bought at an average price of $46.18 per share, with a total value of $461,800.00. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MET. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Metlife by 38.5% during the first quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,883,295 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $499,434,000 after buying an additional 3,027,327 shares during the period. Old Mutual Global Investors UK Ltd. increased its position in Metlife by 1,712.2% during the first quarter. Old Mutual Global Investors UK Ltd. now owns 1,791,638 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $82,218,000 after buying an additional 1,692,775 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Metlife during the first quarter worth approximately $65,615,000. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Metlife by 1.8% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 74,542,993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,420,777,000 after buying an additional 1,346,914 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. increased its position in Metlife by 66.0% during the first quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 2,899,754 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $133,069,000 after buying an additional 1,153,335 shares during the period. 77.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Metlife Company Profile

MetLife, Inc engages in the insurance, annuities, employee benefits, and asset management businesses. It operates through five segments: U.S.; Asia; Latin America; Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and MetLife Holdings. The company offers life, dental, group short- and long-term disability, individual disability, accidental death and dismemberment, vision, and accident and health coverages, as well as prepaid legal plans; administrative services-only arrangements to employers; and stable value products, including general and separate account guaranteed interest contracts, and private floating rate funding agreements.

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AT&T Is Already Trying to Make HBO More Like Netflix

"The goal is to become HBO faster than HBO can become us," Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) CEO Reed Hastings once famously�said. That was in 2013, and a lot has changed in the media and entertainment landscape in the five years since. Netflix has plunged billions into original content, helping to grow its global subscriber base from 33 million�to 119 million�over that time frame.

It took HBO quite a while to get on the over-the-top (OTT) streaming bandwagon, launching HBO Now in 2015. Now that the popular video service is owned by AT&T (NYSE:T) after Ma Bell closed its acquisition of Time Warner last month, the telecom giant is already pushing to make HBO a little bit more like Netflix.

Image source: Getty Images.

Becoming like Netflix

The New York Times�reports that AT&T's head of Warner Media, John Stankey, recently told employees at a June meeting to brace for a lot of changes going forward as HBO takes on a new direction. Without ever referring to Netflix by name, Stankey suggested he wanted HBO to become more of a mainstream service that caters to a wider range of consumer tastes while also bolstering daily engagement and watching among subscribers.

"We need hours a day," Stankey said, according to the report. "It's not hours a week, and it's not hours a month. We need hours a day. You are competing with devices that sit in people's hands that capture their attention every 15 minutes." The executive also emphasized the need to collect more data on user engagement.

All of that sounds just like Netflix. The streaming giant continues to expand its original content strategy into localized and niche genres, specifically to broaden the appeal of its service all around the world. Netflix is also largely responsible for creating the culture of binging on movies and TV shows by releasing most of its shows all at once, as opposed to the traditional linear model, all while collecting copious amounts of user data and eschewing all advertising. Nothing builds engagement like binging on a show for 10 hours straight.

In contrast, HBO has historically emphasized a smaller number of shows that it invests heavily in. Quantity over quality, in other words. But Netflix has demonstrated that it can balance both quantity with quality, accumulating awards for both TV and movies (including its first Oscar this year) while also offering something for everyone.

HBO is more profitable than Netflix

Stankey also reportedly underscored the need for profitability. It's in this regard that HBO differs quite a bit from Netflix.

HBO was one of Time Warner's crown jewels, contributing 20% to the company's total revenue in the first�quarter. HBO brought in $1.6 billion in sales, which translated into $516 million in operating income, or a 32% operating margin. Compare that to the $3.7 billion in revenue that Netflix generated in the first quarter, which only yielded $446 million in operating income, or a 12% operating margin.

It's worth noting that while HBO has more overall subscribers (142 million), it generates less in total revenue than Netflix. That's because most of HBO's customers subscribe through traditional cable operators, and as distributors those operators get a cut. HBO only sets�the wholesale price, while the cable operator gets to set the retail price charged to subscribers. As a direct-to-consumer (D2C) service, Netflix has no middlemen. HBO Now, which costs $15 per month and is D2C, only has around�2 million to 2.5 million subscribers, according to Bloomberg.

If it really wants to become more like Netflix, HBO might just need to sacrifice some profitability by investing more in quantity.

Hot Financial Stocks To Buy Right Now

tags:DLR,DB,CSWC,MHLD,

Ground-based wireless communications networks have transformed the way that billions of people across the globe communicate. For the locations where traditional wireless networks either haven't yet reached or have decided aren't feasible for ground-based stations, Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) hopes that its extensive and growing satellite communications network will be the go-to solution for users who need reliable coverage under challenging circumstances.

Coming into Thursday's first-quarter financial report, Iridium investors expected the ongoing ramp-up of the Iridium NEXT satellite launch program to keep lifting revenue, although they knew that accounting impacts would weigh on earnings. Nevertheless, Iridium did better than many had expected, and the wider range of applications that it sees as viable uses for its network could boost its business going forward.

Image source: Iridium Communications.

Hot Financial Stocks To Buy Right Now: Digital Realty Trust Inc.(DLR)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Matthew Frankel]

  Like Equinix, Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) is a data center REIT. The company owns more than 200 data centers in the U.S. and international markets, and it leases its space to more than 2,300 customers. The company's tenants include some of the most well-known tech names, such as Facebook, Oracle, and Verizon, just to name a few.

• [By Matthew Frankel]

  This has created some pretty compelling bargains in the real-estate sector. One in particular that I bought more of recently was 3.8%-yielding Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR), which in late February dipped below $100 per share for the first time since 2016 after weak results from a competitor spooked investors and caused all data-center REITs to plunge.

• [By Brian Feroldi, Matthew Frankel, and Dan Caplinger]

  So, which dividend stocks do we Fools like right now?�We asked a team of investing experts to weigh in, and they picked�Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY),�Digital Realty (NYSE:DLR), and Brookfield Infrastructure�Partners (NYSE:BIP).�

Hot Financial Stocks To Buy Right Now: Deutsche Bank AG(DB)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Shah Gilani]

  What's been happening at Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft (NYSE: DB) is scary – because it may not be the only giant bank in trouble.

  Of course, Deutsche Bank officials say they've got plenty of capital and liquidity.

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB) dropped about 7.2% Tuesday to post a new 52-week low of $11.18. Shares closed at $12.05 on Friday and the stock’s 52-week high is $20.23. Volume of around 13.3 million shares was three times the daily average.The bank said it plans no further job cuts in Russia, but today was not a good day to be a European bank.

• [By Steve Symington]

  Still, several individual companies easily outran the broader market. Read on to learn why shares of ManTech International (NASDAQ:MANT), Civeo (NYSE:CVEO), and Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB)�each climbed higher today.

Hot Financial Stocks To Buy Right Now: Capital Southwest Corporation(CSWC)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Capital Southwest Co. (NASDAQ:CSWC) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, June 5th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 26th will be paid a dividend of 0.29 per share by the asset manager on Monday, July 2nd. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 25th. This is a boost from Capital Southwest’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28.

• [By Motley Fool Staff]

  Capital Southwest (NASDAQ:CSWC) Q4 2018 Earnings Conference CallJun. 5, 2018 11:00 a.m. ET

  Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks:

  Operator

• [By Max Byerly]

  Capital Southwest (NASDAQ: CSWC) and TRIPLEPOINT VEN/COM (NYSE:TPVG) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, dividends and analyst recommendations.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Press coverage about Capital Southwest (NASDAQ:CSWC) has been trending positive recently, Accern Sentiment Analysis reports. Accern ranks the sentiment of news coverage by monitoring more than twenty million blog and news sources in real-time. Accern ranks coverage of public companies on a scale of negative one to one, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. Capital Southwest earned a coverage optimism score of 0.27 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned news stories about the asset manager an impact score of 44.9331419606621 out of 100, indicating that recent news coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the stock’s share price in the near term.

Hot Financial Stocks To Buy Right Now: Maiden Hldgs Ltd(MHLD)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

   

  Companies Reporting After The Bell Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG) is projected to post quarterly earnings at $10.67 per share on revenue of $2.87 billion. CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) is expected to post quarterly earnings at $0.19 per share on revenue of $6.00 billion. Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) is projected to post quarterly earnings at $1.21 per share on revenue of $803.36 million. Spectra Energy Partners, LP (NYSE: SEP) is estimated to post quarterly earnings at $0.81 per share on revenue of $751.57 million. IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IAC) is expected to post quarterly earnings at $0.8 per share on revenue of $923.80 million. Open Text Corporation (NASDAQ: OTEX) is projected to post quarterly earnings at $0.62 per share on revenue of $691.75 million. Tutor Perini Corporation (NYSE: TPC) is expected to post quarterly earnings at $0.29 per share on revenue of $1.09 billion. Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. (NASDAQ: FOXA) is projected to post quarterly earnings at $0.54 per share on revenue of $7.41 billion. ICU Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ: ICUI) is estimated to post quarterly earnings at $1.84 per share on revenue of $346.28 million. TechnipFMC plc (NYSE: FTI) is expected to post quarterly earnings at $0.33 per share on revenue of $3.13 billion. Synaptics Incorporated (NASDAQ: SYNA) is projected to post quarterly earnings at $0.91 per share on revenue of $401.76 million. The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation (NYSE: DNB) is expected to post quarterly earnings at $1.07 per share on revenue of $386.91 million. Matrix Service Company (NASDAQ: MTRX) is estimated to post quarterly earnings at $0.07 per share on revenue of $285.16 million. Maiden Holdings, Ltd. (NASDAQ: MHLD) is projected to post quarterly earnings at $0.21 per share on revenue of $739.31 million. tronc, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRNC) is expected to post quarterly earnings at $0.65 per share on revenue of $428.25 million. Copa Holdings,
• [By Lisa Levin]

   

  Losers Netshoes (Cayman) Limited (NASDAQ: NETS) shares dipped 43.73 percent to close at $2.87 on Tuesday as the company posted downbeat Q1 results. Cesca Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: KOOL) shares dropped 29.01 percent to close at $0.80 after reporting Q1 results. SenesTech, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNES) shares fell 22.2 percent to close at $0.340 after reporting Q1 miss. Vipshop Holdings Limited (NYSE: VIPS) fell 19.95 percent to close at $12.08 after the company reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its first quarter on Monday. Image Sensing Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISNS) fell 19.68 percent to close at $3.775 after reporting earnings were down year over year. First quarter earnings came in flat, down from 4 cents per share in the same quarter of last year. Sales came in at $3.01 million. Boxlight Corporation (NASDAQ: BOXL) dropped 18.47 percent to close at $9.62 on Tuesday after surging 77.44 percent on Monday. ENDRA Life Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: NDRA) declined 16.21 percent to close at $2.43. ENDRA Life Sciences is expected to release quarterly earnings today. ALJ Regional Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALJJ) shares fell 16.13 percent to close at $1.79. Switch Inc (NYSE: SWCH) shares dropped 14.93 percent to close at $13.16 following a first-quarter earnings miss. Restoration Robotics Inc (NASDAQ: HAIR) fell 14.42 percent to close at $3.68 after reporting a first-quarter earnings miss. iCAD, Inc. (NASDAQ: ICAD) declined 13.01 percent to close at $3.41 following Q1 results. Intersections Inc. (NASDAQ: INTX) fell 12.44 percent to close at $1.97. Histogenics Corporation (NASDAQ: HSGX) declined 12.24 percent to close at $2.15. AZZ Inc. (NYSE: AZZ) fell 12.1 percent to close at $39.60 following Q3 earnings. Hallador Energy Company (NASDAQ: HNRG) fell 11.1 percent to close at $6.49. Integrated Media Technology Limited (NASDAQ: IMTE) dropped 10.66 percent to close at $16.93 on Tuesday. Myomo, Inc. (NYSE: MYO) slipp
• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Maiden Holdings, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MHLD) by 1.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,015,640 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 132,547 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 0.08% of Maiden worth $45,602,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

3 Best Biotech Acquisitions of 2018 (So Far)

If you expected 2018 to be a busy year for biotech mergers and acquisitions activity, you were right. There have already been several huge deals -- and the year is only halfway over. But which have been the best acquisitions?

There's room for debate, of course. But in my view, three deals especially stand out. Here's why I rank Celgene's (NASDAQ:CELG) buyout of Juno Therapeutics, Novartis' (NYSE:NVS) acquisition of AveXis, and Roche's (NASDAQOTH:RHHBY) purchase of Foundation Medicine (NASDAQ:FMI) as the best biotech acquisitions of 2018 (so far).

Image source: Getty Images.

1. Celgene buys Juno Therapeutics

After its stock got hammered in 2017, many investors were hoping that Celgene would make a deal in 2018. The big biotech actually made two of them. On Jan. 7, Celgene announced that it was buying Impact Biomedicines for $1.1 billion up front plus up to $1.25 billion in contingent milestone payments. But another shoe dropped on Jan. 22 with news that Celgene was also acquiring Juno Therapeutics for $9 billion.

I thought then -- and still believe -- that buying Juno was a smart move for Celgene. The company already paid around $1 billion in 2015 for a 9.7% stake in Juno. Locking up worldwide marketing rights for Juno's lead candidate, liso-cel (also known as JCAR017), was a shrewd move, in my view.

Wall Street analysts project that liso-cel could generate peak annual sales of around $3 billion. That's right in line with Celgene's expectations as well. If these estimates are achieved, Celgene should easily recover its initial investment.

The Juno deal also immediately positioned Celgene as one of the leaders in a hot area of cancer treatment --�chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) therapy. With its�solid efficacy�and safety results�so far, liso-cel could become a best-in-class CAR-T therapy.��

2. Novartis acquires AveXis

Novartis has known for a while that it faces sales erosion for leukemia drug Gleevec and�multiple sclerosis drug Gilenya. The Swiss drugmaker made what I consider to be a great�strategic�deal in April with its $8.7 billion buyout of AveXis.

I like this transaction for three primary reasons. First, it's a fantastic fit. Novartis is already a leader in the neuroscience market thanks to its success with Gilenya. The AveXis deal brings promising spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) treatment AVXS-101 into its pipeline.

Second, I think AveXis' expertise in gene therapy could bring more to the table for Novartis than meets the eye. Gene therapy, which involves the insertion of a healthy gene into cells to modify DNA, holds potential in treating genetic diseases as well as in engineering T cells for CAR-T therapies. Novartis could look to the AveXis team to help further its research in both areas.

Third, the price tag for the deal wasn't bad. Analysts project that AVXS-101 could reach peak annual sales in the ballpark of $2.5 billion. Novartis only paid 3.5 times that peak sales estimate and received a late-stage candidate that could be launched next year.

3. Roche purchases Foundation Medicine

Foundation Medicine isn't a biotech. It's a molecular diagnostics company. But Roche is a biotech -- a really big one. And Roche's announcement a few weeks ago that it was acquiring Foundation Medicine in a deal that valued the smaller company at $5.3 billion made a lot of sense.

This one was kind of a no-brainer. Roche was already marketing Foundation Medicine's FoundationOne genetic profiling test outside of the U.S. It already owned nearly 57% of Foundation Medicine.� Roche's cost to acquire the rest of Foundation Medicine was $2.4 billion, a drop in the bucket for the healthcare giant.

I also like this acquisition because it beefs up Roche's precision medicine initiative. Roche has both sides of the precision medicine equation: diagnostics and drugs. Buying Foundation Medicine makes the company even stronger in the diagnostics area.

Best bang for the buck

In my opinion, the award for best bang for the buck goes to Celgene. The company paid more for Juno than Novartis did for AveXis or Roche shelled out for Foundation Medicine. However, I think that over the long run the Juno acquisition will be more significant to Celgene than the other two deals will be for Novartis and Roche.

Celgene is scrambling to reduce its dependence on blood cancer drug Revlimid. I think the biotech is doing a pretty good job achieving that goal, but a delay in winning approval for multiple sclerosis drug ozanimod and a late-stage failure for Crohn's disease drug GED-0301 hurt. Gaining full rights to liso-cel, on the other hand, helps and should pay off for Celgene.

Its reliance on Revlimid and bets placed on its pipeline make Celgene perhaps the riskiest big biotech stock on the market. However, I think the stock is a risk worth taking, especially with its buyout of Juno.

Germany ETF rises after last-minute immigration deal

The largest exchange-traded fund to track Germany's equity market rose on Tuesday, after the country's government reached a last-minute deal for tighter control over immigration. The deal was seen as preventing a full-blown crisis that could have cost Chancellor Angela Merkel her position as leader. The iShares MSCI Germany ETF EWG, +0.82% gained 0.9% in early trading. The fund has struggled throughout 2018, having fallen in 10 of the past 13 sessions. It is down 8.84% thus far this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.29% rose 0.5% on Tuesday while the S&P 500 SPX, +0.24% was up 0.3%. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.05% dipped 0.1%.