Report
Dave Nicoski ...
  • Ross LaDuke
EUR 230.98 For Business Accounts Only

Vermilion Compass: Weekly Equity Strategy

MSCI ACWI, STOXX 600 Breaking Out

The market continues to feed off of optimism surrounding the US-China “phase one” trade deal. Boris Johnson's UK election victory has added an additional tailwind, particularly in the UK and Europe, where the UK's FTSE 250 and the STOXX Europe 600 indexes are breaking out to all-time highs. At some point the euphoria is likely to wear off, but with continued global bullish developments, it remains our belief that pullbacks should be bought and that global equities are in the early stages of a broad-based advance.

• Sector Relative Strength Rankings (RSR) & Weighting Recommendations. Banks (KBE, KRE) are improving and REITs are deteriorating in terms of their RSR rankings. We view bullish price and RS inflections for Banks and the RS breakdowns on several of the popular Real Estate ETFs (VNQ, IYR, XLRE, SCHH) as another signal that this bull market is here to stay... see pages 2-3.

• US Dollar (DXY) and EM Equities. In recent weeks we outlined deteriorating technicals for the DXY, noting the evidence was mounting for a potential breakdown. This is coming to fruition as the DXY broke below key support in the $97.10-$97.36 range. We believe a continued gradual weakening is likely for the DXY, which should help lift EM equities and global risk appetites. MSCI EM is approaching a key resistance level... see page 4.

• Late Stage Cyclicals. Bottoms continue to develop from late-stage cyclical Sectors including Energy and Materials, both of which should benefit from a weaker dollar and strength within emerging markets. Patience within Energy is beginning to be rewarded as the Sector (RYE, XLE) exhibits price and RS improvement. Still, we highlight various hurdles that the Sector needs get past. Our equal-weighted Materials Sector exhibits a bullish price reversal as RS attempts to bottom. We highlight two actionable ideas: CTVA and AMCR... see pages 5-7.

• High Yield Spreads. US high yield spreads narrowed substantially over the past week, a move consistent with an improving economy and an equity bull market... see page 7.

In today's report we highlight attractive Groups and stocks within Health Care and Technology: HC-07 Biotech, Mid-Cap, HC-08 Biotech, Small-Cap, TE-01 Semiconductors, Large-Cap, and TE-02 Semiconductors, Mid-Cap... see pages 15-38.
Underlyings
ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Acadia Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of medicines focusing on central nervous system disorders. The company has a portfolio of product including its drug, NUPLAZID (pimavanserin), which has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson's disease psychosis (PD Psychosis). NUPLAZID is a selective serotonin inverse agonist preferentially targeting 5-HT2A receptors with no appreciable affinity for dopaminergic, histaminergic, or muscarinic receptors.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

Advanced Micro Devices is a semiconductor company. The company primarily provides x86 microprocessors, as standalone devices or as incorporated into an accelerated processing unit, chipsets, graphics processing units (GPUs), data center and personnel GPUs, and development services; server and embedded processors, semi-custom System-on-Chip products, development services and technology for game consoles. The company also licenses portions of its intellectual property portfolio. The company's segments are: Computing and Graphics, which consists of desktop, notebooks, commercial, and chipsets products; and Enterprise, Embedded and Semi-Custom, which includes server processors, and embedded P\processors products.

Agios Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Agios Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company focused on areas of hematologic malignancies, solid tumors and rare genetic diseases. The company's product, TIBSOVO? (ivosidenib) is for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (R/R AML) with a susceptible isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) 1 mutation. The company's other product is IDHIFA? (enasidenib) for patients with R/R AML and an IDH2 mutation. The company's pre-commercial clinical cancer product candidates include: vorasidenib, a brain-penetrant pan-IDH mutant inhibitor; and AG-270, an orally available selective inhibitor of methionine adenosyltransferase 2a.

Aimmune Therapeutics Inc

Aimmune Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a therapeutic approach, including the development of product candidates, for the treatment of peanut and other food allergies. The company's Characterized Oral Desensitization ImmunoTherapy (CODIT?), is designed to desensitize patients to food allergens. The company's primary CODIT product candidate, AR101 is an investigational biologic for the treatment of patients with peanut allergy. The company is also exploring a product candidate designed to treat multi-nut allergy, including walnut allergy. The company is also conducting research and development activities for CODIT targeting other food allergies, including cow's milk allergy.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company developing therapeutics based on RNA interference (RNAi). RNAi is a biological pathway within cells for sequence-specific silencing and regulation of gene expression. The company has two RNAi-based medicines, ONPATTRO? (patisiran) and GIVLAARI? (givosiran). ONPATTRO is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of the polyneuropathy of hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis in adults and has also been approved in the European Union, Japan, Canada and Switzerland. GIVLAARI is approved by FDA for the treatment of adults with acute hepatic porphyria.

Analog Devices Inc.

Analog Devices is an analog technology company. The company designs, manufactures, and markets a portfolio of solutions, including integrated circuits, algorithms, software, and subsystems. The company's analog products include data converter that translate real-world analog signals into digital data and also translate digital data into analog signals, amplifiers that condition analog signals, and power management and reference products that include functions such as power conversion, driver monitoring, sequencing and energy management. The company's digital signal processing products are designed to execute software programs, or algorithms, associated with processing digitized real-time, real-world data.

Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Arena Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company focused on delivering medicines with pharmacology and pharmacokinetics to patients globally. The company's clinical programs include: etrasimod (APD334), which is being evaluated in ulcerative colitis, a program for Crohn's disease, as well as a program for atopic dermatitis; olorinab (APD371), which is is being evaluated for a range of visceral pain conditions associated with gastrointestinal diseases and for treatment of abdominal pain associated with irritable bowel syndrome; and APD418, which is being evaluated in a trial for acute heart failure.

ASE Technology Holding

BeiGene Ltd. Sponsored ADR

Bio-Techne Corporation

Bio-Techne and its subsidiaries develop, manufacture and sell biotechnology life science reagents, instruments and services for the research and clinical diagnostic markets.Co.'s segments: Protein Sciences, which developes and manufactures purified proteins and reagent solutions, cytokines and growth factors, antibodies, immunoassays, biologically active small molecule compounds, tissue culture reagents and T-Cell activation technologies; and Diagnostics and Genomics, which develops and manufactures diagnostic products, including Food and Drug Administration-regulated controls, calibrators, blood gas and clinical chemistry controls and other reagents for Original Equipment Manufacturer.

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc.

BioMarin Pharmaceutical is a biotechnology company that develops and commercializes therapies for people with serious and life-threatening rare diseases and medical conditions. The company's commercial products are Aldurazyme (laronidase) for Mucopolysaccharidosis I; Brineura (cerliponase alfa) for the treatment of late infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis type 2; Kuvan (sapropterin dihydrochloride) for the treatment of phenylketonuria; Naglazyme (galsulfase) the treatment of Mucopolysaccharidosis VI ; Palynziq (pegvaliase-pqpz) for adult patients with phenylketonuria; and Vimizim (elosulfase alpha) for the treatment of Mucopolysaccharidosis IV Type A.

CRISPR Therapeutics AG

Editas Medicine Inc.

Editas Medicine is a clinical stage genome editing company focused on developing genomic medicines to treat a range of serious diseases. The company has developed a proprietary genome editing platform based on clustered, regularly interspaced, short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) technology. The company is developing both in vivo CRISPR medicines, in which the medicine is injected or infused into the patient to edit the cells inside their body, and engineered cell medicines, in which cells are edited with the company's technology and then administered to the patient. In ocular diseases, the company's program is designed to address a specific genetic form of retinal degeneration called Leber congenital amaurosis 10.

Eidos Therapeutics

Eidos Therapeutics is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on addressing the diseases caused by transthyretin (TTR) amyloidosis (ATTR). The company's product candidate, AG10, is an orally-administered small molecule designed to stabilize tetrameric TTR, thereby halting at its outset the series of molecular events that give rise to ATTR. The company's approach to the treatment of ATTR is designed to mimic a naturally-occurring variant of the TTR gene (T119M) that is considered a rescue mutation because it has been shown to prevent ATTR in individuals carrying pathogenic, or disease-causing, mutations in the TTR gene.

FibroGen Inc.

FibroGen is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in discovering, developing and commercializing a pipeline of therapeutics. The company applies its capability in hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) biology to develop medicines for the treatment of anemia, fibrotic disease, and cancer. Roxadustat, the company's primary product, is an inhibitor of HIF prolyl hydroxylase that acts by stimulating the body's natural pathway of erythropoiesis, or red blood cell production. Pamrevlumab is the company's human monoclonal antibody that inhibits the activity of CTGF, a central mediator and key common element in the progression of fibrotic and fibro-proliferative diseases.

Global Blood Therapeutics Inc

Global Blood Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company that engages in the discovery, development and delivery of treatments to underserved patient communities. The company received U.S. Food and Drug Administration accelerated approval for its medicine, Oxbryta? (voxelotor) tablets for the treatment of sickle cell disease (SCD) in adults and children 12 years of age and older. Oxbryta, an oral therapy taken once daily, is the treatment that directly inhibits sickle hemoglobin polymerization, the root cause of SCD. The company is developing its SCD pipeline with inclacumab, a p-selectin inhibitor in development to address pain crises associated with the disease.

Halozyme Therapeutics Inc.

Halozyme Therapeutics is a biopharma technology platform company that provides solutions to improve patient experience and outcomes. The company's approved product and its collaborators' approved products and product candidates are based on rHuPH20, its patented recombinant human hyaluronidase enzyme. The company refers to the application of rHuPH20 to facilitate the delivery of other drugs or fluids as its ENHANZE? Drug Delivery Technology (ENHANZE). The company licenses the ENHANZE technology to form collaborations with biopharmaceutical companies that develop or market drugs requiring or benefiting from injection via the subcutaneous route of administration.

Horizon Therapeutics Public Limited Company

Immunomedics Inc.

Immunomedics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing monoclonal antibody-based products for the targeted treatment of cancer. The company's product candidate is sacituzumab govitecan (IMMU-132), an antibody-drug conjugate for the treatment of patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer who previously received at least two prior therapies for metastatic disease. The company also has other product candidates, which target solid tumors and hematologic malignancies in various stages of clinical and preclinical development, such as labetuzumab govitecan that binds the CEACAM5 antigen expressed on CRC and other solid cancers, and IMMU-140 for the treatment of hematologic malignancies.

Intel Corporation

Intel is a data-centric company. The company's operating segments are: Data Center Group, which develops platforms for compute, storage, and network functions; Internet of Things Group, which facilitates its customers creating, storing, and processing data; Mobileye, which provides assistance and automation solutions; Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group, which provides memory and storage products based on Intel? Optane? technology and Intel? 3D NAND technology; Programmable Solutions Group, which provides programmable semiconductors; and Client Computing Group, which connects people to data, allowing each person to focus, create, and engage in ways that unlock their individual potential.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals is engaged in discovering and developing RNA-targeted therapeutics. The company has two commercial medicines, SPINRAZA and TEGSEDI. SPINRAZA (nusinersen) injection for intrathecal use is a survival motor neuron-2, directed antisense oligonucleotide indicated for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy in pediatric and adult patients. TEGSEDI (inotersen) injection is a Generation 2+ antisense medicine and an approved subcutaneous RNA-targeting medicine designed to treat people with polyneuropathy caused by hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis.

Iovance Biotherapeutics Inc

Iovance Biotherapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of cancer immunotherapy products. The company's main product candidate, LN-144 for metastatic melanoma, is an autologous adoptive cell therapy utilizing tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, which are T cells derived from patients' tumors. The ongoing studies include LN-145 for metastatic or persistent cervical carcinoma and LN-145 for recurrent and/or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Inc. Class A

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals is a gastrointestinal (GI), healthcare company focusing on developing the treatment of GI diseases. The company's commercial product, LINZESS? (linaclotide), a guanylate cyclase type C agonists, is indicated for adult men and women suffering from irritable bowel syndrome with constipation, or chronic idiopathic constipation. In addition, the company is developing MD-7246, an oral, intestinal, non-opioid, pain-relieving agent for patients with abdominal pain associated with certain GI diseases. The company is also developing IW-3718, a gastric retentive formulation of a bile acid sequestrant for the potential treatment of refractory gastroesophageal reflux disease.

Matrix Service Company

Matrix Service provides engineering, fabrication, infrastructure, construction, and maintenance services. The company's segments are: Electrical Infrastructure, which consists of power delivery services provided to investor owned utilities; Oil Gas and Chemical, which serves customers who are engaged in refining crude oil and processing, fractionating, and marketing of natural gas and natural gas liquids; Storage Solutions, which consists of work related to aboveground storage tanks and terminals; and Industrial, which consists of work for integrated iron and steel companies, main mining and minerals companies engaged in the extraction of copper, as well as companies in other industries.

Microchip Technology Incorporated

Microchip Technology develops, manufactures and sells semiconductor products. The company's product portfolio comprises general purpose and other eight-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit microcontrollers, 32-bit microprocessors, field-programmable gate array products, a range of linear, mixed-signal, power management, thermal management, discrete diodes, Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors, radio frequency, timing, timing systems, safety, security, wired connectivity and wireless connectivity devices, serial Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory, Serial Flash memories, Parallel Flash memories, Serial Electrically Erasable Random Access Memory and serial Static Random Access Memory.

Micron Technology Inc.

Micron Technology provides memory and storage solutions. The company's portfolio of memory and storage technologies include Dynamic Random Access Memory, Not And, 3D XPoint? memory, and Not Or. The company's segments are: Compute and Networking Business, which includes memory products sold into client, cloud server, enterprise, graphics, and networking markets; Mobile Business, which includes memory products sold into smartphone and other mobile-device markets; Storage Business, which includes Solid-State Drives and component-level solutions sold into enterprise and cloud, client, and consumer storage markets; and Embedded Business, which includes memory and storage products.

Monolithic Power Systems Inc.

Monolithic Power Systems is a fabless semiconductor company. The company designs, develops and markets power solutions for systems found in consumer, computing and storage, automotive, industrial, communications and consumer applications. The company's primary product families include the following: Direct Current (DC) to DC products, which are used to convert and control voltages within a range of electronic systems such as portable electronic devices, wireless Local Area Network access points, computers, and monitors, automobiles and medical equipment; and Lighting Control Products, which include lighting control integrated circuits that are used in backlighting and general illumination products.

MyoKardia Inc.

MyoKardia is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in a precision medicine approach to discover, develop and commercialize targeted therapies for the treatment of serious and neglected rare cardiovascular diseases. The company's initial focus is on the treatment of heritable cardiomyopathies, a group of rare, genetically driven forms of heart failure that result from biomechanical defects in cardiac muscle contraction. The company's main product candidate, mavacamten, is initially being developed for the treatment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The company's second candidate, MYK-491, is being studied in a Phase 2a multiple-ascending dose clinical trial in patients with stable heart failure.

NVIDIA Corporation

NVIDIA engages in graphics processing unit (GPU)-based visual computing and accelerated computing platforms. The company has two segments, GPU and Tegra Processor, which are based on a single underlying architecture. The company's GPU product brands are aimed at markets including GeForce for gamers; Quadro for designers; Tesla and DGX for artificial intelligence data scientists and big data researchers; and GRID for cloud-based visual computing users. The company's Tegra brand integrates an entire computer onto a single chip, and incorporates GPUs and multi-core CPUs to drive supercomputing for autonomous robots, drones, and cars, as well as for game consoles and mobile gaming and entertainment devices.

NXP Semiconductors NV

NXP Semiconductors is a holding company. Through its subsidiaries, Co. is engaged as a global semiconductor company and a long-standing supplier in the industry. Co. provides High-Performance Mixed-Signal and Standard Product solutions. Co.'s product solutions are used in automotive, identification, wireless infrastructure, lighting, industrial, mobile, consumer and computing applications. Co. engages with original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and sell products in all major geographic regions.

ON Semiconductor Corporation

ON Semiconductor is engaged in energy efficient electronics. The company is organized into three segments: Power Solutions Group, which provides a range of discrete, module and integrated semiconductor products; Analog Solutions Group, which designs and develops analog, mixed-signal, and advanced logic application specific integrated circuits and Application Specific Standard Product, and power solutions; and Image Sensor Group, which designs and develops complementary metal oxide semiconductor and charge-coupled device image sensors, as well as proximity sensors, image signal processors and actuator drivers for autofocus and image stabilization for automotive and industrial markets, among others.

Qorvo Inc.

Qorvo is a holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the company designs, develops, manufactures and markets its products to U.S. and international original equipment manufacturers and original design manufacturers in two operating segments: Mobile Products, which is a supplier of cellular radio frequency (RF) and Wi-Fi solutions for mobile devices, including smartphones, wearables, laptops, tablets and cellular-based applications for the Internet of Things (IoT); and Infrastructure and Defense Products, which is a supplier of RF and system-on-a-chip solutions for cellular base stations and other wireless communications infrastructure, defense, smart home, automotive and other IoT applications.

Repligen Corporation

Repligen is a life sciences company that develops and commercializes bioprocessing technologies and systems used in the process of manufacturing biological drugs. The company's bioprocessing business is comprised of: Chromatography, which includes products used in downstream purification, development, manufacturing and quality control of biological drugs; Filtration, which includes XCell Alternating Tangential Flow systems that are used in upstream perfusion cell culture processing; Process Analytics, which complements and supports its Filtration, Chromatography and Proteins franchises; and OEM products, which are represented by its Protein A affinity ligands and cell culture growth factor products

Seagen Inc.

Seattle Genetics is a biotechnology company that develops and commercializes therapies targeting cancer. The company is commercializing ADCETRIS?, or brentuximab vedotin, for the treatment of several types of lymphoma. The company is also developing a pipeline of therapies for solid tumors and blood-related cancers designed to address unmet medical needs and improve treatment outcomes for patients. Many of the company's programs, including ADCETRIS, are based on its antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), technology. The company's late-stage pipeline includes two ADCs and an oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor, for solid tumors that are in clinical trials designed to support applications for potential regulatory approvals.

Skyworks Solutions Inc.

Skyworks Solutions is a provider of analog semiconductors that connect people, places, and things, spanning a number of applications within the aerospace, automotive, broadband, cellular infrastructure, connected home, industrial, medical, military, smartphone, tablet and wearable markets. The company's product portfolio consists of various solutions, including: amplifiers, antenna tuners, attenuators, circulators/isolators, wireless analog system on chip, direct current (DC)/DC converters, demodulators, detectors, diodes, directional couplers, diversity receive modules, filters, front-end modules, hybrid, light emitting diode drivers, low noise amplifiers, mixers, and modulators.

STMicroelectronics N.V. ADS

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. Sponsored ADR

Texas Instruments Incorporated

Texas Instruments designs and makes semiconductors that it sells to electronics designers and manufacturers. The company has two reportable segments: Analog and Embedded Processing. The company's analog semiconductors change signals, such as sound, temperature, pressure or images to a stream of digital data. The company's analog segment primary product lines includes: power, signal chain, and high volume. The company's embedded processors are designed to handle specific tasks and can be optimized for various combinations of performance, power and cost, depending on the application. The company's embedded processing segment primary product lines includes: connected microcontrollers and processors.

UNIQURE NV

uniQure is a biopharmaceutical company. Co. is engaged in the field of gene therapy, seeking to develop single treatments with potentially curative results for patients suffering from genetic and other diseases. Co. is advancing a focused pipeline of gene therapies that have been developed both internally and through partnerships, such as Co.'s collaboration with Bristol Myers-Squibb focused on cardiovascular diseases. Co. has established clinical proof-of-concept in its key indication, hemophilia B, and achieved preclinical proof-of-concept in Huntington's disease.

United Microelectronics Corp (ADR)

Provider
Vermilion Research
Vermilion Research

Vermilion Research delivers timely, actionable, and unique research inputs to professional investors. Our research strategists highlight securities which we believe are at major inflection points, based on our various proprietary technical indicators, and offer asymmetric risk/return profiles. We believe our research methodology, which is not limited by industry sector or market capitalization, enables us to deliver superior investment recommendations.

Our process begins by organizing all actively traded stocks into coherent sectors, then into logical industry groups. We then apply our proprietary relative strength tools to identify developing price trends. Once attractive trends are identified within a selected sectors or groups, we screen for individual stocks which we believe offer the best risk/reward profile. Vermilion offers U.S. and global equity market research products. Vermilion’s research team, which has received numerous awards and accolades, has a combined 70 year of experience in the analysis of investment securities.

Analysts
Dave Nicoski

Ross LaDuke

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