Top Stories Tuesday, Apr. 18: Elon Musk Says US Intel Agencies Had Access To Twitter DMs, Alibaba's Ant IPO Might Actually See Light, Airbus Pushes Some 2024 Deliveries - Alibaba Gr Hldgs (NYSE:BABA), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Benzinga

Elon Musk has alleged that the previous management of Twitter permitted U.S. and foreign intelligence agencies to access users’ direct messages on the platform.
In an interview with Fox News’s Tucker Carlson, the billionaire tech tycoon said that among the most “absurd” revelations he has made since acquiring the company for $44 billion, Twitter was enabling U.S. and foreign intelligence agencies to view users’ DMs on the platform.

Johnson & Johnson JNJ has reported Q1 FY23 adjusted earnings of $2.68 per share, up 0.4% Y/Y and beating the consensus of $2.51.
Sales increased 5.6% to $24.75 billion, beating the consensus of $23.67 billion, with operational growth of 9.0% and adjusted operational growth of 7.6%.

Bank of America Corp BAC shares are up 2% Tuesday morning following its solid first quarter results that surpassed the Street view.
BAC reported a first-quarter FY23 net income increase of 15% year-over-year to $8.2 billion.
EPS for the quarter was $0.94, compared to $0.80 in 1Q22, beating the consensus of 0.82.

GSK Plc GSK has agreed to acquire the late-stage biopharmaceutical company BELLUS Health Inc BLU for $14.75 a share in cash, representing a total equity value of around $2.0 billion (£1.6 billion).
The pharmaceutical giant said the deal would provide access to camlipixant, a treatment for refractory chronic cough in phase 3 development.

The FDA’s Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee unanimously voted 12-0 in support of approval of Innoviva Inc’s INVA sulbactam-durlobactam for hospital-acquired bacterial pneumonia and ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia caused by susceptible strains of Acinetobacter baumannii-calcoaceticus complex (Acinetobacter).
The sulbactam-durlobactam marketing application was accepted and granted Priority Review by the FDA in November 2022, with a PDUFA target action date of May 29, 2023.

On Tuesday, Alibaba Group Holding Limited-owned DingTalk, a Salesforce Inc CRM-owned Slack counterpart, launched intelligent capabilities based on Alibaba’s ChatGPT-like model dubbed the Tongyi Qianwen large model.
Users can activate over ten AI capabilities by typing a slash symbol.
According to the live demo on DingTalk, this capability can help DingTalk document scenarios to write copy and design posters, create online promotional materials, and combine AI capabilities in meeting scenarios to assist offline promotion discussions, create intelligent meeting minutes, and intelligently extract video conferences.

Ericsson ERIC shares are down Tuesday premarket following its first-quarter results. The company continues to see a choppy environment during 2023 with poor visibility.
ERIC reported a first-quarter FY23 sales growth of 14% year-on-year to SEK 62.6 billion.
Group organic sales remained intact Y/Y. Network organic sales declined by -2%, driven by lower operator capex and inventory optimization among multiple customers.

Goldman Sachs Inc GS reported Q1 net revenues of $12.22 billion, down 5% Y/Y, missing the consensus estimate of $12.79 billion.
Global Banking & Markets net revenues fell 16% Y/Y to $8.44 billion on lower investment banking fees (-26% Y/Y) and Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities (-17% Y/Y) and Equities (-7% Y/Y) revenues.
The company witnessed a significant decline in Advisory revenues owing to considerably lower industry-wide completed mergers and acquisitions deals.

Lockheed Martin Corp LMT reported a first-quarter FY23 net sales growth of 1.1% year-over-year to $15.13 billion, above the consensus of $15.04 billion.
Adjusted EPS of $6.43 topped the consensus of $6.06.
The gross margin expanded 77 bps to 13.5%. The operating profit increased by 5.4% Y/Y to $2.04 billion, and the margin expanded by 55 bps to 13.5%.

Ford Motor Co F has unveiled Lincoln’s newest SUV, the all-new 2024 Nautilus, with new features and connected experiences.
The Nautilus was designed and engineered for the brand’s younger, global customers, offering them choices in technology, design, and powertrains based on their needs and lifestyles.
Through wireless connections, clients can enable Android Auto and Apple Inc AAPL Apple CarPlay features.

Bank of New York Mellon BK clocked a first-quarter revenue increase of 11% year-over-year to $4.36 billion, almost in line with the consensus of $4.40 billion.
Total fee and other revenue inched up by 0.2% to $3.24 billion. Net interest revenue jumped 61.6% to $1.13 billion, primarily reflecting higher interest rates on interest-earning assets, partially offset by higher funding expenses.
Provision for credit losses was $27 million, significantly higher than $2 million in the year-ago period. Higher credit losses primarily reflected changes in the macroeconomic forecast.

Reuters

Airbus SE EADSY notifies customers about delivery delays for its A320neo family of jets. The anticipated delay is of three months.
Airbus confirmed unspecified delays for 2024 but said they did not reflect any worsening of supply chain problems since it revised production plans earlier this year. It reiterated production goals for 2024 and beyond.
“We already communicated in December on the impact for 2023 and are now talking about 2024 in detail,” Airbus stated.

UBS Group AG UBS said it is changing its $6 billion share buyback program following its takeover of Credit Suisse Group Inc CS.
Under the buyback program launched in March 2022, UBS Group decided to issue new shares for the deal.
However, with the latest plan, the company would instead use shares already issued.

Alibaba Group Holding Limited BABA fintech affiliate Ant Group is likely for a lower penalty as regulators brace to end a years-long industry crackdown.
Regulators now propose a penalty of 5 billion yuan ($728 million), down from the prior fine of over $1 billion.
Chinese authorities, notably the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), which has been driving a business overhaul at Ant after quashing its $37 billion IPO in 2020, looks to announce the fine in the coming months.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Elon Musk Says US Intel Agencies Had Access To Twitter DMs, Alibaba's Ant IPO Might Actually See Light, Airbus Pushes Some 2024 Deliveries: Today's Top Stories