CFN Enterprises Stock (OTC:CNFN), Trade Ideas

CFN Enterprises Inc is a creative agency and media network dedicated to the legal cannabis industry. Its CFN Business generates revenue through sponsored content, articles, press releases, videos, podcasts, advertisements, and other media, email advertisements, and other marketing campaigns run on behalf of public and private companies in the cannabis industry. The Company operates under one reporting segment.

Cannabis

News

Penny Stocks

Markets

CNFN

NLBS

CBD has become one of the fastest-growing wellness products globally, reaching more than $11 billion in global sales last year. According to Market Data Forecast, these sales will continue to grow at a 22.2% annual pace to nearly $31 billion by 2026.

NutraLife Accelerates Expansion Into Rapidly Growing $11B CBD Industry

CFN ENTERPRISES INC by CFN ENTERPRISES INC.

CFN Enterprises Inc

Macro Economic Events

Econ #s

Economics

US Continuing Jobless Claims 1.781M vs 1.814M Est.

US Core PCE Prices (Q1) +3.7% vs +3.4% Est.

ULBI: 26% &#x7C; <a href="https://www.benzinga.com//node/38427781">Ultralife shares are trading higher after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 financial results.</a>
CDTX: 41% &#x7C; <a href="https://www.benzinga.com//node/38424691">Cidara Therapeutics shares are trading higher after the company announced the divestiture of rezafungin to Mundipharma, reacquired global development and commercial rights to CD388 and announced $240 million in private placement financing.</a>
&nbsp;OPTN: 36% &#x7C; <a href="https://www.benzinga.com//node/38427162">Optinose Provides Corporate Updates; Expects To Produce Positive Income From Operations For Full Year 2025</a>

Movers

Trading Ideas

CDTX

OPTN

ULBI

Market-Moving News for April 25th

<a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=AMMIqDcA0fHfxgmiKWFRG4cM-DjtRsFTffEoPTdI27eWuXHNfeJH15jWPoGBcy7ljtrdA2WnXg3MG4-DkXodaQ==">Cerence Inc.&nbsp;</a>(NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/CRNC#NASDAQ">CRNC</a>), AI for a world in motion, today announced that Foxtron, a subsidiary of Hon Hai Technology Group, has selected Cerence to bring intuitive, voice-powered interaction to its new electric vehicles, bringing these features to drivers in Taiwan for the first time. With bilingual recognition in Taiwanese Mandarin and English, Foxtron's new voice-powered experience will support the automakers' expansion in Taiwan and globally. &nbsp;
Foxtron will deploy Cerence Assistant, the company's full-stack audio and voice AI solution, including technologies ranging from noise reduction to conversational interaction. With this solution, customers will have voice-powered access to control key vehicle features and functions, including media, navigation, car controls, climate controls, and more. The system will support dual sound zones, meaning both drivers and passengers can benefit from the experience.&nbsp;&nbsp;
"At Foxtron, intuitive and intelligent software is core to the user experience in our vehicles," said Adam Chen, Senior Vice President, Foxtron. "As we work to advance adoption of electric vehicles internationally, we are proud to partner with Cerence to leverage its industry-leading, AI-powered in-car assistant capabilities as the basis of the next generation of the Foxtron in-car experience."
"We're proud to partner with Foxtron to bring the power of voice interaction to drivers in Taiwan for the first time," said Christian Mentz, Chief Revenue Officer, Cerence. "As Foxtron leads the way in new EV innovation in the region, Cerence Assistant will be a central piece of the user experience, bringing intuitive, intelligent interaction that enhances safety productivity, and enjoyment on the road."
To learn more about Cerence, visit <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=6ijL7ZVT7MbCy_yuUKA8sgxscXT3FhLrEgx3JRWwXkZSyW-KYxp3YRXRFqsHShlTOG0Mn1ZLCVKpo9KS50RcTA==">www.cerence.com</a>, and follow the company on <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=8bR5BdA4_0AEMs2ugNJWl9L5UyldD45J3DV9qA2avwu5kEQPb2YUzebckq0uqDKhszf0IkjTkkFj_ve8aZZAHKLGjPda6b8WIMdEBs1gV5Q=">LinkedIn</a> and <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=kHREqgOLmXiUKY1MCMvk62J3Crc1pTHLaqgQv2XBzdOEFfFm46guhthhuoOGmCg9zrLi9yiILm3k8EpEwh_44Q==">Twitter</a>.

Global

CRNC

Foxtron And Cerence Collaborate To Bring First-Of-Its-Kind Intuitive Interaction To Foxtron's New Electric Vehicles In Taiwan

DA Davidson analyst Gil Luria upgrades Manhattan Associates (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/MANH#NASDAQ">MANH</a>) from Neutral to Buy and raises the price target from $220 to $240.

Upgrades

Price Target

Analyst Ratings

MANH

DA Davidson Upgrades Manhattan Associates to Buy, Raises Price Target to $240

USA GDP (QoQ) For Q1 x1.6% Vs 2.5% Est.; 3.4% Prior

GDP (QoQ) (Q1) +1.6% vs +2.5% Est.

Goods Trade Balance For March -91.83B Vs -91.1B Expected; -91.84B Prior

USA Initial Jobless Claims 207K Vs 214K Est.; 212K Prior

Republic Bancorp (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/RBCAA#NASDAQ">RBCAA</a>) reported quarterly earnings of $1.58 per share which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $1.63 by 3.07 percent. This is a 11.27 percent increase over earnings of $1.42 per share from the same period last year.

Earnings

RBCAA

Republic Bancorp Q1 EPS $1.58 Misses $1.63 Estimate

Guidance and investor update
Based on present demand trends and the current fuel price forecast and excluding the impact of special items, the company expects its second-quarter 2024 adjusted earnings per diluted share4 to be between $1.15 and $1.45. The company continues to expect its full-year adjusted earnings per diluted share4 to be between $2.25 and $3.25.

Guidance

CORRECTION: American Airlines Reiterates FY24 Adj. EPS Outlook $2.25 - $3.25 Vs. $2.35 Estimate

<ul>
<li>"Bezisterim" has been approved as the non-proprietary name for NE3107 &nbsp;</li>
<li>Data shows how bezisterim may be restoring homeostasis via specific genes associated with dementia, metabolism, and inflammation</li>
</ul>
CARSON CITY, Nev., April 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioVie Inc. (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/BIVI#NASDAQ">BIVI</a>), ("BioVie" or the "Company"), a clinical-stage company developing innovative drug therapies to treat chronic debilitating conditions including neurological and neuro-degenerative disorders and liver disease, today announced that an oral presentation and poster revealing additional data on how bezisterim potentially restores homeostasis was presented at the 12th Annual Alzheimer's &amp; Parkinson's Drug Development Summit held in Boston, Massachusetts April 23-25.
The presentation Clinical Outcomes and Biomarker Findings from a Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Bezisterim in Subjects with Mild to Moderate Probable Alzheimer's Disease was presented yesterday by Christopher Reading, PhD, BioVie's Senior Vice President, Alzheimer's Disease Program.
The data presented were based on further analysis of data generated from BioVie's Phase 3 trial in Alzheimer's disease (AD) that was unblinded at the end of 2023. The DNA methylation dataset assessed the extent of DNA methylation on roughly 965,000 individual sites where methyl groups can be attached to the patients' DNA.
"We all age and get older – nothing can change that. But these data provide evidence that bezisterim may have the potential to help keep people healthier for a longer time as we age," said Cuong Do, BioVie's President and CEO. "BioVie believes that DNA methylation may not need to constantly increase as we age, and thus the progression of age-related disease may not be uni-directional. Bezisterim is believed to be the first drug candidate that has shown in clinical trials the ability to modulate the level of DNA methylation, and do so in a manner that's correlated with disease. But we are only at the beginnings of exploring the full potential of this unique molecule and how it can help modulate the progression of age-related diseases."
DNA methylation is a natural process where methyl groups are added to the surface of DNA, thereby interfering with the body's natural process for decoding genetic information. DNA methylation accumulates as people age and can be affected by behavioral (diet, exercise) and environmental factors. Hypermethylation of DNA has been associated with a large number of diseases, including age-related cognitive impairment and dementia, Parkinson's disease (PD), various forms of cancers, cardiovascular disease (CVD), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and respiratory disease, chronic kidney disease (CKD), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), sepsis and many others.1 Inflammation has been shown to be a driver of hypermethylation of DNA,2 and the extent of DNA methylation can be measured by various "biological clocks."
Newly presented data show that patients treated with bezisterim experienced an age deceleration advantage over patients treated with placebo on four biological clocks, in addition to previously published advantage on the SkinBlood Clock3 (-3.68 years, p=0.017). Age deceleration is the difference between a person's biological age as measured by various DNA methylation clocks and their actual age since birth. A lower value is preferable and suggests that the biological age is lower than the actual age. Bezisterim-treated patients saw -4.77 years advantage on the Inflammation Age Clock4 (p=0.022), -5.0 years advantage on the Hannum Age Clock5 (p=0.006), -1.92 years advantage on the GrimAge Clock6 (p=0.068), and -3.71 years on the PhenoAge Clock7 (p=0.081).
Bezisterim's ability to reduce DNA methylation appears to target 21 specific genes identified thus far. Statistically significant correlations were found between DNA methylation levels for 15 genes and various clinical measures for bezisterim-treated patients whereas such relationship did not exist among placebo patients. This suggests that the DNA methylation levels among placebo patients accumulated to such an extent that they disrupted the natural linkage between the gene and the clinical measure, and that bezisterim was able to restore such homeostatic relationships. One example of this phenomenon involves the transmembrane protein 237 (TMEM237) gene, which is associated with neurodevelopment delays. Significant correlations were found between improvements in the DNA methylation levels for this gene and improvements in various clinical cognitive assessments among bezisterim-treated patients whereas no such correlations were seen among placebo patients.
Additionally, placebo patients saw statistically significant correlation between DNA methylation levels for 6 pro-inflammatory genes and clinical measures, while bezisterim-treated patients saw no correlations. This suggests that bezisterim disrupted the negative consequences of DNA methylation that promotes inflammation and restored homeostasis.
The impact of DNA methylation and bezisterim's activity can also be seen at a cellular level. Myeloid lineage cells (monocytes, macrophages, astrocyte and microglia) exist in a continuum between two extremes of promoting inflammation and tissue destruction (M1 and A1 state) and anti-inflammatory, phagocytic and tissue repair (M2 and A2 state). Placebo patients saw a significant correlation between their Monocyte DNA Methylation Clock and the monocyte levels in their blood samples. No such correlation exists, however, for bezisterim-treated patients, suggesting that bezisterim's impact on DNA methylation may be changing the monocyte DNA methylome from a pro-inflammatory to an anti-inflammatory state (M1&nbsp;→ M2 transition hypothesis).
The name "bezisterim" has been approved as the non-proprietary (generic) name for NE3107 by the United States Adopted Names (USAN) Council and World Health Organization (WHO) International Nonproprietary Names (INN) expert committee.

Biotech

General

BIVI

BioVie Presents Data Showing Potential For Bezisterim To Reduce Inflammation And Restore Homeostasis In A Manner Correlated With Alzheimer's Disease And Biomarker Endpoints

Goldman Sachs analyst Brooke Roach maintains SharkNinja (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/SN#NYSE">SN</a>) with a Buy and raises the price target from $59 to $74.

Goldman Sachs Maintains Buy on SharkNinja, Raises Price Target to $74

Wedbush analyst Jay McCanless reiterates PennyMac Financial Servs (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/PFSI#NYSE">PFSI</a>) with a Outperform and maintains $110 price target.

Reiteration

PFSI

Wedbush Reiterates Outperform on PennyMac Financial Servs, Maintains $110 Price Target

Altria Group Inc&nbsp;(NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/MO#NYSE">MO</a>) reported a first-quarter FY24 sales decline of 2.5% year-on-year to $5.58 billion,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/24/04/b38426149/altria-reports-2024-first-quarter-results-reaffirms-full-year-guidance" rel="noreferrer noopener">beating the analyst consensus estimate of $4.71 billion</a>.
The revenue decrease was primarily driven by lower net revenues in the smokeable products segment, partially offset by higher net revenues in the oral tobacco products&nbsp;segment&nbsp;and&nbsp;the&nbsp;all&nbsp;other&nbsp;category.
Revenues net of excise tax decreased 1% to $4.7 billion. Revenue for smokeable products decreased by 3.6%, and oral tobacco products grew by 3.7%.
Smokeable&nbsp;products segment reported&nbsp;domestic&nbsp;cigarette shipment volume decrease of 10%, with Marlboro down 8.7%.
Gross profit fell 1.5% Y/Y to $3.280 billion. The operating income for the quarter decreased by 3% to $2.7 billion.
Adjusted EPS of $1.15 was&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.benzinga.com/calendars/earnings" rel="noreferrer noopener">in line with the consensus estimate.</a>&nbsp;
In the first quarter, the company paid dividends of $1.7 billion. After&nbsp;the completion of&nbsp;the accelerated share repurchase program, Altria&nbsp;expects to have $1 billion remaining under the currently authorized $3.4 billion share repurchase program.
Altria held $3.6 billion in cash and equivalents as of March-end.&nbsp;Total&nbsp;debt of Altria amounted to $25.042 billion.
&#8220;In spite of&nbsp;the absence of an effective regulatory environment, we saw continued early momentum from NJOY and believe our businesses are on track to deliver against full-year plans,&#8221; said CEO Billy Gifford.
Outlook Reaffirmed: Altria sees FY24 adjusted EPS of $5.05 &#8211; $5.17 versus an estimate of $5.08.
The company expects 2024 adjusted EPS growth to&nbsp;be weighted&nbsp;to the&nbsp;second half of the year.&nbsp;
Price Action: MO shares are trading higher by 0.19% at $43.00 in premarket at the last check Thursday.
Photo via Shutterstock

Equities

Altria's Marlboro Shipment Volume Plunges 8.7% In Q1 - What's Going On?

KKR and Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc. ("BREIT") today announced a definitive agreement for funds managed by KKR to acquire a portfolio of 19 purpose-built student housing properties from BREIT for approximately $1.64 billion.
The over 10,000-bed portfolio is comprised of 19 purpose-built, premium student housing assets anchored to 14 leading four-year public universities across 10 states. The communities feature a wide range of best-in-class amenities and the majority are located with easy pedestrian access to campus. BREIT acquired this portfolio in 2018 in a joint venture with Greystar Real Estate Partners, LLC ("Greystar").
"Student housing is a sector that we have long-term conviction in. We are pleased to be working with Blackstone to complete this transaction which will add a diverse mix of high-quality properties to our portfolio," said Justin Pattner, Partner at KKR and Head of Real Estate Equity in the Americas. "The operating capabilities we have built with University Partners over the past decade and our ability to transact at scale, position us to create value for our investors and to continue investing in great living experiences across these communities. We are deploying into what we view as a compelling market environment to purchase quality real estate."
Jacob Werner, Co-Head of Americas Acquisitions for Blackstone Real Estate, said: "This transaction is an excellent outcome for BREIT's investors and demonstrates the strong demand for the high-quality assets in attractive markets that BREIT owns. We continue to have long-term conviction in student housing and are actively growing through BREIT's student housing platform, American Campus Communities, which is the largest owner of student housing in the U.S."
Upon closing of the transaction, the portfolio will be managed by University Partners, a leading owner and operator of student housing across the U.S. KKR launched University Partners in 2016 with a team of industry veterans as part of its strategy of creating vertically-integrated platforms to build scaled exposures to attractive real estate sectors. Over the past decade, KKR has acquired institutional-quality properties in top university markets across the country and expanded University Partners' business to include third-party property management. Inclusive of the pending acquisition, University Partners will own and manage over 25,000 beds, representing nearly $4 billion of property value owned by KKR and other investors.
"This is a high quality, scaled portfolio of purpose-built student housing assets serving the country's leading four-year public universities," said Travis Roberts, Chief Executive Officer of University Partners. "Approximately half of the portfolio is in markets where we have existing operating experience, and this transaction will enable us to expand our presence into a number of attractive new markets. We believe student housing in the top university markets will continue to benefit from strong enrollment growth and structural constraints on new supply."
Blackstone, predominantly through its wholly owned portfolio company American Campus Communities (ACC), is the largest owner of student housing in the U.S., with more than 190 properties, representing approximately 140,000 beds. Since acquiring ACC in 2022, Blackstone has enabled ACC to build more student housing, including breaking ground on four new student housing communities since Fall 2023. ACC expects to welcome students to six additional new ACC communities across the country in 2024.
The transaction is expected to close by the third quarter of 2024, subject to customary closing conditions. KKR is making its investment in this portfolio primarily from its KKR Real Estate Partners Americas III fund.
Gibson, Dunn &amp; Crutcher LLP served as legal advisor to KKR.
TSB Capital Advisors and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC served as BREIT's financial advisors. Simpson Thacher &amp; Bartlett LLP served as BREIT's legal advisor.

Asset Sales

BSTT

KKR And Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust Announces Agreement For Funds Managed By KKR To Acquire A Portfolio Of 19 Purpose-Built Student Housing Properties From BREIT For ~$1.64B

Canaccord Genuity analyst Maria Ripps maintains Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/META#NASDAQ">META</a>) with a Buy and lowers the price target from $610 to $575.

Canaccord Genuity Maintains Buy on Meta Platforms, Lowers Price Target to $575

Wedbush analyst Jay McCanless maintains Mr. Cooper Gr (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/COOP#NASDAQ">COOP</a>) with a Outperform and raises the price target from $85 to $100.

COOP

Wedbush Maintains Outperform on Mr. Cooper Gr, Raises Price Target to $100

ACNB (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/ACNB#NASDAQ">ACNB</a>) reported quarterly earnings of $0.80 per share which met the analyst consensus estimate.

ACNB

ACNB Q1 2024 GAAP EPS $0.80, Inline

Wedbush analyst David Chiaverini reiterates Pacific Premier Bancorp (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/PPBI#NASDAQ">PPBI</a>) with a Neutral and maintains $25 price target.