00:00 Speaker A
Let’s take a look at some of today’s trending tickers. We’re focused on the Anthropic, Dr Pepper, and Vir Biotechnology markets, and we’re joined by data editor Jared Blicker. First, let’s talk about Anthropic. The company announced several new agent AI tools for cloud chat that now work across multiple sectors. Well, especially professional service. This is very interesting. Because it clearly speaks to the larger question of whether the software is seriously subverted, or whether the software itself is subverted and uses AI agents for the software’s purposes.
00:28 Speaker A
advantage. In other words, this announcement seems to be heading in that direction.
00:32 Jared Bricle
And we’ve witnessed several of these in the past few weeks. Then, over the weekend, the Citrini research report was released, but it was just a thought experiment and only added fuel to the fire. Two years into the future, oh, all these companies, like American companies, said, “We don’t need software as a service anymore.” I plan to do everything myself. That was the purpose. But without going too far, let’s get back to this. So, um, two new enterprise plugin tools for Claude are collaborating. This is aimed at automating workflows for investment banking, asset management, as you mentioned, human resources, sources, engineering, and design.
01:06 Jared Bricle
And Claude says this is workflow support. So it’s not a replacement for people, but it’s still where people’s heads are headed. Everything is green here, but you can see that yesterday everything was red. In fact, if you type in the past year, you’ll see a lot of red on your screen. This is a scary screen for many companies, and for many executives who run those companies. But I don’t think today’s reaction added fuel to that fire. And companies like ADP, Paychecks, work day, Dayforce, and SAP all provide work sources with design companies from Adobe to Autodesk and Unity, as well as adjacent companies like Microsoft, Salesforce, Google, and Docusign. All of these are now in the green. Well, it could also disrupt bank stocks. Well, I’ll let you know if I can contact the bank.
01:57 Speaker A
As I recall earlier, I think they were the group with the worst performance.
02:00 Jared Bricle
Okay, so there’s a lot of red on the screen, but yesterday we had completely different news: a bank went bankrupt. And I think banks are just struggling simply because they’re one of the worst-performing sectors year-to-date, if not the worst. So it doesn’t necessarily have to be tied to this particular announcement. But I’m very encouraged by the fact that the software industry doesn’t seem to be losing another 10%.
02:20 Speaker A
right. I mean, if you look at companies recently, a company could get mentioned in something like the Citorini report and its stock price could drop. But in the meantime, Anthropic, here are some of the companies that Anthropic is calling on. You mentioned Docusign, Spotify, Adobe, Figma, Accenture, Legal Zoom, Thompson Reuters, and I believe you mentioned a company called Intap. So all of these things were mentioned today at an event that Anthropic held as a partner for this professional services agency AI, and all of these stocks are going up. So I think this is the flip side of the fear that they’re going to play ball and it might help them.
03:00 Jared Bricle
Yeah, that’s a great perspective.
03:01 Speaker A
Let’s see if that happens. Okay, let’s talk about something that I don’t think will be that disrupted by AI. Soda, maybe I’m wrong. And coffee. Kirig Dr. Pepper’s stock price is rising after the company reported earnings that beat expectations. The company also announced an upside sales forecast for this year, driven by strong demand for popular soft drinks such as 7up and Dr Pepper Zero. I didn’t even know Dr. Pepper Zero existed because I wasn’t surprised.
03:25 Jared Bricle
It’s almost time though. There’s Diet Dr. Pepper.
03:28 Speaker A
right.
03:29 Jared Bricle
Now, let’s look at the actual results. Yeah, because stocks are skyrocketing here. And this is a company that has a partnership with Pete. And I think this should be closed down soon. It appears that the regulatory hurdles have been cleared. So some of those numbers are built into the guidance, but it was a beat in the fourth quarter of 60 cents versus 59 cents on adjusted EPS. That’s not a big deal. Revenue: 4.5 billion vs. 4.36 billion. Beverages looked solid, up 11.5% year over year, and coffee sales were up almost 4% year over year. And the 2026 guide has appeared here. Therefore, net sales are between 25.9 billion and 26.4 billion. The street was 17.2, so this is a significant increase. And the main reason is because we expect this JDE Pete Steel to be shut down. Organic core remains stable and here’s what analysts think: RBC said its outlook for 2026 was stable, and while it viewed JDE Pete Steel as a tailwind, it noted investors remained cautious about deal structures. Now, let’s access it interactively and create a chart. This is an intraday that is scheduled to start with a 3% increase. It’s a nice pop song. year to date. Now you know you’re finally back. Therefore, Staples was one of the best performing sectors this year. Yeah, that’s unusual in itself, but it looks like KDP is finally catching up there. But when I show you the past five years, I get a little depressed. Well, we broke out of this trading range late last year, and we were able to move beyond that. If you go back to the beginning of this century and put the biggest chart here, you’ll see that stocks have been trending sideways for the past five years or so, although there’s been a big drop there. So perhaps this is the beginning of an upturn in the stock price.
05:01 Speaker A
Let’s take a look. Finally, we have Vir Biotechnology, whose stock price soared after the company announced positive data from an early-stage trial of its prostate cancer drug. The drug’s developer also said it was collaborating with a company called Aus Pharma on the same trial. I’m fascinated by early-stage biotech companies like this. Because when something like this happens to someone, stock prices can skyrocket.
05:24 Jared Bricle
Looking at these stock charts, I think this is why biotech stocks have their own breed of day traders. It’s like an electrocardiogram. There will be a long period of nothing, then suddenly the sound will come on, and then it will be disappointed and go down again. Ah, that’s exactly the area. I’m not trying to bully anyone in particular here. But let’s salute these companies for their efforts. I honestly didn’t know these names. So VR, a small biotech company that makes immune system drugs. Your body’s defenses are trying to help find and kill the disease. Although he is known for his research on infectious diseases, he is also focusing on the field of cancer. Today, Ars is a major pharmaceutical company based in Japan that sells cancer treatments and specialty pharmaceuticals. That’s why the partnership is so meaningful. We’re going to take this little company’s VR and couple it with a backing stealth. So let’s get into some details here. The funding is headlined by VR, or $335 million up front in the short term, with the chance to earn about $1.37 billion more if the drug reaches milestones. And those milestones will be very important. In addition, you will earn royalties on sales outside the United States. Company A acquires key commercialization rights, including outside the US, and VR maintains a path to participation in the US if it wishes. Hmm, what should I watch next? We have new initial data expected in late February. Oh, that’s kind of close. That’s the next check. Raymond James upgraded the stock to Buy. VR said the data market hit the mark, and some have since raised their price target from $19 to $12 to $19. Needham reiterated his buy rating, saying safety and efficacy could be best-in-class and that earnings estimates are consistent with the company’s best-case scenario, which raises its price target from $14 to $18.
07:07 Speaker A
yes. Well, we’ll see how far this drug advances, but it’s clear that this is probably just one milestone on the road to possible approval. Let’s take a look. Thank you Jared. appreciate.
