RITE AID: Files for Bankruptcy

Rite Aid filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New Jersey on Sunday, announcing intentions to restructure and considerably decrease its debt.

In the latest quarter, revenue declined to $5.65 billion from $6.01 billion in the same quarter the previous year. The net loss increased to $306.7 million, or $5.56 per share, up from a net loss of $110.2 million, or $2.03 per share, a year prior.

Due to the challenging quarter, Rite Aid revised its financial forecast for 2024 downward, alerting shareholders to anticipate losses ranging from $650 million to $680 million for the entire year. It is set to conclude in late February.

The firm has agreed with its creditors to a restructuring strategy involving assessing its retail presence and shutting down poorly performing stores. Additionally, Rite Aid mentioned that its lenders have consented to offer $3.45 billion in additional funds to ensure adequate liquidity during the restructuring process.

🎯 GRIT TAKE: In the past few years, Rite-Aid moved its primary revenue focus from focusing on retail products to retail pharmacy…

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PFIZER: Slashes Future Guidance

Pfizer reduced its annual earnings and revenue forecasts on Friday, citing decreased demand for its Covid-related products.

The company anticipates 2023 sales to be between $58 billion and $61 billion, a decrease from their earlier projection of $67 billion to $70 billion. This reduction in revenue forecast is attributed entirely to their COVID-19 products.

Pfizer also revised its annual adjusted earnings prediction to $1.4 to $1.65 per share, down from the earlier estimate of $3.25 to $3.45 per share.

UNITED STATES: More Regulations on China

The U.S. is set to unveil onerous regulations to limit China's acquisition of advanced semiconductors and related equipment to prevent its global competitor from securing top-tier technologies that might provide a military advantage.

The Biden administration plans to intensify the limitations on sales of graphics chips used for artificial intelligence purposes and state-of-the-art chip manufacturing tools to Chinese companies.

The U.S. will also introduce further inspections on Chinese companies trying to bypass export limits by directing their shipments through third-party countries. Additionally, Chinese chip design companies will be added to a trade limitation list, necessitating foreign manufacturers to obtain a U.S. license before fulfilling orders for these entities.

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The Pharma-Bro Villian

This guy is a popular finance figure, but for all the wrong reasons. In fact, he raised the price of a life-saving drug from $13.50 to $750 per pill overnight.

Martin Shkreli is famous for his career in pharmaceutical drugs, but he got his start in finance by launching a hedge fund in 2006. This hedge fund focused on biotech stocks but eventually went under due to a civil lawsuit by Lehman Brothers. Unfazed by his failure, Shkreli launched another fund called MSMB Capital with the same focus as Elea Capital.

MSMB Capital was much more successful and focused on hostile pharmaceutical takeovers. In 2015, they launched Turing Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of MSMB Capital, and acquired drugs from different companies, ultimately making him an extremely famous “villain.” Turing acquired the rights to Daraprim, a life-saving drug that treats a parasite infection.

Shkreli raised the drug's price from $13.50 to $750 per pill, and the public was outraged. Shkreli disregarded this sentiment and raised the prices of other drugs he owned. A few months later, he was arrested on securities and wire fraud charges, where he was later found guilty and sentenced to 7 years in prison. The DOJ has said their arrest had nothing to do with his role in raising the price of pills, but you have to wonder….

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