In today’s Bulldog wrapup of technology and life science news:
- Red Hat is a “top pick” for 2016 according to one Wall Street analyst
- Kalobios files for bankruptcy
- Apple agrees to pay $350 million in Italian tax case
- A federal appeals court says offensive trademarks can’t be rejected
The details:
- Analyst likes Hatters in 2016, citing cloud
Brian White, ana analyst at Drexel Hamilton, says Red Hat is one of his top four picks among tech stocks in 2016.
White also likes Apple, Hortonworks (Hadoop) and Tableau Software.
Why Red Hat?
“Tthe development of next generation applications around Linux” and “emerging businesses,” such as Platform-as-a-service, or PaaS, “is opening up new areas of future growth,” reports Baron’s
Twenty analysts recently raised their price target for Red Hat shares after the company’s most recent positive earnings report and its forecast for the New Year.
Read more at:
http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2015/12/29/apple-red-hat-hortonworks-tableau-to-win-in-16-says-drexel/
- Kalobios files for bankruptcy
Kalobios, the troubled drugmaker taken over by Martin Shkreli last month, is seeking bankruptcy protection less than two weeks after his arrest on securities fraud.
It is the second pharmaceutical with ties to the former hedge fund manager now in turmoil following his indictment on charges unrelated to his involvement with them, though the drugmakers are not lacking for problems of their own
The other, Turing Pharmaceuticals Inc., is cutting jobs and seeking a new CEO after Shkreli resigned the position because of his arrest.
Turing, under Shkreli, acquired the rights to a treatment for a rare parasitic infection that mainly strikes pregnant women and raised the price from $13.50 to $750 per pill. That shoved the New York company right into the crosshairs of lawmakers under pressure from constituents to do something about soaring drug prices.
Retail prices have surged 401 percent since 2009 for brand-name drugs for skin conditions, according to research published in JAMA Dermatology, a medical journal. That compares to an overall inflation rate of just 11 percent during the same period.
A report published in May by the pharmacy-benefits company Express Scripts found that 576,000 Americans spent at least $50,000 on prescription drugs in 2014, a sum roughly equivalent to the U.S. median household income.
- Apple agrees to pay $350 million in Italian tax case
Italian authorities say Apple Italia has agreed to pay 318 million euros ($350 million) in taxes for several past years and is working out a deal to cover futuretax liabilities for business it does in the country.
The case is one of several against global technology companies that use headquarters in low-tax nations like Ireland to avoid paying higher taxes in other countries, like Italy.
Milan prosecutors Wednesday confirmed a report in Rome daily La Repubblica thatApple agreed to pay the sum for years spanning 2008-2013. The prosecutors also saidApple and Italy are working to reach an accord on what the company’s tax liabilities will be for successive years.
Apple offices in Milan, London and Ireland were closed on Wednesday. Messages seeking comment weren’t immediately answered.
- Appeals court says government can’t reject offensive trademarks
A federal appeals court recently ruled that the government can’t refuse to register trademarks that might be considered disparaging or offensive.
The ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit sided with an Asian-American rock band called The Slants, which has spent years trying to register the name. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had refused to give it legal protection on the ground that it disparages Asians.
Writing for a nine-judge majority, Judge Kimberly Moore says the First Amendment protects “even hurtful speech that harms members of oft-stigmatized communities.” She says a federal law barring offensive trademarks is unconstitutional.
The decision could bolster the Washington Redskins in their legal fight over the team name.
