Google's advertising business defies AI rivals and Trump's tariffs + New Intel boss announces 'painful decisions' + Procter & Gamble lowers forecast + Pepsico cuts profit target due to tariff dispute + Evotec beckons with 75 million dollars from research alliance with Bristol-Myers Squibb

Google's $GOOGL (+1.27%)Advertising business defies AI rivals and Trump's tariffs

• Google's online advertising business continues to grow - despite competition from new AI rivals.
• In the past quarter, advertising revenue rose by 8.5 percent year-on-year to just under 66.9 billion dollars (58.9 billion euros).
• This was slightly above analysts' expectations.
• The share price rose by 4.6 percent at times in after-hours trading.
• Advertising at Google continues to generate the majority of the parent company Alphabet's revenues.
• The development of the advertising business is being monitored very closely.
• A key question is whether attempts by competitors to use artificial intelligence to display direct answers instead of links will leave a mark on Google's search engine.
• Meanwhile, Google itself is moving in this direction with AI-generated overviews of search queries.
• These "AI overviews" currently reach 1.5 billion users per month, said CEO Sundar Pichai.
• AI is also increasingly being used in another area at Google.
• "Significantly more" than 30 percent of the software code - the millions of lines of program code behind Google services - is now pre-formulated by artificial intelligence and taken over by humans, said Pichai.
• In the past, this was mainly manual work for programmers.
• There was also an unusual factor behind the strong increase in profits: the revaluation of the stake in a company not listed on the stock exchange contributed eight billion dollars, it was said.
• A name was not mentioned - but according to the Bloomberg financial service, this is Elon Musk's space company SpaceX.
• According to the report, the internet company participated in a SpaceX financing round a decade ago.

New Intel boss $INTC (+0.37%)announces 'painful decisions'

• The new CEO of the crisis-ridden chip company Intel has announced "painful decisions" and the prospect of job cuts just a few weeks after taking office.
• Intel must reduce costs and remove bureaucratic hurdles, said Lip-Bu Tan after the presentation of quarterly figures.
• He emphasized that this would also involve cutting jobs.
• Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner said at the same time that Intel could not yet give any figures on the extent of the job cuts.
• The company also wants to reduce costs in other ways.
• The financial service Bloomberg recently reported that Intel could soon announce the reduction of around a fifth of its jobs.
• The number of Intel employees had already fallen to just under 109,000 by the end of last year from a good 124,000 at the end of September.
• Intel once dominated the semiconductor market, but has been struggling with problems for years.
• Graphics card specialist Nvidia has conquered a leading position, particularly in the business with chips for artificial intelligence.
• Intel is also under greater pressure in its traditional business with PC processors and chips for data centers.
• Intel disappointed investors with its sales forecast for the current quarter.
• The shares fell by a good five percent in after-hours trading.
• Intel forecast revenues of between 11.2 and 12.4 billion dollars for the second quarter. Analysts had expected an average forecast of around 12.8 billion dollars.
• From the investors' point of view, this weighed more heavily than the results of the first quarter, in which Intel exceeded market expectations.
• Sales stagnated at 12.7 billion dollars, while analysts had expected a decline to 12.3 billion dollars on average.
• At the bottom line, the loss of 800 million dollars was twice as high as a year ago.
• However, Intel's adjusted earnings per share of 0.13 dollars clearly exceeded analysts' forecasts of just 0.01 dollars.

Procter & Gamble $PG (+0.36%)lowers forecast

• The gloomy consumer sentiment and the ongoing trade disputes are making the consumer goods group Procter & Gamble more pessimistic for the current financial year.
• The company lowered its sales and profit forecasts when presenting its figures for the third financial quarter.
• The company announced in Cincinnati on Thursday that revenue in the 2024/25 financial year (as at the end of June) is likely to grow organically by only around two percent.
• Previously, the Group had forecast growth of three to five percent.
• This excludes currency and portfolio effects.
• Adjusted earnings per share are also likely to increase less than expected.
• Procter & Gamble now expects growth of two to four percent instead of five to seven percent.
• CFO Andre Schulten had already reported in February that deliveries to retailers had slowed down - the manager warned at the time that the company could miss its profit forecast.
• He also pointed to a decline in consumption in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, which he attributed to the "anti-Western sentiment" prevailing there.
• Analysts had already expected earnings per share to be below the previous Group forecast, but Procter & Gamble has now cut its profit expectations even more sharply than expected.
• In the third quarter, sales fell by two percent to 19.8 billion US dollars (around 17.4 billion euros), as the company also announced.
• In organic terms, revenue grew slightly by one percent.
• However, this was less than analysts had expected.
• At 3.8 billion dollars, net profit was roughly on a par with the previous year.
• Adjusted earnings per share increased by one percent to 1.54 dollars.

Pepsico $PEP (+0.31%)cuts profit target due to customs dispute

• The US food company Pepsico expects lower profits than before this year due to the global customs dispute.
• Pepsico announced on Thursday that earnings per share adjusted for special effects (core EPS), excluding currency effects, are likely to remain at around the previous year's level.
• Originally, Pepsico had targeted an increase in the mid-single-digit percentage range.
• Sales, on the other hand, are expected to continue to grow organically in the low single-digit percentage range.
• The tariffs are likely to make supply chains more expensive, complained Pepsico CEO Ramon Laguarta according to the press release.
• Pepsico is trying to counteract the higher costs.
• However, volatility and uncertainty are likely to increase.
• At the same time, consumer sentiment remains weak in many regions - here, too, the outlook is uncertain.
• In the twelve weeks to March 22, Pepsico missed analysts' expectations.
• Sales fell by 1.8 percent to 17.92 billion US dollars (15.74 billion euros) compared to the same period last year.
• Net income attributable to shareholders fell by around ten percent to 1.83 billion dollars.

Evotec $EVT (+1.96%)will receive 75 million dollars from research alliance with Bristol-Myers Squibb $BMY (+1.98%)

• For the Hamburg-based drug researcher and developer Evotec, the long-term collaboration with the pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb is paying off.
• The Hanseatic company announced on Thursday that it had made significant progress in the field of protein degradation.
• Evotec will therefore now receive a total of 75 million dollars in accordance with the agreement.
• The news was well received on the stock market, with the share price rising by almost four percent in pre-market trading.
• Evotec has been working with Bristol-Myers Squibb since 2018 and extended the partnership in 2022.

Friday: Stock market dates, economic data, quarterly figures

Stock exchange holiday Australia

• ex-dividend of individual stocks
• ENGIE EUR 1.48
• Semperit Holding EUR 0.50
• ABN AMRO Bank 0.75 EUR
• BE Semiconductor Industries EUR 2.18

• Quarterly figures / company dates USA / Asia
• 13:00 Colgate-Palmolive quarterly figures
• 13:45 Abbvie quarterly figures

• Quarterly figures / Company dates Europe
• 07:00 Nordex | Südzucker | Safran | Signify quarterly figures | Holcim Trading Update 1Q
• 07:30 Atoss Software quarterly figures
• 08:00 Yara | Palfinger quarterly figures
• 10:00 Bayer | Continental | Merck KGaA AGM | Holcim Analyst Conference
• 14:00 Nordex Conference Call | Akzo Nobel AGM

• Economic data

08:00 DE: Construction industry, new orders and sales February

08:00 UK: Retail Sales March FORECAST: -0.4% yoy/+1.6% yoy previous: +1.0% yoy/+2.2% yoy

08:45 FR: Business Climate Index April FORECAST: 96 previous: 96

16:00 US: Consumer Sentiment Index Uni Michigan (2nd survey) April FORECAST: 50.8 1st survey: 50.8 PREV: 57.0

16:15 US: Atlantic Council, fireside chat with member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England, Greene

19:30 US: IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings, IMF Steering Committee (IMFC) press conference.

My development in this area has been very mixed. After I sold in December $WBA (+0.9%) after a risky purchase - to lower the buy in - with +/- 0, my investment in $AFX (+1.39%) was abruptly terminated, leaving me with a hefty loss, and shortly afterwards I unfortunately also lost my shares in $UNH (+4.71%) but still with a profit of 8%. Today I decided to recoup my losses and sold my $BMY (+1.98%) sold. It was a nice trade, plus the €245 dividend plus the payment on February 3rd. The uncertainty in the sector has become too great for me and I want to watch from the sidelines what the new US government will do. Marty Makary as the planned head of the FDA will certainly not strike as brutally as some fear, but there could be changes and difficulties in the area of approval procedures. This would also affect Bristol, which should and must bring a few good products from its pipeline onto the market in the next few years. The acquisition of Karuma together with the approval of KarXT has provided a brief boost, but is not enough to compensate for the expiry of patent protection for Revlimid, Opdivo and especially Eliquis in the next few years. They account for over USD 12 billion of sales and patent protection expires in the EU in 2026 and in the US in 2028. This does not mean that Eliquis will no longer be sold, but a not insignificant proportion is likely to be lost to generics. In addition, CMS has already negotiated price reductions of 56% for 2026. Coupled with the political uncertainties, I have taken the money with me for the time being and will wait and see. I still have to deal with $NOVO B (-2.62%) ...., which is currently the biggest loss-maker in my portfolio with a drop of almost 17%.

Please let me know your assessment of the market in this sector.

Analyst updates, 04.12.

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- BARCLAYS raises the price target for SIEMENS from EUR 125 to EUR 130. Underweight. $SIE (-0.96%)

- BARCLAYS raises the target price for SIEMENS ENERGY from EUR 35 to EUR 36. Equal-Weight. $ENR (-0.15%)

- JEFFERIES raises the target price for ADYEN from EUR 1695 to EUR 1797. Buy. $ADYEN (+1.42%)

- JPMORGAN raises the target price for SALESFORCE from USD 340 to USD 380. Overweight. $CRM (-0.38%)

- HSBC raises the target price for ZALANDO from EUR 37 to EUR 40. Buy. $ZAL (-0.7%)

- JPMORGAN raises the target price for RHEINMETALL from EUR 680 to EUR 800. Overweight. $RHM (+2.55%)

- DEUTSCHE BANK RESEARCH raises the target price for COCA-COLA HBC from GBP 31.50 to GBP 32. Buy. $CCH (+1.15%)

- BARCLAYS raises the target price for KNORR-BREMSE from EUR 55 to EUR 60. Underweight. $KBX (-1.05%)

- BARCLAYS raises the price target for ABB from CHF 40 to CHF 42. Underweight. $ABBNY (-0.2%)

- BARCLAYS raises the price target for ALSTOM from EUR 8 to EUR 9. Underweight. $ALO (-1.64%)

- HSBC upgrades MERCK & CO to Buy. Target price USD 130. $MRK (+1.8%)

- JPMORGAN raises the target price for DSV from DKK 1685 to DKK 1800. Overweight. $DSV (+1.55%)

- JPMORGAN raises the target price for LUFTHANSA from EUR 4.80 to EUR 5.50. Underweig$LHA (-2.11%)

- UBS raises the target price for AROUNDTOWN from EUR 2 to EUR 3.30. Neutral. $AT1 (+2.51%)

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- JPMORGAN lowers the target price for DHL GROUP from EUR 47 to EUR 42.50. Overweight. $DHL (-0.99%)

- WARBURG RESEARCH lowers the target price for UNITED INTERNET from EUR 38.50 to EUR 37.30. Buy. $UTDI (+3.87%)

- WARBURG RESEARCH lowers the target price for 1&1 from EUR 23.50 to EUR 19.10. Buy. $1U1 (+19.58%)

- WARBURG RESEARCH lowers the target price for KWS SAAT from EUR 89 to EUR 88. Buy. $KWS (-0.27%)

- DEUTSCHE BANK RESEARCH downgrades HEINEKEN from Buy to Hold and lowers target price from EUR 95 to EUR 76. $HEIA (+0.55%)

- EXANE BNP lowers the price target for SCHOTT PHARMA from EUR 36 to EUR 28. Neutral. $1SXP (-0.48%)

- BARCLAYS downgrades SIGNIFY to Underweight. Target price EUR 18. $LIGHT (+0.29%)

- CFRA downgrades BRISTOL-MYERS SQUIBB to Hold. Target price USD 60. $BMY (+1.98%)

- MORGAN STANLEY downgrades MOLLER-MAERSK to Underweight. Target price DKK 12200. $AMKBY (+0%)

- BARCLAYS downgrades ANDRITZ to Underweight. Target price EUR 40. $ANDR (+0.72%)

- JPMORGAN lowers the price target for HAPAG-LLOYD from EUR 85 to EUR 80. Underweight. $HLAG (-0.57%)

$BMY (+1.98%) What's going on here?

I would like to slim down my portfolio and would like some tips from you on which stocks you would get rid of. As I haven't decided on a strategy, my portfolio consists of the three pillars of growth, dividends and ETFs.

So far I would get rid of the smallest positions I have as well as $BMY (+1.98%)
$BATS (+2.63%) and $MMM (+2.88%)

$BMY (+1.98%) closed before the weekend and took a small profit.

$CVS (+3.54%) is dragging down the healthcare sector and the share is moving sideways in the hourly chart.

Better safe than sorry.

With $BMY (+1.98%) my losses from the $MA (+0.04%) trade.

Overall a positive week with realized +372€ from KO bills