Eli Lilly may be winning the GLP-1 battle, but it’s turning its attention back to the broader pharmaceutical war.

Today, the pharma giant announced it agreed to acquire three vaccine makers for roughly $4 billion in total:

• Curevo is creating a shingles vaccine with fewer side effects than similar shots on the market. Eli Lilly is buying the company for up to $1.5 billion.
• LimmaTech is working to develop vaccines for bacterial pathogens, including some STIs. Eli Lilly agreed to pay $780 million for the biotech company.
• The Vaccine Company (B- for name creativity) is developing a vaccine to protect against the Epstein-Barr virus. Eli Lilly is paying $1.55 billion for the firm.

Eli Lilly became the first healthcare company to hit a $1 trillion market cap late last year, thanks to the booming success of its cash cow GLP-1 drugs Zepbound and Mounjaro. The company commanded 60% of the US obesity drug market in Q1, beating its main rival Novo Nordisk, which owns 39.4% of the market.

But as we know, the only thing harder than getting to the top is staying there. That’s why Eli Lilly is using its weight loss windfall to go on a shopping spree to build its empire on more than just GLP-1 profits: In addition to today’s acquisitions, it recently agreed to buy several companies developing treatments for cancer, autoimmune diseases, and sleep disorders.

Fun fact: The foray into immunizations will be a kind of homecoming for Eli Lilly, which was the first to distribute the original polio vaccine.

The patent cliff is coming for big pharma

Despite the fierce competition now, giants like Eli Lilly and Novo may look back fondly on these days as they brace themselves for a looming existential threat.

Over the next two years, roughly $180 billion in annual drug revenue across the pharmaceutical industry is going to lose patent protection. That means competitors can launch generic versions of super-popular drugs, seriously cutting into a company’s profits. Today’s acquisitions may help Eli Lilly go a long way to protecting its bottom line as it looks to get its hands on promising new drugs.

Then again, Eli Lilly may be better prepared than competitors to handle the incoming patent cliff, given its biggest growth engine (GLP-1 drugs) are relatively new, and their patents won’t expire for another decade. It may not be a long-term cure, but relying only on GLP-1 drugs is one lucrative band-aid.—LB

🟢 What’s up

• Oklo jumped 4.31% after receiving accelerated approval for its Aurora reactor design and signing a nuclear power agreement with Meta tied to AI infrastructure.
• Modine Manufacturing surged 13.55% after announcing a $4 billion long-term agreement for its datacenter cooling systems.
• Qualcomm gained 4.48% following reports it secured a major AI chip deal with TikTok owner ByteDance.
• Space stocks skyrocketed as SpaceX’s latest Starship test boosted enthusiasm across the sector. AST SpaceMobile popped 13.07%, and Redwire jumped 26.01%.
• Braiin Limited soared 74.2% after announcing a partnership with Switchcraft to expand residential utility activation services.

What’s down

• AutoZone fell 8.99% as softer-than-expected revenue overshadowed an earnings beat.
• BP dropped 3.85% after the company abruptly removed Chairman Albert Manifold over “governance oversight and conduct issues.”
• POET Technologies slid 8.5% as investors reacted to dilution concerns tied to its recent $400 million stock offering.
• Software company Octave Intelligence plunged 18.34% following its Nasdaq debut after its spinoff from Hexagon AB.

Move over Samsung, there’s a new $1 trillion company in town.

Micron surged 19.29% today, helping it become the 13th publicly traded company with 12 zeroes to its name. The memory chip maker was propelled into this vaunted category by none other than President Trump, who touted Micron’s plans to spend up to $100 billion building the largest semiconductor manufacturing facility in the US. “Micron, boy Micron’s great, they’re investing hundreds of billions,” the President said at a rally on Friday.

While shareholders likely enjoyed the sentiment, the real boost came from UBS, which published a report today touting Micron’s long-term deals with hyperscalers that are desperate for its chips. The dynamic random access memory market is deeply undersupplied, and UBS says Micron’s position as one of the three biggest DRAM manufacturers in the world, combined with its shockingly low forward P/E multiple, will help the stock climb for years to come.

In fact, UBS nearly tripled its price target for Micron from $535 to $1,635—almost 80% higher than where it trades today, and the highest target on Wall Street. That’s a serious vote of confidence, but considering that the biggest names in AI are willing to pay big bucks to secure their access to Micron’s products for years to come, it might actually be underselling the stock’s potential.—MR

Ferrari’s newest supercar doesn’t roar—it hums. But the response from investors is more like ‘ho-hum.’

After years of anticipation, Ferrari finally unveiled its first fully electric model: the Luce, priced at roughly $640,000 and marking a new chapter for the prancing horse as the company enters the EV era.

The name, Italian for “light”, is meant to symbolize a car that “lights the way toward the future.” But early investor reactions were less enthusiastic, with Ferrari shares falling 5.26% following the reveal.

Identity crisis

The selloff reflects growing concerns over whether Ferrari’s push into EVs could dilute the raw, emotional identity that made the brand what it is in the first place. Investors may also be worried about the scale of the investment required to get there, with Ferrari spending more than half a decade trying to strike the right balance between innovation and tradition while pouring serious cash into EV development and manufacturing capacity, including building a $230 million factory in 2024 to support EV production.

There are also questions around longevity. Ferrari has long built its brand around timelessness, with the company estimating that roughly 90% of every Ferrari ever produced is still running today. Customers are wondering whether the same will be said for an electric Ferrari—especially in a world where battery technology evolves far faster than the lifespan of the cars themselves.

Speed bumps ahead

Ferrari’s EV debut also comes at an awkward moment for the broader market. Porsche, Lamborghini, and McLaren have all pointed to weak demand for fully electric sports cars. Meanwhile, Ford took roughly $19.5 billion in EV-related charges, while Honda recently posted its first annual loss in nearly 70 years after absorbing billions in EV restructuring costs.

The slowdown has become increasingly visible in the US, where President Trump recently eliminated EV tax credits. Rhodium Group’s Clean Investment Monitor found that first-quarter EV sales were flat sequentially and down 23% year over year, according to Semafor.

But the road ahead looks more optimistic: The International Energy Agency expects global EV sales to climb to 23 million vehicles this year, accounting for nearly 30% of all cars sold globally, thanks to surging oil prices tied to the Iran conflict and falling battery prices.

Even so, it’s hard to imagine buyers spending over half a million dollars on an electric Ferrari when they could own one of the brand’s iconic combustion-engine cars for less. And as cheaper Chinese EV makers continue improving rapidly, the company now faces the difficult task of proving an EV can still feel exclusive, timeless, and unmistakably Ferrari.—SY

• The lawyer for Chirayu Rana, the former JPMorgan banker who alleged a colleague sexually harassed him, just resigned.
• American Airlines selected SpaceX’s Starlink to provide in-flight Wi-Fi on 500 planes.
• Wells Fargo said it will start writing mortgages on homes built with 3D printing.
• A new corporate battle has begun: AI versus the Pope.
• The difference between owning stocks and holding bonds has fallen to its lowest levels since the dot-com crash—here’s why that’s bad news for the stock market.
• Evercore created a formula for when prediction markets actually work.

Economic announcements: There aren’t any big announcements of note tomorrow, though there’s plenty of Fed chitchat from Chicago’s Austan Goolsbee, Dallas’ Lorie Logan, and governors Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson.

Earnings reports: Marvell, Salesforce, Synopsys, Snowflake, HP, Abercrombie & Fitch, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Bath & Body Works, and Manchester United.