ARK sees Roku share price growing sevenfold by 2026

In today’s headlines, ARK Invest is betting on Roku, crypto M&A looks set to grow and Match Group makes a new acquisition. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s largest IPO failed to lift on its first trading day, and China tech continues to pull back.

ARK sees Roku reaching $1,493

Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest has made a bold call on Roku [ROKU]. According to its open-source research, the Roku share price could rise by a compound annual growth rate of 53% over the next five years to $605. Analysts led by Nicholas Grous have a bear case target of $100 and bull case target of $1,493 by 2026. The stock closed on 12 July at $87.56. 

Biggest Hong Kong IPO of 2022 disappoints

Chinese mining firm Tianqi Lithium [9696.HK] had a disappointing first day on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Wednesday. It ended trading flat but was down as much as 10% at one point. This isn’t fazing CEO Xia Juncheng, though. SMCP has reported him as saying that the share price will be influenced by lithium supply and demand. “As long as there’s a gap to fill, we are very confident about lithium prices,” Juncheng said at the listing ceremony. 

China tech pulls back

China’s tech sector has seen a broad decline this week with the Hang Seng Tech Index giving back the gains made in June, dragged down by sharp declines in heavyweights including Alibaba [9988.HK] and Tencent [0700.HK]. Both companies were slapped with fresh fines over the weekend amid the government crackdown. Redmond Wong, Saxo Capital Markets strategist, told Bloomberg that the penalties “reminded investors about regulatory risks over Chinese internet companies”. 

Match Group acquires The League

The parent company of Tinder, Match Group [MTCH], has acquired exclusive, members-only dating platform The League, according to an internal email seen by Techcrunch. Just last week, Evercore ISI analyst Shweta Khajuria released a research note arguing that in the near term there’s “greater upside” for March than there is Bumble [BMBL]. “We view dating apps as more recession resilient than the majority of our coverage universe,” she wrote, reported Barron’s.

Crypto M&A to increase in H2

With the crypto market in freefall, M&A activity in the sector is expected to rise in the second half of the year. Data from Architect Partners, seen by Indian financial daily newspaper Mint, shows that crypto M&A totalled $29.69bn in Q2, up from $2.541bn in Q1. Coinbase [COIN] has been one of the top deal makers over the past 24 months, according to the report. 

EV news roundup

The electric vehicle market has been the subject of several headlines, with the race between BYD [1211.HK] and Tesla [TSLA] heating up after both companies released production figures last week. Meanwhile, Canoo [GOEV] shares doubled in value on Wednesday after the startup signed a deal with Walmart [WMT] to provide 4,500 electric vans. Elsewhere, Chinese electric vehicle company Chijet announced on Wednesday that it plans to go public via a SPAC deal that values the firm at $2.55bn. 

AstraZeneca boosts blood cancer offering

UK drugmaker AstraZeneca [AZN.L] is buying TeneoTwo in a deal worth up to $1.3bn. The move will give it access to the biotech’s experimental blood cancer treatment TNB-486. Industry experts believe it can challenge other so-called T-cell engagers on the market, including Amgen’s [AMGN] Blincyto and Gilead’s [GILD] Tecartus. ITNB-486 is at its phase 1 trial stage, so it’ll be several years before its commercial potential is known.