Will strengthening EV sales drive up BYD shares?

In today’s top stories, BYD announced robust electric vehicle sale growth, Amazon’s warehouse provider Prologis acquired Realty for $26bn and Arm considers an IPO in New York. Meanwhile, analysts name their global stock picks and Coinbase shares fall amid the wider crypto market crash.

BYD’s EV sales accelerate

The Warren Buffett-backed BYD [1211.HK] sold 113,768 new energy vehicles in China in May, up 159.5% year-over-year, with two of its models in the country’s top three best sellers. Battery-electric vehicles currently account for around 11% of global new car sales around the world, says Credit Suisse’s Dan Levy, up from 9% in 2021. Inflation could slow adoption as higher costs put profit margins under pressure.

France’s outliers amid uncertainty

Despite market uncertainty, HSBC analysts led by Edward Stanford believe there are signs of normalising economic activity, reports CNBC. Stanford has picked “outliers” with an upside of at least 20% based on cash flow analysis. These include France’s grocery giant CarreFour [CA.PA] (with a potential 21.8% upside), utility Engie [ENGI.PA] (27.5%), eyewear company EssilorLuxottica [EL.PA] (37.8%), and Veolia [VIE.PA] (39.3%).

Crypto crash hurts Coinbase

Cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius Network froze withdrawals on Monday citing “extreme market conditions”. This decision caused bitcoin to fall to its lowest level since December 2020 and is also likely to blame for Coinbase’s [COIN] share price closing 11% lower. The software firm MicroStrategy [MSTR] has amassed more than 129,000 bitcoin over the past two years; this bet now equates to a $1bn paper loss, according to Bloomberg. Its share price fell 25% on Monday.

Prologis buys warehouse rival

Amazon’s [AMZN] warehouse provider Prologis [PLD] has announced plans to acquire its smaller rival Duke Realty [DRE] in an all-cash deal with $26bn. The takeover comes after several rejected attempts dating back to November last year, including a roughly $24bn deal that was turned down in May. At the time, Duke Realty said that the proposal was “insufficient” and that it wanted to “maximise shareholder value”.

UK woos Arm

Following the collapse of Nvidia’s [NVDA] $40bn takeover of Arm in January, the Cambridge-based chip designer’s owner Softbank [9984.T] is weighing up an IPO in New York. UK ministers have embarked on a “charm offensive” to convince Arm to float on the London stock market, and make London an attractive place for high-growth companies to list, according to the Financial Times. If they’re able to change Arm’s mind, it would be a vote of confidence for the UK’s tech sector.

Short sellers target Cineworld

The world’s second largest cinema operator Cineworld [CINE.L] is currently the most shorted FTSE 100 constituent, according to data from the Financial Conduct Authority. The company was fined CA$1.23bn earlier this year for its failed acquisition of Canadian rival Cineplex and, though it has appealed, it has warned that it may not have enough liquidity to pay the damages. FTSE 100 consumer discretionary stocks are also popular with short sellers.

Clinical trials boost AstraZeneca

Clinical trial results gave AstraZeneca [AZN.L] a little boost last week as the drug company announced trial results for its HER2-positive breast cancer treatment. SVB Securities analyst Andrew Berens expects the drug, Enhertu, to deliver $4.6bn in sales by 2030, while Berenberg analysts described the results as “data fit for a queen” given they were released just after the UK’s Jubilee weekend.