Altimmune stock falls after announcing $75 million direct offering

Investing.com - The U.S. telecommunications sector is bracing for a year of tactical shifts and stabilizing churn in 2026, as carriers pivot toward shareholder returns and "converged" service bundles to offset moderating subscriber growth.

In an outlook for the industry, analysts at BofA Securities, including Michael Funk and Matthew Griffiths, maintained a cautious stance on the broader sector, citing limited pricing power and rising customer acquisition costs. However, the firm identified a clear "pecking order" among the Big Three carriers -- AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon -- and favoring infrastructure expansion and capital discipline as the primary drivers of stock performance.

AT&T

BofA Securities has named AT&T its top telecom pick for 2026, pointing to the company’s aggressive fiber expansion and growing fixed wireless access (FWA) capacity. With a "Buy" rating and a $34 price objective, analysts believe AT&T is best positioned to navigate a mature, highly competitive landscape.

The company’s strategy hinges on "convergence"—selling both mobile and broadband services to the same household. AT&T’s fiber footprint is projected to scale to over 60 million locations, a move expected to drive lower churn and higher customer lifetime value. Financially, the carrier maintains significant flexibility, with plans to return $40 billion to shareholders through dividends and buybacks between 2025 and 2027, even as it moves to close acquisitions of Lumen’s mass-market business and EchoStar spectrum.

T-Mobile US

T-Mobile continues to execute well, maintaining its status as the fastest-growing wireless provider, though BofA remains "Neutral" with a $270 price objective. The carrier faces a "dual mandate" of balancing that growth with increased profitability—two goals that analysts warn could come into conflict in 2026.

While T-Mobile has historically viewed wireless and broadband as separate buying decisions, it is increasingly investing in fiber joint ventures. However, the company faces a direct threat from Verizon’s renewed focus on capturing market share. Investors are looking toward a Capital Markets Day on February 11 for updates on the priorities of new CEO Srini Gopalan, particularly regarding the company’s $50 billion capital return target.

Verizon

Verizon remains under a "Neutral" rating with a $45 price objective as the company undergoes a strategic reset under CEO Hans Vestberg and new leadership. BofA analysts are cautious but see "positive optionality" late in 2026 if the company can successfully "thread the needle" of regaining subscriber momentum while delivering financial growth.

Verizon’s immediate focus is on improving its net addition performance and reworking its value proposition to consumers, a process analysts say will take time to yield results. Unlike its peers, Verizon’s near-term share buybacks are expected to be limited as the company prioritizes deleveraging following its acquisition of Frontier (FYBR). For now, the company remains committed to its dividend growth as its primary tool for shareholder return.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

Investing.com -- GRI Bio Inc (NASDAQ:GRI) stock soared 37.6% in premarket trading Wednesday after the company reported additional positive data from its Phase 2a clinical study of GRI-0621 in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF).

The biotechnology company announced that newly reported RNA-sequencing data demonstrated significant improvement across genes associated with lung injury, myofibroblast activation, and fibrosis progression compared to placebo. These findings validate previously reported biomarker, functional, and clinical signals from the study.

According to GRI Bio, the data shows that GRI-0621 directly impacts the core biology of IPF, with differentially expressed genes linked to key disease drivers supporting a mechanism consistent with fibrosis resolution and active tissue repair.

The company noted that the gene expression data supports regeneration of lung architecture, not just slowing disease progression. The data showed changes suggesting basement membrane repair and epithelial cell transition in treated subjects versus placebo, representing key hallmarks of lung regeneration.

"The data from the Phase 2a study exceed our expectations," said Marc Hertz, CEO of GRI Bio. "Across gene expression, serum biomarkers, immune profiles and lung function, we see a remarkably consistent picture emerge. GRI-0621 appears to suppress ongoing injury, reduce fibrosis, and activate mechanisms associated with rebuilding damaged lung tissue."

The Phase 2a study previously met its primary endpoint demonstrating favorable safety and tolerability, as well as multiple secondary endpoints indicative of disease-modifying activity. The study also showed improvements in forced vital capacity (FVC), with twice as many GRI-0621-treated subjects experiencing no decline in FVC at 12 weeks compared to standard of care alone.

The company plans to submit these new gene expression findings for presentation at a major medical conference.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

Investing.com -- Immix Biopharma (NASDAQ:IMMX) stock rose 5% Wednesday after the company announced that its NXC-201 therapy received Breakthrough Therapy Designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of relapsed/refractory AL Amyloidosis.

The FDA designation aims to expedite the development and review process for drugs that show potential substantial improvement over existing therapies for serious conditions. The decision was based on positive interim clinical results from the NEXICART-2 Phase 2 trial, which were presented at the American Society of Hematology annual meeting in December 2025.

NXC-201 is currently the only therapy in active development for relapsed/refractory AL Amyloidosis to receive this FDA designation, according to the company. AL Amyloidosis is a rare disease with no approved therapies for patients who have relapsed or become resistant to initial treatments.

"We are grateful to FDA for recognizing NXC-201 as the only granted FDA Breakthrough Designation for a therapy in active development in relapsed/refractory AL Amyloidosis, where no approved therapies exist for patients today," said Ilya Rachman, CEO of Immix Biopharma.

The company plans to complete enrollment in its NEXICART-2 trial with final data expected later this year, followed by a planned Biologics License Application (BLA) submission to the FDA.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

Investing.com -- Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI) stock rose 5% after the company announced it is expanding its strategic collaboration with Microsoft to accelerate AI innovation for utilities.

The energy and water management solutions provider is introducing the Itron Intelligent Edge Operating System (IEOS) Connector for Microsoft 365 Copilot, which will allow utilities to use natural language queries to access data from Itron’s management systems. This integration aims to help utility companies more easily find information on consumption patterns, outage history, and other critical operational data.

The expanded partnership will focus on integrating advanced AI solutions for predictive maintenance, demand forecasting, and grid optimization. Itron’s solutions will also be made available through the Microsoft Marketplace, providing easier access for utilities and partners.

"Utilities are under increasing pressure to modernize infrastructure, reduce operational costs and improve reliability. By building on our established relationship, we are delivering new AI capabilities that help utilities address these challenges head on," said Don Reeves, senior vice president of Outcomes at Itron.

The companies plan to showcase their joint innovations at the upcoming DTECH conference in San Diego from February 2-5, 2026. The collaboration aims to help utilities achieve greater efficiency, resilience, and customer engagement through AI-powered solutions at the grid edge.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

Investing.com -- Morgan Stanley upgraded Johnson & Johnson to Overweight from Equal weight, saying commercial momentum from new products has become difficult to ignore and should drive earnings above expectations. Shares are up 0.5% in premarket trading. 

The bank raised its price target to $262 from $200. Morgan Stanley said it now expects earnings beats driven by multiple product cycles, with its estimates about 20% above consensus in aggregate.

J&J stock rose 43% last year, outperforming the S&P 500 and the broader drug sector.

There has been a reduced uncertainty after changes related to biopharma pricing agreements, which had previously weighed on the sector.

While the stock has already re-rated, the bank said further gains can come from earnings growth rather than valuation expansion. J&J is trading at about 19x and 17x Morgan Stanley’s 2026 and 2027 earnings estimates, respectively. That still represents a roughly three-turn discount to the broader market, the bank said.

Morgan Stanley highlighted J&J’s new product pipeline as one of the strongest among large biopharma peers.

It pointed to drugs including Tremfya and Icotyde in immunology, Tecvayli and Carvykti in multiple myeloma, and Rybrevant in lung cancer.

Following recent meetings with physicians, the bank raised its forecasts for several of these products, including Tremfya, Icotyde, Tecvayli and Darzalex.

Those changes lift expected annual revenue by $3 bn to $7 bn on a base of more than $100 billion.

Morgan Stanley now projects compound annual growth of about 5.5% for revenue and 12% for earnings between 2026 and 2030, placing J&J in what it described as a higher-growth group within biopharma.

It added that while J&J faces patent expiries in line with peers, its new product launches are expected to largely offset those losses over the next decade.