Shares in pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly (LLY) gained 8% after the firm raised its 2026 profit guidance. That took its market cap to $968 billion, making it the next company in contention for a $1 trillion valuation. Share price: $1,080 (+8%)PE: 48x Market cap: $968bnYield: 0.55% WEIGHT-LOSS DRUGS LEAD Eli Lilly raised its FY26 outlook after reporting a strong end to FY25 thanks to sales of weight-loss drugs. Q4 revenue leapt 43% to $19.29 billion, well above the Wall Street consensus of $17.94 billion. US revenue was up 43%, driven by a 50% increase in volumes, with a small decrease…

Shares in UK drugmaker GSK (GSK) gained 2% after the company confirmed its FY26 guidance. In contrast, shares in Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk plummeted 18% after the firm predicted a drop in sales in 2026. GSK share price: £19.85 (+2%)PE: 14xMarket cap: £78.3bnYield: 3.3% POSITIVE PROGRESS AT GSK GSK reported an increase in group sales in 2025 helped by a jump in specialty medicines, in particular oncology. Group revenue rose 4% to £32.7 billion with sales of specialty treatments rising 17% to £13.5 billion. HIV sales rose 11% to £7.7 billion while Respiratory, Immunology and Inflammation sales rose 18% to…

FTSE 100 insurer Beazley (BEZ) announced it has agreed an £8 billion takeover by Swiss giant Zurich. The offer, pitched at £13.35/share including dividends, represents a 60% premium to Beazley’s undisturbed share price. Share price: £12.64 (+9%)PE: 10.9xMarket Cap: £7.4bnYield: 2.2% HEFTY PREMIUM On 19 January, the Lloyds of London syndicate operator revealed it had received two approaches from Zurich. The Swiss firm initially pitched its offer at £12.30/share, followed by a second offer at £12.80/share. Today’s offer of £13.35/share comprises £13.10 for the underlying business plus 25p for the FY25 dividend. As well as a 60% premium to the…

Shares in Anglo-Dutch data group RELX (REL) hit a new year low on worries over AI (artificial intelligence) competition. US firm Anthropic is seen as a particular threat after it unveiled a new AI tool for legal teams. Share price: £21.90 (-15%)PE: 21.4xMarket cap: £39.7bnYield: 2.5% AI-POWERED SOLUTIONS RELX shares, which were already down 15% since the start of the year, lost a further 15% on the Anthropic news. Rival European publishing group Wolters Kluwer also saw its shares tumble on the news. Anthropic, the company behind the AI chatbot Claude, added new functions for legal users of its Cowork…

Shares in trading platform Plus500 (PLUS) surged to a new high on news it is expanding in the prediction market. The firm announced a new clearing deal allowing it to offer Kalshi Exchange products on its B2C platform. Share price: £45.25 (+6.6%)PE: 17.3xMarket Cap: £3.1bnYield: 2.3% ALL-TIME HIGH Shares in Plus500 gained 280p or 6.6% to a new all-time high of £45.25 on today’s news. The deal with Kalshi will enable US retail customers to bet on economic, political and financial events through swaps. An event contract is a swap with a binary outcome of Yes or No. It pays…

RF communications specialist Filtronic (FTC) announced a record H1 order book and reiterated its FY financial guidance. The firm makes customised, mission-critical communications equipment for the defence, space and telecoms industries. Share price: 179.2 (-1.9%)PE: 31xMarket cap: £395mYield: n/a ORDERS HIT NEW RECORD Sales for the six months to November 2025 were in line with forecasts and the previous year at £25.3 million. Bearing in mind the prior year benefited from peak delivery on major space programmes, this is a creditable performance. Sales displayed a ‘more balanced delivery profile’, while profitability reflected increased investment to help grow the business. As…

Shares in media and entertainment giant Walt Disney (DIS) fell 6% despite the firm posting forecast-beating Q1 sales and earnings. Instead, investors focused on rising costs and a potential hit to earnings as foreign tourists desert its US theme parks. Share price: $106 (-6%)PE: 20xMarket cap: $190bnYield: 1.2% MOUNTING COSTS For the quarter to December 2025, Disney’s revenue rose by 5% to $26 billion beating the consensus of $25.7 billion. Diluted EPS decreased from $1.76 to $1.63, but was still enough to beat the $1.57 average forecast. Entertainment revenue increased 7%, while SVOD (subscription video on demand) sales including Disney+…

We believe shares in specialist manufacturer DiscoverIE (DSCV) are too cheap and deserve a higher rating. The group makes customised electronic components for industrial uses, typically in mission-critical applications. Over the last decade, operating margins have more than tripled while shareholder returns have increased significantly. However, this hasn’t been recognised by the market meaning the shares have derated substantially in recent years. Without stretching the valuation case, we can see the shares trading significantly higher in one or two years’ time. Share price: 620pPE: 15.4xMarket Cap: £600mYield: 2.1% What does the company do? Like many successful UK ‘compounders’, DiscoverIE manages…

Shares in Auction Technology Group (ATG) fell 8% to 283p after bidder FitzWalter Capital walked away. In doing so, the investment firm drew a line under its months-long campaign following repeated rejections from ATG’s board. Share price: 283p (-8.4%)PE: 60.5xMarket cap: £374mYield: n/a THAT’S YOUR LOT On 16 January, FitzWalter announced it was considering a 400p per share offer for the auction software firm. After ATG’s board refused to grant access to due diligence, FitzWalter said last week its 400p offer was final. Having been rejected yet again, after months of trying, FitzWalter said it would not make an offer.…

Infrastructure group Balfour Beatty (BBY) announced it has won a major maintenance deal with Warwickshire Highways. The contract is worth an initial £315 million over nine years, although with extensions it could reach £900 million. Share price: 714.5p (+0.1%)PE: 16.6xMarket cap: £3.5bnYield: 1.9% THIRD CONSECUTIVE WIN This marks the company’s third consecutive term delivering the Warwickshire Highways Maintenance contract taking it through to 2033 initially. The firm will be responsible for road maintenance, street lighting and public services across over 3,500 miles of roads. Balfour Beatty will implement an integrated, digitally enabled model with a centrally controlled planning and permit…