Sanofi

The corporation is diversifying its sources of growth beyond its key asthma drug Dupixent

Sanofi is expanding its vaccine business. It will buy Dynavax for $2.2 billion

Novo Nordisk A/S

Eli Lilly and Company

Hanwha Ocean Co., Ltd.

Paramount Skydance Corporation

Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Novo Nordisk's first semaglutide-based GLP-1 obesity pill, intensifying the company's competition with Eli Lilly. ByteDance, owner of TikTok, plans to invest about $23 billion in AI infrastructure amid record growth in debt financing in the global tech sector. These and other topics - in our review of key events for the morning of December 23.

The main thing for the morning: a pill instead of a shot, ships for the U.S. Navy and $40 billion for Hollywood

Nektar Therapeutics

Pfizer Inc.

AbbVie Inc.

Freedom Broker has issued a short-term investment idea to buy shares of Nektar Therapeutics, a small-cap biotech developing a drug for alopecia areata, an autoimmune condition that causes hair loss. On Tuesday, December 16, the company is set to <a href="https://ir.nektar.com/news-releases/news-release-details/nektar-hold-conference-call-discuss-topline-results-36-week">release</a>&nbsp;new clinical trial data on its lead therapy. If the results are positive, Nektar shares could gain about 22% over the next two months, Freedom Broker analysts said.

Freedom Broker: Nektar may jump 22% in two months on potential upbeat trial results

The Oncology Institute, Inc.

Nutex Health Inc.

Claritev Corporation

Healthcare small caps have gained momentum in 2025. According to a Bloomberg Intelligence report published in November, the top-performing segments of the Russell 2000 in the first quarter of 2025 were utilities first, financials second, and health care third.

These small-cap healthcare names have rocketed YTD

Bank of America reaffirmed its "buy" recommendation for shares of pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and raised the target forecast for its securities from $950 to $1286, CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/02/bank-of-america-hikes-eli-lilly-price-target-on-promising-drug-pipeline.html">reports</a>. This estimate assumes growth of about 22% from the current figures.

"Confident Leadership. Bank of America expects Eli Lilly shares to grow by more than 20%

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated

Brookfield Renewable Corporation

Norfolk Southern Corporation

They are shifting their focus to health care, manufacturing and materials, which benefit from structural changes in the economy

AI stocks have come under pressure. Which sectors are now favored by managers?

Krispy Kreme, Inc.

Opendoor Technologies Inc.

Beyond Meat, Inc.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc.

In October, short sellers ramped up pressure on small- and mid-cap stocks, <i>Barron’s </i><a href="https://www.barrons.com/articles/short-sellers-small-caps-meme-stocks-06a426a1?st=5FGUar">reports</a>. Short interest in these companies rose to 7.5% from 7.3% in September, according to Melissa Roberts, an analyst with Stephens. For megacaps, it edged down to 1.8% from 1.9%. Roberts flagged healthcare small caps and mid-cap consumer-lending names among the most targeted stocks.

Shorts are coming after small- and mid-cap stocks. Which names are feeling pressure?

MapLight Therapeutics, Inc.

MapLight raised $259 mln by using a shutdown workaround, the first company to do so

Novo-backed schizophrenia drugmaker MapLight Therapeutics debuts on Nasdaq


Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

Shares of health insurance giant UnitedHealth Group lost about 60% of their value between April and August 2025. Falling financial indicators, change of CEOs (one was killed, the other resigned), investigation of suspicions of fraud against the background of the insurer's ambiguous reputation all converged at one point. And yet Warren Buffett spent $1.6 billion to buy UnitedHealth shares. Should we follow his example?

Old school: why Buffett and Soros bought UnitedHealth stock

Shares of The Oncology Institute (TOI), a small-cap medical practice management company <a href="https://theoncologyinstitute.com/">specializing</a>&nbsp;in community-based oncology practices, could more than double in the medium term, Noble Capital Markets&nbsp;<a href="https://www.channelchek.com/news-channel/the-oncology-institute-inc-toi-improving-oncology-treatment-while-cutting-costs">believes</a>. The company is expanding into new geographies and has flexibility to contract with more insurance plans, it argues.&nbsp;

Noble initiates on cancer care provider TOI with 'buy', sees triple-digit upside

Carlsmed

Shares of Carlsmed, a provider of specialized artificial intelligence-based equipment and software for personalized spine surgeries, have become available to investors on the Freedom customer trading system. The securities are listed under the ticker symbol CARL. They will appear on the Nasdaq exchange in a few hours;

Carlsmed IPO: Shares in Carlsmed, a pioneer in AI spine surgery, become available


Universal Health Services, Inc.

HCA Healthcare, Inc.

Tenet Healthcare Corporation

One of the affected sectors will be healthcare, but the bank's analysts have named a stock that is favored