Affirm Holdings Expands BNPL Services with Walmart Partnership\n\nAffirm Holdings, a leading payment network, has announced its partnership with retail giant Walmart to expand its buy now, pay later (BNPL) services. This news has caused Affirm’s shares to reach their highest level since February 2022.\n\nThe partnership will allow Walmart customers to use Affirm’s services at self-checkout kiosks in stores, providing them with flexible payment options. This move comes at a time when there is a growing demand for BNPL options in the travel industry, with Affirm’s travel and ticketing purchase volume increasing by 60% in the September quarter.\n\nIn addition to Walmart, Affirm has a network of over 266,000 merchants, including Great Wolf Lodge, American Airlines, and CheapOair. This collaboration is expected to drive sales for Liberty Travel, provide flexible payment options, and improve conversion rates. Affirm’s transparent and fee-free services are also expected to attract more customers.\n\nAccording to Affirm’s research, more than 50% of people look for BNPL options when checking out, making this partnership with Liberty Travel a strategic move. As travel is expected to increase in the coming year, BNPL options will provide customers with more purchasing power.\n\nThis partnership is also expected to contribute to Affirm’s goal of reaching profitability in fiscal 2024 and improving its adjusted operating margin to over 2%. Affirm’s stock has seen a significant increase of 362.9% in the past year, outperforming the industry’s 24.2% rise.\n\nAffirm currently holds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Other top-ranked stocks in the business services industry include FirstCash Holdings, Shift4 Payments, and RB Global. These companies have a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and #2 (Buy), respectively.\n\nFirstCash’s current-year bottom line is expected to grow by 13.1%, while Shift4 Payments is expected to see a 110.1% year-over-year growth in earnings. RB Global’s current-year earnings are expected to increase by 15.4%. These companies have also consistently beaten earnings estimates in the past four quarters.

AZN) upon the dosing of the first patient in AstraZeneca's Phase 3 trial of rilvegostomig, a PD-1TIGIT bispecific antibody. This milestone payment is part of a license agreement between Compugen and AstraZeneca, where AstraZeneca has the exclusive rights to use Compugen's anti-TIGIT antibody, COM902, for the development of bispecific and multispecific antibody products.\n\nThe Phase 3 trial, known as ARTEMIDE-Bil01, is expected to enroll 750 subjects in more than 20 countries with biliary tract cancer. These subjects will be randomized to receive rilvegostomig or placebo with investigator choice chemotherapy as adjuvant treatment after resection with curative intent. This advancement of rilvegostomig into Phase 3 by AstraZeneca, a global leader in oncology, is a significant step towards exploring the potential of this bispecific antibody.\n\nCompugen's President and CEO, Anat Cohen-Dayag, Ph.D., expressed her delight in the progress of the rilvegostomig clinical program and the commitment shown by AstraZeneca in exploring the potential of this bispecific antibody. She also highlighted the progress of the Phase 1 and 2 trials in additional indications, which further solidifies the company's position as a pioneer in computational target discovery.\n\nThe license agreement between Compugen and AstraZeneca was signed in 2018, and Compugen has already received a $10 million upfront payment and an additional $15.5 million in milestone payments to date. The company is eligible to receive up to an aggregate milestone amount of $200 million, as well as tiered royalties on future product sales. If additional bi- or multi-specific products are developed based on Compugen's monospecific antibodies that bind to TIGIT, the company will also receive additional milestones and royalties.\n\nCompugen is a clinical-stage therapeutic discovery and development company that utilizes its predictive computational discovery capabilities to identify new drug targets and biological pathways for developing cancer immunotherapies. The company has two proprietary product candidates, COM701 and COM902, and a clinical-stage partnered program, rilvegostomig, which is in Phase 3 development by AstraZeneca.\n\nIn a the dosing of the first patient in AstraZeneca's Phase 3 trial of rilvegostomig marks a significant milestone for Compugen and its partnership with AstraZeneca."