The R&D Index: Market Watch for the week ending Dec. 9, 2016 closed at 1,537.90 for the 25 companies in the R&D Index. The Index was up 4 percent (or 59.18 basis points) over the week ending Dec. 2, 2016. All 25 R&D Index companies gained value last week from 0.16 percent (Merck & Co.) to 9.33 percent (Daimler).
After agreeing to acquire New York-based Geometric Intelligence, Uber Technologies has decided to create a division, Uber AI Labs, utilizing the artificial intelligence technology from that acquisition for application in its ride hailing fleet. Uber plans to move Geometric to its headquarters in San Francisco. The online transportation company has been testing self-driving autos in Pittsburgh where it has a research lab. In August, it also acquired OttoMotto, a startup developing self-driving long-haul trucks.
R&D Index member Apple revealed in a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that it is “investing heavily in machine learning and automation for many purposes including transportation,” an implication for its development of autonomous vehicles. Analysts stated that Apple is unlikely to be developing a complete autonomous car—the overall effort to do that is beyond its capabilities–but Apple could be developing self-driving software that’s usable by others. Apple had eliminated some internal research positions last summer that were focused on car development and added staff with software backgrounds.
R&D Index member Ford Motor Co. announced last week that it is looking to raise nearly $3 billion in long-term financing to fund investments in new technologies, such as the autonomous vehicles it has stated will be introduced by 2021. This is Ford’s first financing round in nearly four years and comes following several years of banking large profits from increasing sales of trucks and SUVs.
A report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last week noted that the death rate from heart disease for Americans rose by 0.9 percent in 2015, the first increase in more than 40 years. The death rate for stroke similarly rose 3 percent. Both changes are attributed to the nearly epidemic rise in obesity and diabetes. CDC researchers stated that more public health measures are needed to get these trends under control.
A report from the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education last week noted that the sharp decline in births during the 2008 to 2010 recession will translate into a decline in high school graduates in 2024 and fewer college graduates in 2028 putting pressure on employers seeking university graduates. This blip follows 20 years of increases, which saw the number of high school graduates increase 30 percent from 1995 to 2013.
| Ticker | Exchange | 2015 R&D billions$ | 12/02/16 | 12/09/16 | 12/9/16 to 12/2/16 | 12/9/16 to 1/1/16 | ||
| 1 | Microsoft | MSFT | NASDAQ | 12,448 | 59.25 | 61.97 | 4.59% | 11.70% |
| 2 | Intel | INTC | NASDAQ | 12,128 | 34.16 | 35.76 | 4.68% | 3.80% |
| 3 | Roche Pharm | RHHBY | OTC | 10,242 | 27.20 | 27.86 | 2.43% | -19.18% |
| 4 | Toyota | TM | NYSE | 9,112 | 116.83 | 122.98 | 5.26% | -0.05% |
| 5 | Johnson & Johnson | JNJ | NYSE | 9,046 | 111.96 | 112.26 | 0.27% | 9.29% |
| 6 | Novartis | NVS | NYSE | 8,935 | 68.17 | 69.74 | 2.30% | -18.98% |
| 7 | Apple | AAPL | NASDAQ | 8,397 | 109.90 | 113.95 | 3.69% | 8.26% |
| 8 | Pfizer | PFE | NYSE | 7,690 | 31.63 | 31.70 | 0.22% | -2.13% |
| 9 | General Motors | GM | NYSE | 7,500 | 35.41 | 37.66 | 6.35% | 10.73% |
| 10 | Merck & Co. | MRK | NYSE | 6,704 | 61.13 | 61.23 | 0.16% | 15.92% |
| 11 | Ford Motor | F | NYSE | 6,700 | 12.24 | 13.17 | 7.60% | -6.53% |
| 12 | Cisco | CSCO | NASDAQ | 6,411 | 29.25 | 30.06 | 2.77% | 10.68% |
| 13 | Oracle | ORCL | NYSE | 6,042 | 38.50 | 40.52 | 5.25% | 10.92% |
| 14 | Astra Zeneca PLC | AZN | NYSE | 5,997 | 25.89 | 27.16 | 4.91% | -20.00% |
| 15 | Honda | HMC | NYSE | 5,990 | 29.37 | 30.63 | 4.29% | -4.07% |
| 16 | Bristol-Myers Squibb | BMY | NYSE | 5,920 | 55.96 | 57.04 | 1.93% | -17.09% |
| 17 | Qualcomm | QCOM | NASDAQ | 5,833 | 65.84 | 68.52 | 4.07% | 37.09% |
| 18 | Sanofi SA | SNY | NYSE | 5,519 | 40.02 | 40.40 | 0.95% | -5.28% |
| 19 | Eli Lilly Co | LLY | NYSE | 5,331 | 67.71 | 67.85 | 0.21% | -19.46% |
| 20 | GlaxoSmithKline | GSK | NYSE | 5,250 | 37.70 | 37.79 | 0.24% | -6.34% |
| 21 | IBM | IBM | NYSE | 5,247 | 160.02 | 166.52 | 4.06% | 21.04% |
| 22 | Daimler | DDAIY | OTC | 5,169 | 62.47 | 68.30 | 9.33% | -12.32% |
| 23 | Siemens | SIE | XETRA | 4,929 | 105.80 | 114.70 | 8.41% | 27.61% |
| 24 | Bayer AG | BAYN | XETRA | 4,649 | 87.15 | 94.54 | 8.48% | -18.64% |
| 25 | Ericsson | ERIC | NASDAQ | 4,124 | 5.16 | 5.59 | 8.33% | -41.83% |
| Total | 175,313 | 1478.72 | 1537.90 | 4.00% | 1.07% | |||
| Biopharmaceutical | 614.52 | 627.57 | 2.12% | -9.66% | ||||
| Automotive | 256.32 | 272.74 | 6.41% | -2.93% | ||||
| ICT | 496.92 | 517.30 | 4.10% | 15.87% | ||||
About the R&D Index/Market Pulse
R&D Magazine’s R&D Index is a weekly stock market summary of the top international companies involved in research and development. The top 25 industrial spenders of R&D in 2014 were selected based on the latest listings from Schonfeld & Associates’ June 2015 R&D Ratios & Budgets. These 25 companies include pharmaceutical (11 companies), automotive (5), ICT (7) and conglomerate (2) organizations who invested a cumulative total of more than $170 billion in R&D in 2014, or approximately 10.8% of all the R&D spent in the world by government, industries and academia combined, according to R&D Magazine’s 2014 Global R&D Funding Forecast. The stock prices used in the R&D Index are tabulated from NASDAQ, NYSE, XETRA and OTC common stock prices (in U.S. dollars) for the companies selected at the close of stock trading business on the Friday preceding the publication of the R&D Index in R&D Magazine’s R&D Daily eNewsletter.
The companies used in the R&D Index include Microsoft, Intel, Roche Holdings, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Toyota Motor, General Motors, Merck & Co., Ford Motor, Cisco, Apple Computer, Sanofi SA, Qualcomm, IBM, Astra Zeneca plc, Honda Motor, Daimler, Oracle, GlaxoSmithKline, Siemens, Eli Lilly Co., Ericsson, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Bayer AG. Stock prices are based on those stocks traded on the U.S. exchanges. R&D Index trends (in the stock prices) are just one indicator of the amount of capital available to these high-technology companies to invest in R&D and should not be implied to indicate the absolute value of R&D investments made by these organizations. The companies chosen for the R&D Index have very large sophisticated internal and global R&D organizations with each company investing between $4.3 and $11.7 billion annually on their R&D efforts.
