The R&D Index for the week ending November 2, 2018 closed at 4,292,86 for the 25 companies in the R&D Index. The Index was up 0.18% (or 7.58 basis points) from the week ending October 26, 2018. The stock of seventeen R&D Index companies gained value last week from 0.34% (Eli Lilly Company) to 12.57% (Volkswagen AG). The stock of eight R&D Index companies lost value last week from -0.13% (Astra Zeneca) to -9.00% (Daimler).
A Labor Dept. report stated Friday that the U.S. added 250,000 jobs in October which was higher than the October monthly averages in previous years. They also noted that wages increased 3.1% in October from a year earlier, the largest year-over-year increase since 2009. The Commerce Dept. reported on Friday that the U.S. imported a record amount of goods ($218 billion) in September with the trade deficit with China rising to a record $40.2 billion.
Last month we reported that R&D Index members GM and Honda were collaborating on autonomous vehicle development. Last week R&D Index member Volkswagen reported that it is in talks with Ford Motor Co. to create a global self-driving joint venture. One option they’re discussing is for VW to take a 50% stake in the Ford Autonomous Vehicle LLC. VW is noted as lagging its rivals in developing self-driving cars.
R&D Index member IBM announced last week that it was acquiring Red Hat Inc. a software developer, for $33.4 billion. The value of this acquisition roughly equals the combined value of all the deals IBM has done for the past 15 years. IBM expects the deal to close in the second half of 2019. Given IBM’s history of acquisitions, analysts are somewhat skeptical that this acquisition will provide the incentive needed to support a business turnaround for IBM. IBM stock was down 7.3% for the week.
R&D Index member Apple recently signed a long-term lease for more than 300,000 sq ft of industrial manufacturing space in Santa Clara, California. Apple’s plans for the space were not disclosed, but the space was listed as purpose-built for “industrial, R&D and manufacturing.” Analysts noted it could be an expansion of Apple’s self-driving car research.
| R&D Index Week Ending November 2, 2018 |
| Ticker | Exchange | 2018 R&D millions U.S. $ | 10/26/18 | 11/02/18 | 11/02/18 to 10/26/18 | 11/02/18 to 12/29/17 | ||
| 1 | Amazon | AMZN | NASDAQ | 26,750 | 1,642.81 | 1,665.53 | 1.38% | 42.42% |
| 2 | Alphabet/Google | GOOGL | NASDAQ | 18,796 | 1,083.75 | 1,071.49 | -1.13% | 1.72% |
| 3 | Apple | AAPL | NASDAQ | 14,037 | 216.30 | 207.48 | -4.08% | 22.60% |
| 4 | Intel | INTC | NASDAQ | 13,702 | 45.69 | 47.11 | 3.11% | 2.06% |
| 5 | Microsoft | MSFT | NASDAQ | 13,558 | 106.96 | 106.16 | -0.75% | 24.11% |
| 6 | Roche Pharm | RHHBY | OTC | 12,284 | 29.32 | 29.82 | 1.71% | -5.57% |
| 7 | Johnson & Johnson | JNJ | NYSE | 11,493 | 136.97 | 140.68 | 2.71% | 0.69% |
| 8 | Merck & Co. | MRK | NYSE | 11,323 | 70.40 | 72.27 | 2.66% | 28.43% |
| 9 | Volkswagen AG | VWAGY | OTC | 10,915 | 15.28 | 17.20 | 12.57% | -57.47% |
| 10 | Toyota | TM | NYSE | 10,848 | 117.30 | 115.46 | -1.59% | -9.21% |
| 11 | Novartis | NVS | NYSE | 8,934 | 85.29 | 87.20 | 2.24% | 3.86% |
| 12 | Honda | HMC | NYSE | 8,180 | 26.75 | 28.43 | 6.28% | -16.58% |
| 13 | Pfizer | PFE | NYSE | 7,942 | 42.60 | 42.93 | 0.77% | 18.52% |
| 14 | Daimler | DDAIY | OTC | 7,615 | 58.75 | 53.46 | -9.00% | -36.78% |
| 15 | General Motors | GM | NYSE | 7,278 | 32.65 | 36.03 | 10.35% | -12.10% |
| 16 | Oracle | ORCL | NYSE | 7,001 | 47.32 | 48.83 | 3.19% | 3.28% |
| 17 | Bristol-Myers Squibb | BMY | NYSE | 6,981 | 50.43 | 50.69 | 0.52% | -17.28% |
| 18 | Eli Lilly Co | LLY | NYSE | 6,769 | 106.39 | 106.75 | 0.34% | 26.39% |
| 19 | GlaxoSmithKline | GSK | NYSE | 6,394 | 39.32 | 38.84 | -1.22% | 9.50% |
| 20 | Cisco | CSCO | NASDAQ | 6,009 | 44.25 | 45.48 | 2.78% | 18.75% |
| 21 | IBM | IBM | NYSE | 5,842 | 124.79 | 115.67 | -7.31% | -24.61% |
| 22 | Bayer AG | BAYN | OTC | 5,743 | 18.98 | 20.01 | 5.43% | -35.64% |
| 23 | Astra Zeneca PLC | AZN | NYSE | 5,483 | 37.90 | 37.85 | -0.13% | 9.08% |
| 24 | Qualcomm | QCOM | NASDAQ | 5,183 | 62.48 | 63.33 | 1.36% | -1.08% |
| 25 | Sanofi SA | SNY | NYSE | 4,694 | 42.60 | 44.16 | 3.66% | 2.70% |
| Total | 243,754 | 4,285.28 | 4,292.86 | 0.18% | 13.21% | |||
| Biopharmaceutical | 660.20 | 671.20 | 1.67% | 5.24% | ||||
| Automotive | 250.73 | 250.58 | -0.06% | -23.43% | ||||
| ICT | 1,731.54 | 1,705.55 | -1.50% | 2.91% | ||||
About the R&D Index
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 2017 were selected based on the latest listings from Schonfeld & Associates’ June 2018 R&D Ratios & Budgets. These 25 companies include pharmaceutical (11 companies), automotive (5), ICT (8) and conglomerate (1) organizations who invested a cumulative total of more than $209 billion in R&D in 2017, or approximately 10% of all the R&D spent in the world by government, industries and academia combined, according to R&D Magazine’s 2018 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.
