Capricor FDA Lifeline, Trump Drone Tariff, and Retail Sales Miss

A drug that an FDA advisory panel had effectively left for dead got a new review window on Friday, sending Capricor sharply higher before the open. Trump simultaneously signed a 100% tariff on large imported drones, rewarding domestic manufacturers immediately.

With Eton posting record revenue and Heartflow raising guidance for the second quarter in a row, today’s edition has every move worth knowing.

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The FDA’s agreement to review an amended marketing application for Capricor’s deramiocel, with an August 22 PDUFA date still active, was the session’s biggest early catalyst, followed immediately by Trump’s 100% tariff proclamation on large imported drones, which sent domestic manufacturers sharply higher.

Retail sales fell in July when economists expected a small gain, and consumer sentiment dropped again in August’s preliminary University of Michigan reading, reinforcing the picture of a consumer feeling the cumulative weight of elevated prices.

Reddit jumped after being named to replace AvalonBay in the S&P 500 before August 18’s open, triggering passive fund buying. Memory stocks including SanDisk extended gains from the week’s investor day events, with AI storage demand continuing to drive the sector’s outperformance.

Lantern Pharma is narrowing its LP-300 lung cancer study after new clinical data supported a protocol change, with the trial now focusing enrollment on patients carrying the EGFR exon 21 L858R mutation and extending treatment from six to eight cycles.

The company reported a 77% clinical benefit rate in the study and is also advancing LP-184 into additional cancer programs, including bladder cancer and triple-negative breast cancer, as it builds out its oncology pipeline.

PAVmed said its PortIO vascular-access device may qualify for the FDA’s 510(k) pathway rather than the more demanding de novo process, potentially reducing the time and cost required to move the product toward commercialization.

The company is also expanding its Veris Health rollout at Ohio State University’s James Cancer Hospital while preparing an implantable patient-monitoring device for an FDA submission targeted for early 2027.

Datavault AI agreed to acquire CyberCatch for $94.5 million in cash, adding an AI-powered cybersecurity platform focused on continuous compliance, threat simulation and cyber-risk monitoring across industries including defense, healthcare and financial services.

CyberCatch will operate as a Datavault subsidiary following the deal, giving the company another technology platform as it expands across data monetization, digital credentials and AI-driven services.

Skye Bioscience agreed to acquire Redx Pharma in a transaction that includes roughly $125 million in new financing and will combine the two businesses under a new company called Fibrx Therapeutics.

The combined business will remain publicly traded and bring together Redx’s drug-development portfolio with Skye’s clinical programs, with the transaction expected to close during the fourth quarter following shareholder and regulatory approvals.

Western Union’s pending $500 million acquisition of International Money Express cleared a major hurdle after New York approved the transaction, while California suspended its prior approval extension and opened another review of the proposed combination.

Western Union and Intermex plan to work with California regulators to restore the approval, with the companies still intending to close the deal once the remaining conditions are satisfied.

Strata Credit Union selected Alkami Technology’s platform to modernize its consumer banking experience, bringing payments, transfers, card management, financial wellness tools and personalized engagement into a single digital system.

The partnership expands Alkami’s footprint across U.S. credit unions as Strata moves toward a mobile-first banking setup designed to simplify member interactions while giving the institution more flexibility to add new financial technology over time.

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Kroger Texas is expanding its refrigerated meat selection as two new fully cooked barbecue entrées from Rancher’s Premium Smokehouse, Brisket Burnt Ends and Pork Burnt Ends, roll out across its stores beginning August 17.

The launch builds on Kroger’s existing relationship with Rancher’s, expanding the brand from smoked sausages into ready-to-eat barbecue meals aimed at shoppers looking for faster at-home meal options.

Estée Lauder is partnering with the University of Leeds on new research into complexion shade matching, combining the beauty company’s product-development expertise with advanced research in color science and visual perception.

The collaboration will study how people perceive skin color and could help Estée Lauder develop more accurate methods for matching foundation and concealer products across a broader range of skin tones.

AirJoule Technologies is moving its atmospheric water technology closer to commercialization through an exclusive agreement with Kubota, with initial deployments planned for Corpus Christi, Texas, and Irvine, California, beginning in the third quarter.

The company has also put an AirJoule system into operation at GE Vernova’s Advanced Research Center and has completed its first full-scale Prime system, which targets the production of roughly 2,000 liters of water per day.

LanzaTech is moving its carbon-recycling platform toward wider commercial use as it works to secure European fuel certification that would open access to regulated road, sustainable aviation, and marine fuel markets.

The company also selected a site in Belgium for Europe’s first commercial-scale alcohol-to-jet facility using LanzaJet technology and added a partnership with the Technical University of Denmark focused on next-generation biofoundry development.

Capricor Therapeutics [CAPR] $6.65 (+57.96%)

The FDA agreed to review an amended marketing application for Capricor’s deramiocel, its Duchenne muscular dystrophy cell therapy, with the August 22 PDUFA decision date remaining active.

The HOPE-3 Phase 3 trial data, now peer-reviewed in The Lancet, showed deramiocel slowed disease progression by 54% versus placebo. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded to Overweight and raised its target to $28. August 22 is now a binary event worth watching.

Eton Pharmaceuticals [ETON] $58.86 (+44.26%)

Eton reported record Q2 revenue that came in nearly 40% above analyst estimates, with adjusted EPS crushing the consensus by more than four times. Management raised full-year revenue guidance well above what the Street had modeled and guided adjusted EBITDA margins to their highest level in company history.

For a specialty pharma company this small, to beat by this much and raise this aggressively in the same release is unusual. The market noticed.

Heartflow [HTFL] $42.08 (+35.70%)

Heartflow’s Q2 beat analyst estimates on revenue and posted a loss far narrower than expected, then raised full-year guidance to $246-250 million. This is the second consecutive quarter the company has beaten estimates and lifted guidance, a pattern that signals platform adoption is accelerating, not plateauing.

The AI-driven coronary plaque and blood flow analysis platform is gaining ground in cardiology workflows, and the beat-and-raise streak is building institutional conviction.

SoundThinking [SSTI] $6.20 (-25.03%)

SoundThinking makes the ShotSpotter gunshot detection system sold to police departments and reported Q2 revenue down 8% from a year ago, then cut its full-year revenue guidance from a $109-111 million range down to $99-100 million while slashing EBITDA margin expectations nearly in half.

Management blamed longer sales cycles, tighter municipal budgets, and deployment delays. Selling public safety tech to cash-strapped city governments in 2026 is a tough business.

TSS Inc [TSSI] $9.68 (-19.06%)

TSS reported Q2 revenue of $35.1 million, missing consensus estimates by 32%, as the company deliberately wound down lower-margin procurement work in favor of higher-margin systems integration.

Gross profit actually grew 11% and adjusted EBITDA rose 12%, but the topline miss landed on a stock that had already run 71% this year, and the market punished the revenue shortfall regardless of the margin story underneath it.

WidePoint [WYY] $9.45 (-18.74%)

WidePoint reported Q2 revenue of $38 million, missing the $41.67 million consensus by 9%, with EPS coming in exactly in line with estimates.

The company was named sole awardee on a Department of Homeland Security contract with a $3.1 billion ceiling, but the contract is currently under bid protest and can't be recognized. The revenue miss without the contract revenue arriving is the gap the market is reacting to.

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