EVENTS:   Acceleration in the Energy Transition - David Scott/CHA-AM Advisors - 12 May 26     ROADSHOWS: Consumer Research & Industry Trends focused on US Retail, E-Tail, and Consumer Products Companies - Scott Mushkin /R5 Capital   •   London   07 - 08 May 26       US Equity Short Research & Strategy - Zach Shannon /Corto Capital Advisors   •   New York   18 - 19 May 26       Investing in Constraint: Governance, Scarcity, and the Next Phase of the Energy Transition - François Boutin-Dufresne & Félix-A. Boudreault & Lenka Martinek /Sustainable Market Strategies   •   London   18 - 19 May 26      
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The Cut

Fortnightly publication highlighting latest insights from IRF providers

Company Research

IgA nephropathy: Optical leadership or structural advantage?

Healthcare

Report by Foveal Research

Vertex's IgA nephropathy is being valued on perceived differentiation rather than durable commercial advantage. Foveal's report dissects how alignment, baseline architecture and segment economics reshape probability of success and peak sales assumptions across the class. They identify where consensus expectations appear stretched (VRTX, Vera) and where valuation leverage remains underappreciated (Otsuka, Novartis) ahead of key 2026 catalysts.

The pain trade: The new frontier of non-opioid treatments

Report by Sustainable Market Strategies

America’s opioid crisis is a major societal issue largely ignored by the financial community, with devastating effects on the US economy and labour force participation. Although a large share of the blame must go to pharma companies that designed, manufactured and promoted the products, other parts of the healthcare sector also share responsibility. Current equity investors should note what role publicly-listed healthcare companies played and how they responded to accusations (see chart). Looking ahead, the implementation of the NOPAIN Act could mark a significant inflection point for investors seeking to address the opioid crisis through strategic capital allocation. Companies such as Pacira BioSciences, Indivior and Vertex Pharmaceuticals are leading efforts to provide alternatives to opioid dependence. By boosting non-opioid alternatives, the Act opens new investment avenues for impact-minded investors.

Technology Strategy: Finding short ideas

Report by Trivariate Research

Investors appear increasingly nervous about the strong price momentum in software and semis. This performance has occurred with average volatility vs. history and with declining volatility over the last six months. Trivariate’s analysis reveals how changes in volatility impact subsequent performance. Specifically, it is software volatility that matters the most. Stocks with the biggest change in volatility Q/Q strongly underperform those with decreases in volatility among the group of tech stocks in the highest tertile of CSR (Trivariate has a proprietary seven-factor model to compute company-specific risk). Short ideas include AppFolio, Vertex, CleanSpark and Alkami.