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- Behind This Partnership is a Bigger Oncology Rethink
Behind This Partnership is a Bigger Oncology Rethink
Noah Zelvis
January 25, 2026
After uneven progress in cancer research, a fresh partnership signals a deliberate shift back toward innovation-led growth.
By sharing early risk and backing a differentiated technology, the move hints at a longer-term pipeline rebuild rather than a short-term headline grab.
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Consumer & Retail
The Quiet Reorganization That Could Decide Nike’s Next Decade
Nike, Inc. (NYSE: NKE) is reshuffling its global leadership to realign the company around sport-first execution, stepping away from a period defined by digital overreach and uneven regional results. The message is simple but sharp: brand power is rebuilt where athletes compete, not where dashboards look clean.
When you strip away channels and buzzwords, Nike is saying relevance starts with performance credibility. That shift changes who makes decisions, how products are prioritized, and how stories get told.
Regions Stop Being Sales Maps
Nike is reorganizing leadership so key markets are run through the lens of specific sports and athlete communities rather than pure geography. That structure tightens innovation cycles and makes it harder for generic product strategies to slip through.
If you care about why some launches land flat while others ignite culture, this explains it. Local sport fluency beats centralized efficiency every time.
Execution Over Experimentation
This reset is less about growth hacks and more about discipline. Nike is betting that tighter focus and sport-led leadership can restore momentum without chasing trends or discounting its way forward.
If this works, Nike does not just recover, it hardens its identity. And when a brand like Nike remembers exactly what it stands for, the rest of the industry usually has to adjust.
NKE currently trades at $64 and pays a dividend of $1.64 per share, a yield of 2.54%.
Healthcare & Retail
Walmart Finds a Smarter Way Back Into Healthcare
Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is stepping back into healthcare, but through a very different entrance. By launching clinical research sites inside select stores and former Walmart Health locations, the company is repurposing scale instead of rebuilding clinics.
This is not care delivery. It is access delivery, and that distinction changes everything about cost, risk, and long-term flexibility.
Research Moves Where People Already Are
Clinical trials are leaving academic hospitals and moving into everyday settings. Walmart’s footprint gives researchers something rare: proximity to patients who usually get left out.
If you think about how many trials fail because recruitment stalls, this model attacks that problem directly. Convenience becomes participation, and familiarity lowers hesitation.
Scale Without the Burn Rate
Running clinics tied up capital and operational focus. Hosting research uses the same real estate with far less friction.
You can see Walmart choosing roles carefully now. It is acting as a connector between patients and sponsors rather than a provider competing with health systems.
Optionality Becomes the Strategy
This approach keeps doors open without forcing a full commitment. Partnerships can expand, contract, or evolve without rebuilding the model.
For people watching Walmart’s healthcare story, this is the clearest signal yet. The company is not done with healthcare; it is just done doing it the hard way.
WMT currently trades at $118 and pays a dividend of $0.94 per share, a yield of 0.79%.
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Pharmaceuticals
The Quiet Obesity Move That Fits AbbVie’s Long Game
AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV) is stepping into the obesity drug race without trying to outrun the leaders. Instead of matching scale or speed, the company is advancing an amylin-based therapy licensed from Gubra, aiming at weaknesses that have started to show in first-generation weight-loss drugs.
If you look past the headlines, durability has become the real battleground. High discontinuation rates tied to side effects are limiting how long patients stay on many GLP-1 therapies, creating room for alternatives built around retention rather than rapid uptake.
Where Portfolio Strategy Shows Up
Obesity is not being treated as a standalone bet. AbbVie sees overlap with its aesthetics and specialty medicine businesses, opening doors for integrated care and higher lifetime engagement.
You do not need market leadership to make this meaningful. Even a differentiated slice of a market this large can move the needle if execution holds.
Measured Risk, Familiar Discipline
Later entry raises the bar on proof, pricing, and payer acceptance. But this is AbbVie operating in character, selective, biology-driven, and patient-focused.
For anyone tracking AbbVie’s next growth engine, this move signals patience over hype
and strategy over spectacle.
ABBV currently trades at $218 and pays a dividend of $6.92 per share, a yield of 3.17%.
Dividend Stocks Worth Watching
Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) has launched a charm offensive to win more business from younger parents with its new Kids Club program. The retailer is expanding its loyalty strategy as Americans delay homeownership, rolling out free in-store kids’ events and family-focused perks to keep shoppers engaged for longer.
The initiative is designed to deepen customer relationships at a time when higher mortgage rates and affordability pressures are pushing first-time buyers further out. By targeting families earlier and encouraging repeat visits, Lowe's aims to build long-term brand loyalty before customers make big-ticket renovation purchases.
For investors, the move reflects a pragmatic shift in strategy rather than a demand slowdown. As housing turnover remains muted, Lowe's is adapting by focusing on engagement, retention, and lifetime customer value, reinforcing the resilience of its business model in a tougher housing backdrop. LOW currently pays a $1.20 dividend, yielding 1.73%.
The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG) reported mixed second-quarter results this week as softer demand for everyday staples weighed on volumes, prompting a modest cut to its fiscal 2026 earnings outlook.
While adjusted earnings narrowly beat expectations, volumes fell across most categories as inflation-weary consumers pulled back, particularly in the US. Management lowered its full-year earnings growth forecast to reflect higher restructuring charges but reiterated its sales outlook, signaling confidence that the worst of the slowdown has passed.
The update highlights short-term pressure on demand but reinforced confidence in the company’s ability to stabilize performance and protect long-term cash flow and dividends. PG pays a $1.05 quarterly dividend, yielding 2.83%.
Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) has struck a new $850 million oncology collaboration with Janux Therapeutics, committing near-term payments to advance a novel tumor-activated T-cell engager for solid tumors.
Under the agreement, Janux will lead preclinical development, with Bristol-Myers Squibb taking the candidate into human trials and later-stage development. The deal structure gives BMS access to a differentiated immuno-oncology platform while limiting upfront risk, with larger milestone and royalty payments tied to clinical and commercial success.
For investors, the partnership signals a renewed push into next-generation cancer therapies following mixed outcomes in prior T-cell engager efforts. BMY pays a 63-cent dividend, yielding 4.59%.
Dividend Increases
RBCAA has increased its dividend to 50 cents, up 9.76%. Its new yield is 2.64%.
FSBW has boosted its dividend to 29 cents, an increase of 3.57%. Its new yield is 2.67%.
OKE has lifted its dividend to $1.07 cents, a lift of 3.88%. Its new yield is 5.64%.
OGS has raised its dividend to 68 cents, a boost of 1.49%. Its new yield is 3.64%.
VLO has increased its dividend to $1.20, up 6.19%. Its new yield is 2.57%.
DMLP has boosted its dividend to 75 cents, an increase of 9.54%. Its new yield is 12.77%.
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Why do supermarkets put milk and eggs at the back of the store? |
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AFG’s ex-dividend date for the forthcoming 88-cent payment is 01/27/26.
GAP’s ex-dividend date for the forthcoming 17-cent payment is 01/28/26.
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Everything Else
General Motors has confirmed plans to move production of a compact Buick SUV model from China to Kansas City from 2028.
Capital One has signed a deal to acquire payments startup Brex for $5.15 billion, a discount from its initial $ 10 billion valuation.
In addition to its new research partnership with Janux, Bristol-Myers Squid has also inked a deal with Microsoft to use its AI-enabled radiology platform for faster lung cancer diagnosis.
TikTok’s US deal to avoid a ban in the USA will close this week, with software company Oracle part of the consortium set to take over American operations.
That’s all for today’s edition of the Dividend Brief.
Thanks for reading, and if you have any feedback or dividend stocks you want me to take a look at, just reply to this email!
—Noah Zelvis
DividendBrief.com