September 8, 2026
Bonus Content: J&J’s Cancer Trials Beat the Old Standard of Care. The Stock Hasn’t Fully Priced It.
Copper Is Moving. Investors Should Ask Why
Investors love the idea of being early. They just hate how uncomfortable it feels. Because early usually does not look obvious and can be a little too easy to ignore.
That may be the point here.
Copper recently surged 41% year over year as AI data centers are adding a new layer of demand. S&P Global forecasts global copper demand could climb from 28 million metric tons today to 42 million by 2040.
And still, one small North American copper story tied to this setup is trading under $1.
That does not make it safe, but it does make it interesting.
Because the market has a habit of ignoring small resource stories until there is a clear reason to pay attention. A major field season. More drilling. A stronger copper price.
Copper may already be waking up and this under-$1 name may still be early.
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J&J’s Cancer Trials Beat the Old Standard of Care. The Stock Hasn’t Fully Priced It.
The most instructive thing about Johnson & Johnson’s oncology push right now is not any single trial result. It is how consistently the data has exceeded what the market appeared to model going in.
Start with the PROTEUS study. J&J announced results from the final analysis showing that apalutamide (ERLEADA) plus hormone therapy, given for six months before and after prostate cancer surgery, significantly improved key short- and long-term clinical outcomes for patients with high-risk localized or locally advanced disease. The numbers were striking by any standard: patients receiving apalutamide plus hormone therapy were nine times more likely to have little to no cancer remaining at the time of surgery compared with hormone therapy alone, and the combination reduced the risk of developing metastasis or death by 20 percent. The data opened the plenary session at ASCO 2026 and landed simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine. That placement matters. It signals clinical consensus, not just corporate optimism.
On the lung cancer side, the MARIPOSA Phase 3 trial has become arguably J&J’s most commercially significant ongoing story. Results published in the New England Journal of Medicine show the combination of Rybrevant (amivantamab-vmjw) plus Lazcluze (lazertinib) produced a statistically significant improvement in overall survival in patients with EGFR-mutated advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer versus Tagrisso (osimertinib). Beating osimertinib on overall survival is not a minor footnote. Tagrisso generated about $7.25 billion for AstraZeneca in 2025. Any durable share shift in first-line EGFR-mutated NSCLC is a large revenue event.
The pipeline does not stop there. Two ongoing Phase 3 studies are evaluating pasritamig, a first-in-class T-cell engager targeting KLK2, in the metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer setting, including as monotherapy and in combination with docetaxel. And on the M&A side, J&J is expanding its biotech portfolio with a $1 billion cash acquisition of Firefly Bio and a partnership with Sail Biomedicines that includes an option to buy the company for $2.58 billion. J&J is positioning Firefly’s platform as a way to go after difficult-to-treat solid tumors.
So where does this leave traders? J&J reported first-quarter 2026 revenue of $24.1 billion, a 9.9% gain year-over-year, beating consensus and prompting management to raise full-year operational sales guidance to a range centered on $100.2 billion. The oncology franchise led the way, with DARZALEX posting 17.8% growth and CARVYKTI growing 57.4%. Yet the Street’s mean price target sits around the mid-$270s, which is a relatively tight band for a company executing at this rate across multiple tumor types simultaneously.
The trader’s lesson here is about how markets process clinical-stage risk differently from commercial-stage execution. Once Phase 3 data clears and lands in a top-tier journal, the speculative premium collapses, and a new set of buyers, those underwriting steady revenue, need time to rotate in. The gap between what the data shows and what the stock reflects is often widest in precisely that window. Watch volume on JNJ around the next FDA-related catalyst. That is where the next positioning signal will appear.