Merck (MRK) over the weekend presented the first-in-human data with a STING agonist, MK-1454, as monotherapy and in combination with Keytruda, William Blair analyst Matt Phipps tells investors in a research note. Overall, the lack of monotherapy responses and 24% overall response rate in combination with Keytruda across a variety of tumor types is "underwhelming" given the promising preclinical results seen with multiple STING agonists and industry enthusiasm for the target, the analyst contends. He believes investor enthusiasm for the upcoming poster with Aduro Biotech's (ADRO) STING agonist, ADU-S100, at the Society for the Immunotherapy of Cancer meeting "will undoubtedly be dampened." However, Phipps thinks it is premature to make final judgments on targeting STING in cancer immunotherapy based on Merck's small sample size of injections into one lesion. He has an Outperform rating on Aduro Biotech.

Notable companies reporting before tomorrow's open, with earnings consensus, include Merck (MRK), consensus $1.87... Caterpillar (CAT), consensus $5.14... Comcast (CMSCA), consensus 99c... Honeywell (HON), consensus $2.17... Bristol-Myers (BMY), consensus ($4.44)... Altria (MO), consensus $1.15... Keurig Dr. Pepper (KDP), consensus 35c... GE Vernova (GEV), consensus (37c)... Royal Caribbean (RCL), consensus $1.33... Tractor Supply (TSCO), consensus $1.72... Mobileye (MBLY), consensus (6c)... Textron (TXT), consensus $1.23... LabCorp (LH), consensus $3.48... Southwest Airlines (LUV), consensus (34c)... American Airlines (AAL), consensus (29c)... Harley-Davidson (HOG), consensus $1.51.