Stockwinners Market Radar for April 16, 2017 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

20:45 EDT MoneyGram determines Euronet bid inferior to new Ant Financial agreement - "Upon receipt of Ant Financial's increased offer on April 15, MoneyGram's board of directors, after careful review and consideration in consultation with its outside legal and financial advisors, compared the relative merits of the increased offer reflected in the Amended Merger Agreement with Ant Financial to the binding offer from Euronet (EEFT) and unanimously determined that the Euronet proposal was not superior to the Amended Merger Agreement and that entering into the Amended Merger Agreement was in the best interests of MoneyGram stockholders," MoneyGram (MGI) and Alibaba (BABA) affiliate Ant Financial said.

20:43 EDT MoneyGram, Ant Financial enter amended merger pact - MoneyGram (MGI) and Alibaba (BABA) affiliate Ant Financial Services Group announced that the companies have entered into an amendment to their definitive merger agreement. Pursuant to the amendment, Ant Financial increased the offer price to acquire all outstanding shares of MoneyGram from $13.25 per share to $18.00 per share in cash. The MoneyGram board of directors has unanimously approved the Amended Merger Agreement. The offer price of $18.00 per share provides approximately $320 million in additional cash consideration to MoneyGram stockholders from the prior agreement. The per share consideration represents a premium of approximately 64 percent to MoneyGram's volume weighted average share price. The transaction is valued at approximately $1.204B for all of MoneyGram's common and preferred shares on a fully diluted basis. Ant Financial will assume or refinance MoneyGram's outstanding debt. "Throughout this process, our board of directors has remained laser-focused on maximizing value for MoneyGram stockholders, while taking into account price, the ability to complete a transaction and other important considerations... We continue to be excited about the transaction, which we are confident will provide substantial benefits," said MoneyGram. "We have enjoyed working closely with the MoneyGram team and remain committed to our plans to invest further in the MoneyGram business. We plan to grow the U.S.-based team and create even greater opportunities for the MoneyGram community... We are fully committed to maintaining the MoneyGram brand that has earned the trust of millions of customers," said Ant. Following the completion of the transaction, MoneyGram will operate as an independent subsidiary of Ant Financial and retain its brand, management team, IT infrastructure and headquarters in Dallas, Texas. All of MoneyGram's current procedures and protections related to data security and personally identifiable information will remain intact. "MoneyGram and Ant Financial have already made significant progress towards obtaining the regulatory approvals necessary to complete the transaction, including obtaining antitrust clearance in the United States and filing for certain state licensing approvals. The transaction is subject to the approval of MoneyGram stockholders, obtaining remaining regulatory approvals, including the clearance of the transaction by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, and other customary closing conditions," the companies noted. The transaction continues to be expected to close in the second half of 2017. MoneyGram stockholders of record as of April 7 will be asked to vote on the Amended Merger Agreement at a special meeting scheduled for May 16. Thomas H. Lee Partners and certain MoneyGram executives who collectively own approximately 46 percent of the outstanding voting shares of MoneyGram previously entered into agreements with MoneyGram to vote in favor of the transaction, which agreements remain in effect.

16:32 EDT Box Office Battle: 'Fate Of The Furious' breaks records in $532M global launch - Comcast's (CMCSA) "The Fate Of The Furious" earned $100.2M in its U.S. debut over Easter weekend, underperforming against estimates of at least $110M as well as the $147M of its predecessor. However, "Fate Of The Furious" debuted to record-breaking international sales of $432M, including the third biggest Chinese launch of all time, dethroning "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" with a new global opening record of $532.5M. The eighth entry in "The Fast and the Furious" franchise received an A in audience polls from CinemaScore, holds a 64% critics rating on reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, and was produced with a reported budget of $250M. BOX OFFICE RUNNERS-UP: Fox's (FOX) "The Boss Baby" added $15.5M in its third weekend while Disney's (DIS) "Beauty And The Beast" earned $13.6M in its fifth, reaching a worldwide total of $1.04B. Rounding out the top five, Sony's (SNE) "Smurfs: The Lost Village" dipped 54% in its second weekend to $6.5M and Time Warner's (TWX) "Going In Style" grossed $6.3M. Other publicly traded companies in filmmaking include Lionsgate (LGF.A) and Viacom (VIA).

15:41 EDT Lilis Energy appoints new corporate auditor - Lilis Energy announced it has appointed the accounting and consulting firm BDO USA to act as its new independent registered public accountant, effective April 13, replacing Marcum.

15:38 EDT InterContinental discloses payment card cybersecurity incident - IHG announced Friday: "Many IHG-branded locations are independently owned and operated franchises, and certain of these franchisee operated locations in the Americas were made aware by payment card networks of patterns of unauthorized charges occurring on payment cards after they were legitimately used at their locations. To ensure an efficient and effective response, IHG hired a leading cyber security firm on behalf of franchisees to coordinate an examination of the payment card processing systems of franchise hotel locations in the Americas region. The investigation identified signs of the operation of malware designed to access payment card data from cards used onsite at the front desk at certain IHG-branded franchise hotel locations between September 29, 2016 and December 29, 2016. Although there is no evidence of unauthorized access to payment card data after December 29, 2016, confirmation that the malware was eradicated did not occur until the properties were investigated in February and March 2017. Before this incident began, many IHG-branded franchise hotel locations had implemented IHG's Secure Payment Solution, a point-to-point encryption payment acceptance solution. Properties that had implemented SPS before September 29, 2016 were not affected. Many more properties implemented SPS after September 29, 2016, and the implementation of SPS ended the ability of the malware to find payment card data and, therefore, cards used at these locations after SPS implementation were not affected. The malware searched for track data -- which sometimes has cardholder name in addition to card number, expiration date, and internal verification code -- read from the magnetic stripe of a payment card as it was being routed through the affected hotel server. There is no indication that other guest information was affected... On behalf of franchisees, IHG has been working closely with the payment card networks as well as with the cyber security firm to confirm that the malware has been eradicated and evaluate ways for franchisees to enhance security measures. Law enforcement has also been notified. IHG also has established a dedicated call center to answer any questions affected guests may have."

15:30 EDT Energy Transfer Partners says ISS recommends vote for Sunoco Logistics merger - Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) announced Friday that Institutional Shareholder Services, a proxy advisory firm, has recommended that ETP unitholders vote for approval of the proposed merger with Sunoco Logistics Partners (SXL), which will be considered at the April 26 special meeting of ETP unitholders.

15:23 EDT U.S. Steel issues update on incident at Portage facility - United States Steel issued the following statement Friday to provide further updates relative to the "process release" at U. S. Steel's Midwest Plant in Portage, Ind., on April 11: "Overnight and throughout the morning, U. S. Steel continued extensive testing on the repairs made at our Midwest Plant and continues to monitor environmental compliance with all of our systems. Recent sampling has indicated we are in compliance with our water permit limits. We have determined all repairs are safely working as intended. We have developed a controlled and phased approach to a facility restart with extensive input from the participating government agencies. A controlled restart of operations at the Midwest Plant at this time will allow U. S. Steel and participating government agencies to conduct robust water and soil sampling while Indiana American Water's intake remains closed and access to certain parks and beaches remains restricted. U. S. Steel currently expects the controlled, phased and highly monitored restart to begin later today... U. S. Steel has made enhancements to the parts of the facility where the failure occurred and is reviewing additional measures it can take to allow for earlier detection of future issues."

15:16 EDT RE/MAX Holdings issues March national housing report - RE/MAX Holdings released its March national housing report Friday, stating: "March launched the home-buying season with post-recession records for increasing home sales and prices and decreasing inventory... Last month, home sales were 6.6% higher than the nine-year-old report's previous March record, set in 2016. Thirty-eight of the 53 metro areas in the report showed year-over-year increases. Meanwhile, Months Supply of Inventory dropped below three months for the first time in the history of the report, indicating a market that greatly favors sellers, as six months is considered a balanced market. Active inventory continued to decline, dropping 17% year-over-year. As a result, the Median Sales Price of $225,000 -- also a March record -- was up 11% year-over-year. This was the 12th consecutive month of year-over-year price increases. Homes continued selling faster last month, with the average Days on Market dropping to 64, compared to 68 in February 2017 and 71 in March 2016." RE/MAX CEO Dave Liniger continued, "We expect a seasonal uptick in sales this time of year and March certainly met and somewhat exceeded that expectation. We don't anticipate the tightening inventory to ease up in most markets until new home construction can catch up to its pre-recession pace. Until then, sellers will enjoy a fast-paced market and buyers will need to work with their agents to get in the right home."

14:48 EDT Eli Lilly says reaffirming 2017, mid-term guidance - "Lilly is reaffirming both its financial guidance for 2017 and its mid-term guidance for the remainder of this decade," said Eli Lilly.

14:45 EDT Kemet completes sale of EMD business to NTJ Holdings - KEMET announced Friday that its joint venture, NEC TOKIN, has completed its sale of its electro-mechanical devices business to NTJ Holdings 1. The selling price was JPY 48.2 billion, or approximately $441.3 million. The closing of the EMD sale fulfills a significant closing condition to KEMET's purchase, through its wholly owned subsidiary KEMET Electronics, of the outstanding shares of NEC TOKIN from NEC Corporation pursuant to the previously disclosed Stock Purchase Agreement between NEC and KEC. The closing of KEC's acquisition of NEC TOKIN is currently scheduled for on or about April 19.

14:39 EDT Kimberly-Clark appoints Larry Allgaier as North America group president - Kimberly-Clark on Friday named Larry Allgaier as Group President of Kimberly-Clark North America, reporting to Mike Hsu, President and Chief Operating Officer. "Larry's strong track record for delivering sustainable, profitable growth and championing innovation will enable him to effectively lead the largest business unit in Kimberly-Clark's portfolio," said the company. Prior to joining K-C, Allgaier held senior leadership roles at Mars, which he joined in 2012. Most recently, he was President of the newly formed Mars Petcare Veterinary Health Group.

14:31 EDT Central Pacific, Japan bank alliance enter business development agreement - Central Pacific Bank, primary subsidiary of Central Pacific Financial, and each member bank of the TSUBASA Alliance enhancing Financial System of Japan on Friday signed memorandums of understanding "to mutually explore business opportunities between Japan and Hawaii through cooperation and the sharing of ideas." TSUBASA is made up of six regional banks throughout Japan: The Chiba Bank, The Daishi Bank, The Chugoku Bank, The Iyo Bank, The Toho Bank, and The North Pacific Bank. The alliance was established to investigate and research advanced IT technologies including Fintech. "The agreements with TSUBASA resulted from CPB's relationship with The North Pacific Bank, established through a similar MOU signed in August, 2015," the company noted.

14:26 EDT Ipsen appoints Alexandre Lebeaut as Chief Scientific Officer - Ipsen announced Friday the appointment of Alexandre Lebeaut as Executive Vice-President, R&D, and Chief Scientific Officer, effective immediately. Lebeaut will serve on the Executive Leadership Team. Lebeaut joined Ipsen in 2013 as Senior Vice President, Chief Development Officer, Global Drug Development and was appointed Interim Head of R&D in December 2016.

14:21 EDT Abbott to pay $51 per share to acquire Alere under amended agreement

14:04 EDT Citi to collaborate with Kyoto on industrial growth, globalization - Citi announced Friday that it has reached an agreement with the government of Kyoto Prefecture "to support the industrial growth and globalization of the western Japan prefecture." The agreement "aims to facilitate mutual cooperation between Citi and the prefectural government of Kyoto in various areas, including industrial development and innovation, international promotion of local culture and related businesses, and next-generation community development including the smart city initiative. Per the agreement, Citi will work closely with Kyoto Prefecture on the development of financial strategy, funding, offshore industrial expansion, and other agendas," the company said.

14:01 EDT Forestar Group to be acquired by Starwood Capital in $605M cash deal - Forestar Group announced Thursday that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement with affiliates of Starwood Capital under which Starwood will acquire all outstanding shares of common stock of the company for $14.25 per share in cash. The total transaction equity value is approximately $605M. The transaction price of $14.25 per share represents an 8.2% premium to the 90-day volume weighted average price. "After conducting a thorough review assisted by highly experienced financial and legal advisors, the board believes that engaging in the transaction with Starwood is the best option to maximize stockholder value," said Forestar. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2017 and is contingent on the approval of Forestar's stockholders. The transaction is not subject to a financing condition. In light of the announcement, the Company will not issue an earnings release for its first quarter 2017.