Stockwinners Market Radar for April 18, 2017 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

20:11 EDT Samsung completes qualification for second-gen 10 nanometer chip process - Samsung Electronics announced that its second generation 10-nanometer FinFET process technology, 10LPP, has been qualified and is ready for production. "With further enhancement in 3D FinFET structure, 10LPP allows up to 10-percent higher performance or 15-percent lower power consumption compared to the first generation 10LPE process with the same area scaling. Samsung was the first in the industry to begin mass production of system-on-chips products on 10LPE last October. The latest Samsung Galaxy S8 smartphones are powered by some of these SoCs. To meet long-term demand for the 10nm process for a wide range of customers, Samsung has started installing production equipment at its newest S3-line in Hwaseong, Korea. The S3-line is expected to be ready for production by the fourth quarter of this year," the company noted.

19:40 EDT White House releases 'Buy American and Hire American' order - The White House has published President Donald Trump's "Buy American and Hire American" executive order, which was signed Tuesday. The order directs the executive branch to buy American goods and products and hire American workers. The order adds that all agencies must "scrupulously monitor, enforce, and comply with Buy American Laws," and asks that any waivers to the rules "take appropriate account of whether a significant portion of the cost advantage of a foreign-sourced product is the result of the use of dumped steel, iron, or manufactured goods." The President's action also directs the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Labor, and the Secretary of Homeland Security to "suggest reforms to help ensure that H-1B visas are awarded to the most-skilled or highest-paid petition beneficiaries." Publicly traded companies in the steel space include Steel Dynamics (STLD), AK Steel (AKS), U.S. Steel (X) and Nucor (NUE). Publicly traded companies potentially exposed to changes to the H-1B program include Cognizant (CTSH), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Facebook (FB), Infosys (INFY) and Wipro (WIT). Reference Link

19:19 EDT Galaxy S8 'teardown' finds Qualcomm, Skyworks, NXP chips - iFixit has published its "teardowns" of the Samsung (SSNLF) Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus. Among the S8 Plus' components, the group identified parts from Qualcomm (QCOM), Toshiba (TOSBF), Sony (SNE), Skyworks (SWKS), Broadcom (AVGO) and NXP Semiconductors (NXPI), as well as a Maxim (MXIM) chip in the S8. Turning to the battery of the S8 Plus, iFixit commented, "Let's hope that Samsung's improved testing procedures are what the Note7 was missing, because this design looks about the same to us... The S8+ features a 13.48 Wh battery -- the exact same capacity as the Note7." Reference Link

18:56 EDT Vivendi 'surprised' by AGCOM ruling - Vivendi (VIVHY) said it is "surprised" by the decision taken today by the Italian Communication Authority, or AGCOM. "Vivendi has always operated within Italian law, and specifically the Gasparri Law regarding the protection of media pluralism from the creation of dominant positions," the company said. "In particular, it is undisputable that Vivendi neither controls nor exercises a dominant influence on Mediaset (MDIUY) which is controlled on an exclusive basis by Fininvest with a stake close to 40%. Vivendi reserves the right to take any appropriate legal action to protect its interests, including filing an appeal to the AGCom decision at the Regional Administrative Court and to submit a formal complaint to the European Commission for the breach of EU law. Vivendi continues to be fully confident in the rule of law and is certain that finally its rights will be recognized."

18:41 EDT CenturyLink's Qwest to sell $575M of 6.75% Notes due 2057 - CenturyLink announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Qwest Corporation, agreed to sell $575M aggregate principal amount of 6.75% Notes due 2057. Qwest also granted the underwriters of this offering an option to acquire up to an additional $86.25M principal amount of these notes to cover any over-allotments. The closing of this offering is expected to occur on April 27, 2017, subject to customary closing conditions. Qwest intends to apply to list the notes on the New York Stock Exchange. If the application is approved, Qwest expects trading in the notes to begin within 30 days after the notes are first issued. Qwest intends to use the net proceeds from this offering, together with available cash or intercompany borrowings, to redeem, as soon as reasonably practicable, all $500M aggregate principal amount of its outstanding 6.5% Notes due June 1, 2017 and a portion of the $288.5M aggregate principal amount of its outstanding 7.50% Notes due 2051, including in each case accrued and unpaid interest on all such redeemed notes.

18:01 EDT Office Depot to sell operations in Australia, NZ to Platinum Equity - Office Depot announced that it has reached an agreement to sell its business in Australia and New Zealand to Platinum Equity. Office Depot had previously disclosed its intention to sell substantially all of its international businesses under a process that began in 2016. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval in each country and is expected to close within the next several months.

17:55 EDT IBM sees Q2 sequential profit improvement 'similar' to last year - "We typically see a profit improvement from Q1 to Q2. Last year, the sequential improvement was significant because of the charges in Q1. Adjusting for these outsize charges, we increased our operating pretax profit by an average of $800M from first to second over the last couple of years. We see a similar level of sequential improvement this year, which means we would finish 1H at about 37% of our full year 'at least' operating EPS expectation. Now, every year is different, and when you look at that 37% attainment compared to history, you'll see it's a few points below the last few years. So I'll spend a minute on why this year, the 1H and 2H dynamics will be different and why we remain comfortable with our full year expectation... We'll have new systems product later in the year, and this will drive a significant improvement in gross profit from 1H to 2H. Related to that, in 2H, we'll have the investment ramp behind us, so we'll also benefit from lower systems development spending in 2H relative to 1H. We also know that we'll wrap on last year's larger acquisitions. They'll be less dilutive to profit in 2H, as we continue to ramp revenue and realize some operational synergies. Then there are a couple of things that we expect, particularly in our services businesses. We expect that Global Technology Services will sign a few of the larger contracts that didn't close in Q1. And that, together with the cost savings and the yield on some of the investments we've been making, will improve the first to second half profit dynamics. In Global Business Services, our trajectory is starting to improve, and we expect this to continue throughout the year," IBM CFO Martin Schroeter said.

17:45 EDT Oracle acquires Moat, terms not disclosed - Oracle announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Moat, the fastest-growing digital measurement cloud company. Moat will join Oracle Data Cloud, which uses data and analytics to enhance media for leading marketers and publishers. The combination of Oracle and Moat will connect data to consumer attention for better media experiences and business outcomes. Moat will remain an independent platform within Oracle Data Cloud, providing trusted measurement, analytics, and intelligence to the world's largest brands including Nestle, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever, and leading publishers such as ESPN, Facebook, NBCUniversal, Snapchat, and YouTube. Moat's enterprise client base and industry-leading attention analytics and intelligence suite provide a strong complement to Oracle Data Cloud's audience targeting and measurement solutions.

17:41 EDT IBM CFO: Global Business Services backlog 'still declining'

17:31 EDT ICU Medical discloses Grand Jury subpoena in connection with DoJ probe - In connection with the Hospira Infusion Systems business that ICU Medical, Inc. (ICUI) acquired in February 2017 from Pfizer (PFE) on April 18, 2017, ICU Medical received a grand jury subpoena issued by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, in connection with an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, according to a regulatory filing. The subpoena calls for production of documents regarding the manufacturing, selling, pricing and shortages of intravenous solutions, including saline, sold by the company and communications with competitors regarding the same. In addition, the New York Attorney General has previously requested that the company provide information regarding business practices in the IV solutions industry. Both of these investigations relate primarily to time periods prior to the company's ownership of the IV solutions business. The company will fully cooperate with the U.S. Department of Justice and the New York Attorney General on these investigations.

17:20 EDT IBM CFO: Q1 discrete tax benefit 'just under' $500M - IBM CFO Martin Schroeter says that in Q1, "our workforce rebalancing charge was about $170M. So the year to year impact of a lower level of workforce rebalancing accounts for 11 points of the 20% reduction in total expense. Our expense also includes a higher level of IP income, reflecting the success we've had in rebuilding our intellectual property income base through IP partnerships... We also said we'd have a discrete tax benefit in Q1 of $400M-$500M, and in the quarter, the net benefit was just under $500M. This is far less than a discrete benefit we had last year of $1.2B associated with a Japan tax refund. And so tax was the substantial headwind to our net income and EPS growth in the quarter."

17:17 EDT EnerNOC to nominate two individuals for the Board - EnerNOC issued a statement in response to an open letter to shareholders filed today with the SEC by Periam Limited, noting its intent to nominate two individuals for election to the Company's Board of Directors. The letter began "EnerNOC welcomes communications with all of its shareholders and values their input. The Nominating and Governance Committee of the EnerNOC Board of Directors has already met with the Periam Limited candidates, is in the process of evaluating these candidates, and will nominate directors it believes are in the best interest of all EnerNOC shareholders."

17:11 EDT iRobot Stanley files legal proceedings for patent infringement - iRobot (IRBT) announced it has filed legal proceedings for patent infringement against multiple robotic vacuum cleaner manufacturers and sellers including Bissell, Hoover, bObsweep, iLife, Black & Decker (SWK) and the Chinese or Taiwanese companies that manufacture the infringing products. iRobot has asserted a total of six patents in the U.S. International Trade Commission and the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts: U.S. Patent Nos. 6,809,490; 7,155,308; 8,474,090; 8,600,553; 9,038,233; and 9,486,924 against multiple respondents including Bissell Homecare, Hoover, Royal Appliance Manufacturing d/b/a TTI Floor Care North America, bObsweep, bObsweep USA, The Black & Decker, Black & Decker, Shenzhen ZhiYi Technology d/b/a iLife, Matsutek Enterprises, Suzhou Real Power Electric Appliance, and Shenzhen Silver Star Intelligent Technology.

17:10 EDT IBM CFO says margins reflect 'significant investments' in cloud - Speaking on the company's Q1 earnings conference call, IBM CFO Martin Schroeter said, "We've been focused on building a cognitive and cloud platform and amassing the best industry skills and capabilities, all while maintaining our focus on delivering higher-value solutions. As part of the transformation, we've made significant investments and shifted resources. This level of investment and the longer return profile of the Cloud as a Services businesses are reflected in our margins."

17:03 EDT Intuitive Surgical raises FY17 procedure growth view to 12%-14% from 9%-12% - Sees average system selling price to trend gradually lower in FY17. Sees FY17 pro-forma gross margin at upper half of 69%-71% range. Says has ramped operating expenses. Raises FY17 other income view to $30M-$35M from $25M-$30M.

16:59 EDT Bojangles says COO Kenneth Avery no longer an employee of company - Effective April 17, Kenneth Avery is no longer an employee of Bojangles and its subsidiaries and is pursuing other professional opportunities. Avery previously served as the company's senior vice president of company operations and COO.

16:49 EDT U.S. Steel completes monitored restart at Midwest Plant - United States Steel issued a statement regarding the process release at U. S. Steel's Midwest Plant in Portage, Ind., on April 11 and subsequent facility restart. Statement said "The controlled, phased and highly monitored restart at our Midwest Plant, which began on Friday, April 14, is now complete. At present, we have encountered no additional issues. All water sampling and visual inspections performed during the restart process at and around the outfall where the process release occurred, within Lake Michigan, including the public water intake, and adjacent shorelines have shown no elevated hexavalent chromium levels."

16:48 EDT Lifetime Brands says rejects $20.00 per share offer from Mill Road Capital

16:45 EDT Facebook rolls out 'Camera Effects Platform' - Summarizing announcements made earlier Tuesday at its F8 conference, Facebook confirmed that "we're offering a suite of creative tools to give our community of artists and developers the power to create a full spectrum of effects for the new Facebook camera, from simple photo frames to interactive effects and masks using the latest in augmented reality technologies. The Camera Effects Platform includes two products: Frames Studio and AR Studio. Frames Studio is an online creative editor, now available globally, that allows you to design frames that can be used either as profile picture frames or in the new Facebook camera. AR Studio, now open for beta applications, can be used to create masks, scripted effects, animated frames and other AR technologies that react to movement, the environment or interactions during Live videos." Other publicly traded companies in the space include Snap (SNAP). Reference Link

16:41 EDT Egan-Jones proxy urges Consolidated Tomoka holders to vote the GREEN card - Wintergreen Advisers serves as investment adviser to clients who currently own more than 27.2% of Consolidated-Tomoka Land Co. has been notified that Egan-Jones Proxy Services voting recommendations and voting services to a variety of institutional investors, has recommended that CTO shareholders vote "FOR" each of the four Wintergreen nominees, and "AGAINST" the "Say on Pay" at CTO's annual meeting on April 26, 2017. Egan-Jones recommends that all shareholders vote the GREEN proxy card.

16:35 EDT Medtronic classifies field action on HVAD equipment a Class I recall - Medtronic announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has classified the company's recently initiated voluntary field action related to its HVAD System Controllers and DC Adapters as a Class I recall. Medtronic began notifying clinicians outside of the United States in March 2017 about updated HVAD System Controllers and DC Adapters that were developed following two previously communicated Field Safety Notices that occurred in April 2015 and April 2016. The FDA approved the updated controller on April 7, 2017, and Medtronic began notifying U.S. clinicians about the updated HVAD Controllers and DC Adapters on April 14.

16:35 EDT NivalisTherapeutics trading resumes

16:31 EDT Symantec files second patent infringement suit against Zscaler - Symantec announced it has filed a second patent infringement lawsuit against Zscaler in the U.S. Federal District Court for the District of Delaware. Symantec previously filed a separate patent infringement complaint against Zscaler on December 12, 2016. "The lawsuit filed today asserts that Zscaler has been illegally using Symantec's patented technology relating to a variety of network security technologies, including web security, security scanning, data loss prevention, intrusion prevention and intrusion signature analysis. The seven patents asserted in the lawsuit filed today pre-date the formation of Zscaler and include six patents that were obtained through Symantec's acquisition of web security market leader Blue Coat Systems. This lawsuit is based on U.S. Patent Nos. 6,285,658; 7,360,249; 7,587,488; 8,316,429; 8,316,446; 8,402,540; and 9,525,696," the company noted, adding that it "is continuing to investigate this matter and will file further claims if additional infringements are identified."

16:29 EDT Bill Barrett expects to realize a cash commodity derivative gain of $3.6M in Q1 - Bill Barrett announced that it is providing an update on certain Q1 items. For the Q1 West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, oil prices averaged $51.92 per barrel, Northwest Pipeline, or NWPL, natural gas prices averaged $2.99 per MMBtu and NYMEX natural gas prices averaged $3.32 per MMBtu. The Company had derivative commodity swaps in place for the Q1 for 6,500 barrels of oil per day tied to WTI pricing at $58.20 per barrel, 10,000 MMBtu of natural gas per day tied to NWPL regional pricing at $2.96 per MMBtu and no hedges in place for NGLs. Based on preliminary unaudited results, the Company expects to realize a cash commodity derivative gain of $3.6M in the Q1 due to positive derivative positions. The Company expects its Q1 commodity price differentials to benchmark pricing - before commodity derivative gains and in relation to delivery location and quality adjustments - to approximate: oil less $4.00 price per barrel versus WTI; and natural gas less 33c per thousand cubic feet, or Mcf, compared to NWPL. The Denver-Julesburg Basin oil price differential averaged $2.78 per barrel, in addition the Company benefits from having no long-term oil marketing agreements. NGL prices averaged approximately 39% of the WTI price per barrel.

16:25 EDT Morgan Stanley reports 5% passive stake in Bristow Group

16:23 EDT Navient to acquire JPMorgan's $6.9B in education loan assets - Navient (NAVI) announced it has reached an agreement to purchase JPMorgan Chase's (JPM) approximately $6.9B education loan portfolio. The portfolio is comprised of approximately $3.7B in federally guaranteed student loans, of which $1.6B are securitized, and approximately $3.2B in whole private education loans.

16:18 EDT ONEOK announces new $2.5B revolving credit facility - ONEOK (OKE) announced a new $2.5B, five-year senior unsecured revolving credit facility, to replace the existing ONEOK and ONEOK Partners, L.P. (OKS) credit facilities. The new facility will be available upon the completion of the previously announced merger transaction in which ONEOK will acquire all of the outstanding common units of ONEOK Partners it does not already own and the termination of the existing ONEOK and ONEOK Partners credit facilities. Completion of the transaction is expected to occur in the second quarter of 2017. The new credit facility will replace the existing $300M and $2.4B revolving credit facilities at ONEOK and ONEOK Partners, respectively. The facility includes options to request an increase in the size of the facility to $3.5B and two one-year extensions, subject to lender approvals. The facility will be available for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, the issuance of letters of credit and for other general corporate purposes.

16:16 EDT Intuitive Surgical says Q1 revenue up 4% - First quarter 2017 systems revenue increased by approximately 4% to $153M, compared with $148M for the first quarter of 2016. Intuitive Surgical shipped 133 da Vinci Surgical Systems in the first quarter of 2017, compared with 110 in the first quarter of 2016. First quarter 2017 systems revenue reflects the trade-out program deferral.

16:14 EDT Intuitive Surgical says shipped 133 da Vinci Surgical Systems in Q1 - The Company shipped 133 da Vinci Surgical Systems compared with 110 in the first quarter of 2016.

16:13 EDT Intuitive Surgical says Worldwide da Vinci procedures up 18% - Worldwide da Vinci procedures grew nearly 18% compared with the first quarter of 2016, driven primarily by growth in U.S. general surgery procedures and worldwide urologic procedures.

16:12 EDT Nivalis Therapeutics, Alpine Immune Sciences reach merger agreement - Nivalis Therapeutics and Alpine Immune Sciences jointly announced they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Alpine will merge with a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nivalis in an all-stock transaction. The merger will result in a combined company with a novel protein-based discovery platform focused on inflammation and immuno-oncology. On January 3, 2017, Nivalis announced the initiation of a process to explore and review a range of strategic alternatives focused on maximizing stockholder value from its clinical assets and cash resources. As part of that process, bids were solicited from interested parties and over eighty interested parties submitted a proposal to enter into a strategic transaction with Nivalis. After a thorough review of each alternative and extensive negotiation with Alpine Immune Sciences, Nivalis' board of directors unanimously decided to approve and enter into a definitive merger agreement with Alpine. Frazier Healthcare Partners, Alpine BioVentures, and OrbiMed Advisors will invest a combined additional $17M into Alpine Immune Sciences prior to the close of the transaction based on a valuation of Alpine which is consistent with that used to calculate the exchange ratio under the merger agreement. Following the merger, current Alpine shareholders will own approximately 74% of the combined company and current Nivalis shareholders will own approximately 26% of the combined company. The exchange ratio is based on a valuation of Nivalis equal to $50M, which includes approximately $44M in cash expected to be held by Nivalis at the time of closing. The combined company is expected to have approximately $90M in cash and cash equivalents at the closing of the transaction. The transaction has been approved by the board of directors of both companies. The merger is expected to close in the third quarter of 2017, subject to the approval of the stockholders of each company and the satisfaction or waiver of other customary conditions. Mitchell H. Gold, M.D., Alpine's Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, will become the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the combined company. Following the merger, the board of directors of the combined company will expand to seven seats with two representatives from Nivalis. Upon closing of the transaction, the name of the combined company will become Alpine Immune Sciences, Inc. and shares of the combined company's common stock will trade on the NASDAQ Global Market.

16:11 EDT IBM reports Q1 Cognitive Solutions revenue up 2.8% ex-currency to $4.1B - Reports Q1 Global Business Services revenue down 1.9% ex-currency to $4B. Reports Technology Services & Cloud Platforms revenue ex-currency down 2% to $8.2B. Reports Systems revenue ex-currency down 16.1% to $1.4B. Reports Global Financing revenue ex-currency down 2.1% to $405M.

16:10 EDT Ball Corp. partners with Unilever on lighter weight aerosol packaging - Ball Corporation (BLL) and Unilever (UL, UN) have partnered to bring a more sustainable aluminum aerosol can to the market. The new Rexona and Sure antiperspirant cans employ Ball's innovative ReAl technology. The newly created metal alloy that utilizes recycled content exhibits increased strength and allows Ball to lightweight its impact extruded aerosol cans by 20%. This equates to an approximate product carbon footprint reduction of 18 percent for the 150-milliliter aerosol can used for Unilever's Rexona and Sure antiperspirant when compared to a standard can. Ball's partnership with Unilever to lightweight their can using ReAl technology brings significant environmental benefits to the customer while providing the same can performance. The Rexona and Sure antiperspirant aluminum aerosol cans are supplied by Ball for the European market.

16:10 EDT Ultragenyx says recent KRN23 data supports regulatory submissions - Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical, Kyowa Hakko Kirin and Kyowa Kirin International, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kyowa Hakko Kirin, announced positive 24-week data from the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 3 study of burosumab, KRN23, in adults with X-linked hypophosphatemia, XLH. Patients treated with burosumab demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in serum phosphorus levels, with 94% of patients achieving normal levels compared to 8% on placebo. Patients treated with burosumab also achieved a statistically significant improvement in stiffness and strong trends in improvements in physical function and pain. Adverse events were consistent with what has been previously observed in open label studies in adults and children. Ultragenyx is conducting the study under a collaboration and license agreement with Kyowa Hakko Kirin. Burosumab is being developed by Ultragenyx, Kyowa Hakko Kirin and Kyowa Kirin International. "These data demonstrate a clinical improvement in patients treated with burosumab and support the potential for treatment of adults," said Emil D. Kakkis, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and President of Ultragenyx. "When combined with a favorable safety profile and a strong serum phosphorus response, we believe these clinical data should support regulatory submissions in adults with XLH, and we look forward to discussing our filing plans with the U.S. FDA." "This study provides valuable additional placebo controlled data to that already obtained from the global clinical development program for pediatric and adult patients with XLH." said Mitsuo Satoh, Executive Officer, Vice President, Head of Research and Development Division of Kyowa Hakko Kirin. "I believe burosumab has the potential to be an effective treatment option for patients with XLH." "We are pleased that the data from this adult Phase 3 study supports the safety and efficacy of burosumab and look forward to progressing our discussions with the regulatory bodies in Europe and the US," said Dr. Tom Stratford, President and CEO of KKI.

16:08 EDT Yahoo reports Q1 Mavens revenue $529M - Reports Q1 non-Mavens revenue $742M. Reports Q1 non-traffic-driven revenue $56M. Mavens revenue represented 38 percent of traffic-driven revenue in the first quarter of 2016, and increased to 42 percent in the first quarter of 2017. Excluding the impact of the Change in Revenue Presentation, Mavens revenue would have been $391 million, and represented 40 percent of traffic-driven revenue, in the first quarter of 2017.

16:06 EDT Keysight Technologies completes acquisition of Ixia

16:04 EDT Boston Properties announces early achievement of energy goals - Boston Properties announced, in its GRI-aligned 2016 Sustainability Report, the early achievement of energy, water use and greenhouse gas emission intensity reduction goals. The company has exceeded 2020 targets by reducing energy use intensity 19.8%, water use intensity 21.8% and greenhouse gas emissions intensity 31.5% below a 2008 base year. "We are extremely proud to announce the achievement of our energy, emissions and water goals three years ahead of schedule," said Owen Thomas, CEO of Boston Properties. "In 2016 we executed our sustainability strategy by implementing policies, programs and projects that advanced our commitment to sustainable development and operations. Through our efforts, we demonstrated that developing and operating commercial real estate can be conducted with a conscious regard for the environment and our communities while mutually benefitting our tenants and shareholders."

16:03 EDT Shutterfly authorizes additional $140M for buybacks, says repurchased $20M in Q1 - Shutterfly announced that its Board of Directors approved an increase of $140M to its ongoing share repurchase program, bringing the total authorized amount available for repurchase to $202.8M. From January 2014 to March 31, 2017, Shutterfly has repurchased 9.8 million shares for a total of $437.2M, including 430,000 shares for $20M in the first quarter of 2017. "With this increase in authorization, Shutterfly now has additional flexibility to increase share repurchases and continue Shutterfly's long term capital allocation strategy to maximize shareholder value while maintaining the ability to make strategic investments," the company said.

16:02 EDT NivalisTherapeutics trading halted, news pending

16:01 EDT Amgen launches Neulasta Onpro NARRATIVES - Amgen announced the launch of Neulasta Onpro NARRATIVES, an online media resource about the value of a cancer care team that provides comprehensive support for patients receiving strong chemotherapy. Intended to support conversations between cancer patients undergoing strong chemotherapy and their healthcare team about potential risk for infection due to a low white blood cell count, Neulasta Onpro NARRATIVES shares personal cancer stories as well as educational materials.

15:57 EDT Impac Mortgage trading resumes

15:51 EDT Impac Mortgage trading halted, news pending

15:33 EDT Wells Fargo announces pilot to test Facebook Messenger bot - Wells Fargo (WFC) announced the company is launching a pilot to test an artificial intelligence-driven customer chat experience for Facebook Messenger (FB). Wells Fargo's bot for Messenger is a pilot test and is part of the company's innovation agenda, the bank stated. Initially, the pilot has been opened to several hundred Wells Fargo team members. Later this spring, Wells Fargo plans to invite a few thousand customers to participate as the bank expands the testing environment.

15:17 EDT On The Fly: What to watch in Intuitive Surgical earnings report - Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) is scheduled to report results of its first fiscal quarter after the market close on April 18, with a conference call scheduled for 4:30 pm EDT. What to watch for: 1. PROCEDURAL GROWTH: Along with its fourth quarter report, Intuitive Surgical specified its much watched procedural growth view for its daVinci system to 9%-12% for 2017. Just yesterday, RBC said Intuitive Surgical should report 'strong' Q1 results Based on surgeon checks, RBC Capital analyst Brandon Henry expects Intuitive Surgical to report "strong" Q1 results. He also predicts that the company will " slightly raise its 2017 procedure growth guidance of 9%-12%." However, he keeps a Sector Perform rating on the name, saying that the good news "is already largely priced into the stock." 2.PROSTATE CANCER: According to an article form late March, published by the Motley Fool, radical prostatectomy for patients diagnosed with prostate cancer is "Intuitive Surgical's second most performed surgical procedure." According to the article, 66 is the average age of men who get this type of surgery and most baby boomers haven't reached that age yet. 3.GYNECOLOGICAL SPACE: On April 17, Barclays raised its price target on shares to $830 from $800. Barclays analyst Matthew Taylor raised his price target for Intuitive Surgical to $830 after surveying 50 U.S. obstetricians and gynecologists to gauge hysterectomy trends. The survey suggests there will be continued growth of robotic surgery in the gynecology space, Taylor told investors in a research note. The analyst remained bullish on shares of Intuitive Surgical. 4.TAKEOVER SPECULATION: On April 5, Intuitive Surgical moved higher amid renewed takeover speculation. The conjecture had Medtronic (MDT) as the interested suitor. The Fly, in fulfilling its mission of explaining stock movement, often comes across the many unconfirmed rumors being passed through trading desks and social media platforms. On the occasion that rumors or speculation appear on The Fly's news feed, it should be viewed not as giving credence to the conjecture, rather as simply highlighting its impact on the stock prices of the companies involved.

15:14 EDT Dish spectrum splurge may lower M&A chances, Macquarie says - Dish Network (DISH) shares have dipped after research firm Macquarie downgraded the stock to Neutral, arguing that the company's $6.2B splurge on the recent wireless spectrum auction could deter a potential suitor and appears misaligned with the coming rollout of 5G technology. DISH DOWNGRADE: Downgrading Dish to Neutral while cutting her target price to $61 after the recent spectrum auction, Macquarie's Amy Yong argues that the company's $6.2B spending spree - the second largest of the auction and far ahead of the next highest buyer - is a "thesis changer" that negatively impacts M&A optionality. Too much spectrum could in fact make Dish "harder to swallow" for a potential acquirer, the analyst explains, while the now "balanced" spectrum across the major carriers, including T-Mobile's (TMUS) nearly $8B auction spend, AT&T's (T) $910M buy as well as its recent deals outside the auction, and Sprint's (S) strong existing portfolio, reduce the near-term desirability of Dish's asset package. Yong warns that even in the event of an acquisition, potential upside "could be capped" because of the above-mentioned spectrum balance as well as likely enhanced regulatory scrutiny, and buildout requirements which won't enter the picture until 2020. Also driving the downgrade is Yong's belief that Dish subscriber numbers "could feel continued pressure" from secular TV trends even as over-the-top competition increases, and the fact that 5G wireless technology appears to hinge on millimeter wave and fiber, as evidenced by Verizon (VZ) and AT&T's weak participation in the auction and recent deals for Straight Path (STRP), FiberTower, and XO Communications. WHAT'S NOTABLE: AT&T announced January 31 an agreement to acquire FiberTower and its millimeter wave rights to "assist in the execution" of its 5G rollout. On April 10, AT&T announced a $1.6B deal for Straight Path Communications. The company, a significant holder of millimeter wave spectrum, disclosed that same week that an unnamed third party - later named by Reuters as Verizon - was considering beating that bid. Big Red, meanwhile, announced today a $1.05B fiber optic cable purchase agreement with Corning (GLW). VERIZON DOWNPLAYS MERGER SPECULATION: Speaking in a CNBC interview Tuesday morning, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam said, "As we've looked at companies around the U.S., there's nobody building to the architecture that we're talking about... A cable company would have customers, would have infrastructure, conduits, pole attachments - those things are all good, but it doesn't have that kind of fiber. The network investment is going to be the cornerstone." Asked about ongoing speculation surrounding Charter (CHTR) or another large acquisition, McAdam responded, "I would tell you right now we haven't seen the architectural fit, and we haven't seen a willing seller and a willing buyer that have a meeting of the minds." PRICE ACTION: Shares of Dish are down 1.75% to $57.76 in afternoon trading. Corning is higher by 1.5%, while other fiber and fiber equipment providers including Clearfield (CLFD) and Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) are also showing gains of roughly 1%.

15:04 EDT MasterCard announces launch of Masterpass-enabled bots on Messenger - Today at the Facebook (FB) Developer Conference, Mastercard (MA) announced Masterpass-enabled bots to drive more seamless shopping on Facebook Messenger with FreshDirect, Subway and The Cheesecake Factory (CAKE). "Masterpass-enabled bots work across multiple verticals - from restaurants to retail - making conversational commerce frictionless while delivering a more personalized experience," the company stated.

15:02 EDT Star Gas Partners, L.P. raises quarterly distribution to 11c per unit - Star Gas Partners, L.P. announced that it has increased its quarterly distribution for the three months ended March 31 to 11c per common unit from 10.25c per common unit. Record date is April 28, with payment date of May 8.

14:52 EDT S&P to remove Power Solutions from indices due to Nasdaq delisting - S&P Dow Jones Indices announced that, effective prior to the open on Thursday, April 20, it will remove Power Solutions International from certain indices following its delisting from NASDAQ and listing on Pink Sheets. The affected indices include the Dow Jones Global Total Stock Market Index; the Dow Jones U.S. Completion Total Stock Market Index; the S&P Global BMI Index; the S&P Intrinsic Value Weighted Global Index; the S&P Total Market Index; and the S&P Completion Index, S&P announced in a notice to clients obtained by The Fly.

14:31 EDT Facebook debuts Messenger Platform 2.0 - Facebook said in a blog pot that, at F8, it introduced Messenger Platform 2.0, a new suite of tools that gives users the ability to build richer experiences, get discovered, and extend the conversational, visual and social capabilities of one's bots. "With more than 1.2B monthly users and over 100,000 monthly active bots, we are focused on learning and building for our developers," the company said. The platform now includes "Discover," a new surface to help people tuitively browse and find the best bots, places and businesses in Messenger. Discover showcases popular bots in our ecosystem, nearby places that people can message, and businesses that offer support or answer questions. Discover also includes categories such as Entertainment, News, Food & Drink and many more. The new Messenger also includes Chat Extensions, which allows people to contextually bring a bot into a conversation and collaborate on creating shopping lists, ordering food, splitting payments, sharing music and other new and existing use cases. Other new additions include Parametric Messenger Codes, Hand-Over Protocol, and ID Matching API. Reference Link

13:52 EDT CareDx confirms inability to file Form 10-K by extended filing date - According to a regulatory filing, CareDx confirmed that it was unable to file, without unreasonable effort and expense, its Annual Report on Form 10-K for its fiscal year ended December 31, 2016. Pursuant to SEC regulations, upon filing the Form 12b-25, the company had until April 17, 2017 to timely file the Form 10-K. However, the company was unable to file the Form 10-K by the extended filing date, as it requires additional time to complete the disclosures in the Form 10-K. The company intends to file the Form 10-K as promptly as possible, but no assurances can be given as to the definitive date on which the Form 10-K will be filed.

13:49 EDT Goldman plunges to year-to-date low as muted volatility hurts trading - Shares of Goldman Sachs (GS) are taking a hit this afternoon after the company reported first quarter financial results. Goldman missed on the top and bottom lines, with revenue of $8.03B and earnings per share of $5.15. Analysts were expecting $8.45B in revenue and a profit of $5.31 per share for the quarter. FIXED INCOME, CURRENCIES, COMMODITIES SOFT: Despite net income nearly doubling year-over-year, the New York-based investment bank missed quarterly estimates as FICC hit a soft spot. Total trading revenue, including equities, dropped 2% to $3.36B. Goldman's main rivals JPMorgan (JPM), Citi (C) and Bank of America (BAC) all reported robust trading revenue in their quarterly results. The company's year over year revenue gain was due in part to gains in its own proprietary stock and bond positions "due to a significant increase in net gains from investments in both private and public equities, which were positively impacted by corporate performance and an increase in global equity prices." Net revenues in debt securities and loans were also significantly higher compared with the first quarter of 2016, reflecting significantly higher net gains from investments in debt instruments and higher net interest income", the bank said in a statement. Goldman's Deputy Chief Financial Officer officer Martin Chavez commented that the operating environment in Q1 was "mixed with lower activity in several institutional market making businesses, offset in part by generally higher activity in investment banking." While speaking on the bank's earnings call earlier today, Chavez noted the sluggish activity in several markets including currency trading, where volatility approached a two year low. Chavez added that the company's commodities business, another leg in the FICC market, as being victimized by low volatility. The commodities business was maimed by anemic crude oil volatility. "A similar dynamic was underway in the equity markets. For example, realized volatility for the S&P 500 reached its lowest level for our first quarter in fifty years. Not surprisingly, U.S. cash equity volumes were generally down, both sequentially and year-over-year," Chavez added. ON A POSITIVE NOTE: Investment banking produced Q1 net revenue of $1.7B, 15% higher than the fourth quarter of 2016, as Goldman saw increases in both M&A and underwriting. Investing & Lending activities produced net revenue of $1.5B in Q1. ANALYST WON'T SUGARCOAT: In a post-earnings research note titled "No Sense in Sugarcoating It..." Nomura Instinet analyst Steven Chubak said he expects "significant pressure" on Goldman's shares following the company's disappointing Q1 results. Given the stronger than expected trading results at peers, Goldman's FICC results were "very surprising" and the "biggest source of disappointment," Chubak told investors in a research note. The analyst expects consensus estimates to be cut meaningfully and kept a Neutral rating on Goldman shares with a $220 price target. PRICE ACTION: Shares of Goldman Sachs are at their session lows, down 5.1% to $214.75.

13:37 EDT Manitex sees Q1 reported backlog of $60.5M - Manitex International announced continued strength in orders for its crane divisions, and anticipates announcing reported backlog of $60.5M for the period ended March 31, 2017, growing from $38.1M as of December 31, 2016. Order activity in 1Q'17 was particularly strong in the North American Lifting Segment and was driven, in part, by market share gains and new products, such as the 2085T and TC450, which were on display at the 2017 Conexpo show in Las Vegas, Nevada. The company's book-to-bill ratio was 1.3 during 1Q'17, with build rates for the company's North American factories scheduled to increase in the second quarter, supporting management's plan for expansion and higher levels of financial performance in 2017.

13:34 EDT AAR Corp says CFO Timothy Romenesko to retire - Chief Financial Officer and vice chairman of AAR Corp, Timothy Romenesko, announced that he will retire effective December 31. AAR is commencing a search for a new CFO to replace Romenesko. Romenesko joined AAR in 1981 and was named Corporate Controller in 1991 and serving as CFO and Treasurer from 1994 to 2006. From 2007 to 2015, he was AAR's President and Chief Operating Officer. Before returning to the role of CFO in 2016, Romenesko was Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of the Expeditionary Services segment.

13:31 EDT Oragenics trading resumes

13:20 EDT Facebook CEO: AR Camera can turn still photo into 3D scene - Says Facebook (FB) Camera can turn a still photograph into a 3D scene. Says Camera will have "best" object recognition in the world. Says Nike (NKE) helped create AR tool for Camera to help visualize your runs and workouts. Says will be whole new genre of AR games coming. Comments taken from Mark Zuckerberg's Keynote speech at the company's F8 conference.

13:17 EDT Park Electrochemical announces consolidation of U.S. electronic materials units - Park Electrochemical announced the consolidation of its Nelco Products, Inc. electronics Business Unit located in Fullerton, California and its Neltec, Inc. electronics Business Unit located in Tempe, Arizona. The consolidation is expected to take approximately four to six months to complete. When completed, all manufacturing operations at NPI will cease, except for the NPI treating operation, which will continue as part and under the supervision of the Neltec Business Unit. All manufacturing functions, including treating, lamination, prepreg paneling, finishing, inspection, quality lab and shipping and receiving, will continue at the Neltec Business Unit location in Tempe, Arizona. After the consolidation is complete, all business functions, including customer service, accounting, payables, receivables, production control and planning, engineering, quality, procurement, facilities management, HR and EHS, will be performed at Neltec in Tempe, Arizona. After the consolidation is complete, the Neltec Business Unit is expected to have ongoing manufacturing capacity equal to approximately three times the current production levels of NPI and Neltec combined. All NPI employees are invited and encouraged to apply for relocation to Arizona to become part of the Neltec workforce for the future.Park expects to incur a pre-tax charge in connection with the consolidation of approximately $5M-$5.5M. This charge is expected to be incurred primarily during the first nine months of Park's current fiscal year ended February 25, 2018. In addition to this charge, Park expects to incur duplicative pre-tax costs of $300,000 during the same nine-month period. Once the consolidation is complete, Park expects an ongoing pre-tax benefit from the consolidation of approximately $3M-$3.5M per year.

13:16 EDT Oragenics reports submission of IND amendment for AG013 trial - Oragenics announced an update on the company's first quarter 2017 progress regarding its two product candidates, AG013 for the treatment of oral mucositis and OG716 for the treatment of Clostridium difficile. For AG013, Oragenics has submitted an Investigational New Drug, or IND, amendment for the upcoming Phase II trial. The company also announced that it provided the U.S. FDA with the updated protocol for the AG013 Phase II trial, including the identification of the trial sites in the United States and the manufacturing details of the product material.

13:14 EDT Facebook camera AR capabilities launching in beta today - Says new camera will come with new basic effects in AR. Says cameras on apps launching in beta today. Comments taken from Mark Zuckerberg's Keynote speech at the company's F8 conference.

13:10 EDT Facebook CEO: Focus for company 'building community' - Says next focus for company is "building community." Says "hearts go out" to friends of Robert Godwin, Sr., the man in Cleveland whose murder was posted on Facebook in a video. Says "excited" about augmented reality. Comments taken from Mark Zuckerberg's Keynote speech at the company's F8 conference.

12:36 EDT Amazon granted patent related to 'on demand apparel manufacturing' - Amazon has been granted a patent describing a system of "on demand apparel manufacturing." The patent document states, "A system of on demand apparel manufacturing includes a textile printer, textile cutter, and a computing device. The computing device is configured to perform a process including aggregating orders for products, organizing the orders according to a productivity factor, and arranging panels for products... The process can further include instructing the textile printer to print a plurality of panels for the products on the textile sheet based on the aggregated textile panel template, and instructing the textile cutter to cut." The application for the patent was filed December 16, 2015. Reference Link

12:32 EDT PayPal partners with Google on Android Pay integration - PayPal (PYPL) is expanding its partnership with Google (GOOG), announcing in a blog post Tuesday that "we are extending our partnership with Google to make it easy for consumers to use PayPal as a payment method in Android Pay wherever Android Pay is accepted, in-store, in-app and online. Coming soon, consumers in the U.S. will be able to use PayPal in Android Pay at retailers from Walgreens to Dunkin' Donuts. This partnership will enable our customers to pay across even more contexts, and will extend PayPal's mobile leadership and reach... Initially, users will be able to pay using their PayPal balance and over the coming months we will add the ability to use cards that have been stored with PayPal, enabled by our recent tokenization partnerships with major card networks." Reference Link

12:02 EDT Man who live streamed killing on Facebook commits suicide - Steve Stephens, the man who live streamed a killing on Facebook, committed suicide after being confronted by police, Pennsylvania State Police announced via Twitter. Reference Link

11:55 EDT TransDigm falls after Capitol Forum claims DOD puts company 'under review' - After Representative Ro Khanna recently asked the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General to investigate TransDigm for potential waste, fraud, and abuse, Capitol Forum claims that a spokesperson for the Defense Logistics Agency stated in an email that TransDigm is "now under review by the DoD IG." Following Capitol Forum's latest report on the company, which it has previously mentioned cautiously, TransDigm shares have fallen $6.95, or 3%, to $232.28.

11:37 EDT NeuroMetrix announces availability of Quell at Bed Bath & Beyond - NeuroMetrix (NURO) announced the availability of its flagship product, Quell, at select number of Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) locations in North America. Quell, which is also available on Bed Bath & Beyond's ecommerce website, is an FDA cleared, 100% drug-free wearable designed to provide 24/7 widespread relief from chronic pain.

11:27 EDT United: Capacity growth about 'restoring' United to where it should have been - United is down about 3% to $68.70 as Q&A continues.

11:14 EDT United says loyalty program growing slower than peers

11:06 EDT Verizon confirms $1.05B minimum purchase fiber agreement with Corning - Verizon Communications (VZ) has announced a three-year minimum purchase agreement with Corning (GLW) to provide fiber optic cable and associated hardware for Verizon to ensure critical coverage and capacity for its nationwide wireless broadband network. The agreement calls for Corning to provide and Verizon to purchase up to 20 million kilometers of optical fiber each year from 2018 through 2020, with a minimum purchase commitment of $1.05B. In an initial deployment, Verizon launched One Fiber in Boston in 2016 and plans to invest $300M over six years to deploy it throughout the city. Viju Menon, Verizon's chief supply chain officer, said: "Our plans identified a shortfall in fiber supply, and Verizon has been working with business teams to forecast demand and fill supply gaps with existing suppliers. Securing the required volume of optical fiber and hardware solutions with Corning will ensure we meet our planned rollout schedules." Verizon has been reinventing its network architecture to improve 4G LTE coverage and speed the deployment of 5G, the company added.

10:58 EDT United says widebody market 'severely depressed' across the board - Sees opportunities in used market.

10:54 EDT Verizon CEO says haven't seen 'architectural fit' for M&A - The CEOs of both Corning and Verizon are speaking in a CNBC interview.

10:49 EDT Verizon agrees to $1.05B fiber-optic cable deal with Corning - Verizon Communications (VZ) has announced a deal to grow its wireless broadband network. Under the agreement, Corning (GLW) will provide for Verizon to purchase up to 12.4M miles of optical fiber each year beginning in 2018 through 2020, with a minimum purchase commitment of $1.05B. Reference Link

10:46 EDT Verizon announces pact to buy fiber from Corning for 5G deployment - The CEOs of Verizon (VZ) and Corning (GLW) are appearing on CNBC to discuss the companies' fiber agreement.

10:41 EDT Rosetta Genomics rallies 13%, or 36c, to $3.09

10:37 EDT United CEO says Flight 3411 incident a 'humbling learning experience' - CEO Oscar Munoz says incident on Flight 3411 last week a "humbling learning experience." Says will make policy changes to "make sure this never happens again" because "you can and should expect more of us." Says will not call for law enforcement to remove passengers from flights except in cases of safety concerns. Says will communicate additional actions by April 30. Says airline focused on learning from event on Flight 3411. Comments taken from the Q1 earnings conference call. United is down 1.88% to $69.44 in morning trading.

10:24 EDT Microsoft to acquire team productivity app maker Intentional Software - Microsoft's Rajesh Jha, EVP of the Office Product Group, announced in post to the company's corporate blog that the company has signed an agreement to acquire Intentional Software, a company that has been focused on creating a platform for a new generation of team productivity apps. The closing of the acquisition is subject to regulatory approval. "This acquisition will build on the work we're already doing to deliver the tools necessary to be productive in an information-rich world. Intentional Software's technology and talent will enhance our existing capabilities and strengthen our ability to add new tools and services to Microsoft's robust productivity offering. We're excited about the company's work on productivity applications, especially given our focus of putting people at the center of experiences and our continued effort to reimagine collaboration," Jha stated. Reference Link

10:00 EDT Parke Bancorp declares 10% stock dividend - The company's Board of Directors declared a 10% stock dividend. The stock dividend is payable on May 19 to stockholders of record as of May 5. As a result of the Board's action today, the outstanding shares of the company's common stock will increase by approximately 688,846 shares, from 6,888,464 shares outstanding to 7,577,310 shares outstanding.

09:31 EDT FBI renews contract with Inpixon Federal - Inpixon announced that subsidiary, Inpixon Federal, has been awarded a second option year renewal of its Information Technology Acquisition Program contract by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Inpixon Federal is one of the seven awardees who will satisfy the FBI's Information Technology requirements in connection with a $450M IDIQ contract. The award of the original contract was made on January 23, 2015. Under the terms of the ITAP contract, Inpixon Federal will provide the FBI headquarters and field offices with technology refreshes on existing information technology equipment, including services to assist the government with obtaining extended maintenance, maintaining accountable property, and processing orders for equipment.

09:27 EDT UnitedHealth announces leadership changes for UnitedHealthcare, Optum units - On UnitedHealth's Q1 earnings call, CEO Stephen Hemsley announced some changes to UnitedHealthcare's executive leadership team, reporting Steve Nelson will step forward as UnitedHealthcare's overall CEO and Dan Schumacher will serve as President. The team is "committed to accelerating UnitedHealthcare efforts to drive growth and deepen the quality and consistency of its performance and its relationships in serving all stakeholders," Hemsley added. Optum, led by Larry Renfro, is "evolving" its leadership team as well, said Hemsley. Dirk McMahon, a 14-year UnitedHealth Group veteran, is serving as Optum's operating President, John Prince is leading OptumRx; Eric Murphy, Optum's long-standing Chief Growth Officer, has assumed leadership of OptumInsight, and Andrew Hayek, who joined by way of the SCA merger, is assuming overall leadership for OptumHealth. Bill Miller and Mark Thierer have "decided to step back," Hemsley added on the call.

09:24 EDT UnitedHealth says company is 'strong advocate' of repealing health insurer tax

09:15 EDT Johnson & Johnson says evaluating options for diabetes business - Says considering both divestiture and partnerships for diabetes business.

09:12 EDT Vera Bradley announces new licensing agreement with CID Resources - Vera Bradley announced it has entered into a licensing agreement with CID Resources Inc. for apparel and coordinating accessories designed specifically for the expanding population of female health care professionals. Rob Wallstrom, CEO of Vera Bradley, noted, "Vera Bradley enters new product categories when it can deliver its signature style paired with new functionality missing from existing products in the market. The medical uniforms market alone is estimated at $1.8B in the U.S., and our research indicates that nearly 20% of our customers identify themselves as working in the health care industry. We are delighted that we will be able to offer beautiful apparel and accessories solutions not only to these existing customers but to introduce Vera Bradley to thousands of other medical professionals as well. We are thrilled to inject our version of functionality, color, and especially fun into this important product category."

09:10 EDT On The Fly: Pre-market Movers - UP AFTER EARNINGS: GNC (GNC), up 19%... UnitedHealth Group (UNH), up 2.2%... Bank of America (BAC), up 1.4%... Netflix (NFLX), up 1.1%... Charles Schwab (SCHW), up 2.3%. ALSO HIGHER: Protalix (PLX), up 2.9% after announcing that a preclinical trial demonstrated that that treatment of Fabry mice with pegunigalsidase alfa slows the progression of small fiber neuropathy when compared to treatment of Fabry mice with currently approved enzyme replacement therapies, and when compared to untreated Fabry mice... Cabela's (CAB), up 7.5% after it amended the terms of its credit card deal... Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT), up 3.5% after being initiated with a Buy at SunTrust. DOWN AFTER EARNINGS: Harley-Davidson (HOG), down 4%... Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), down 1.6%... Grainger (GWW), down 8.1%... Kate Spade (KATE), down 4.4%... Goldman Sachs (GS), down 2.9%... Barracuda (CUDA), down 5.9%. ALSO LOWER: Cardinal Health (CAH), down 12.4% after announcing that it will acquire a patient product portfolio from Medtronic for $6.1B... Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA), down 18.9% after its 60M share Spot Secondary priced at $1.15... WWE (WWE), down 3.3% after its 1.6M share Block Trade priced at $21.15... Amyris (AMRS), down 13.3% after disclosing that it will be unable to recognize $10M in revenue in Q4 and FY16 revenue relating to the license agreement with Blue California... Morgan Stanley(MS), down 1.1% after Goldman Sachs reported quarterly results.

09:09 EDT UnitedHealth sees Q2 earnings 'largely consistent' with Q1

09:05 EDT Johnson & Johnson says saw minimal biosimilar competition for Remicade in Q1

09:04 EDT GNC Holdings jumps 19% to $8.61 following Q1 results

09:03 EDT Northwest Biotherapeutics received SEC subpoena on 'several broad topics' - Northwest Biotherapeutics said last night its in annual filing, "As previously reported, on December 13, 2016, the Company received a formal information request (subpoena) from the SEC regarding several broad topics that have been previously disclosed, including the Company's membership on Nasdaq and delisting, related party matters, internal controls and the Company's Special Litigation Committee. The period covered is January 1, 2013 to the present. The investigation is ongoing and the Company is cooperating fully."

09:02 EDT Avnet says Ray Robinson resigns from board of directors - Avnet announced that Ray M. Robinson submitted his resignation from the company's Board of Directors effective May 1, 2017.

08:58 EDT Interpace Diagnostics announces UnitedHealthcare coverage of ThyraMIR test - Interpace Diagnostics (IDXG) announced that UnitedHealthcare (UNH), the largest health plan in the United States, has agreed to cover Interpace's ThyraMIR test used in assessing indeterminate thyroid nodule fine needle aspirate biopsies. The coverage is now in effect and is subject to members' specific benefit plan design. Interpace is not currently a contracted, in-network lab provider with UnitedHealthcare. Interpace's ThyGenX and ThyraMIR assays are now covered for approximately 250M patients nationwide, including through Medicare, National, and Regional health plans, the company noted. Interpace shares are up 85c, or 39.5%, to $3.00 in pre-market trading following the announcement.

08:53 EDT Protalix says PRX-102 slows the progression of small fiber neuropathy - Protalix BioTherapeutics announced new, promising results from a preclinical trial conducted in collaboration with Prof. Raphael Schiffmann, Director, Institute of Metabolic Disease at the Baylor Research Institute, Dallas, Texas. It was demonstrated that treatment of Fabry mice with pegunigalsidase alfa, or PRX-102, slows the progression of small fiber neuropathy when compared to treatment of Fabry mice with currently approved enzyme replacement therapies, and when compared to untreated Fabry mice. The preclinical study evaluated 1mg/kg pegunigalsidase alfa compared to Fabrazyme and Replagal at the approved clinical doses in Fabry mice, with untreated Fabry mice and wild type mice as controls. Bi-weekly intravenous infusions were administered for 3 months. Fabry mice treated with pegunigalsidase alfa showed a 53% reduction in the number of Iba1 spots, a marker for inflammation of the peripheral sensory nerves system, compared to untreated Fabry controls. Levels of Iba1 in the pegunigalsidase alfa-treated mice reached the levels of the healthy mice. In contrast, there was no difference in the Iba1 marker in Fabry mice treated with Replagal or Fabrazyme, compared to untreated Fabry mice.

08:50 EDT Johnson & Johnson: Expect to 'maintain, slightly improve' pre-tax margin

08:45 EDT Johnson & Johnson says seeing higher discounts on drugs for favorable coverage

08:44 EDT Highway Holdings increases ownership interest to 84% at Myanmar subsidiary - Highway Holdings announced the company has increased its ownership interest to 84% at its Myanmar subsidiary. Terms were not disclosed. he Myanmar subsidiary currently operates approximately 20,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing and assembly space in Yangon, Myanmar.

08:42 EDT Johnson & Johnson says DARZALEX experiencing 'strong adoption' - Comments from company's Q1 earnings conference call.

08:40 EDT Consolidated Tomoka urges investors to vote for director nominees - Consolidated-Tomoka Land Co. announced that is has mailed a letter to the company's shareholders in connection with its upcoming 2017 Annual Meeting of Shareholders on April 26, 2017. As noted in the letter to shareholders, the CTO Board of Directors unanimously recommends that shareholders follow the recommendations of independent proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis & Co. by voting "FOR" all of the company's seven experienced and highly qualified director nominees. Given the Annual Meeting is just days away, CTO recommends shareholders vote by telephone or by Internet.

08:38 EDT Fifth Third: Achieving positive operating leverage a 'top priority' for 2017 - Says economic backdrop "mixed," says benefiting from higher interest rates. Says government expected to take steps that should be positive for banks, including potential reductions in corporate tax rates and other fiscal stimulus, as well as the fiduciary rule, CFPB, regulatory relief. Notes that timing, magnitude of these changes "uncertain." Says generating positive operating leverage a "top priority" in 2017. NorthStar long-term financial targets: ROTCE of 12%-14%, ROA of 1.1%-1.3% and efficiency ratio less than60%. Plans to achieve profitability targets regardless of interest rate environment. Comments from slides that will be presented at the company's Annual Meeting of Shareholders.

08:35 EDT Xinyuan Real Estate approves new $40M share repurchase program - Xinyuan Real Estate announced that the Company's Board of Directors has approved a new share repurchase program, under which Xinyuan may purchase up to $40M of the Company's ADS through December 2019. Repurchases under this program will be made from time to time through a combination of open market and privately negotiated transactions.

08:33 EDT Synutra announces three proxy advisors recommend to vote FOR transaction - Synutra International announced that Institutional Shareholder Services, Glass Lewis & Co. and Egan-Jones Proxy Services have recommended that the Company's stockholders vote "FOR" the proposed going private transaction for $6.05 per share in cash, as contemplated in the agreement and plan of merger, dated November 17, 2016, by and among the Company, Beams Power Investment Limited and Beams Power Merger Sub Limited.

08:32 EDT Imprimis and Precision Lens sign sales representation agreement - Imprimis Pharmaceuticals and Cameron Ehlen Group, d/b/a Precision Lens, announced the signing of a three-year exclusive sales representation agreement. Under the agreement, Precision Lens will deploy a dedicated sales team to introduce Imprimis' ophthalmic portfolio into select geographies in the U.S., primarily focused in 13 states in the U.S. Midwest.

08:31 EDT CBRE Group acquires Mainstream Software; terms not disclosed - CBRE Group, Inc. announced that it has acquired the business of Mainstream Software, Inc., a technology company that provides mobile and software-as-a-service technology solutions for facilities management operations. Mainstream's proprietary technology further enhances CBRE's Global Workplace Solutions offering in the area of digital and technology-enabled services.

08:20 EDT Sunworks announces marketing partnership with Quantum Spatial - Sunworks announced its strategic marketing partnership with Quantum Spatial, the nation's largest independent geospatial data firm. Quantum Spatial provides geographic insights and advanced mapping technologies for energy, transportation, environmental and government clients in the United States and internationally.

08:16 EDT Athene, investors commit EUR2.2B to fund growth, sector consolidation in Europe - AGER Bermuda Holding Ltd., the holding company of Athene Holding Ltd.'s German Group Companies, has received binding subscriptions for a capital raise that was conducted through a private placement of common equity securities. The offering received subscriptions representing EUR2.2 billion from Athene and a number of global institutional investors and is intended to support capital and reinsurance transactions in the German and European guaranteed life insurance market. The capital raised is permanent equity capital and does not include any financial leverage. Athene will be a large minority shareholder in AGER, having committed up to EUR375 million in the offering. In addition, Athene expects to be a long-term strategic partner for AGER and will support its business in a number of different ways. As part of the long term partnership, Athene will be a preferred reinsurer for AGER's spread liabilities. The AGER offering is conditioned upon obtaining certain regulatory approvals, and other customary terms and conditions.

08:14 EDT RedHill Biopharma receives Notices of Allowance for 2 new patents for Bekinda - RedHill Biopharma announced that it has received notices of allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for two new patents covering Bekinda. Once granted, the patents are expected to be valid until at least 2034.

08:12 EDT Aldeyra doses last patient in Phase 2b clinical trial of ADX-102 - Aldeyra Therapeutics announced that the last patient has completed dosing in Aldeyra's multi-center, double-blind, randomized Phase 2b clinical trial of ADX-102 in allergic conjunctivitis.

08:11 EDT MagneGas ccreates subsidiary called MagneGas Welding Supply - MagneGas announced that it has created a wholly-owned subsidiary called MagneGas Welding Supply. This new entity will hold all current and future assets related to the Company's gas and welding supply retail business including Equipment Sales and Services. To capitalize on this competitive advantage, MagneGas has developed a strategy to grow sales through organic expansion and accretive acquisitions of other welding gas supply companies.

08:09 EDT AdCare names Allan Rimland as CEO, effective April 17 - AdCare Health Systems announced that Allan Rimland, currently AdCare's President and CFO, has been named CEO effective April 17. The Board of Directors terminated Bill McBride's employment for cause on such date, as disclosed in a Current Report on Form 8-K filed on April 17.

08:08 EDT Grainger trading resumes

08:05 EDT Kate Spade reports Q1 sales declines 2.4% - Q1 direct-to-consumer comparable sales declined 2.4%, or 8.1% excluding eCommerce. Comparable sales per square foot for kate spade new york stores were $1,516 for the latest twelve months, compared to $1,557 for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2016.

08:04 EDT Catabasisto present data from MoveDMD trial at Academy of Neurology meeting - Catabasis Pharmaceuticals announced that it will present data from Part A and Part B of the MoveDMD trial of edasalonexent -- CAT-1004 -- for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy at the American Academy of Neurology 69th Annual Meeting to be held April 22 - 28, 2017, in Boston, MA, at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

08:02 EDT Syros Pharmaceuticals to present data on SY-1425 at AACR - Syros Pharmaceuticals announced that the company will present new preclinical data on SY-1425, its oral first-in-class selective retinoic acid receptor alpha agonist currently in a Phase 2 clinical trial in genomically defined subsets of patients with acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome. These data were selected for oral presentation during a plenary session at the American Association for Cancer Research Hematologic Malignancies: Translating Discoveries to Novel Therapies conference taking place from May 6-9 in Boston.

08:01 EDT New York Times names ELlen Pollock editor of Business Day - The New York Times announced that Ellen Pollock has been named the new editor of Business Day. Previously, Pollock was the editor-in-chief of Bloomberg Businessweek.

07:55 EDT Grainger trading halted, news pending

07:44 EDT Goldman Sachs drops 1.6% after Q1 earnings report - Goldman Sachs shares have dropped $3.64, or 1.6%, to $222.62 in pre-market trading following the bank's report.

07:40 EDT Goldman Sachs raises dividend to 75c from 65c per share - On April 17, the Board of Directors of Goldman Sachs Group increased the firm's quarterly dividend to 75c per common share from 65c per common share. The dividend will be paid on June 29 to common shareholders of record on June 1.

07:37 EDT Goldman Sachs reports book value per common share up 1.4% to $184.98 - Goldman Sachs Group reported book value per common share increased by 1.4% during the quarter to $184.98.

07:32 EDT Macellum urges stockholders to elect its nominees to the Board - Macellum SPV III, Macellum Advisors GP, and certain of their affiliates, collectively "Macellum", a large stockholder of Citi Trends issued a letter to stockholders correcting some of the Company's most blatant inaccuracies set forth in the Board's letter to stockholders dated April 11. In the letter, Macellum notes that the Board attempts to claim their strategy is working by comparing their total stockholder returns against one of the lowest periods of the Company's public history and against "peers" that the Board either fails to identify or consists of worst-in-class companies while ignoring competitors and best-in-class companies that have significantly outperformed Citi Trends. Macellum also expresses its outrage that the Board intends to spend up to $2.6M of stockholders money, or 14% of last year's EBIT, to pursue a contested election against Macellum at the upcoming annual meeting of stockholders scheduled for May 24. Macellum urges stockholders to vote on the WHITE proxy card to elect its two highly qualified nominees - Jonathan Duskin and Paul Metcalf - to the Board at the Company's upcoming annual meeting.

07:30 EDT Bank of America sees NII to increase in Q2 - Bank of America said that it expects Net Interest Income, or NII, to increase in Q2, assuming rates remain at current levels and modest growth in loans and deposits. "We remain positioned for NII to benefit as rates move higher. +100bps parallel shift in interest rate yield curve is estimated to benefit NII by $3.3B over the next 12 months, with nearly 75% of the benefit driven by short-end rates," the bank stated in earnings presentation slides.

07:28 EDT Bank of America reports Q1 book value per common share of $24.36 - Reports Q1 book value per common share of $24.36, up from $24.04 at end Q4 and from $23.14 at end Q1 of prior year. Reports Q1 tangible book value per common share of $17.23, up from $16.95 at end Q4 and from $16.19 at end Q1 of prior year. Reports Q1 total net charge-offs of $934M, increased $54M from 4Q16, driven by consumer due to seasonally higher credit card losses, while commercial charge-offs were relatively flat. Net charge-off ratio increased modestly from 4Q16 to 0.42%, but declined from 1Q16. Provision expense of $835M increased $61M from 4Q16, driven primarily by consumer. Reports Q1 net reserve release of $99M, versus $106M in 4Q16, reflecting continued improvements in consumer real estate and energy exposures.

07:06 EDT RXi Pharma appoints Gerrit Dispersyn as Chief Development Officer - RXi Pharmaceuticals announced that Gerrit Dispersyn has been appointed as RXi's Chief Development Officer effective April 24, 2017. Dispersyn will bring a wealth of experience to RXi in both clinical and product development. Pamela Pavco, RXi's current Chief Development Officer, is retiring. Effective May 19, Pavco will become a member of the Company's Scientific Advisory Board where her expertise in the field of oligonucleotides and the development of RNAi therapeutics will continue to support RXi's ongoing research and development initiatives. Gerrit Dispersyn is an accomplished leader in clinical, product and business development. Dispersyn most recently served as the Vice President, Global Head of Clinical Affairs at Integra LifeSciences Corporation.

07:04 EDT Timmins Gold proposes to change name to Alio Gold, symbol to 'ALO' - Timmins Gold announces that it is proposing to change its name to Alio Gold at its upcoming Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. If approved, the company expects to begin trading on both the TSX and the NYSE MKT under the ticker "ALO" on Tuesday, May 16, 2017.

07:02 EDT NICE Systems selected by SFDEM for 9-1-1 center upgrade - NICE said that the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management, a NICE customer since 2006, has once again selected NICE solutions for its 9-1-1 center upgrade. The SFDEM 9-1-1 center will be taking advantage of the full range of NICE Inform's future-ready applications and integrations to improve productivity and effectiveness across its entire operation, and ensure the highest levels of service for residents of the City and County of San Francisco, and large numbers of tourists who visit the area as well.

07:01 EDT Medtronic agrees to sell businesses in PMR division to Cardinal Health for $6.1B - Medtronic (MDT) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Cardinal Health (CAH) to sell its Patient Care, Deep Vein Thrombosis, and Nutritional Insufficiency businesses within the Patient Monitoring & Recovery, or PMR, division of its Minimally Invasive Therapies Group. The transaction is expected to close in Medtronic's second quarter of its fiscal year 2018, subject to receipt of customary regulatory approvals and satisfaction of other customary closing conditions. Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, Cardinal Health is a global, integrated healthcare services and products company, providing customized solutions for hospitals, health systems, and other clinical entities worldwide. Upon closing, the transaction is expected to result in an immediate positive impact to Medtronic's comparable, constant currency revenue growth rate and non-GAAP comparable, constant currency operating margin of approximately 50 basis points each. Under the terms of the definitive agreement, Medtronic will receive $6.1B in cash, subject to certain adjustments, with total after-tax proceeds estimated to be approximately $5.5B. Medtronic intends to allocate $1 billion of the after-tax proceeds for incremental share repurchases in FY18, with the balance used to reduce its debt. This deployment of proceeds is consistent with Medtronic's near-term capital allocation strategy, improves the company's debt leverage ratio, and enables future investments in higher growth and higher margin opportunities. The company remains committed to a capital allocation policy that balances returns to its shareholders with reinvestment in its businesses. The transaction is expected to result in modest dilution on a net basis to the company's fiscal year 2018 non-GAAP earnings per share in the range of approximately 12c to 18c, with the exact amount primarily dependent on the closing date of the transaction. Combined, the businesses expected to be divested in the transaction generated approximately $2.4B in revenue over the last four reported quarters.

07:01 EDT Harmony Merger, NextDecade agree to all-stock merger agreement valued at $1B

06:59 EDT Cardinal Health to acquire patient product portfolio from Medtronic for $6.1B - Cardinal Health (CAH) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Medtronic's (MDT) Patient Care, Deep Vein Thrombosis and Nutritional Insufficiency businesses for $6.1B in cash. The purchase price does not include cash tax benefits of at least $100M. The acquisition is expected to be financed with a combination of $4.5B in new senior unsecured notes and existing cash. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of Cardinal Health's fiscal year 2018, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory clearances. The Patient Care, Deep Vein Thrombosis and Nutritional Insufficiency businesses encompass 23 product categories across multiple market settings, including numerous industry-leading brands, such as Curity, Kendall, Dover, Argyle and Kangaroo, which are used in nearly every U.S. hospital. Total revenues for the businesses were $2.3B for the 12 months ending October 2016 with more than 70% of total sales in the U.S. Cardinal Health expects the acquisition to be accretive to non-GAAP diluted earnings per share from continuing operations by more than 21c per share in fiscal 2018, which includes approximately $100M of inventory step-up costs during the first few quarters following closing. This is net of estimated incremental annual financing-related interest expense of up to 39c, subject to change based on the company's ultimate bond pricing and tax rate. The company expects the acquisition to be accretive to non-GAAP diluted earnings per share by more than 55c per share in fiscal 2019, and increasingly accretive thereafter. By the end of fiscal 2020, the company assumes synergies will exceed $150M annually. Once the transaction is complete, the Patient Care, Deep Vein Thrombosis and Nutritional Insufficiency businesses will become part of Cardinal Health's Medical segment, which is led by Don Casey, the segment's CEO.

06:58 EDT Harley-Davidson reports Q1 worldwide motorcycles retail sales down 4.2% - Q1 worldwide retail sales of new Harley-Davidson motorcycles were down driven by lower sales in the U.S. As we expected, U.S. sales were adversely impacted by soft industry sales and the company's decision to reduce shipments of model year 2017 motorcycles. This decision helped dealers focus on selling down their model year 2016 retail inventory. International retail sales were down behind weak sales in Asia Pacific, partially offset by strong growth in Latin America. Retail sales in EMEA and Canada were both down as they compared against strong prior year growth of 8.8 percent and 16.3 percent, respectively.

06:55 EDT Harmony Merger Corp. trading halted, news pending

06:52 EDT Johnson & Johnson CEO says 'confident' in achieving full year guidance - "Johnson & Johnson's first-quarter results are in line with our expectations and we are confident we will achieve the full-year financial guidance we established at the beginning of the year," said Alex Gorsky, Chairman and CEO. "The pending acquisition of Actelion demonstrates our ongoing commitment to bringing innovation to patients with significant unmet needs, and provides a unique opportunity for us to expand our portfolio with leading, differentiated in-market medicines and promising late-stage products. We look forward to the associates from Actelion joining the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies."

06:50 EDT Comstock Mining announces Google acquired 1,210 acres at TRI Center in Nevada - Comstock Mining (LODE) announced, and the Wall Street Journal reported recently, that Google purchased 1,210 acres for $29.1M at the Tahoe Reno Industrial, or TRI, Center located in northwestern Nevada. Google is part of Alphabet (GOOG).

06:48 EDT Energy XXI appoints Douglas Brooks as CEO - Energy XXI Gulf Coast announced that it has appointed Douglas E. Brooks as CEO and President effective April 17. The Board concurrently increased the size of EGC's Board from six to seven directors and named Mr. Brooks to fill the newly-created directorship. Brooks has over 34 years of experience in the energy industry. Most recently he served as the CEO for Yates Petroleum Corporation, a privately-owned exploration and production company, from April 2015 until Yates' merger with EOG Resources in October 2016.

06:34 EDT Air Lease Boeing announces long term lease of two new Boeing in Mongolia - Air Lease (AL) announced the long term lease placement of two new Boeing (BA) 737 MAX 8 aircraft with MIAT Mongolian Airlines. The aircraft are scheduled to deliver from ALC's order book with Boeing in late 2019 and early 2020.

06:32 EDT TMG by Magellan Health to expand statewide in Wisconsin - Magellan Health announced that TMG by Magellan Health, which helps participants self-direct their services through Wisconsin's long-term services and supports program, known as IRIS, will expand to the remaining seven of Wisconsin's 72 counties beginning on July 1, 2017 through early 2018. IRIS is a self-directed, home- and community-based, long-term care option for older adults and people with physical and developmental disabilities. TMG is an IRIS Consultant Agency (ICA), which receives a fee from the state of Wisconsin to provide experienced local consultants who partner directly with people who choose to self-direct their services. The main goal of this program is to enable people to remain independent, in their own homes and communities, with choice and control. TMG will expand into Vilas, Oneida, Forest, Florence, Taylor and Adams counties beginning on July 1, 2017, and into Dane County in early 2018. The IRIS program and TMG ICA services are currently available in 65 counties across Wisconsin.

06:31 EDT Scorpio Bulkers announces sale of two Kamsarmax vessels for $45M - Scorpio Bulkers announced that it has entered into agreements with unaffiliated third parties to sell the SBI Charleston and SBI Cakewalk, two 2014 built Kamsarmax vessels, for approximately $45M in total.

06:10 EDT MYOS enters into agreement with KSU to study impact of Fortetropin - MYOS RENS has entered into an agreement with the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University to study the impact of Fortetropin on reducing muscle loss in dogs after ligament tear repair surgery. The study continues the company's investment in research regarding the therapeutic potential of Fortetropin across many broad areas of muscle health.

06:06 EDT Regions Financial CEO says Q1 'reflects a solid start to 2017' - "Our first-quarter performance reflects a solid start to 2017. We achieved solid growth in fundamental areas such as checking accounts, wealth management relationships, and active credit cards as well as strong growth in net interest income and other financing income," said Grayson Hall, Chairman, President and CEO. "In addition, we are diligently controlling expenses and successfully executing our strategic plan, including, staying focused on serving customer needs and continued action steps to diversify our business. Given the operating environment, we remain well-positioned to benefit from rising interest rates and our solid capital position."

06:04 EDT Radware research reveals PDoS malware - Radware released new research that revealed the existence of a Permanent Denial of Service, or PDoS, malware that destroys unsecured Internet of Things, or IoT, devices connected to the internet. The Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team, or ICS-CERT, a part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, subsequently issued their own alert, to provide early notice of Radware's threat findings and identify baseline mitigations for reducing risks to these and other cybersecurity attacks.

06:03 EDT HMS Holdings completes acquisition of Eliza for $172M - HMS Holdings has completed the previously announced acquisition of Eliza. The cash purchase price of approximately $172M was funded with available liquidity, consisting of approximately 75% cash on hand and 25% from the Company's existing credit line. The addition of Eliza is currently expected to add approximately $35M to 2017 Company revenue and be accretive to current year earnings. An update to other aspects of FY17 guidance as a result of the acquisition will be provided on the Company's 1Q'17 earnings conference call.

06:01 EDT Motorola Solutions files patent infringement complaints against Hytera - Motorola Solutions announced that it has filed patent infringement complaints with the Regional Court of Dusseldorf in Germany against Hytera Communications of Shenzhen, China and Hytera Mobilfunk of Bad Munder, Germany, collectively, "Hytera". This legal action follows the patent infringement complaint filed by Motorola Solutions against Hytera with the U.S. International Trade Commission on March 29, 2017 and the patent infringement and trade secret misappropriation complaints filed on March 14 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

05:32 EDT Post Holdings to acquire Weetabix for GBP 1.4B - Post Holdings announced it has agreed to acquire Weetabix from Shanghai based state owned enterprise Bright Food Group and an investment fund advised by Baring Private Equity Asia. Weetabix is a United Kingdom-based packaged food company that primarily produces ready-to-eat, or RTE, cereal products spanning branded and private label. In North America, Weetabix operates a leading natural and organic RTE cereal and snacking platform in both branded and private label, led by the Barbara's brand and the Puffins sub-brand and serving leading natural and specialty channel and conventional retailers. Post will acquire Weetabix for GBP 1.4B on a cash free, debt free basis, subject to certain adjustments as described in the purchase agreement. Post expects to fund the acquisition with a combination of cash on hand and through borrowings under its existing revolving credit facility and/or, subject to market conditions, a new senior secured term loan facility. Post management expects Weetabix to contribute approximately GBP 120M of adjusted EBITDA on an annual basis before the realization of cost synergies which Post management expects to be approximately GBP 20M annually by the third full fiscal year post-closing, resulting from benefits of scale, shared administrative services and infrastructure optimization and rationalization. The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to Post's Adjusted EBITDA margins and free cash flow, excluding one-time transaction expenses.

05:27 EDT Pfizer enters collaboration, license agreement with HitGen to build, screen DELs - HitGen announced that the company has entered into a multi-year research collaboration and license agreement with Pfizer to build and screen novel DNA-encoded libraries, or DELs, in order to potentially discover unique small molecule leads to be used in drug development. Through the collaboration, HitGen and Pfizer scientists will apply HitGen's advanced technology platform and research capabilities in the design, synthesis, and screening of multiple proprietary DELs for Pfizer's drug discovery efforts. In addition, HitGen will screen their own DELs, consisting of billions of compounds, against a selected number of Pfizer's therapeutic targets. Novel lead compounds from the HitGen DELs will be licensed exclusively to Pfizer for further research and development. Pfizer will fund the research at HitGen.

05:22 EDT Motif Bio REVIVE-1 Phase 3 clinical trial of iclaprim met primary endpoint - Motif Bio announced positive topline results from REVIVE-1, a global Phase 3 clinical trial of its investigational drug candidate iclaprim in patients with acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections, or ABSSSI. Iclaprim achieved the primary endpoint of non-inferiority, or NI, compared to vancomycin at the early time point, or ETP, 48 to 72 hours after the start of administration of the study drug, in the intent-to-treat, or ITT, patient population. Iclaprim also achieved NI at the test of cure, or TOC, endpoint, 7 to 14 days after study drug discontinuation, in the ITT patient population. In an analysis of a pre-specified secondary endpoint, 60.4% of patients receiving iclaprim demonstrated resolution or near resolution at end of therapy, or EOT, compared to 58.3% of patients receiving vancomycin. In another pre-specified secondary endpoint analysis, using a modified clinical cure TOC endpoint defined by a greater than or equal to 90% reduction in lesion size at TOC, no increase in lesion size since ETP and no requirement for additional antibiotics, clinical cure was seen in 68.5% of patients receiving iclaprim and 73.0% of patients receiving vancomycin. Data from the second Phase 3 ABSSSI Trial, REVIVE-2, is expected in the second half of 2017 with an NDA submission expected in the first half of 2018.

05:15 EDT Novartis CAR-T cell therapy CTL019 receives FDA Breakthrough Therapy designation - Novartis announced that the FDA has granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to CTL019, an investigational chimeric antigen receptor T cell, or CAR-T, therapy, for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed and refractory, or r/r, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, or DLBCL, who have failed two or more prior therapies. This is the second indication for which CTL019 has received this designation; the first being for the treatment of r/r B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia in pediatric and young adult patients.