Stockwinners Market Radar for May 04, 2017 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

19:52 EDT Google venture arm leads $50M funding round for Soylent - Meal replacement company Soylent announced the completion of a $50M Series B financing round led by GV -- formerly Google Ventures -- with participation from Tao Capital Partners, as well as existing investors, Lerer Hippeau Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. Soylent has received a total of $74.5M in funding to date. "Soylent is addressing one of the biggest issues we face today: access to complete, affordable nutrition. As one of the pioneers in this space, Soylent is tackling this problem head on with progressive thinking and a clear strategy that has led to outstanding growth," GV general partner Andy Wheeler commented. Reference Link

19:15 EDT Allegiant backs Q3 system ASMs up 3%-7% - Backs Q3 system departures up 4%-8%.

19:13 EDT Allegiant reports April revenue passenger miles up 16.7% - Allegiant Travel Company reported preliminary passenger traffic results for April 2017. April total system passengers up 20.1%. Total system revenue passenger miles were up 16.7%. Total system available seat miles rose 19%. Total system load factor fell 1.7 points. Total system departures increased 23.9%.

18:54 EDT Baxter reports criminal investigation by DOJ into IV sales, pricing - Baxter disclosed in a 10-Q filing Thursday: "In April, the company became aware of a criminal investigation by the Department of Justice, Antitrust Division and a federal grand jury in the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The company and an employee received subpoenas seeking production of documents and testimony regarding the manufacturing, selling, pricing and shortages of intravenous solutions and containers -- including saline solutions and certain other injectable medicines sold by the company -- and communications with competitors regarding the same. The company is cooperating with the investigation. As previously disclosed, the New York Attorney General has requested that Baxter provide information regarding business practices in the IV saline industry. The company is cooperating with the New York Attorney General."

18:39 EDT Northern Dynasty subsidiary and EPA file Joint Motion - Northern Dynasty's wholly-owned US subsidiary, Alaska-based Pebble Limited Partnership, and the US Environmental Protection Agency have filed a Joint Motion in federal court to extend a stay of proceedings in the parties' longstanding legal dispute over the federal agency's pre-emptive regulatory action under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act to May 11, 2017. The motion states: "The parties have identified a likely framework for settlement and request a short, one-week extension of the current stay to allow the parties the time necessary to finalize the agreement and obtain the required approvals."

18:36 EDT Valeritas says V-Go data shows A1C reductions - Valeritas Holdings announced that clinical data demonstrating that use of the V-Go Wearable Insulin Delivery Device provided significant and sustained A1C reductions and achieved established glycemic targets in patients with long-standing uncontrolled type 2 diabetes. Results from two analyses will be presented at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists 26th Annual Scientific & Clinical Congress during a poster session on Friday, May 5 from 5:00 - 6:15 p.m. CDT in Austin, TX

18:24 EDT Evolving Systems responds to comments made by SITO Mobile in its SEC filings - Evolving Systems provided clarification in response to certain statements made by SITO Mobile in recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Specifically, SITO has asserted that the nomination by certain SITO stockholders of certain members of the Evolving Systems board to the board of directors of SITO is in furtherance of an undisclosed agenda to acquire SITO by Evolving Systems. The Company today states unequivocally that it has no current or reasonably foreseeable agenda or intent to acquire SITO. The Company further disclosed that while there was initially interest in potentially entering into select business arrangements with SITO, it has moved forward with other partners. As a result, Evolving Systems sees no synergies between the companies that would benefit Evolving Systems and its stakeholders, and has no intent to pursue any business dealings at this time. To further clarify comments made by SITO in its SEC filings and public statements, Thomas Thekkethala, in his role as Chief Executive Officer of Evolving Systems, had a routine meeting with members of SITO's management on March 31, 2017. This meeting was for preliminary high-level discussions about potential marketing and sales synergies between Evolving Systems and SITO. Although Evolving Systems remains open to considering potential ways in which Evolving Systems and SITO might do business in the future, Evolving Systems has no plans, intentions or proposals to enter into business arrangements, nor does it have any intent or interest to acquire SITO Mobile. Mr. Matthew Stecker, who currently serves as chairman for Evolving Systems, and Mr. Thekkethala, who also serves as a board member, have been nominated to stand for election to SITO's board of directors. Both Mr. Stecker and Mr. Thekkethala place great emphasis on strong corporate governance. If elected by SITO shareholders to serve as directors, they intend to uphold their fiduciary responsibilities, while working with management and the board in a cooperative manner to support the development and execution of SITO's business plan with the primary goal, to unlock and sustain shareholder value. They were selected to stand for election because of their respective backgrounds in enterprise software, telecommunications and mobile advertising, as well as their public company and board experience. Both Mr. Stecker and Mr. Thekkethala, along with all directors and executives of Evolving Systems, remain focused on executing their own business plan and driving long-term sustainable value for Evolving Systems customers, partners, employees and shareholders.

18:10 EDT On The Fly: After Hours Movers - UP AFTER EARNINGS: Universal Display (OLED), up 13.4%... Wingstop (WING), up 12.4%... Callaway Golf (ELY), up 11%... inTEST (INTT), up 8.3%... Hortonworks (HDP), up 7.9%... Zynga (ZNGA), up 7.4%... LogMeIn (LOGM), up 6.4%... MercadoLibre (MELI), up 4.9%... Herbalife (HLF), up 4.6%... Stericycle (SRCL), up 2.7%... Zillow (ZG), up 0.8%... Control4 (CTRL), up 0.2%. ALSO HIGHER: Zafgen (ZFGN), up 16.6% after it announced "positive" topline Phase 1 data for ZGN-1061. DOWN AFTER EARNINGS: Brightcove (BCOV), down 32.2%... Impinj (PI), down 11.5%... YRC Worldwide (YRCW), down 9.3%... Zendesk (ZEN), down 9.2%... LightPath Technologies (LPTH), down 8.2%... Fluor (FLR), down 6.1%... Shake Shack (SHAK), down 3.7%... Activision Blizzard (ATVI), down 1.5%. ALSO LOWER: Regulus (RGLS), down 29.4% after it announced a corporate restructuring plan that includes an immediate workforce reduction of roughly 30%, and after it reported quarterly results... AMSC (AMSC), down 15.7% after it filed to sell common stock... Puma Biotechnology (PBYI), down 12.2% after it said that Robert Charnas, senior VP of Regulatory Affairs and Project Management, informed the company that he will resign due to health reasons.

17:48 EDT Regenxbio tp present data from REGENXBIO RGX-314 gene therapy program - REGENXBIO announced that preclinical data from studies supported by REGENXBIO at the University of Pennsylvania's Gene Therapy Program and Center for Advanced Retinal and Ocular Therapeutics and at the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute will be shared in one presentation and four posters at upcoming conferences including the Retinal Cell and Gene Therapy Innovation Summit, the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), and the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT). These data support further clinical research regarding the use of REGENXBIO's investigational gene therapy RGX-314 for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration. "RGX-314 has the potential to be a one-time treatment for people with wet AMD by delivering high expression of anti-VEGF antibodies through the use of our NAV AAV8 vector. We are pleased to share additional positive preclinical results, which were generated by our development partners at the University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins, which support our active IND," said Kenneth T. Mills, President and Chief Executive Officer of REGENXBIO. "REGENXBIO is on track to begin enrollment in the RGX-314 Phase I clinical trial by mid-2017 and to provide an interim trial update by the end of 2017." Details of the upcoming presentation and posters are as follows:

17:45 EDT Scorpio Bulkers says Scorpio Services and president Bugbee buy shares - Scorpio Bulkers announced that Scorpio Services Holding Limited has purchased 150,000 common shares of the Company at an average price of $6.50 per share in the open market. SSH owns a total of 13,312,513 common shares or approximately 18%.In addition, the President of the Company, Robert Bugbee, has purchased 17,000 common shares of the Company at an average price of $6.44 per share in the open market.The Company currently has 75,311,622 common shares outstanding.

17:38 EDT LabCorp completes acquisition of Pathology Associates Medical Laboratories - LabCorp has completed the acquisition of Pathology Associates Medical Laboratories from former owners Providence Health & Services and Catholic Health Initiatives. "PAML, based in Spokane, Washington, is one of the nation's premier medical reference laboratories and a healthcare solutions company. With the acquisition of PAML, LabCorp assumes PAML's ownership interests in several joint ventures: Colorado Laboratory Services, Kentucky Laboratory Services, MountainStar Clinical Laboratories, PACLAB Network Laboratories and Tri-Cities Laboratory. In addition, PAML, as a LabCorp subsidiary, has acquired assets of Alpha Medical Laboratories, a former PAML-affiliated joint venture, from its hospital owner," the company noted. LabCorp's acquisition of PAML represents the first step in completing the transaction. Through 2017 and into 2018, LabCorp will acquire the ownership interests in CLS, KLS and PACLAB from their hospital co-owners. The hospital partners in MSCL and in TCL continue to evaluate future options for their interests in those joint ventures, which may include a sale to LabCorp.

17:36 EDT Barington Capital Group urges Avon Products board to search for new CEO - An investor group led by Barington Capital Group, L.P., including NuOrion Partners AG, announced that it is calling on the Board of Directors of Avon Products to immediately begin a search for a new CEO. "During more than five years as CEO, Sheri McCoy has overseen a tremendous destruction of shareholder value. Avon's stock price has fallen by more than 80% since Avon announced that it had appointed Ms. McCoy as CEO - from $22.69 on April 9, 2012 to under $3.65 today. Under Ms. McCoy's leadership, earnings per share have fallen from $1.20 in 2011, the year prior to her appointment, to a current consensus estimate of $0.32 for 2017. As we stated in our December 3, 2015 letter to the Avon Board, we strongly believe that with the right leadership in place Avon can recover its position as a leading global beauty brand and create significant long-term value for shareholders. In that letter, we also questioned the ability of Ms. McCoy to manage the business effectively, including restoring sales growth and reducing the Company's bloated cost structure. While Avon has taken steps to improve its operations, we believe that efforts need to be dramatically intensified under new leadership. Based on today's substantial stock price decline, in spite of positive 2017 guidance, we believe that most shareholders would agree. Barington has a seventeen-year track record of assisting publicly traded companies in improving their corporate strategy, operations, profitability and corporate governance. As significant shareholders of Avon, we are committed to helping the Company improve its long-term financial and share price performance."

17:34 EDT Energen sees Q2 production 62.2 MBOED

17:34 EDT Energen issues 2017 capital budget overview - "Energen estimates that it will invest an additional $60M-$65M in 2017 for 4 more gross completions and to participate in an additional 2.8 net non-operated wells, for increased working interests, and for facilities. Since the end of 1Q17, Energen has seen rising pressure on the costs of a wide variety of completion services; without off-setting efficiencies or other savings, the company estimates that it could see capital spending for drilling and development increase another $45M-$50M. The company's revised capital budget of $850M-$900M for drilling and development activities supports completion of 128 gross/118 net operated wells, including 124 gross/115 net horizontal wells. All horizontal wells are scheduled to be completed with a Generation 3 frac design."

17:30 EDT Protagonist Therapeutics awarded key patent - Protagonist Therapeutics announced that a key patent has issued covering orally stable peptide inhibitors of the interleukin-23 receptor, including the company's clinical development candidate, PTG-200. The new U.S. patent, No. 9,624,268, provides composition of matter protection for PTG-200 and covers the use of the oral peptide inhibitors of IL-23R to treat inflammatory bowel diseases

17:23 EDT Ares Capital says closed over $850M in new investment commitments in Q1

17:13 EDT Apollo Management reports 5.4% passive stake in Bonanza Creek

17:08 EDT Community Healthcare raises quarterly dividend to 39c per share - This dividend is payable on June 2 to shareholders of record on May 19. This dividend rate equates to an annualized dividend of $1.56 per share.

17:07 EDT Delta Air Lines issues statement regarding Flight 2222, Maui to Los Angeles - Delta Air Lines issued the following statement regarding Flight 2222 on April 23: "We are sorry for the unfortunate experience our customers had with Delta, and we've reached out to them to refund their travel and provide additional compensation. Delta's goal is to always work with customers in an attempt to find solutions to their travel issues. That did not happen in this case and we apologize."

17:03 EDT Noble Corp. says 'improving conditions in offshore drilling becoming clearer' - Although the offshore drilling industry continues to address a fleet capacity imbalance, Williams offered a note of optimism, stating, "We believe improving conditions in the offshore drilling industry are becoming clearer. Client tenders for both jackups and floating rigs are on the rise and include emerging regions, as well as previously active areas that have largely been dormant over the past two years. Also, contract awards, especially in the jackup sector, are occurring with greater frequency, and field development activity is up, relative to the recent past, as project cost rationalization efforts lead to better program economics. Finally, we believe long-term oil market fundamentals are supportive of stable to higher crude oil prices, which with time will support an increase in rig demand. We remain committed to preserving our excellent competitive position in the industry by building upon our operational and financial accomplishments of the past two years. I am proud of the consistency of our operational performance and the unwavering internal support of cost management initiatives. Also, our success with securing contracts, our backlog which includes numerous higher margin contracts, as well as the geographic positioning of our fleet, should drive future success. And finally, I am pleased with the healthy liquidity position we have preserved through the worst of the industry recession, as well as the manageability of our debt profile. We believe Noble is in an enviable position relative to our peers, as investors begin to shift their attention to 2018 and 2019."

17:01 EDT Western Alliance names Kenneth Vecchione president - Western Alliance announced that effective July 10, 2017, Kenneth Vecchione will return to the Company as President. Kenneth Vecchione will join Robert Sarver, Chairman and CEO, along with Dale Gibbons, CFO, and Jim Haught, COO, in the executive suite at Western Alliance.

17:00 EDT Sierra Wireless trading resumes

16:59 EDT Veracyte reports clinical validaton data for Afirma test - Veracyte reported data from a pivotal clinical validation study of its Afirma Genomic Sequencing Classifier. The data suggest that the test, a next-generation version of the company's Afirma Gene Expression Classifier, can enable significantly more patients to avoid unnecessary surgery in thyroid cancer diagnosis. The findings were shared during the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, being held May 3-7 in Austin. The findings suggest that by maintaining the current Afirma test's high sensitivity and further improving its specificity, the Afirma GSC can identify 30% more benign thyroid nodules among those deemed indeterminate - not clearly benign or malignant - following cytopathology, thereby enabling nearly 70% of patients whose thyroid nodules are benign to avoid unnecessary diagnostic surgery.

16:59 EDT Time Inc. exceeds 1B monthly digital video views in April - Time Inc. marked a major milestone today: the company has garnered 1B monthly digital video views for the first time for the month of April, representing nearly 100% year-over-year growth, and is on pace to deliver more than 8B this year. This year, Time Inc. expects to produce more than 50,000 videos including 150 new and returning franchises and series and over 1,500 live programming hours. It is also on pace to exceed 8.5B views this year, nearly doubling the previous year's total.

16:58 EDT Approach Resources expects to resume production growth in Q2 - "During first quarter 2017, we drilled a total of three horizontal wells and completed two horizontal wells. Of these wells, two were drilled to the Wolfcamp A bench and one was drilled to the Wolfcamp C bench. The two completed wells have a projected EUR of approximately 700 Mboe, normalized for a 7,500 foot lateral length. At March 31, 2017, we had five horizontal wells waiting on completion, one well being drilled and two wells that we were in process of completing. With the increased pace of development in part afforded by our interest expense savings, as well as stronger commodity prices, we expect to resume production growth in second quarter 2017, with average daily production of approximately 11.7 MBoe/d. In addition, we have secured a dedicated frac services crew for up to 30 wells over the next two years, at a significant discount to current market rates, and partnered with a compression service provider to manage our compression cost and help sustain our Permian leading LOE. Capital expenditures incurred during first quarter 2017 totaled $13.4 million and included $12.1 million for drilling and completion activities and $1.3 million for infrastructure projects and equipment."

16:54 EDT Regulus corporate restructuring plan, workforce reduction of approximately 30% - The company announced a corporate restructuring plan to streamline its operations as it focuses on its most promising discovery and development programs. The restructuring includes an immediate workforce reduction of approximately 30%, which is expected to result in approximately $6M in annual savings after one-time restructuring costs. Also in line with the restructuring, the Board of Directors has accepted the resignation of Dr. Paul C. Grint, President and CEO and director, effective immediately, and appointed Joseph P. "Jay" Hagan, the Company's COO, to the position of President and CEO and director, also effective immediately. The company also promoted Daniel R. Chevallard, its Vice President, Finance and Accounting, to the position of CFO, effective immediately.

16:52 EDT Mallinckrodt confirms first patient enrolled in Phase 2 study of Stratagraft - Mallinckrodt confirmed enrollment of the first patient in the company's Phase 2 study assessing the safety, tolerability and efficacy of Stratagraft regenerative skin tissue as an alternative to autografting full-thickness complex skin defects.

16:50 EDT Leidos awarded $13M contract from DTRA - The Defense Threat Reduction Agency awarded Leidos a prime contract to support the operation and maintenance of DTRA's Meteorological Data Servers and Numerical Weather Prediction service. The single-award cost-plus fixed-fee delivery order has a one-year base period of performance, four one-year options and a total contract value of approximately $13M if all options are exercised. DTRA awarded the delivery order under its Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction contract vehicle. Under this contract, Leidos will primarily perform work in San Diego, CA and Ft. Belvoir, VA.

16:49 EDT Eclipse Resources sees Q2 production 265-275 MMcfe/d

16:47 EDT Marathon Oil reports Q1 EPS (7c), consensus (9c) - "We're off to a strong start in 2017, highlighted by our transformative portfolio moves to enter the Northern Delaware basin and exit the Canadian oil sands," said Marathon Oil President and CEO Lee Tillman. "With solid operational execution and strong well results in the first quarter, we held production flat sequentially in the resource plays, and are well positioned to resume high-return production growth there in the second quarter. We're on track to deliver our 2017 capital program, having ramped up resource play activity from 12 to 20 rigs in the first quarter. We've also raised production guidance to reflect our Northern Delaware acquisitions." Marathon Oil expects second quarter 2017 North America E&P production available for sale to average 210,000 to 220,000 net boed. Second quarter International E&P production available for sale, excluding Libya, is expected to be within a range of 120,000 to 130,000 net boed. The Company is raising its full-year 2017 E&P production guidance range primarily due to the inclusion of production from the Northern Delaware acquisitions. For full year 2017, the Company forecasts production available for sale from the combined North America and International E&P segments, excluding Libya, to average 340,000 to 360,000 net boed, about 6 percent higher than 2016 at the midpoint on a divestiture-adjusted basis. U.S. resource plays are expected to return to sequential growth in second quarter 2017, and exit the year with oil and BOE production 20 to 25 percent higher than fourth quarter 2016, providing significant operational momentum into 2018.

16:41 EDT InVivo provides INSPIRE Patient Updates - InVivo Therapeutics said there are currently 14 INSPIRE patients in follow-up, and eight have reached the six-month primary endpoint. Of these eight patients, five had an AIS grade improvement, compared to baseline, and three did not have an AIS grade improvement at 6 months post-injury, a 62.5% conversion rate at 6 months. "The INSPIRE AIS improvement rate remains considerably higher than rates observed in a range of SCI natural history databases," the company stated. InVivo announced in January 2017 that a patient enrolled into INSPIRE in December 2016 had improved from a complete AIS A spinal cord injury to an incomplete AIS B spinal cord injury at the one-month evaluation. At a recent follow-up visit, the first since January, the patient was assessed to have reverted back to a complete AIS A spinal cord injury. Separately, in March 2017 InVivo announced that a patient enrolled in January 2017 had improved from a complete AIS A spinal cord injury to an incomplete AIS B spinal cord injury at the two-month evaluation. At the recent three-month follow-up evaluation, the patient was assessed to have reverted back to a complete AIS A spinal cord injury.

16:37 EDT Norwegian Cruise Line partners with Alibaba to enter China cruise market - Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) announced the launch of a new partnership with Alibaba Group (BABA), the world's largest online and mobile commerce company. The two companies will leverage Norwegian's expertise in providing exceptional vacation experiences and its innovative and award-winning cruise offerings along with Alibaba's unparalleled insights into the wants and needs of the Chinese consumer to deliver the cruise industry's most-customized product for the local China market. Utilizing Alibaba's expansive ecosystem for engaging consumers, the two companies will look to further increase the awareness in China of the unique offerings of a cruise vacation. They plan to make it the preferred vacation choice among Chinese travelers in what is forecasted to become the cruise industry's second-largest source market. The companies will also collaborate to provide Alibaba customers with new and unique online-to-offline experiences at sea across Norwegian's China-based and global fleet. The announcement comes as Norwegian prepares to enter the Chinese cruise market in June 2017 with the introduction of its most innovative ship to date - the 3,850 passenger Norwegian Joy - the first premium cruise ship designed and constructed specifically for Chinese travelers. Norwegian Joy will be the 25th ship in Norwegian's fleet across its three brands - Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises.

16:35 EDT Digi International trading resumes

16:31 EDT Continental Building FY17 CapEx $24M-$31M - Sees FY17 maintenance CapEx $12M-$14M. Sees cost of goods sold inflation 6% to 7%.

16:23 EDT Regulus trading halted, news pending

16:19 EDT Del Taco sees 'continued sales momentum' in Q2, says confident in volume target - "With our expectation for continued sales momentum in the second quarter and our underlying operational and product initiatives in place for the balance of the year, we are increasingly confident that we can achieve our 2017 annual guidance and reach our stated goal of $1.5 million in average unit volume by 2018," says Del Taco.

16:13 EDT Monster Beverage reports Q1 EPS 31c, consensus 32c - Reports Q1 revenue $742.1M, consensus $742.43M.

16:13 EDT American Campus raises quarterly dividend 4.8% to 44c per share - American Campus Communities announced that on May 3 its Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly dividend of 44c per share of common stock, payable on May 26 to shareholders of record at the close of business on May 15. The declared dividend is a 4.8 percent increase over the prior quarterly dividend of 42c per share of common stock.

16:12 EDT Activision Blizzard reports 431M Monthly Active Users in Q1 - Activision Blizzard had 431M Monthly Active Users, or MAUs, in the quarter. King had 342M MAUs for the quarter, down year-over-year, but with better per user engagement and investment. King had two of the top 10 highest-grossing titles in the U.S. mobile app stores for the fourteenth quarter in a row, the company said.

16:09 EDT CBS CEO says Q1 results 'demonstrate the strength of our strategy' - "Our first-quarter results once again demonstrate the strength of our strategy, which is to diversify our revenue mix as we achieve our long-term financial goals," said Leslie Moonves, Chairman and CEO, CBS Corporation. "Retransmission consent and reverse compensation led the way in Q1, growing 28%. This contributed to a 17% increase in our Company's affiliate and subscription fee revenue, which also benefited from our over-the-top subscription services, CBS All Access and Showtime OTT. In addition, we a had very solid quarter for content licensing and distribution, which was up 16% and is poised for continued strength when several of our hit series enter the syndication cycle later this year. And we continue to add to our content pipeline all the time. In two weeks we will unveil our new primetime schedule on the CBS Television Network, which will include 19 returning series further strengthened by several new shows, the majority of which we will own. We look forward to the upfront marketplace where we're confident advertisers will once again place great value on the #1 television network in an increasingly fragmented media landscape. And longer term, that content becomes even more valuable when we license it across distribution services, both here in the U.S. and internationally as well. As we continue to sharpen our core content focus in the quarters to come, including the impending split-off of our radio business, we will be even better positioned to take advantage of all of the opportunities before us. So there is so much yet to come, and our road map for success is clear."

16:08 EDT CBS reports Q1 Publishing revenues of $161M, up 11% - Publishing revenues of $161M for the first quarter of 2017 increased 11% from $145M for the same prior-year period. The increase was led by growth in print book sales and digital audio sales. Bestselling titles for the first quarter of 2017 included Unshakeable by Tony Robbins and A Man called Ove by Fredrik Backman.

16:06 EDT CBS reports Q1 Entertainment revenue down 9% to $2.35B - Entertainment revenues of $2.35B for the first quarter of 2017 decreased 9% from $2.59B for the first quarter of 2016. Comparability of revenues was affected by the 2016 broadcast of Super Bowl 50 and an additional NFL playoff game on the CBS Television Network. Affiliate and subscription fees grew 28%, driven by higher station affiliation fees and subscriber growth at CBS All Access. Content licensing and distribution revenues were up 21%, reflecting growth in domestic and international licensing sales.

16:05 EDT Syros Pharmaceuticals says discovers 14 new drug targets - Syros Pharmaceuticals announced new data generated using its gene control platform, including the discovery of 14 new drug targets in triple negative breast cancer. These data were presented at the IMPAKT 2017 Breast Cancer Conference. "By analyzing the non-coding regulatory region of the genome of tumor cells, we have uncovered new targets in subsets of triple negative breast cancer. Our focus on the regulatory genome, coupled with our expertise in drugging transcriptional targets to control the expression of genes, positions us to develop a new wave of genomic-based medicine... Using its proprietary gene control platform to analyze the regulatory genomes from 43 breast cancer patients' tissue samples, Syros scientists identified highly specialized regions of non-coding regulatory DNA, known as super-enhancers, that drive the expression of genes critical for tumor growth and survival in defined subsets of breast cancer patients," the company noted. Analysis of the super-enhancers and their associated genes revealed: Known cancer drivers and patient subsets, with HER2+ patients having a super-enhancer associated with the HER2 gene and ER+ patients having a super-enhancer associated with the ESR1 gene; Enhancer-linked genes that were validated as essential for triple negative tumor cell proliferation by CRISPR-mediated gene disruption. Of those genes, 14 code for newly identified drug targets for triple negative breast cancer across a range of druggable target types, including enzymes, surface receptors, and signaling and metabolic proteins; A super-enhancer associated with the RARA gene that is predictive of response to SY-1425, a first-in-class selective retinoic acid receptor alpha agonist, in multiple preclinical models of breast cancer, including those resistant to treatment with standard-of-care therapies. The company added that "Syros is advancing a growing pipeline of drug candidates, including SY-1425 and SY-1365, a first-in-class selective inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinase 7, that is on track to begin a Phase 1 clinical trial in the second quarter of this year."

16:02 EDT RLI Corp. raises quarterly dividend to 21c per share - RLI Corp has declared a second quarter regular cash dividend of 21c per share, a 1c increase over the prior quarter. The dividend is payable on June 20 to shareholders of record as of May 31.

16:02 EDT Activision Blizzard trading halted, news pending

15:54 EDT Wall Street agrees Delphi break-up raises merger potential - Delphi's (DLPH) decision to split itself into two public companies drew positive reactions from Wall Street analysts Thursday, with no less than three research firms predicting that the move increases M&A potential for the now more streamlined companies. DELPHI BUSINESS SPLIT: Concurrent with a better than expected Q1 earnings report, Delphi announced Wednesday that it plans a tax-free spinoff of its Powertrain Systems business into an independent, publicly traded company. Delphi expects the transaction to close in March 2018 and said its shareholders will receive shares of Powertrain "via a pro rata special distribution," with CEO Kevin Clark commenting that the move "represents an exciting opportunity for our businesses by creating two independent companies, each with a distinct product focus, a proven business model, and the flexibility to pursue accelerated investments." ANALYSTS SEE INCREASED TAKEOUT POTENTIAL: RBC Capital's Joseph Spak said the post-announcement pop in Delphi stock "was warranted and further shareholder value creation down the road is still possible." Raising his price target to $95 from $93 on a revised sum-of-the-parts analysis, the analyst says he applauds the "bold, smart move" to make the remaining Delphi business a pure-play name in autonomy, mobility and connectivity while allowing Powertrain to focus on vehicle propulsion. Notably, Spak still believes that "further Powertrain consolidation is needed," adding that the potentially "easier to digest" spinout could make sense in combination with BorgWarner (BWA) or other Tier 1 powertrain assets and may spur other names, such as Lear (LEA), to consider a breakup. Meanwhile, Bank of America Merrill Lynch's John Murphy upgraded Delphi to Neutral while raising his price target to $95 from $62, arguing that the move "has the potential to drive shareholder value, and also increases the likelihood that the core remaining business could be acquired" by a Samsung (SSNLF) or Intel (INTC). Also forecasting heightened M&A appetite was UBS analyst Colin Langan, who raised his target on the Buy rated shares to $97 from $87 and contended that "the spin could attract an acquirer given the growth, competitive positioning & favorable tax structure." WHAT'S NOTABLE: On April 24, Bloomberg reported that Continental (CTTAY) and Delphi earlier this year held talks to combine parts of their powertrain units, though negotiations ended without a deal. PRICE ACTION: Shares of Delphi are up 1.4% in today's session and have jumped nearly 13% since the company's announcements Wednesday.

14:56 EDT AmerisourceBergen reports US Bio receipt of subpoena in January - In its quarterly 10-Q filing, AmerisourceBergen states: "In January 2017, US Bio received a subpoena for information from the USAO-EDNY relating to US Bio's activities in connection with billing for products and making returns of potential overpayments to government payers. The Company is engaged in discussions with the USAO-EDNY and will be producing documents in response to the subpoena."

14:33 EDT General Dynamics announces award of DLA Enterprise IT contract - General Dynamics Information Technology, a business unit of General Dynamics, announces it was awarded a contract to support the Defense Logistics Agency's J6 Enterprise Technology Services program. General Dynamics will provide network and telecommunications, IT solutions, sustainment and maintenance, enterprise data strategy, systems engineering, virtual workforce training, lifecycle management and IT program management support. The multiple award, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract has a ceiling value of approximately $6B for a five-year base period with three option years.

14:15 EDT Cliffs Natural responds to Barron's, Axiom, says attempting to manipulate stock - Cliffs Natural issued the following statement: "Cliffs Natural Resources is responding to articles published today by Barron's Ben Levisohn and Axiom Capital Management's Gordon Johnson with respect to an open market purchase of 200,000 Cliffs shares made yesterday by its chairman, president and CEO, Lourenco Goncalves. These comments include statements that are inaccurate and materially misleading regarding Goncalves's previous share purchases. In particular, Barron's and Axiom inaccurately reported that Goncalves last open market share purchase occurred in March 2015. In fact, Goncalves has made multiple significant open market purchases of Cliffs shares since March 2015, totaling 300,000 shares, including two purchases in May 2015 and one purchase in May 2016. All of these purchases were reflected in Form 4's filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Both Barron's and Axiom would have been well aware of these later trades from publicly available information at the time their comments were made. Cliffs believes that such materially misleading misstatements are an intentional attempt to manipulate Cliffs' share price to support the 'bearish' position Johnson's firm Axiom has historically taken with respect to Cliffs' stock. As a result of these statements, Cliffs has already instructed its outside legal counsel to pursue appropriate legal action against all parties involved."

14:11 EDT Marcato: Buffalo Wild Wings peer comparison 'desperate manipulation' of facts - Marcato Capital, which manages funds that own approximately 6.1% of the outstanding common shares of Buffalo Wild Wings, issued commentary on Buffalo Wild Wings' latest attempt to "mask its underperformance by once again changing its relative peer group as compared to its proxy peers." Mick McGuire, managing partner of Marcato, said, "The peer group Buffalo Wild Wings management used today is the third different one presented by the Company in recent months. This desperate manipulation of the facts cannot mask Buffalo Wild Wings' persistent underperformance and clear lack of any strategic plan to create long-term shareholder value. Electing Marcato's nominees will put an end to this deceitful behavior and provide the necessary financial expertise and business savvy to drive a turnaround."

13:57 EDT Imagination starts dispute resolution process with Apple - As part of a year-end update, Imagination Technologies announced it has begun a "dispute resolution procedure" with Apple. The company explained, "Imagination has been unable to make satisfactory progress with Apple to date regarding alternative commercial arrangements for the current licence and royalty agreement. Imagination has therefore commenced the dispute resolution procedure under the licence agreement with a view to reaching an agreement through a more structured process. Imagination has reserved all its rights in respect of Apple's unauthorised use of Imagination's confidential information and Imagination's intellectual property rights." Imagination also disclosed that it plans to sell its MIPS and Ensigma businesses. MIPS is focused on the embedded processor markets, while Ensigma offers IP licensing for connectivity in mobile computing, unmanned systems and IoT. Reference Link

13:47 EDT Oracle says cloud product selected by Trek Bicycle - Oracle announced that Trek Bicycle is using Oracle Cloud Platform to "help grow Trek enthusiasts and keep its riders on the road through faster service, as well as to simplify expansion of its global dealer network."

13:01 EDT Oracle announces EU region expansion in Germany - Oracle announced enhancements to the Oracle Cloud EU Region in Germany with the addition of modern infrastructure as a service architecture and new IaaS and platform as a service cloud services. German-based modern IaaS will enable organizations to build and move mission-critical workloads to the cloud with uncompromised security and governance at a significant price performance advantage both over existing on-premises infrastructure and competitive cloud offerings. Oracle's expanded infrastructure footprint is a result of tremendous customer demand with non-GAAP cloud revenue up 71% in Q3FY17 to $1.3B. The Oracle Cloud EU Region in Germany builds on the previously announced Oracle Cloud UK Region. The Oracle Cloud EU Region in Germany is expected to come online in the second half of this calendar year. The expansion of the Oracle Cloud EU Region in Germany will consist of three high bandwidth, low latency sites - or Availability Domains. These ADs are located within the Frankfurt metropolitan area and operate in a completely fault-independent manner. This differentiated architectural approach along with unique to cloud technologies like Oracle Real Application Clusters, provides the highest levels of failure protection and availability for Oracle customers' most demanding cloud-based applications. Availability Domains are deeply integrated into the Oracle Cloud Platform, easing use and eliminating complex architectural decision-making around availability.

12:49 EDT IDC China smartphone report shows Q1 decline for Apple - Market research firm IDC yesterday released its estimates of Q1 smartphone shipments in China, reporting that total shipments to the country rose just 1% to 104.1M partly due to "high inventory" from the previous quarter. Breaking the quarter down by company-specific performance, Huawei took the top spot with shipment growth of 25.5%, while Apple (AAPL) took fourth place on a 26.7% decline in shipments. IDC commented, "Despite a soft first quarter in China, the second quarter should pick up sequentially given not only JD.com's (JD) June promotions, but also activity around a number of new products like vivo with its Y53, Xiaomi with its Mi 6, Meizu with its E2, and Gionee with its M6S Plus. Apple has been seeing double-digit YoY declines for the fifth quarter in a row, but we believe that Chinese consumers are holding out for the launch of Apple's 10-year anniversary iPhone at the end of the year." Other publicly traded companies in the space include Samsung (SSNLF). Reference Link

12:15 EDT General Motors affirms Greenlight's plan creates 'unacceptable level of risk' - General Motors again affirmed that after objective and thorough review over a seven-month period, GM's Board determined that Greenlight's proposal to eliminate the dividend on the existing GM common stock and distribute the proposed new "dividend security" creates an unacceptable level of risk, would not create the value Greenlight indicates, and would be detrimental to GM shareholders. GM says, "GM's outstanding Board of Directors are the best-suited individuals to continue overseeing the successful execution of GM's transformational plan which has delivered three years of record results and returned significant value to our shareholders. In stark contrast, Greenlight's candidates were nominated specifically to advance Greenlight's dual-class stock plan, which GM's Board views as high-risk and detrimental to the long-term best interests of GM and its shareholders, and do not have the depth or breadth of relevant experience, at the same level of complexity, that our directors bring. Their experience is already fully represented by the current GM Board members. M believes that voting for any of the Greenlight candidates represents an endorsement of Greenlight's flawed plan, and the presence of any of the Greenlight candidates on the Board would undermine our ability to move forward with focus and clarity on the right strategic imperatives that are critical as we navigate this period of unprecedented industry change. GM presented information accurately and responsibly; rating agencies had complete and accurate information regarding the proposal when they issued their opinions and have not changed their opinions after meeting with Greenlight. Greenlight's claims regarding GM's engagement with the rating agencies relative to Greenlight's Dividend Shares proposal are baseless and represent what we view as an irresponsible attempt to divert attention away from the fact that Greenlight's proposal is a high-risk experiment in financial engineering that is not in the best interests of GM shareholders, would result in a downgrade of GM's credit rating, and would not increase value for shareholders. "As we have said before: GM presented Greenlight's Dividend Share idea to the rating agencies fully and fairly. Greenlight's definitive proxy makes clear that Greenlight has met with two of the rating agencies to make its case directly and the rating agencies' views have not changed. The rating agencies issued their reports after Greenlight made its proposal public and posted its investor presentation. It is also clear from the public statements made by the rating agencies that they understand all aspects of the proposal and that it would represent a credit negative if implemented. Any suggestion to the contrary is false.

11:53 EDT Ormat Technologies trading resumes

11:47 EDT Heineken acquires remaining shares in Lagunitas Brewing Company - Heineken announced that it has acquired all the remaining shares in Lagunitas Brewing Company. To maintain the Lagunitas culture and free spirit, the company will continue to operate as an independent entity within HEINEKEN and will report within the HEINEKEN Americas Region. Tony Magee, the founder of Lagunitas, will remain active as Executive Chairman of the company. Tony will be supported by his current management team. In addition, Tony will take a leading advisory role to HEINEKEN and its Executive Team on the global and local craft strategy. Following this transaction HEINEKEN will accelerate the export of Lagunitas to many more markets around the world. The impact of this acquisition, similar to the proposed acquisitions in Brazil and in the UK, is excluded from the 2017 FY margin guidance. In the current year the impact of acquiring Lagunitas is expected to be slightly margin dilutive.

11:36 EDT CareDx says Palmetto GBA releases LCD for AlloSure - CareDx announces that Palmetto GBA has released a draft local coverage determination for AlloSure. AlloSure is the first and only non-invasive test that uses donor derived cell free DNA as a biomarker to directly measure allograft injury and identify the probability of active rejection. "This marks an important milestone in making AlloSure available to kidney transplant patients," said Peter Maag, CEO at CareDx. "We are tracking against a commercial launch of AlloSure later in 2017 following the completion of reimbursement discussions. The draft LCD release underscores our leadership position in partnering with the transplant community on novel diagnostic solutions to improve patient management and long-term outcomes." The draft local coverage decision was issued following completion of the MolDx Technical Assessment process by Palmetto GBA. During the technical assessment process, subject matter experts and the MolDx team determine if an assay demonstrates clinical utility and fulfills the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 'reasonable and necessary' criteria. In order to receive favorable review results, the assay must also meet analytical and clinical validity standards.

11:28 EDT Occidental Petroleum sees FY17 total production 595,000-615,000 boed - Sees FY17 Permian production 140,000-150,000 boed. Sees FY17 production costs in domestic oil and gas of approximately $14.00/boe.

11:24 EDT Occidental Petroleum sees Q2 production 580,000-595,000 boed - Sees Q2 Permian EOR production flat. Sees Permian Resources production 135,000-140,000 boed. Modest impact of OPEC quota constraints and volume effects under PSC contracts due to higher oil prices is expected in Q2. Guidance provided during Q1 earnings presentation slides.

11:23 EDT Starbucks expands rewards program at grocery stores - Starbucks Rewards loyalty program is expanding in grocery stores, the company announced. The expansion more than triples the number of products eligible for Stars through the Starbucks Rewards loyalty program at grocery, where customers can now earn Stars on a wide range of Starbucks K-Cup Packs, Starbucks packaged roast & ground coffee, Starbucks VIA Instant Coffee, and Starbucks VIA Instant Refreshers beverages, as well as individual ready-to-drink Starbucks beverages and Starbucks Multi-Serve Chilled Coffee in the US.

11:15 EDT General Mills not commenting on takeover speculation - Contacted by The Fly after an unknown newswire issued a report claiming that 3G Capital has reached an agreement to acquire General Mills (GIS), a spokesperson for the latter said that "as standing practice, we don't comment on market rumors." Shares of General Mills as well as some of its peers, including Kellogg (K), Kraft Heinz (KHC) and Hain Celestial (HAIN), moved higher following circulation of the story. However, CNBC's David Faber said there is no truth to the report.

11:07 EDT FreightCar America says commodity loads increased in Q1 Y/Y - Comments from Q1 earnings conference call.

10:40 EDT Cautious Facebook guidance scares investors more than analysts - Shares of Facebook (FB) are sliding after the company reported better than expected first quarter results but reiterated its prior warning about its expectations for revenue deceleration and expense ramp, which appears to be making investors nervous. However, most Wall Street analysts remain bullish on the social media giant, with many raising their targets on the shares this morning. RESULTS: Last night, Facebook reported first quarter earnings per share of $1.04 and revenue of $8.03B, above consensus expectations, and announced ad revenue of $7.86B. The social media giant also said that mobile advertising revenue represented approximately 85% of advertising revenue for the first quarter of 2017. Speaking during the company's earnings conference call, Facebook CFO Dave Wehner again reiterated caution on ad revenue growth rates, stating: "we continue to expect that our ad revenue growth rates will come down meaningfully over the course of 2017. We expect that ad load will play a less significant factor in driving revenue growth after mid-2017. We also expect desktop ad revenue growth rates to slow in Q3 when we begin to lap our efforts to limit the impact of ad blockers." ANALYSTS UP TARGETS: In a post-earnings note, Piper Jaffray analyst Samuel Kemp raised his price target for Facebook to $165 from $160 and reiterated an Overweight rating on the name. Continued penetration of Instagram stories and increasing per user time spent across each Facebook property highlight the ongoing strength in engagement despite rising engagement at Snapchat (SNAP), Kemp argued. His peer at Deutsche Bank voiced a similar opinion, raising his price target on Facebook's shares to $185 from $180. Analyst Lloyd Walmsley told investors that he feels better about ad growth prospects in the second half of the year despite strong pricing growth, a reduction in newsfeed inventory to promote video, and strong trends in APAC and RoW. Further, the analyst sees "strong engagement" likely to continue and expects shares to continue to rise. He reiterated a Buy rating on the stock. Meanwhile, JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth upped his price target for Facebook to $182 from $170, keeping an Overweight rating on the shares, saying that the company continues to show a "rare and impressive" combination of scale, growth and profitability. Moreover, the analyst pointed out that Facebook is investing into some "major long-term growth opportunities" from a position of strength, ramping up investments in R&D headcount, video content and overall infrastructure. As part of its video and camera-first focus, the company is pushing harder on video both in the Facebook News Feed and the new video tab, Anmuth contended, adding that he would buy the shares on any near-term weakness. Additionally, Jefferies, Oppenheimer, Citi, Cantor and Cowen raised their price targets for Facebook to $192, $170, $175, $180 and $170, respectively, keeping Buy-equivalent ratings on the name. READ-TROUGH FOR SNAP: In a research note of her own, Needham analyst Laura Martin noted that Facebook reported a "strong" first quarter, handily beating her upwardly revised estimates. The analyst told investors that she believes that digital markets are "winner-take-most" markets and that Facebook is the winner in mobile ad markets. Martin also pointed out that she sees negative read-through for Snap, as Instagram reached 700M monthly active users and WhatsApp added 200M thanks to adopting many of Snapchat's features. She reiterated a Buy rating and $165 price target on Facebook's shares. PRICE ACTION: In morning trading, shares of Facebook have slipped about 1% to $150.64. Meanwhile, shares of Snapchat's parent, Snap Inc., are up 5% to $22.98. Snap is scheduled to report earnings for Q1 on May 10 after the close.

10:25 EDT Viacom says Charter changes 'not a broad re-tiering,' talks ongoing - Viacom (VIAB) CEO Bob Bakish acknowledged on the company's earnings call earlier that some of the company's channels have been "re-tiered" to a higher-priced tier of service on Charter Communications' (CHTR) system, but he said the moves are not part of a broad re-tiering at the cable service operator and that talks between the two companies are continuing. Specifically, Bakish said: "With respect to Charter, in particular, we are aware of the issue. Worth noting, it appears to affect new subs only. It's not a broad re-tiering. I read something today that suggested it might be. But suffice it to say, this is in the context of an ongoing integration there. There is a difference of opinion on what's appropriate. We have a very strong point of view in our conversations about it. And I believe this will get resolved. And again, at a macro level, we continue to be focused on partnership with Charter. And we're -- there's other conversations going on in other MVPDs and are working to build and evolve the pay-TV ecosystem." Viacom shares have recovered from the earlier lows seen as the call continued, though they remain down about 2.8% in morning trading.

10:23 EDT Reynolds American board elects Susan Cameron as non-executive chairman - The board elected Susan M. Cameron non-executive chairman, effective as of May 1, 2017. Cameron has served as executive chairman since Jan. 1, 2017, after retiring as RAI's president and CEO.

10:02 EDT Gray Television to acquire WCAX-TV In Burlington, Vermont for $29M - Gray Television (GTN) announced that it has reached an agreement with Mt. Mansfield Television to acquire WCAX-TV, the CBS (CBS) affiliated television station in the Burlington, Vermont-Plattsburgh, New York, market for $29M. "Including expected synergies, the transaction represents an attractive purchase price multiple of less than 6.0 times expected blended 2016-2017 pro forma broadcast cash flow. We anticipate that the transaction will be leverage neutral, immediately free cash flow accretive, and funded primarily through the use of cash on hand at closing and, if necessary, borrowings under our existing senior credit facility. Subject to receipt of regulatory and other approvals, we expect to close the transaction in the third quarter of 2017."

09:54 EDT Rosetta Genomics receives approval from NYS for thyroid cancer diagnostic assay - Rosetta Genomics announces it has received final approval for RosettaGX Reveal, its novel microRNA classifier for the diagnosis of indeterminate thyroid cases from the New York State Department of Health under the company's Molecular Oncology permit. RosettaGX Reveal is the only molecular test in the thyroid market that has been validated in a multicenter, international, blinded study using convenient, routinely prepared cytology slides. The Rosetta Laboratory is CLIA-certified, but New York State requires an additional license from the NYSDOH for Lab Developed Tests to be offered to patients in the state. The assay had previously received conditional approval and now that approval has become final.

09:47 EDT Kellogg sees better net sales performance in coming quarters

09:44 EDT Biohaven Pharmaceutical IPO indicated to open at $18-$19, priced at $17 - Biohaven Pharmaceutical (BHVN) priced 9.9M shares at $17.00. The deal size was raised to 9.9M shares from 8.3M shares and priced above the $14.00-$16.00 range. Morgan Stanley, Piper Jaffray and Barclays acted as joint book running managers for the offering.

09:40 EDT Kellogg sees sequential improvement in Q2, further improvement in 2H - Says Q1 was "unusually challenging across our industry." Says all categories experienced softness in consumption in U.S., cites delays in tax refunds. Says saw the worst softness January, with returns to run rates seen in Q4 in March and April. Says "confident" topline performance will improve in coming quarters. Says longer term trends seen over the past few years "still with us. Sees tax rate moving back up to higher levels for remaining quarters of year. Says Q1 "was not the norm," sees sequential improvement in Q2 with further improvement in 2H. Comments taken from the Q1 earnings conference call.

09:38 EDT Viacom drops 9% in early trading as earnings call continues - Viacom (VIAB) shares are down $3.56, or 9%, to $35.70 in early trading as the company's executives continue taking questions on the earnings call.

09:27 EDT On The Fly: Pre-market Movers - UP AFTER EARNINGS: Fitbit (FIT), up 8.6%... Regeneron (REGN), up 1.2%... Incyte (INCY), up 2.8%... Church & Dwight (CHD), up 1.5%... Square (SQ), up 5.6%... FormFactor (FORM), up 10.2%... Lumentum (LITE), up 7%... Intercept Pharmaceuticals (ICPT), up 2.1%. ALSO HIGHER: Ignyta (RXDX), up 3.3% after its 12.5M share Secondary priced at $6.15. DOWN AFTER EARNINGS: Tesla (TSLA), down 1.4%... Occidental Petroleum (OXY), down 1.3%... Viacom (VIA, VIAB), down 2.4% and 6%, respectively... Chesapeake Energy (CHK), down 2.4%... Huntington Ingalls (HII), down 2%... L Brands (LB), down 4.2%. ALSO LOWER: Biopharmx (BPMX), down 29.4% after reporting that secondary endpoint results of its phase 2b clinical trial evaluating BPX-01 were not statistically significant, despite having achieved the primary endpoint.

09:23 EDT HSBC says cost-saving program remains on track - Stuart Gulliver, Group Chief Executive, said: "HSBC performed well in the first quarter. Reported profits were down, due largely to a change in the accounting treatment of the fair value on our own debt. In addition, last year's first-quarter reported profit included the operating results of the Brazil business that we sold in July 2016. Both of these items will feature in comparisons with 2016 reported results throughout 2017. Adjusted profit and revenue both grew as our global businesses maintained their momentum from the end of 2016...2017 is the final year of our programme to complete the strategic actions announced at our 2015 Investor Update. Targeted initiatives removed another $13B of risk-weighted assets in the first quarter. We have now exceeded the risk-weighted asset reduction target that we set in 2015 and will continue to remove low-return risk-weighted assets. Our cost-saving programme remains on track to hit the higher cost-saving target we announced at our annual results."

09:17 EDT Cornerstone OnDemand names Palo Alto Networks CFO Tomlinson to board - Cornerstone OnDemand (CSOD) announced that Steffan Tomlinson, CFO for Palo Alto Networks (PANW), and Dean Carter, vice president of human resources and shared services for Patagonia, Inc., have been elected to Cornerstone's board of directors, effective as of May 3, 2017.

09:15 EDT Viacom says 'definitely feeling good' about ad market ahead of upfronts - Viacom said supply is tight and there is "noise on digital, no question," but TV is "well positioned" in the ad market. Comments from the company's earnings call.

09:13 EDT xG Technology's Vislink busines awarded $1.2M order for wireless camera system - xG Technology's Vislink business has received an order valued at approximately $1.2M for wireless camera systems from a major worldwide news organization. The systems have been purchased for deployment throughout the U.S. for ad-hoc, untethered newsgathering production and operations.

09:10 EDT AT&T moving databases and workloads to Oracle cloud - AT&T (T) signed an agreement to move thousands of its large scale internal databases to Oracle's (ORCL) Cloud Infrastructure as a Service and Platform as a Service. Under the agreement, AT&T will migrate thousands of existing Oracle databases containing petabytes of data plus their associated applications workloads to Oracle Cloud. The agreement gives AT&T global access to Oracle's cloud portfolio offerings both in the public cloud and on AT&T's Integrated Cloud.

09:09 EDT CEVA backs FY17 guidance of 10%-20% royalty revenue growth

09:05 EDT Wipro joins Enterprise Ethereum Alliance as founding member - Wipro has joined the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance as a founding member. EEA is a collaboration of enterprises to promote, develop and implement enterprise grade Ethereum-based blockchain applications across industries for specific business use cases. Ethereum is an open-source, blockchain-based distributed computing platform, featuring smart contract functionality. The EEA seeks to augment Ethereum adoption as an enterprise-grade technology, with research and development focused on privacy, confidentiality, scalability and security. Wipro has been actively working on Ethereum to develop enterprise blockchain-based industry solutions and assets on a number of industry use cases. These solutions include Delivery versus Payments settlement for securities and capital markets, skip-trace consortia for banking, peer-to-peer insurance for the sharing economy, anti-counterfeit solution for supply chain traceability and many more.

09:03 EDT Nordstrom names Anne Bramman as CFO - Nordstrom has appointed Anne Bramman as CFO, effective June 2. Bramman comes from Avery Dennison Corporation where she has served as Senior Vice President and CFO since 2015. Mike Koppel retired as the company's CFO May 1 after 16 years and will continue to support Nordstrom in a consulting and advisory role through the end of the year.

08:57 EDT Viacom says negotiating new MVPD deals ahead of renewals - On the company's Q2 earnings call, Viacom executives said they are currently "actively engaged with a number of parties" outside the traditional renewal discussions. The company noted it has data and advertising pilots operational with 2 "major" U.S. MVPDs, whereby it is inserting some "advanced advertising campaigns" in their local commercial availabilities. The company also said it is speaking with "several MVPDs" regarding variations on the entertainment skinny pack concept, and "we're optimistic that one could launch by the end of this year."

08:47 EDT OncoMed doses first patient in Phase 1a clinical trial of anti-TIGIT - OncoMed Pharmaceuticals announced that the first patient has been dosed in the company's Phase 1a clinical trial of anti-TIGIT. Anti-TIGIT is an investigational immuno-oncology therapeutic candidate intended to block suppression of the immune system in tumors and enable immune system anti-tumor activity, similar to marketed checkpoint inhibitors that target the PD-L1-PD-1 axis.

08:45 EDT Express sees FY17 pre-tax profit impact of Canadian store closures of $28M-$34M - In a regulatory filing, Express disclosed that as a result of its plan to close all 17 of its retail stores in Canada and discontinue all operations through its Canadian subsidiary, Express Canada, Express, Inc. expects to incur pre-tax costs of approximately $6M in the first quarter of 2017 and $22M-$28M of pre-tax costs in the second quarter of 2017. In addition, in the second quarter of 2017, Express, Inc. expects to impair its investment in Express Canada based on the estimated fair value of Express Canada's net assets. This impairment is expected to result in a non-cash, pre-tax charge of approximately $11M. Express, Inc. expects the wind-down of its Canadian operations to impact pre-tax profit on its consolidated financial statements in the range of $28M-$34M in 2017, driven primarily by the write-down of its investment in Express Canada along with costs associated with exiting Canada. The impact of these exit costs was not included in the Company's most recently provided guidance.

08:42 EDT Incyte says Ph.II trial in alopecia areata does not justify progression - Incyte said in today's earnings release, "In January, Incyte initiated a Phase 2 trial of topical ruxolitinib for the treatment of patients with atopic dermatitis, and a Phase 2 trial in patients with vitiligo is expected to begin in 2017. After 24 weeks of treatment, Incyte has determined that data from the recently-completed randomized Phase 2 trial of topical ruxolitinib in patients with alopecia areata do not justify progression of the program into pivotal studies."

08:40 EDT Medical Properties Trust sees equity raise to temporarily dilute FFO - Medical Properties Trust Chairman, President and CEO Edward Aldag, Jr. said, "The impact of last week's $548M equity raise will temporarily dilute FFO for 2017 until we reset our capital structure from the current, historically low leverage of 4.5 times EBITDA to our long-term target of 5.0 to 5.5 times, and use that capital for immediately accretive acquisitions. We are hopeful that will happen in the relatively near term, but until we have more certainty concerning the size and timing of any additional acquisitions, we will not try to quantify the near-term impact on our prior guidance."

08:38 EDT Medical Properties Trust sees acquisition activity substantially above guidance - "With our successful equity offering last week, we are positioned to substantially increase our acquisition activity beyond our prior guidance of $1.0 billion in 2017. We have already closed and committed to close on almost $450 million of our initial 2017 estimates in very high quality hospital assets, and our sector-leading balance sheet strength gives us capacity to add as much as another $1.5 billion while maintaining our very low leverage target of 5.5 times net debt to EBITDA," said Chairman, President and CEO Edward Aldag, Jr.

08:34 EDT WWE says WWE Network averaged 1.49M paid subscribers in Q1

08:34 EDT WWE sees FY17 adjusted OIBDA of $100M, 'record' revenue - The range of financial performance projected for the second quarter would result in Adjusted OIBDA for the first half of 2017 that is essentially flat to the prior year period. The company anticipates significant year-over-year growth in Adjusted OIBDA over the second half of 2017. WWE management continues to expect the company to achieve another year of record revenue and has targeted Adjusted OIBDA of $100M, which would be an all-time record and would be up approximately 25% from 2016 Adjusted OIBDA of $80.1M.

08:33 EDT Genpact retains Morgan Partners as BrightClaim acquisition financial advisors - Genpact appointed independent investment bank Morgan Partners as exclusive financial advisor on its acquisition of BrightClaim and their associated company National Vendor.

08:32 EDT Rennova Health forms Advanced Molecular Services Group, may spin off to holders - Rennova Health announces the formation of the Advanced Molecular Services Group to focus on precision medicine. The Group includes CollabRx, Inc., Genomas, Inc. and Alethea Laboratories, Inc., Rennova's New Mexico laboratory. Rennova's board is considering all options to create shareholder value, and subject to required consents and approvals may spin off the Group to its stockholders.

08:30 EDT Acuity Brands licenses technology from Vital Vio - Acuity Brands announced a licensing agreement with Vital Vio, Inc. Acuity Brands will incorporate Vital Vio's VioSafe White Light Disinfection technology into certain of its LED luminaires, beginning with health care applications. The Vital Vio license allows Acuity Brands to incorporate the VioSafe White Light Disinfection technology across its product lines. Additional Acuity Brands lighting solutions could encompass food processing and service; research facilities, clean rooms and laboratories; sports facilities and athletics clubs; education settings; transportation hubs; hotels and hospitality; offices; and general indoor public spaces.

08:27 EDT Netlist obtains financing to cover costs of legal actions against SK hynix - Netlist announced it has obtained outside investment to finance the legal fees and costs of its legal action against SK hynix at the U.S. International Trade Commission and the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The financing is being provided by TR Global Funding V, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company affiliated with TRGP Capital Management. Under the agreement, TRGP agrees to cover all of Netlist's obligations for legal fees and costs for the ITC proceeding and the CDCA action, as well as certain fees and costs for related inter partes review proceedings. No equity will be issued in connection with this transaction. Also under the agreement, TRGP will only receive payment upon a successful resolution with SK hynix with a return based on the amount of their investment. Netlist and SK hynix are preparing for a week-long trial in the ITC which is scheduled to begin May 8, 2017. The Administrative Law Judge handling the investigation will hear all of the evidence and determine whether SK hynix's RDIMM and LRDIMM products infringe Netlist's six asserted patents. The ALJ will issue his detailed findings of fact and conclusions of law in a final initial determination in October 2017. Netlist is seeking, among other things, a ban on the importation of infringing SK hynix products. In the CDCA, the court will hold a Markman hearing on July 18, 2017, where the judge will determine the meaning of the claims in the asserted patents.

08:26 EDT Fortress Biotech doses final patient in Phase 1B trial of CAEL-101 - Fortress Biotech announced that study sponsor Columbia University has dosed the final patient in the Phase 1b clinical trial of CAEL-101, in development by Fortress subsidiary Caelum Biosciences, Inc. for the treatment of amyloid light chain amyloidosis. Caelum expects to readout preliminary Phase 1b data mid-2017, and full data by the end of the year.

08:25 EDT Cheniere Energy Partners LP expects 2017 dividend 90c-$1.10

08:21 EDT Celsion updates clinical data from OVATION study - Celsion announced updated additional clinical and translational research data from its Phase Ib dose escalating clinical trial combining GEN-1, the Company's IL-12 gene-mediated immunotherapy, with the standard of care for the treatment of newly-diagnosed patients with Stage III and IV ovarian cancer who will undergo neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by interval debulking surgery. Of the five evaluable patients in the first two cohorts who have been on the study for over one year, only one patient's cancer has progressed after 11.7 months. This compares quite favorably to the historical median progression free survival of 12 months for newly-diagnosed patients with Stage III and IV ovarian cancer who undergo neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by interval debulking surgery. Of the remaining four patients in the first two cohorts, their average PFS is 15.1 months with the longest progression-free patient at 19.1 months. None of the patients in the third or fourth dosing cohorts have progressed to date.

08:20 EDT CRA International expands share repurchase authorization by $20M - CRA announced that its board has authorized an expanded share repurchase program of an additional $20.0M of CRA's common stock, in addition to the approximately $9.0M remaining under its existing share repurchase program. In connection with this expanded share repurchase program, CRA's board has authorized the company in its discretion to adopt a Rule 10b5-1 plan covering some or all of these repurchases. Any such plan would allow CRA to repurchase its shares at times when it otherwise might be prevented from doing so under insider trading laws or because of self-imposed trading blackout periods.

08:18 EDT Universal Electronics to acquire RCS Technology for $9M - Universal Electronics has entered into an agreement to acquire certain assets of U.S.-based Residential Control Systems, a designer and manufacturer of energy management and control products for the Residential, Commercial, and Hospitality markets. Through this acquisition, UEI further solidifies its footprint in the rapidly growing IoT space by expanding its portfolio of home sensing, monitoring and control solutions to include programmable communicating thermostats, advanced HVAC controls, energy monitoring and control devices, gateways, in-home displays and user interfaces. The purchase price for the acquisition of RCS assets will be approximately $9M in cash plus incentive-based cash consideration to be paid over the next five years. RCS' acquired assets include product lines, inventory, intellectual property, engineering and development resources, sales and distribution relationships, and other assets used in its communication and smart thermostat business. UEI intends to operate the acquired business as a wholly-owned subsidiary and market the energy monitoring, thermostat, sensor products and services under RCS brands and its trademarks, building upon RCS' many years of experience, expertise and innovation in the industry.

08:16 EDT Tuesday Morning reports Q3 SSS down 2.7%

08:15 EDT EnSync sells power purchase agreement project to infrastructure investor - EnSync has sold a solar-plus-storage power purchase agreement project to a U.S. infrastructure investor. The system will be comprised of a suite of EnSync Energy's DER technologies. The project also includes approximately 400kW of carport-mounted photovoltaics, and will provide electricity to dedicated loads at the Oceanic Time Warner head-end operations center in Kailua-Kona, HI.

08:14 EDT Kellogg backs FY17 operating cash flow view of approximately $1.6B-$1.7B - The company affirmed its guidance for 2017 cash flow. Specifically, it forecasts cash from operating activities should be approximately $1.6B-1.7B, which after capital expenditure translates into cash flow of $1.1B-1.2B. The latter would be an increase over 2016's $1.1B, as higher earnings and continued trimming of working capital and capital expenditure more than cover increased cash outlays related to Project K restructuring programs.

08:10 EDT Best Buy, Vivint Smart Home form partnership for smart home service - Best Buy (BBY) and Blackstone Group's (BX) Vivint Smart Home announced a strategic partnership to give customers an easy way to automate and manage their homes, called Best Buy Smart Home powered by Vivint. With a nationwide rollout beginning this summer, Best Buy customers will be able to visit one of more than 400 of the chain's large-format stores to consult with a smart home expert, design a comprehensive system, and receive professional installation and monitoring, often within 24 hours. Guided by in-store experts, customers can select from a suite of leading smart home products from Vivint and other partners - including smart locks, lights, cameras, thermostats and more - and purchase their products upfront or take advantage of special financing. Accompanying service plans include 24/7 professional monitoring with emergency response, always-on cellular connection, 30-day video storage, online and phone support, in-home service and equipment protection. Customers also have the option to select a no-contract service plan. Vivint's smart home platform works with voice assistants, such as Amazon (AMZN) Echo and Google (GOOG, GOOGL) Home, enabling consumers to control their smart home devices with their voice.

08:05 EDT PrivateBancorp and CIBC increase consideration under merger agreement - CIBC (CM) and PrivateBancorp (PVTB) have entered into a second amendment that increases the cash consideration under the previously amended merger agreement. The revised terms were unanimously approved by both boards of directors. Under the amended agreement, PrivateBancorp stockholders will receive, upon completion of the proposed merger with CIBC, an additional $3.00 in cash for each share of common stock of PrivateBancorp held, which consideration in the aggregate will be equal to $27.20 in cash and 0.4176 of a CIBC common share for each share of common stock of PrivateBancorp held. CIBC affirmed that these terms represent CIBC's best and final offer to PrivateBancorp. The amended agreement values PrivateBancorp at approximately $4.9B or $60.43 per share, a 26% increase in value compared to the initial terms announced on June 29, 2016. CIBC intends to adjust the anticipated June 28, 2017, record date for its next quarterly dividend to a date following the effective date of the merger. The special meeting of PrivateBancorp stockholders is scheduled to take place on May 12. The parties expect the remaining closing conditions to be satisfied in time to close the transaction in June.

08:01 EDT Arconic nominates Jim Albaugh, General Janet Wolfenbarger to board - Arconic (ARNC) announced its nomination of former Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BA) President and CEO James "Jim" F. Albaugh and Air Force retired General Janet C. Wolfenbarger for election to Arconic's Board of Directors at the Company's 2017 Annual Meeting. Mr. Albaugh and General Wolfenbarger will stand for election with current directors David Hess, Amy Alving and Ulrich Schmidt. Ratan Tata, who has been a valued member of the Board, has resigned as a director to focus on other business interests. With his departure, the Board has nominated Mr. Albaugh and General Wolfenbarger to stand for election to fill the two vacancies on the Board. Arconic previously offered to appoint two Elliott Management nominees to the Board. Elliott and its nominees rejected the offer. Upon the election of Arconic's candidates, nine directors of 13 will have joined the Board in the last 16 months, making it one of the shortest tenured Boards in the S&P 500. Arconic's Board would continue to consist of 13 directors, 12 of whom are independent, and three of whom were nominated by Elliott last year. The Arconic Board of Directors today published an open letter to Arconic shareholders and a new investor presentation. The Arconic Board unanimously recommends that shareholders vote "FOR" all five of Arconic's director nominees on the New WHITE proxy card today, and urges shareholders not to cede undue and excessive influence over the Company and the CEO search process to Elliott, one shareholder with a 13.2% stake.

07:55 EDT DST Systems announces sale of UK Customer Communications business to Paragon - DST Systems announced that it has completed the sale of its UK Customer Communications, or CCUK, business to Paragon Group Limited. Paragon is one of Europe's leading providers of Customer Communications and Identification services. The transaction concludes DST's presence in the customer communications market. The company expects to fully realize the opportunities within its core Financial Services and Healthcare segments and continue driving long-term growth and value creation at DST.

07:52 EDT Stillwater Mining trading halted, news dissemination

07:48 EDT Realogy reports Q1 combined homesale transaction volume up 9% - The company's combined homesale transaction volume increased 9% compared with the first quarter of 2016, consisting of a 10% volume gain at RFG and a 7% volume gain at NRT.

07:44 EDT Cato Corp. reports April SSS down 2% - Cato reported sales of $80.6M for the four weeks ended April 29, 2017, a 2% decrease from sales of $81.9M for the four weeks ended April 30, 2016.

07:43 EDT Mack-Cali Realty announces Q1 leasing results - Mack-Cali Realty announced that during the first quarter of 2017, it completed a total of 54 lease transactions aggregating 362,075 square feet in its consolidated commercial portfolio. Of these totals, 15% were for new leases and 85% were for renewals and other tenant transactions. With these transactions, the company finished the quarter with a percentage leased of 90.4 in its Core, Waterfront, and Flex properties, compared to 90.6% at year-end 2016. For the balance of 2017, expirations in the company's Core, Waterfront, and Flex portfolio total 1.4M square feet or 7.6% of the portfolio. These expirations are heavily weighted towards the end of the year. On the Hudson River Waterfront, where the company feels the market is the healthiest, the company expects a substantial rollup in rent at current market levels versus expiring rent.

07:39 EDT Dominion Midstream backs 22% annual distribution growth through 2020

07:38 EDT Coca-Cola European Partners backs prior guidance - For 2017, CCEP affirms prior guidance, including expectations of modest low single-digit revenue growth, with operating profit and diluted earnings per share growth to be up high single-digits. Excluding synergies, CCEP expects core operating profit growth to modestly exceed revenue growth. Each of these growth figures are on a comparable and fx-neutral basis when compared to the 2016 comparable results. At recent rates, currency translation would reduce 2017 full-year diluted earnings per share by approximately 1.0 percent. CCEP expects 2017 free cash flow in a range of EURO$700 million to EURO$800 million, including the expected benefit from improved working capital offset by the impact of restructuring and integration costs. Capital expenditures are expected to be in a range of EURO$575 million to EURO$625 million, including EURO$75 million to EURO$100 million of capital expenditures related to synergies. Weighted-average cost of debt is expected to be approximately 2.0 percent. The comparable effective tax rate for 2017 is expected to be in a range of 24 percent to 26 percent. CCEP does not expect to repurchase shares in 2017. CCEP remains on track to achieve pre-tax run-rate savings of EURO$315 million to EURO$340 million through synergies by mid-2019. Further, CCEP expects to exit 2017 with run-rate savings of approximately one-half of the target. Restructuring cash costs to achieve these synergies are expected to be approximately 2 1/4 times expected savings and includes cash costs associated with pre-transaction close accruals. Given these factors, currency exchange rates, and our outlook for 2017, CCEP expects year-end net debt to EBITDA for 2017 to be under 3 times.

07:34 EDT Syngenta trading halted, news pending

07:32 EDT Hyatt board approves new $500M share repurchase authorization - Hyatt says, "Our disciplined program of asset recycling supported our long-term growth strategy and yielded meaningful shareholder capital returns in the quarter. With the investment and redemption of our preferred equity stake in Playa Hotels & Resorts, we facilitated the growth of our all inclusive resort business and funded a $300 million accelerated share repurchase program. Looking ahead, we continue to target an even balance of acquisitions and dispositions over the long term to stimulate the growth of the Hyatt brand and create shareholder value. Given our liquidity profile, strong operating results and expected asset disposition activity, I am pleased to announce that our Board of Directors has approved a new $500 million share repurchase authorization."

07:28 EDT Royal Dutch Shell announces Q1 interim dividend of 47c per share - The board of Royal Dutch Shell announced an interim dividend in respect of the first quarter of 2017 of 47c per A ordinary share and B ordinary share, equal to the US dollar dividend for the same quarter last year.

07:26 EDT First Horizon to merge with Capital Bank - First Horizon National (FHN) and Capital Bank Financial (CBF) have entered into a definitive agreement that will create the fourth largest regional bank in the Southeast. Under the agreement First Horizon, which has $30 billion in assets, will acquire Capital Bank, which has $10 billion in assets. First Horizon operates 170 branches across Tennessee and the Southeast, and Capital Bank operates 193 branches in the Carolinas, Tennessee, Florida and Virginia. The merger will accelerate First Horizon's strategic plan to enhance its presence in fast-growing markets in the Southeast. The combined organization will have $40 billion in assets, $32 billion in deposits, $27 billion in loans and more than 300 branches in Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, Georgia, Texas and Virginia. First Horizon, which is headquartered in Memphis, Tenn., will retain its First Tennessee bank brand in Tennessee, where it has a 153-year history. Branches outside Tennessee will use the Capital Bank name. Under the agreement, each holder of Capital Bank common stock will be entitled to receive cash or stock with a value equivalent to 1.750 First Horizon shares and $7.90 in cash for each Capital Bank share held, subject to the election allocation and proration provisions of the merger agreement. In the aggregate, Capital Bank shareholders will receive a mix of approximately 80 percent stock and 20 percent cash. After closing, Capital Bank shareholders collectively will own approximately 29 percent of First Horizon's common shares and will have received approximately $411 million in cash. The total transaction value, at yesterday's First Horizon closing stock price, is $2.2 billion.

07:23 EDT Houghton Mifflin: Cost reductions to save $70M-$80M annually by 2018-end - HMH continues to take steps to improve its operational efficiency and right-size its cost structure, which is being guided by the results of a thorough review and evaluation of the business. Over the next two years, the Company will be undergoing a series of operational improvements in order to reduce complexity in our organization and ensure we are focused on how to best serve our customers. This is expected to result in approximately $70 to $80 million in annualized cost savings by the end of 2018 and will result in total charges of $41 to $45 million, of which $32 to $36 million will be cash charges.

07:19 EDT Sally Beauty sees FY17 SSS flat y-o-y - Sees FY17 net new store openings up 2.0%. Sees FY17 CapEx $115M-$120M. The company expects total charges related to the Restructuring Plan in the range of $14M-$16M; annualized pretax benefits in the range of $19M-$21M: and fiscal 2017 pretax benefits in the range of $11M-$12M.

07:15 EDT Intercept completes enrollment of interim analysis cohort in REGENERATE - Intercept said in today's earnings release, "In our NASH program, we achieved a major milestone with the completion of enrollment of our interim analysis cohort in REGENERATE, the first and largest Phase 3 trial in NASH."As we look to the middle of the year, we expect to announce top-line data from two additional Phase 2 trials of OCA: CONTROL, assessing combination statin therapy in NASH patients, and AESOP in primary sclerosing cholangitis."

07:15 EDT Fluor JV selected by TxDOT for $625M Southern Gateway project - Fluor Corporation announced that the Fluor-led joint venture comprised of Fluor and Balfour Beatty Infrastructure, was selected by the Texas Department of Transportation as the design-build and capital maintenance team for the estimated $625M Southern Gateway reconstruction and improvement project located along Interstate I-35E and U.S. 67 in Dallas. Fluor will book its share of the contract value into backlog in Q2. Working in partnership with TxDOT, the project is slated to begin later this year and continue for four years. The 11-mile project within the City of Dallas and Dallas County includes the reconstruction and widening of both general-purpose and non-tolled managed lanes, thereby contributing to congestion relief, enhanced safety, increased mobility and improvements along I-35E from U.S. 67 to I-30 and from where U.S. 67 splits at I-35E to I-20.

07:14 EDT Unit Corp. reports Q1 total production averaged 42,000 boepd - For the quarter, total production averaged 42,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, a decrease of 15% from the first quarter of 2016 and an 8% decrease from the fourth quarter of 2016. Liquids production represented 46% of total equivalent production. Oil production was 7,141 barrels per day, a decrease of 19% from the first quarter of 2016 and a decrease of 8% from the fourth quarter of 2016. NGLs production was 12,190 barrels per day, a decrease of 14% from the first quarter of 2016 and a 12% decrease from the fourth quarter of 2016. Natural gas production was 135,838 thousand cubic feet per day, a decrease of 15% from the first quarter of 2016 and a decrease of 6% from the fourth quarter of 2016. Unit's production for the quarter was in line with its expectations. In addition to the continued production decline of existing wells, the decreases were due primarily to reduced drilling activity, approximately 0.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas equivalent of production in the Wilcox play being shut in for five days during the quarter because of maintenance on a third-party processing plant, and approximately 0.3 Bcfe of reduced production due to weather related events. Unit's original 2017 production guidance was 15.9 million barrels of oil equivalent to 16.4 MMBoe, a decrease of 5% to 8% year over year. Unit anticipates sequential quarterly production growth during the remainder of 2017. Because of the recently completed acquisition of oil and gas assets in Unit's Hoxbar play, production guidance for 2017 is being increased to 16.1 MMBoe to 16.7 MMBoe.

07:13 EDT Incyte backs FY17 Jakafi net product revenue view $1.02B-$1.07B - Backs FY17 Iclusig net product revenue view $60M-$65M. Lowers FY R&D expenses view to $990M-$1.04B from $1B-$1.1B.

07:11 EDT Gogo reaffirms all 2017 guidance, on-track to be free cash flow positive in 2019 - "We achieved another important milestone when Airbus selected our industry-leading 2Ku technology for its High Bandwidth Capacity program," said Michael Small, Gogo's President and CEO. "We remain focused on hitting our 2Ku installation targets and driving 2Ku system performance above the 15 Mbps we are already delivering to connected passengers around the globe. We reaffirm all of our 2017 and long-term guidance and remain on track to becoming free cash flow positive in 2019."

07:09 EDT AVEO Oncology says TIVO-3 enrolling ahead of schedule - In February 2017, AVEO announced that its pivotal, Phase 3 TIVO-3 trial, a randomized, controlled, multi-center, open-label study to compare tivozanib to sorafenib in subjects with refractory advanced RCC, successfully completed the first safety review by the study's Safety Monitoring Committee. The SMC concluded that no safety concern was observed for tivozanib and recommended that the study replace the small number of patients who dropped out prior to starting treatment. The Company announced just prior to the safety review that the TIVO-3 trial is enrolling substantially ahead of schedule. With the SMC recommendation to replace early dropouts, the Company still expects to complete enrollment in June 2017, ahead of its prior guidance of August 2017. A pre-planned futility analysis of the trial is expected around midyear 2017, with topline data expected in the first quarter of 2018. The TIVO-3 trial, together with the previously completed TIVO-1 trial of tivozanib in the first-line treatment of RCC, is designed to support potential regulatory approval of tivozanib in the U.S. as a third- and first- line treatment for RCC. In April 2017, AVEO announced that its European licensee for tivozanib, EUSA Pharma, submitted responses to the European Medicines Agency Day 180 LOI related to the MAA for tivozanib as a first-line treatment for RCC. With submission of the response complete, EUSA remains tentatively scheduled to provide an oral explanation to the EMA's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use at its May 2017 meeting. AVEO today announced completion of the first dose cohort, and initiation of enrollment in the second and final dose cohort, of the Phase 1 portion of the Company's Phase 1/2 TiNivo trial evaluating tivozanib in combination with Opdivo, Bristol-Myers Squibb's anti-PD-1 therapy, in advanced RCC. The study, which is led by the Institut Gustave Roussy in Paris, is under the direction of Professor Bernard Escudier, MD, Chairman of the Genitourinary Oncology Committee. The Phase 1 portion of the study, which the Company expects to complete in the first half of 2017, will primarily evaluate the safety of tivozanib in combination with nivolumab at escalating doses of tivozanib. If the Company receives favorable results, it expects to follow immediately with an expansion Phase 2 trial at the established combination dose.

07:07 EDT Tempur Sealy backs FY17 adjusted EBITDA view $400M-$450M

07:07 EDT Novocure announces opening two pilot trials to evaluate use of TTFields - Novocure announced two pilot trials are open and actively recruiting pediatric patients with high grade gliomas to evaluate the safety and feasibility of Tumor Treating Fields in this population. The trials are sponsored by the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium and Hackensack University Medical Center. The first trial, sponsored by the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute, will study the feasibility of using TTFields for children with recurrent or progressive suptratentorial high-grade glioma and ependymoma. This study will primarily assess patients' compliance and number of treatment-related toxicities with secondary outcome measures including the response rate and event-free survival. This trial is actively recruiting an estimated 25 patients. In the second study, the safety, tolerability and preliminary efficacy of TTFields will be tested in pediatric high-grade gliomas in two cohorts. The initial cohort of patients will receive TTFields alone and will consist of children with recurrent high-grade gliomas. The second cohort of patients will receive TTFields in combination with temozolomide and bevacizumab and is open to children with both newly diagnosed and recurrent gliomas. The trial, sponsored by Hackensack University Medical Center, is actively recruiting and is estimated to enroll 12 patients. Treatment with TTFields is not approved for the treatment of pediatric gliomas by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The safety and effectiveness of TTFields therapy for pediatric gliomas has not been established.

07:05 EDT Viacom reports Q2 Media Networks revenues up 1% to $2.39B - Media Networks revenues increased 1% to $2.39B. Excluding foreign exchange, which had a 1-percentage point unfavorable impact, worldwide revenues increased 2%. Affiliate revenues grew 2% to $1.16B. Advertising revenues decreased 1% to $1.11B. Worldwide advertising revenues increased 1%, excluding a 2- percentage point unfavorable impact from foreign exchange. Filmed Entertainment revenues grew 37% to $895M, reflecting gains in theatrical, licensing, home entertainment and ancillary revenues.

07:04 EDT Chesapeake targets oil production of 100,000 bpd by 2017-end - Doug Lawler, Chesapeake's CEO, commented, "Our operational momentum continues to build in our Eagle Ford, Powder River Basin and Mid-Continent oil assets, as we remain on track to reach our production target of 100,000 barrels of oil per day by year-end. We expect our production to grow significantly in the second half of 2017 as we place more wells to sales, and as a result, we have raised the bottom range of our 2017 production guidance. We remain focused on improving our balance sheet and decreasing our cash costs, while improving the capital efficiency from our operations. We look forward to reporting our results as the year progresses."

07:04 EDT Cubic Global Defense awarded $35M from British Army for AWES - Cubic Global Defense, a business unit of Cubic Corporation, announced it received a contract award worth more than $35M to continue supporting the British Army. The three-year contract allows Cubic to deliver services and repair to the Area Weapons Effects Simulator at Salisbury Plain Training Area in the United Kingdom and at the British Army Training Unit Suffield in Alberta, Canada. AWES allows the British Army to conduct large-scale, force-on-force combat exercises with realistic, but simulated effects of direct fire, artillery, mortar fire, mines and air-delivered munitions as well as nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. AWES also tracks and monitors the actions and positions of more than 1,400 individual soldiers and 250 vehicles using GPS technology. It also records "hits," "kills" and "misses" of small-arms fire with Cubic's Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System technology and recreates combat exercises for post-mission analysis. Cubic developed and installed the AWES system under a contract awarded in 1998.

07:01 EDT Epizyme earns $10M milestone payment from GlaxoSmithKline - Epizyme (EPZM) has earned a $10M milestone payment from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). The milestone payment follows GSK's initiation of GLP toxicology studies for a first-in-class methyltransferase inhibitor discovered by Epizyme and licensed to GSK. Epizyme has earned $69M in up-front, research, and milestone payments to date, and may receive up to an additional $607M from GSK if all milestones are met for all three programs.

06:47 EDT PBF Logistics raises quarterly distribution to $46c per unit - The board of PBF Logistics GP LLC, the Partnership's general partner, declared a regular quarterly cash distribution of 46c per common unit. The distribution is payable on May 31, 2017, to unitholders of record at the close of business on May 16, 2017.

06:42 EDT Beazer Homes reports Q2 sales per community per month of 3.4, up 9% - Q2 operational highlights: Sales per community per month of 3.4, up 9%. New home orders, net of 1,549, up 0.7%. Dollar value of homes in backlog of $776.4 million, up 0.4%, driven by an increase in the average selling price of homes in backlog of $347.2 thousand, up more than $11 thousand year-over-year.Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of total revenue was 13.3%, an improvement of 60 basis points. Land and land development spending of $102.9 million, up 23.1%. Total available liquidity at quarter end of $279.5 million, including $138.8 million of unrestricted cash and $140.7 million available on the Company's revolving credit facility.

06:36 EDT Snap-On acquires Norbar Torque Tools for approximately $72M - Snap-on Incorporated announced that it has acquired Norbar Torque Tools Holdings Limited, along with its U.S. and Chinese joint ventures, for approximately $72M. Based in Banbury, United Kingdom, with annual sales of approximately $41M, Norbar is a European manufacturer of a full range of torque products, including wrenches, multipliers and calibrators. The acquisition of Norbar, which will be part of the company's Commercial & Industrial Group, complements and expands Snap-on's existing torque offering to critical industries, particularly in powered torque products.

06:34 EDT Regeneron reports Q1 Eylea U.S. sales up 9% to $854M - Bayer (BAYRY) commercializes Eylea outside the United States. In the first quarter of 2017, net sales of Eylea outside of the United States were $484M, compared to $419M in the first quarter of 2016. In the first quarter of 2017, Regeneron (REGN) recognized $175M from its share of net profit from Eylea sales outside the United States, compared to $146M in the first quarter of 2016.

06:31 EDT AB InBev sees accelerating total revenue growth in FY17 - The company says, "While recognizing the increased volatility in some of our key markets, we expect to accelerate total revenue growth in FY17, driven by the solid growth of our global brands and strong commercial plans, including revenue management initiatives. We expect CoS per hl to increase by low single digits on a constant geographic basis, despite unfavorable foreign exchange transactional impacts, and growth in our premium brands. We expect SG&A to remain broadly flat, as we will continue to find savings in overhead to invest behind our brands. We updated our 2.45 billion USD synergy and cost savings expectation to 2.8 billion USD during our FY16 results announcement, with synergies being calculated on a constant currency basis as of August 2016. We expect the normalized ETR in FY17 to be in the range of 24% to 26%, excluding any potential gains or losses on the hedging of our share-based payment programs. This guidance includes the impact of the change in country mix following the combination with SAB and the expected tax consequences of the funding of the combination. We expect net capital expenditure of approximately 3.7 billion USD in FY17. We continue to expect dividends to be a growing flow over time, although growth is expected to be modest given the importance of deleveraging."

06:24 EDT ContraVir Pharmaceuticals to advance second-generation formulation of TXL - ContraVir Pharmaceuticals announced it is developing a second-generation formulation of TXL, the company's proprietary liver-targeting prodrug of the antiviral agent tenofovir for treating chronic HBV. Subsequent to the DSMB's clearance in December 2016 for a dose escalation above 100 mg, the company started to develop a new formulation of TXL to further enhance and optimize its oral delivery. This strategy is being utilized to increase the amount of TXL being delivered to the liver; the site of action in treatment of HBV. It is anticipated that the new formulation of TXL will nullify the need to explore higher doses.

06:14 EDT USA Compression sees FY17 net income $15.8M-$30.8M - Sees FY17 adjusted EBITDA $145M-$160M. Sees FY17 distributable cash flow $108M-$123M.

06:08 EDT BioCryst sees FY17 net operating cash use $30M-$50M - Sees FY17 operating expenses $53M-$73M.

06:03 EDT Rackspace CEO Taylor Rhodes resigns to become CEO of smaller firm - Taylor Rhodes, the CEO of Rackspace (RAX), said in a blog post that he is leaving the company to become the CEO of a smaller private company. "It's based in another city. It does not compete with Rackspace," Rhodes said. Rhodes also said that "My friend Jeff Cotten, now Rackspace president, will step up as interim CEO. Our board has launched a search for a long-term CEO, and it considers Jeff a strong candidate for that position. We recently reported strong fourth-quarter results to our bond and debt holders. And 2017 is shaping up to be even stronger, as we're exceeding almost all of the financial targets we established with Apollo (APO) and our board." Reference Link

05:52 EDT Ellomay Capital announces additional acquisition under agreement with Ludan - Ellomay Capital announced the closing of its second investment in a Waste-to-Energy facility in The Netherlands pursuant to an agreement between Ellomay Luxemburg Holdings S.ar.l., the company's wholly-owned subsidiary and Ludan Energy Overseas B.V., an indirectly wholly-owned subsidiary of Ludan Engineering.

05:37 EDT Costco reports April SSS up 3% - Reports April revenue up 5% to $9.42B vs. $8.98B last year. This year's total reflects one fewer sales day due to the timing of Easter, which negatively impacted net and comparable sales by an estimated 1.5%-2%.Reports April SSS, excluding the impacts from changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange, up 3%.

04:56 EDT Matador backs FY17 guidance given on March 23 - Sees oil production of 6.9 to 7.2 million barrels, an increase of 38% at the midpoint of 2017 guidance, as compared to 5.1 million barrels produced in 2016; Natural gas production of 33.0 to 35.0 billion cubic feet, an increase of 11% at the midpoint of 2017 guidance, as compared to 30.5 billion cubic feet produced in 2016; Total oil equivalent production of 12.4 to 13.0 million BOE, an increase of 25% at the midpoint of 2017 guidance, as compared to 10.2 million BOE produced in 2016; Adjusted EBITDA of $255 to $275 million, an increase of 68% at the midpoint of 2017 guidance, as compared to 2016 Adjusted EBITDA of $157.9 million. As provided in its 2017 guidance estimates, as updated during its Analyst Day presentation on March 23, 2017, Matador anticipates that it will incur capital expenditures of $400 to $420 million for drilling, completing and equipping operated and non-operated wells in 2017.