Stockwinners Market Radar for July 03, 2017 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

16:51 EDT Tesla confirms first production Model 3 to be completed this week - Tesla stated in a press release that the first certified production Model 3 that meets all regulatory requirements will be completed this week, with a handover of ~30 customer cars at our Fremont factory on July 28. "More details to follow soon," the company added, echoing a similar report from Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a tweet this morning.

16:42 EDT Tesla cites 'severe production shortfall' of batteries in Q2 - Tesla, which reported that it delivered just over 22,000 vehicles in Q2, said the "major factor affecting Tesla's Q2 deliveries was a severe production shortfall of 100 kWh battery packs, which are made using new technologies on new production lines. The technology challenge grows exponentially with energy density. Until early June, production averaged about 40% below demand.Once this was resolved, June orders and deliveries were strong, ranking as one of the best in Tesla history. Provided global economic conditions do not worsen considerably, we are confident that combined deliveries of Model S and Model X in the second half of 2017 will likely exceed deliveries in the first half of 2017." Q2 production totaled 25,708 vehicles, bringing first half 2017 production to 51,126, the company added.

13:11 EDT GCP Applied completes Darex sale, announces realignment plan - GCP Applied Technologies has completed the sale of its Darex Packaging Technologies segment to Henkel for approximately $1.05B. Net proceeds excluding deal costs are expected to be approximately $800M. The transaction was initially announced on March 2 In conjunction with the Darex sale, the company announced that its Board of Directors has approved a business realignment plan that includes actions to reduce costs, including stranded costs associated with the Darex business and the transition of GCP to a construction products technologies company. GCP expects the plan to result in net annualized savings of approximately $22M to $25M.The company expects to incur total costs of $22M to $26M associated with the plan, of which approximately $16M is expected to be incurred in the second quarter of 2017.These costs consist primarily of headcount reductions and related expenses. The realignment actions are expected to be completed by the end of 2018.GCP expects to release its second quarter 2017 results on Thursday, August 3.

12:53 EDT Microsoft confirms sales team reorganization in internal email, Bloomberg says - Microsoft, in a company email viewed by Bloomberg, announced that it is dividing its commercial sales team into two customer segments and creating consumer and device sales teams in six regions. The company email does not comment on possible job cuts, according to Bloomberg.

12:34 EDT Interactive Brokers reports June DARTs up 6% from prior year - Interactive Brokers reported its Electronic Brokerage monthly performance metrics for June, including 683,000 Daily Average Revenue Trades, or DARTs, 6% higher than prior year and 1% higher than prior month. The company reported ending client equity of $104.8B, 42% higher than prior year and 2% higher than prior month, ending client margin loan balances of $22.7B, 51% higher than prior year and 1% higher than prior month, and ending client credit balances of $45.6B, 18% higher than prior year and 3% higher than prior month. Reports 428,000 client accounts, 20% higher than prior year and 2% higher than prior month.

12:00 EDT FTC accepts consent order in Broadcom's acquisition of Brocade - Semiconductor manufacturer Broadcom (AVGO) has agreed to establish a firewall to remedy the FTC's concerns that its proposed $5.9B acquisition of Brocade Communications Systems (BRCD)is anticompetitive. These concerns arise because of Broadcom's current access to the confidential business information of Brocade's major competitor, Cisco Systems (CSCO) that could be used to restrain competition or slow innovation in the worldwide market for fibre channel switches. Brocade and Cisco are the only two competitors in the worldwide market for fibre channel switches, and Broadcom supplies both companies with ASICs to make fibre channel switches. The complaint alleges that Broadcom's acquisition of Brocade could harm worldwide competition in the fibre channel switch market because as Cisco's supplier, Broadcom has extensive access to Cisco's competitively sensitive confidential information. As the new owner of Brocade, Broadcom could use that information to unilaterally exercise market power or to coordinate action among Brocade and Cisco, increasing the likelihood that customers would pay higher prices for fibre channel switches, or that innovation would be lessened, according to the complaint. The proposed consent order, prevents Broadcom from using Cisco's competitively sensitive confidential information for any purpose other than the design, manufacturing and sale of fibre channel ASICs for Cisco. It requires Broadcom's business group responsible for developing, producing, selling and marketing fibre channel ASICs for Cisco to have separate facilities and a separate information technology system with security protocols that allow access only to authorized individuals, and provides for other information firewall protections. To assure compliance, the Commission will appoint a monitor for five years, and the Commission may extend the appointment for up to an additional five years. Reference Link

11:09 EDT Honda reports June U.S. sales up 0.8% to 139,793 vehicles - American Honda Motor reported total June sales of 139,793 Honda and Acura vehicles, an increase of 0.8% over June 2016. Honda Division reported sales of 125,755 vehicles, down 1.3% compared to the same month of last year. Acura Division reported sales of 14,038 vehicles, up 23.7% compared to the same month of last year.

10:40 EDT GE completes combination of oil and gas business with Baker Hughes - GE (GE) announced the completion of the previously announced combination of its oil and gas business with Baker Hughes (BHI). Class A common stock of Baker Hughes, a GE company will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BHGE on the opening of the NYSE on July 5. In connection with the completion of the transaction, the shares of common stock of Baker Hughes Incorporated (BHI) will continue to trade on the NYSE until the close of the NYSE today, July 3, at which point BHI will be delisted from the NYSE.

09:59 EDT Rice Energy drops 5% with JANA pushing EQT to end acquisition

09:53 EDT JANA prepared to nominate individuals to EQT's board

09:52 EDT JANA to pursue 'immediate breakup' of EQT Corporation

09:48 EDT Fiat Chrysler reports June U.S. sales down 7% to 187,348 vehicles - FCA US reported sales of 187,348 units, a 7% decrease compared with sales in June 2016. In June, retail sales of 139,947 units were down 5% compared with the same month in 2016, and represented 75% of total sales. In line with FCA's strategy to reduce sales to the daily rental segment, fleet sales of 47,401 units were down as expected 15% year over year. The largest planned volume reduction in June fleet sales came from the Jeep brand which reduced its fleet sales number by 49% year over year. Fleet sales represented 25% of total June sales.

09:36 EDT GM reports June end inventory rises to 105 adjusted days supply - General Motors reports June-end inventory of 980,454 units, or 105 selling day adjusted supply. This compares to May-end units of 963,448, or 101 adjusted days supply.

09:32 EDT General Motors reports June U.S. sales down 4.7% to 243,155 vehicles - General Motors reported June U.S. retail sales of 202,908 vehicles, down about 3% from the same period last year. GM's U.S. Commercial sales were up 36%, for its best June since 2006, the company noted. Commercial and Government sales were 77% of GM's fleet sales for the month. U.S. daily rental sales were down nearly 11,000 vehicles or 54% in June, as planned. GM's June total sales were 243,155 vehicles, down 4.7% from the same period last year.

09:28 EDT BrainStorm selects Worldwide Clinical Trials as CRO for Phase 3 study of NurOwn - BrainStorm announced that it has selected Worldwide Clinical Trials as its Clinical Research Organization, or CRO, for its planned Phase 3 study of NurOwn in the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. A study kick-off meeting is expected this month.

09:25 EDT On The Fly: Pre-market Movers - HIGHER: Bankrate (RATE), up 9.3% after announcing that it will be acquired by Red Ventures for $14.00 per share in cash... Tesla (TSLA), up 2.2% after Elon Musk tweeted about the Model 3... Second Sight (EYES), up 16.7% after announcing expansion of Medicare coverage for Argus II... Opexa Therapeutics (OPXA), up 72.3% after disclosing in a regulatory filing that the company entered into a merger agreement with Acer Therapeutics. LOWER: iRobot (IRBT), down 1.4% after being downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Dougherty... AeroVironment (AVAV), down 2.2% after downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Jaffray.

09:18 EDT Ford reports June U.S. sales down 5.1% to 227,979 vehicles - Ford Motor Company reported June U.S. sales totaled 227,979 vehicles, down 5.1% compared to last year. June retail results totaled 152,396 vehicles, flat versus last year's retail results. Fleet sales in June of 75,583 vehicles were down 13.9%. Ford's June average transaction pricing grew $1,800, which the company called "another month of significant increase compared to the overall industry gain of $520."

09:02 EDT ACNB Corp completes acquisition of New Windsor Bancorp - ACNB Corporation, the parent financial holding company of ACNB Bank, a Pennsylvania state-chartered, FDIC-insured community bank headquartered in Gettysburg, PA, announced the completion of the acquisition of New Windsor Bancorp, and its wholly-owned subsidiary, New Windsor State Bank, a Maryland state-chartered, FDIC-insured community bank headquartered in Taneytown, Maryland, effective July 1,. New Windsor was merged with and into a wholly-owned subsidiary of ACNB immediately followed by the merger of New Windsor State Bank with and into ACNB Bank. ACNB Bank will operate in the Maryland market as "NWSB Bank, A Division of ACNB Bank". Under the terms of the Reorganization Agreement, stockholders of New Windsor had the option to receive either 1.10 shares of ACNB common stock or $30.00 in cash for each share of New Windsor common stock, subject to proration and allocation provisions to ensure that, in the aggregate, 85% of the total shares of New Windsor common stock outstanding were exchanged for ACNB common stock and 15% of the total shares of New Windsor common stock outstanding were exchanged for cash. As a result of New Windsor stockholder elections and the related proration and allocation provisions of the Reorganization Agreement, ACNB issued approximately 950,000 shares of its common stock and approximately $4,520,000 in cash in the merger. In addition, pursuant to the Reorganization Agreement, former New Windsor directors Todd Herring and D. Arthur Seibel, Jr. were appointed as Class 1 and Class 2 Directors, respectively, to ACNB's Board of Directors and as Directors to ACNB Bank's Board of Directors. Tom Rasmussen, former president and CEO of New Windsor, became EVP of ACNB Bank and market president of NWSB Bank, A Division of ACNB Bank.

09:00 EDT Monster Digital, Innovate Biopharmaceuticals sign merger agreement

08:49 EDT Opexa Therapeutics to merge with Acer Therapeutics - In a regulatory filing, Opexa Therapeutics disclosed that the company and Acer Therapeutics have entered into an agreement and plan of merger and reorganization under which, at the closing of the merger, each outstanding share of Acer common stock will be converted into the right to receive approximately one share of common stock of Opexa, which amount is subject to adjustment prior to closing of the merger upon the occurrence of specified events, including to account for any additional shares that Acer may issue before closing and for Opexa's net cash balance at closing. Immediately following the effective time of the merger, current Opexa shareholders are expected to own approximately 11.2% of the combined company, current Acer shareholders are expected to own approximately 63.8% of the combined company, excluding any shares issued to current shareholders in the concurrent financing, and the investors participating in the concurrent financing are expected to own approximately 25% of the combined company. Consummation of the merger is subject to certain closing conditions, including, among other things, approval by the respective shareholders of Opexa and Acer. The merger agreement contains specified termination rights for both Opexa and Acer, and further provides that, upon termination of the merger agreement under specified circumstances, Opexa may be obligated to pay Acer a termination fee of $250,000, and Acer may be obligated to pay Opexa a termination fee of $1M, plus, under specified circumstances, reimbursement for various expenses incurred in connection with the merger. At the effective time of the merger, the Board of Directors of Opexa is expected to consist of seven members designated by Acer. Prior to Acer's entry into the merger agreement, certain third parties, including certain existing shareholders of Acer, entered into a subscription agreement with Acer on June 30, pursuant to which such parties have agreed, subject to the terms and conditions of such agreement, to purchase, immediately prior to the consummation of the merger, shares of Acer's common stock for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $15.7M. The consummation of the transactions contemplated by such agreement is conditioned upon, among other items, the satisfaction or waiver of the closing conditions set forth in the merger agreement.

08:33 EDT Great Panther Silver completes acquisition of Coricancha polymetallic mine - Great Panther Silver announces the closing of its previously announced acquisition of the Coricancha gold-silver-lead-zinc-copper underground mine and mill complex from subsidiaries of Nyrstar. The CMC is located in the central Andes of Peru, approximately 90 kilometres by paved highway east of the city of Lima. The acquisition was completed effective June 30, as a share purchase whereby the company's wholly owned Peruvian subsidiary acquired all of the shares of Nyrstar Coricancha from subsidiaries of Nyrstar. Coricancha owns a 100% interest in the CMC. The acquisition was completed pursuant to the Amended Share Purchase Agreement announced on June 14, subsequently amended to address certain follow-on agreements. Under the terms of the Final Share Purchase Agreement, Great Panther will pay a purchase price to Nyrstar comprising $0.1M to be paid shortly following closing, and earn-out consideration of up to $10M. Under the earn-out, Nyrstar will be paid 15% of the free cash-flow generated by the CMC during the 5-year period after which the CMC is cumulative free cash-flow positive.

08:14 EDT Total, NIOC sign contract for development of Phase 11 of South Pars gas field - Total and the National Iranian Oil Company have signed a contract for the development and production of phase 11 of South Pars, the world's largest gas field. The project will have a production capacity of 2B cubic feet per day or 400,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day including condensate. The produced gas will supply the Iranian domestic market starting in 2021. This contract, which has a 20-year duration, is the first Iranian Petroleum Contract and is based on the technical, contractual and commercial terms as per the Heads of Agreement signed on November 8, 2016. Total is the operator of the SP11 project with a 50.1% interest alongside the Chinese state-owned oil and gas company CNPC, and Petropars, a wholly owned subsidiary of NIOC.

08:13 EDT Intellipharmaceutics announces FDA Advisory Committee meeting for Rexista - On Friday after the close, Intellipharmaceutics announced that a joint meeting of the Anesthetic and Analgesic Drug Products Advisory Committee and Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been scheduled for July 26 to review the company's New Drug Application, or NDA, for Rexista abuse-deterrent oxycodone hydrochloride extended release tablets. The FDA has set a target action date under the Prescription Drug User Fee Act, or "PDUFA" date, of September 25 for Rexista.

08:11 EDT Cardiome announces SteadyMed's submittal of NDA for TREVYENT - Cardiome Pharma (CRME) announced that partner SteadyMed (STDY) submitted a New Drug Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for TREVYENT. TREVYENT is a drug-device combination product that utilizes SteadyMed's PatchPump technology to deliver treprostinil, a vasodilatory prostacyclin analogue, for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension. PatchPump is a proprietary, disposable, parenteral drug administration platform that is prefilled and preprogrammed at the site of manufacture. Cardiome licensed the commercial rights to TREVYENT for many international markets in June 2015. Cardiome expects to file TREVYENT for European Medicines Agency and Health Canada approval by the end of 2017.

08:09 EDT H.I.G. Capital to acquire NCI - NCI announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by private funds managed by an affiliate of H.I.G. Capital, a global private equity investment firm, in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $283M. Under the terms of the definitive agreement, H.I.G. will commence a tender offer no later than July 17, to acquire all outstanding shares of NCI's Class A and Class B common stock for $20.00 per share in cash. NCI's board of directors has unanimously approved the transaction. Concurrently with the execution of the merger agreement, the chairman of the board of NCI, Charles Narang, in his capacity as a stockholder of the company, entered into a tender and support agreement pursuant to which he will, subject to certain exceptions, tender all of his shares of NCI common stock in favor of the offer. The closing of the tender offer will be subject to certain conditions, including the tender of shares of NCI common stock representing at least a majority of the voting power of the shares of Class A and Class B common stock outstanding on a fully-diluted basis the expiration of the waiting period under any applicable antitrust laws and other customary conditions. Upon the completion of the tender offer, H.I.G. will acquire all remaining shares through a second step merger without the need for a stockholder vote under Delaware law. The closing of the transaction is not contingent on financing. The parties currently expect the transaction to close in Q3. Upon the completion of the proposed transaction, NCI will become a privately held company.

08:04 EDT Fortress Biotech appoints Robyn Hunter as CFO - Hunter served as Fortress' Vice President and Corporate Controller since June 2011.

08:03 EDT Fortress Biotech appoints Lucy Lu, MD, as CEO of Avenue Therapeutics - Fortress Biotech (FBIO) announced that Lucy Lu, MD, has been named president and CEO of its Fortress subsidiary Avenue Therapeutics (ATXI). Dr. Lu has served as interim CEO of Avenue since inception. Fortress also announced that Robyn Hunter has been appointed CFO of Fortress, a role formerly held by Dr. Lu. Hunter served as Fortress' Vice President and Corporate Controller since June 2011.

08:02 EDT NCI, Inc. trading halted, news pending

07:31 EDT Watsco raises annual dividend 19% to $5.00 per share - Watsco's board approved a 19% increase in the annual dividend rate to $5.00 per share and has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $1.25 on each outstanding share of its Common and Class B common stock. The cash dividend is payable on July 31 to shareholders of record at the close of business on July 17.

07:29 EDT AerCap announces delivery of first A321neo to SriLankan Airlines - AerCap Holdings (AER) has announced the delivery of its first Airbus (EADSY) A321neo aircraft on lease to SriLankan Airlines, powered by CFM International's Leap-1A engines. The aircraft is the first A321neo to enter the airline's fleet.

07:18 EDT MRV Communications to be acquired by ADVA Optical Networking for $10 per share - MRV Communications announced that ADVA Optical Networking has agreed to acquire MRV. Under the terms of the agreement, ADVA Optical Networking will make a tender offer of $10.00 per share for all the outstanding common stock of MRV. The agreement has been approved and unanimously recommended by both the board of directors of ADVA Optical Networking and the board of directors of MRV. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including the tender of at least a majority of MRV Communications, Inc. outstanding shares of common stock.

07:05 EDT Macau reports June casino revenue up 25.9% to 19.99B patacas - Macau's gaming bureau reported gross revenue from games of fortune in the region rose 25.9% year over year to 19.99 patacas in June. Publicly traded companies in the Macau gaming space include Las Vegas Sands (LVS), MGM Resorts (MGM), Wynn Resorts (WYNN) and Melco Resorts (MLCO).

07:03 EDT Bankrate to be acquired by Red Ventures for $14.00 per share

06:55 EDT Danone agrees to sell Stoneyfield to Lactalis for $875M - Danone has entered into a binding agreement with Lactalis to sell Stonyfield, one of its U.S. dairy subsidiaries, for a purchase price of $875M, representing 20 times its EBITDA in 2016. Stonyfield generated approximately $370M in turnover in 2016. The divestiture is part of the agreement reached on March 31 with the U.S. Department of Justice in connection with Danone's recently closed acquisition of WhiteWave. The closing of the divestiture is subject to customary conditions, including final approval by the DOJ, and is expected in Q3.

05:55 EDT Ministry of Defence signs GBP 3.7B warship deal with BAE Systems - The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence announed a GBP 3.7B with BAE Systems to start building the Royal Navy's Type 26 Frigates. "Manufacture of the first three of these new highly capable warships will secure approximately 1700 skilled shipbuilding jobs in Scotland and 1700 jobs throughout the supply chain across Britain until 2035," the agency said in a statement. Reference Link

05:42 EDT The9 regains compliance with NASDAQ listing requirements - The9 announced that it received two notification letters from the NASDAQ Stock Market on June 30 stating that the company has regained compliance with the minimum Market Value of Listing Securities requirement under NASDAQ Listing Rule 5450(b)(2)(A) and the minimum Market Value of Publicly Held Shares requirement under NASDAQ Listing Rule 5450(b)(2)(C) and the two matters are now closed.

05:40 EDT Hanover Insurance, Chaucer announce acquisition of SLE Holdings - Hanover Insurance announced that Chaucer, the company's international specialty insurance group, has acquired SLE Holdings, a market-leading Lloyd's managing general underwriting agency based in Sydney, Australia. SLE, which currently underwrites business exclusively in Australia, wrote approximately $25M of specialty premium in 2016, with a focus on the sports, leisure and entertainment markets. SLE's expertise and offerings will increase Chaucer's specialty product capabilities and strengthen its competitive position in Australia. SLE will gain access to additional resources to develop its business and capitalize on new growth opportunities.