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

18:31 EDT National Security Group updates catastrophe losses from Irma and cumulative 2017 - The National Security Group released estimates of reported catastrophe losses from Hurricane Irma and cumulative year-to-date catastrophe losses through September 18 incurred by property and casualty subsidiary National Security Fire & Casualty. According to the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Irma was one of the strongest Atlantic basin hurricanes ever recorded. At its peak, Hurricane Irma registered wind speeds of 185 miles per hour, making it an intense Category 5 storm. On September 10, Hurricane Irma made landfall in the Florida Keys as a Category 4 storm. After moving north through the Florida peninsula, Hurricane Irma impacted policyholders in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee. Georgia was the primary state in the coverage area impacted by Hurricane Irma comprising over 85% of reported claims to date. Based on management's' analysis of historical reporting patterns, preliminary post event model output and assessment of early reports of claims to date, the company estimates ultimate gross losses from Hurricane Irma to be in the range of $2.5M-$3M. Net of tax, the company expects losses from Hurricane Irma to reduce quarter and year-to-date earnings in the range of $1.65M-$1.98M, or 66c-79c per share. The company maintains catastrophe reinsurance that provides coverage from a catastrophe event up to $72.5M subject to a $4M per event retention. The company also prepay reinstatement premium protection which provides additional coverage for subsequent events that exceed the $4M per event retention level. Based on estimates outlined above, the company do not expect losses from Hurricane Irma to exceed the level of retention under the catastrophe reinsurance program. Unfortunately, Hurricane Irma has served to add to a persistent pattern of severe weather in 2017, which commenced in early January and continued into September. The combination of increased frequency of severe thunderstorm activity, coupled with hurricane losses, will make 2017 one of the costliest years in company history for non-reinsured catastrophe losses. For the year to date, National Security Fire & Casualty company was impacted by 24 catastrophe events, including Hurricane Irma. Each of these events have been below the catastrophe reinsurance retention of $4M. To date, these catastrophe events have produced over 2,700 policyholder claims totaling nearly $12M. While these events will have a material impact on 2017 earnings, the company remains in a strong capital position and expect no adverse impact on insurance operations.

18:27 EDT Nielsen names Guerrino De Luca to Board of Directors - Nielsen (NLSN) announced the addition of Guerrino De Luca as a member of the company's board of directors, effective October 19. De Luca is a seasoned consumer technology executive with more than thirty years of global experience, and significant expertise in strategy, marketing and management. He currently serves as chairman of the board of directors for Logitech International (LOGI). He has served as chairman of the Logitech Board of Directors since January 2008.

18:15 EDT Great Elm Capital enters agreement establishing operating independence - Great Elm Capital Group and MAST Capital Management announced that they entered into a number of agreements. Great Elm, MAST, Northern Right Capital Management, L.P. and other parties entered into a series of agreements that facilitate Great Elm's transition to an independent operating entity and align value creation with stockholders. Great Elm Capital Management, was formed in 2016 through a series of transactions that initially shared services with MAST under a cost sharing agreement with MAST. As Great Elm's strategy has developed and its strategic plan became more defined, the parties determined that such arrangements are no longer mutually beneficial. A copy of the agreements will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and should be read carefully in their entirety. The agreements effect a full separation of Great Elm's business from MAST. Highlights of these agreements include: Peter Reed will assume the position of CEO of Great Elm in addition to his role as CIO of GECM. Reed was elected by MAST to serve on Great Elm's board in 2015, led the formation of GECM and associated transactions and has a 13-year track record of leading investments in equity and debt instruments of leveraged companies; Great Elm will no longer provide services to MAST, including shared investment management, legal and compliance personnel and office space; All employees, including Peter Reed and Adam Kleinman, are no longer employees of MAST. Great Elm's executives, business development and investment personnel will focus 100% of their professional efforts on Great Elm's businesses; The principal of the note issued by a Great Elm subsidiary to MAST was reduced by $7.3M; 220,000 shares of Great Elm common stock were retired; The parties terminated their cost sharing agreement; and Jeffrey Serota was elected chairman of Great Elm's Board of Directors. As part of the transaction, MAST has the right to purchase from Great Elm an additional 420,000 shares of Great Elm common stock at market prices. Now fully separate from MAST, Great Elm executed a cost reduction program for its investment management team, including downsizing and reducing fixed cash compensation by $1.5M and tying incremental compensation to EBITDA targets. As part of the agreements, MAST and their respective affiliates entered into a standstill and voting agreement.

17:25 EDT Park West Asset reports 5.2% passive stake in Nexstar

17:14 EDT Sanmina announces $200M stock repurchase program - Sanmina announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program of up to $200M worth of the company's common stock. The new program will take effect upon completion of the company's current program. As of Monday, approximately $53M remains available under the current program approved by the Board in September 2016. Since the beginning of fiscal 2014, the company has repurchased approximately 21M shares for approximately $497M.

17:09 EDT Allstate names Gregg Sherrill to board of directors - Allstate (ALL) announced that Gregg Sherrill, executive chairman of Tenneco (TEN), has been elected to Allstate's board of directors, effective October 1. As of that date, the Allstate board will stand at 11 directors.

17:04 EDT Elliott Associates reports 3.9% passive stake in Nomad Foods

17:02 EDT Del Taco signs development agreement for Athens, Georgia territory - Del Taco announced that it has signed a development agreement with a new franchise group to open five Del Taco stores in the greater Athens, Georgia area over the next six years. Led by industry veterans Darrin Buono and Bill Siddiqi, the group's first location is scheduled to open in 2019 and will follow with one new unit every year thereafter, further growing Del Taco's existing Georgia presence and broadly building upon the company's planned Southeast Region expansion.

16:48 EDT CatchMark Timber reports limited impact on operations from recent storms - CatchMark Timber provided an assessment of impacts on operations following hurricanes Irma and Harvey, which affected regions across the U.S. South Timber Basket. Despite heavy winds and upwards of ten inches of rainfall in some sections of CatchMark timberlands across Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina, company field managers in initial surveys report no major issues from Irma, which had downgraded to tropical storm status by the time it crossed from Florida. In Texas and Louisiana, Harvey's heavy rains caused some road damage and washed out some culverts, but no losses of standing timber have been observed. About 400 acres of recent plantings flooded, however it is too early to determine if any losses will result. Jerry Barag, CatchMark's President and CEO, said: "We feel extremely fortunate to have come through these major storms without significant operational problems to date, and salute our teams for quickly moving to address any immediate needs."

16:43 EDT Macy's to hire approximately 80,000 seasonal associates - Macy's announced plans to hire approximately 80,000 seasonal associates for positions at its Macy's and Bloomingdale's stores, call centers, distribution centers and online fulfillment centers nationwide for the 2017 Christmas and holiday season.

16:41 EDT Envision Healthcare announces $250M stock repurchase - Envision Healthcare Corporation announced the authorization of a program to repurchase up to $250M of its common stock. The decision to return capital to shareholders is a reflection of the company's successful efforts to rationalize its service offerings around a physician-centric strategy and confidence in its ability to differentiate Envision through its stated plan to drive operational excellence and long-term growth. Envision's board has decided to return capital to shareholders in a manner that will not affect Envision's strategy to reduce its leverage, drive execution across its combined platform, or pursue potential strategic, accretive acquisitions and investments that will drive growth and substantial value. Envision's 2017 acquisition spend through early August has totaled $620M.

16:39 EDT Venator Materials to close two manufacturing sites by end of 2017 - Venator Materials announced that it intends to close its Easton, PA and St Louis, MO color pigments manufacturing sites by the end of 2017. Jan Buberl, Vice President of Color Pigments for Venator, said: "We have been working hard to improve the efficiency of our manufacturing network and we have successfully ramped up production at our Augusta (GA) site. Our plan ensures that the products made in these facilities will continue to be available to our valued customers and that our associates are treated fairly and with respect." Simon Turner, President and CEO of Venator, said: "We continue to drive improvement in our Performance Additives segment and this latest milestone forms part of the $90 million business improvement plan that will be completed by the end of 2018."

16:37 EDT FedEx subsidiaries to increase shipping rates effective January 1, 2018 - FedEx Express, FedEx Ground and FedEx Freight, subsidiaries of FedEx Corp., will increase shipping rates effective January 1, 2018. FedEx Express will increase shipping rates by an average of 4.9% for U.S. domestic, U.S. export and U.S. import services. FedEx One Rate pricing will increase by an average of 3.5%. FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Delivery shipping rates will increase by an average of 4.9%. FedEx SmartPost rates will also change. FedEx Freight shipping rates will increase by an average of 4.9%. This rate change applies to eligible FedEx Freight shipments within the U.S. (including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands), between the contiguous U.S. and Canada, within Canada and between the contiguous U.S. and Mexico. FedEx Freight rates within Mexico will also change. Effective January 22, 2018, a Third Party Billing Surcharge will apply to FedEx Express and FedEx Ground shipments that are billed to a third party. Effective January 22, 2018, applicable criteria and pricing for packages that require additional handling, are oversized, or are unauthorized, will change. Effective January 22, 2018, FedEx SmartPost will apply dimensional weight pricing, and the Non-Machinable Surcharge will change. Effective January 22, 2018, FedEx Freight will implement an Over Length Surcharge of $85 per shipment and will be applied to shipments with dimensions of 8 feet or greater and less than 12 feet.

16:35 EDT Prudential names Candace Woods chief actuary - Prudential announced that Candace Woods will be promoted to senior VP and assume the role of chief actuary of Prudential. She will succeed Richard Lambert, who has decided to retire from the company early next year after a distinguished career with Prudential. Woods joined Prudential in 1982 and has 35 years of actuarial experience, spanning individual life, group life and health, corporate actuarial and international insurance.

16:33 EDT AMREP appoints Vitale CEO, McMonagle CFO - AMREP announced that Christopher Vitale has been appointed as President and CEO of AMREP. In addition, James McMonagle, Jr. has been appointed as Vice President and CFO of AMREP, with Robert Wisniewski retiring as Chief Financial Officer of AMREP. Mr. Vitale had been AMREP's Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel since September 2014 and was AMREP's Vice President and General Counsel from 2013 to 2014. In commenting on Mr. Vitale's promotion, Edward B. Cloues, II, Chairman of AMREP, said that the Board of Directors believes that Mr. Vitale is well qualified to assume the leadership role at the Company. "Chris has been managing AMREP's operations since 2014 as our principal executive officer and has been at the center of our efforts to restructure and simplify our business portfolio and balance sheet. He has effectuated continuing positive change at AMREP and, with AMREP now in a position to begin expanding its operations and grow its business, the Board is confident that Chris will successfully lead us through the next stage of our business growth." Prior to being appointed Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of AMREP, Mr. McMonagle had been Vice President, Finance of the Company since February 2017. Prior to joining AMREP, Mr. McMonagle had been Director of Finance of The Lloyd Group, Inc., a technology services firm, and Vice President, Finance of SnapOne, Inc., a cloud-based mobile software company. Mr. McMonagle has held various other senior accounting and financial positions for private and publicly traded companies in multiple industries earlier in his career.

16:31 EDT Polaris Venture reduces stake in Editas Medicine to 4.3%

16:20 EDT Scientific Games announces proposed reincorporation into Nevada - Scientific Games announced that it has entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger with SG Nevada Merger Company, a Nevada corporation and our wholly owned subsidiary, providing for the merger of the Company with and into SG Nevada with SG Nevada surviving the merger, for the sole purpose of changing the Company's state of incorporation from Delaware to Nevada. The reincorporation merger is subject to approval by the affirmative vote of holders of a majority of outstanding shares of Class A common stock of the Company entitled to vote thereon at a special meeting of the Company's stockholders. If the merger is approved by the Company's stockholders, at the Effective Time, each share of Class A common stock, par value $0.01 per share, of the Company issued and outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Time will be converted into one fully paid and non-assessable share of common stock, par value $0.001, of the Surviving Corporation. The reincorporation merger will not result in any change in the Company's name, headquarters, business, management, location of offices, assets, liabilities or net worth, other than as a result of the costs incident to the reincorporation merger. Our management, including all directors and officers, immediately prior to the reincorporation merger will remain the same following the reincorporation merger and will assume identical positions with the Surviving Corporation.

16:19 EDT CommScope announces CFO Mark Olson to retire - CommScope announced that Mark Olson, executive VP and CFO, intends to retire from the company, effective March 31, 2018. CommScope will retain an executive search firm to help identify the company's next CFO and will consider internal and external candidates for the role. To ensure a seamless transition, Olson will assist CommScope in the search process and with an orderly transfer of finance responsibilities.

16:16 EDT Camden Property to incur $2.0M-$2.5M in Q3 expenses due to Hurricane Irma - Camden Property Trust announced that it expects to incur approximately $2.0M-$2.5M in expenses during Q3 as a result of Hurricane Irma. These projected expenses relate to cleanup and repairs for landscaping, water intrusion and roofing at the company's apartment communities located in Florida, Atlanta and Charlotte. Camden will provide an update to its FY17 earnings guidance in conjunction with its Q3 earnings release scheduled for late October 2017.

16:13 EDT Kratos Defense deploys autonomous vehicle for live roadway operation - Kratos Defense & Security Solutions announce that Micro Systems, a part of its Unmanned Systems Division, in partnership with Colorado Department of Transportation , Royal Truck and Equipment, and Cola, has deployed the World's First autonomous vehicle approved and supporting live roadway operation in Colorado. The Autonomous Impact Protection Vehicle also known as the Autonomous Truck Mounted Attenuator, ATMA, is a first-of-its kind work zone vehicle designed to advance safety for roadway maintenance crews. Customarily positioned behind road construction crews in order to protect workers from the traveling public, the AIPV/ATMA increases work zone safety by removing the driver from a truck actually designed as a mobile crash barrier.

16:07 EDT Juniper Pharmaceuticals announces strategic reprioritization - Juniper Pharmaceuticals announced a corporate reprioritization to allow the Company to focus its resources on the core businesses of Crinone progesterone gel and Juniper Pharma Services, both of which continue to drive strong double-digit annual growth. As part of this initiative, the Company will begin to focus its research and development organization on JNP-0201 for hormone replacement therapy as the Company's potential lead intravaginal ring program and seek to potentially partner its other IVR programs. These actions are expected to result in cost savings that will position Juniper to achieve at least a cash flow neutral position for 2018. As a result of the focused R&D strategy, the Company will implement an approximately 8% headcount reduction, primarily in the areas of new product R&D, resulting in an estimated annual savings in personnel-related costs of approximately $1.9M beginning in 2018. The Company also expects to reduce its overall new product R&D spend in connection with its revised focus. As a result of the reduction in force, the Company estimates that it will incur aggregate charges of approximately $0.6M-$0.7M for one-time severance and other employee related costs and future obligations due under our manufacturing and development contracts in the third quarter of 2017, of which approximately $0.4M-$0.5M are expected to result in cash expenditures by the end of 2017. In addition to the headcount reduction, Bridget Martell, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, will be stepping down from the Company effective today, September 18, 2017.

16:04 EDT Umpqua Holdings raises quarterly dividend to 18c per share from 16c per share - Before the open on September 14, Umpqua Holdings Corporation, the parent company of Umpqua Bank and Umpqua Investments, announced that its board has approved a quarterly cash dividend in the amount of 18c per common share, an increase of 12.5% from the prior quarterly cash dividend of 16c per common share. The dividend is payable on October 16 to shareholders of record as of October 2. Note that in the company's original release, which has since been corrected, the date for dividend payment to shareholders of record should be October 2, 2017, not September 30, 2017 as previously stated.

16:03 EDT Papa Murphy's promotes Mark Hutchens to COO - Papa Murphy's announced that Chief Financial Officer Mark Hutchens has been promoted to the role of Executive Vice President and COO of the company, effective immediately. Hutchens will continue in his role as CFO until a qualified replacement is found.

16:00 EDT Supernus trading halted, news pending

15:37 EDT Ubiquiti CEO says company 'operating better than ever' - In response to a question about Ubiquiti executives changing or removing their pictures from LinkedIn, CEO Robert Pera replied: "The company is operating better than ever; customers can attest. Amputating a "bozo explosion" is very difficult to pull-off. we did it"

15:13 EDT Dimension Therapeutics confirms unsolicited proposal from Ultragenyx - Dimension Therapeutics (DMTX) confirmed that it has received a non-binding, unsolicited proposal from Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical (RARE) to acquire Dimension for $5.50 per share in cash to be effectuated via a tender offer. Ultragenyx publicly announced this proposal earlier and the proposal is subject to, among other things, diligence to be conducted, various closing conditions, Dimension stockholder approval and regulatory approvals. Consistent with its fiduciary duties, Dimension's Board of Directors, in consultation with its independent legal and financial advisors, will carefully review and consider the Ultragenyx proposal. As announced on August 25, 2017, Dimension entered into a definitive merger agreement with REGENXBIO (RGNX), a leading clinical-stage biotechnology company, under which REGENXBIO will acquire Dimension in an all-stock transaction. Under the terms of the merger agreement, each Dimension stockholder will receive 0.1573 shares of REGENXBIO Common Stock in exchange for each of their shares in Dimension. In connection with its unanimous approval of the REGENXBIO merger, Dimension's Board of Directors voted to recommend that Dimension stockholders approve the merger agreement. Dimension's Board of Directors has not changed its recommendation in support of the merger with REGENXBIO. Dimension will have no further comment on Ultragenyx's proposal until the Board has completed its review. .

15:02 EDT Ubiquiti CEO says 'real research' needed on company before interview - Ubiquiti Networks CEO Robert Pera, in response to CNBC's Scott Wapner asking for an on-air interview tomorrow, tweeted, "If you do some real research on the company and want a balanced discussion great. Otherwise no interest in being target practice".

14:55 EDT Amazon Web Services announces per-second billing for EC2 instances - In a post to the AWS blog by Jeff Barr, the Chief Evangelist for the Amazon Web Services, the company announced that usage of Linux instances that are launched in On-Demand, Reserved, and Spot form will be billed in one-second increments, effective October 2. Similarly, provisioned storage for EBS volumes will be billed in one-second increments. This change is effective in all AWS Regions and will be effective October 2, for all Linux instances that are newly launched or already running. "Per-second billing is not currently applicable to instances running Microsoft Windows or Linux distributions that have a separate hourly charge. There is a 1 minute minimum charge per-instance," the blog post states. Reference Link

14:45 EDT Ubiquiti CEO says denials of media requests have been consistent - In response to questions on Twitter, Ubiquiti Networks CEO Robert Pera tweeted, "You can't conduct an orchestra facing the audience. In general, I have consistently denied media requests regardless."

14:40 EDT Ubiquiti CEO says buyback plan in place, headquarters in NYC - In response to questions on Twittwe, Ubiquiti Networks CEO

14:25 EDT Trump and China's Xi commit to 'maximizing pressure on North Korea' - President Donald J. Trump spoke with President Xi Jinping of China to discuss North Korea's continued defiance of the international community and its efforts to destabilize Northeast Asia. The two leaders committed to maximizing pressure on North Korea through vigorous enforcement of United Nations Security Council resolutions. Reference Link

14:06 EDT Verizon names Qureshi chief strategy officer to replace Chestnutt - Rima Qureshi, former president and CEO of Ericsson (ERIC) North America, has been named executive vice president and chief strategy officer for Verizon Communications (VZ), effective Nov. 6, the company announced. She will succeed Roy Chestnutt, who previously announced plans to pursue interests outside Verizon, and will depart by the end of the year. Qureshi will report to Verizon Chairman and CEO Lowell McAdam and will take over responsibility for development and implementation of overall corporate strategy, including business development and strategic investments.

13:40 EDT Honda to add 300 jobs, invest $267M to support increased manufacturing in Ohio - Honda of America Mfg announced the start of mass production of the all-new 2018 Honda Accord and announced new investments and jobs to support manufacturing of the 10th generation Accord, America's best-selling car of the past 41 years. Honda invested $267M and is adding 300 new jobs to support production of the all-new Honda Accord and to increase production at the Marysville Auto Plant. The investment total includes $220M at MAP for new technologies and processes, including a new $165M weld department featuring 342 state-of-the-art welding robots and $47 million at Honda's nearby Anna, Ohio engine plant for production of the 2018 Accord's 1.5-liter and 2.0-liter turbocharged engines, the first application of turbo power to the Accord lineup. Additional new technologies applied to the manufacture of the new Accord at MAP include a laser brazing process for the Accord's roof and new stamping techniques to produce its more sharply sculpted body.

12:47 EDT Left says he'll short Nvidia if shares go up another $10 tomorrow - Andrew Left of Citron Research is speaking on CNBC.

12:43 EDT Citron's Left says Ubiquiti numbers 'are not believable' - Andrew Left of Citron Research is speaking on CNBC.

12:05 EDT Buffalo Wild Wings says Tuesday promotion change better than expected - Buffalo Wild Wings in presentation slide said its Tuesday promotion change has impacted sale-store-sales better than forecasted. The majority of traffic loss is from takeout, the company added. It sees traditional wing inflation 10%-12% higher year-over-year in Q4.

12:02 EDT Waymo, Intel collaborate on self-driving car technology - The following is an opinion editorial provided by Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel (INTC): "One of the big promises of artificial intelligence is our driverless future. Nearly 1.3 million people die in road crashes worldwide every year - an average 3,287 deaths a day. Nearly 90% of those collisions are caused by human error. Self-driving technology can help prevent these errors by giving autonomous vehicles the capacity to learn from the collective experience of millions of cars - avoiding the mistakes of others and creating a safer driving environment. Given the pace at which autonomous driving is coming to life, I fully expect my children's children will never have to drive a car. That's an astounding thought: Something almost 90% of Americans do every day will end within a generation. With so much life-saving potential, it's a rapid transformation that Intel is excited to be at the forefront of along with other industry leaders like Waymo. Waymo's newest vehicles, the self-driving Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivans, feature Intel-based technologies for sensor processing, general compute and connectivity, enabling real-time decisions for full autonomy in city conditions. As Waymo's self-driving technology becomes smarter and more capable, its high-performance hardware and software will require even more powerful and efficient compute. By working closely with Waymo, Intel can offer Waymo's fleet of vehicles the advanced processing power required for level 4 and 5 autonomy. With 3 million miles of real-world driving, Waymo cars with Intel technology inside have already processed more self-driving car miles than any other autonomous fleet on U.S. roads. Intel's collaboration with Waymo ensures Intel will continue its leading role in helping realize the promise of autonomous driving and a safer, collision-free future."

11:37 EDT AbbVie says study of Venetoclax combined with Rituxan study met primary endpoint - AbbVie (ABBV) announced that the Phase 3 MURANO study of VENCLEXTA/VENCLYXTO Tablets in combination with Rituxan met its primary endpoint. Results showed that VENCLEXTA/VENCLYXTO in combination with Rituxan prolonged progression-free survival, PFS, in patients with relapsed/refractory, R/R, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, CLL, compared with bendamustine combined with Rituxan. VENCLEXTA/VENCLYXTO is being developed by AbbVie and Roche (RHHBY). It is jointly commercialized by AbbVie and Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, in the U.S. and by AbbVie outside of the U.S. "AbbVie is committed to researching the full potential of VENCLEXTA/VENCLYXTO both as monotherapy and combination therapy in patients with CLL and other hematologic malignancies. The analysis of the MURANO trial showed that VENCLEXTA/VENCLYXTO in combination with Rituxan may offer another option for patients with R/R CLL, potentially providing them with a chemotherapy-free therapy," said Michael Severino, M.D., executive vice president, research and development, and chief scientific officer, AbbVie. "We are looking forward to working with regulatory authorities around the world to bring this additional treatment regimen to R/R CLL patients." Full data from this study will support regulatory submissions for VENCLEXTA/VENCLYXTO in combination with Rituxan therapy in R/R CLL, and will be presented at an upcoming medical conference. Safety data, including serious and most common adverse events and discontinuation rates, are currently being analyzed.

11:30 EDT Dimension Therapeutics trading resumes

11:24 EDT J&J says longer term data show consistent rates of skin clearance with TREMFYA - Janssen Research & Development presented new longer-term data from the open-label extension of the VOYAGE 1 trial demonstrating consistent rates of skin clearance with TREMFYA treatment through week 100 among patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis receiving the subcutaneously administered anti-interleukin, IL-23 monoclonal antibody...The findings, presented during an EADV late-breaker session, follow the recent European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, CHMP, recommendation for approval of TREMFYA, and the United States Food and Drug Administration approval of TREMFYA in July. "These data show the rates of skin clearance with guselkumab were consistent at weeks 52 and 100 with every eight-week maintenance therapy. These important new findings contribute to the scientific evidence for targeting IL-23 in the treatment of moderate to severe plaque psoriasis," said Professor Chris Griffiths, Foundation Professor of Dermatology at the University of Manchester, UK, VOYAGE 1 study steering committee member. "Also noteworthy is that skin clearance rates in patients transitioned to guselkumab from adalimumab improved and the rates were consistent at weeks 52 and100." The final European Commission decision on the approval of TREMFYA is expected by the end of 2017. Applications seeking approval in Japan and other countries are currently under review.

11:09 EDT Apple says iOS 11 available on September 19 - Reference Link

11:03 EDT Finish Line slides after analyst says sell in hurricane aftermath - Shares of Finish Line (FINL) are slipping after Piper Jaffray analyst Erinn Murphy downgraded the stock to Underweight, citing above average exposure to hurricane impacted states. Meanwhile, her peer at Wells Fargo argued that Finish Line is currently among the ''least loved'' names in his retail coverage. SELL FINISH LINE: Piper Jaffray's Murphy downgraded Finish Line to Underweight from Neutral, with an $8 price target, as she sees further downside risk to estimates. From a near-term perspective, the analyst told investors that she believes the ongoing impacts of Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma could cause further pressure to third quarter comparable sales and earnings estimates given the company's above-average exposure to these regions. Finish Line has 27% of its store base in Florida and Texas combined, she noted. Additionally, the analyst said that in the first half of the year, 119% of all athletic dollar growth in North America came from vendors selling directly to consumers, which she views as an ongoing threat to the multi-branded athletic retailers who are now firmly in comp-negative territory. Furthermore, Murphy pointed out that athletic trends slowing In North America, and that she believes the lack of needle-moving innovation out of Nike (NKE) has created challenges for retailers. Finish Line may be getting allocations from adidas (ADDYY), she contended, but the significant exposure to Nike could create a headwind for the company for longer. AMONG 'LEAST LOVED': Meanwhile, Wells Fargo analyst Ike Boruchow told investors that it still may be too early to call for a robust recovery in retail fundamentals, but the industry does seem to be stabilizing, with second quarter sales and earnings per share trends generally better than the first quarter across the board. Further, store traffic has improved each month since February and management teams have taken a generally upbeat tone regarding back-to-school in recent public commentary, he added. With solid traffic and favorable weather during the key back-to-school selling season, the analyst pointed out that he believes inventories could find themselves in good shape heading into the holidays and momentum appears to be on retail's side. Boruchow noted that according to his index, PVH Corp. (PVH) continues to be the ''most loved'' retailer in his universe, followed by TJX (TJX), Canada Goose (GOOS), and Steven Madden (SHOO), while Foot Locker (FL), Fossil (FOSL), and Finish Line are the ''least loved'' names this month. WHAT'S NOTABLE: Last week, shares of Finish Line rallied after Susquehanna analyst Sam Poser upgraded the athletic apparel retailer to Positive from Neutral. The analyst told investors that he thinks there is a 75% chance that Finish Line will be acquired, most likely by U.K.-based sporting good retailer Sports Direct for about $13.30 per share. PRICE ACTION: In morning trading, Finish Line has dropped almost 5% to $10 per share.

10:58 EDT Zipcar announces launch of car sharing service in Ireland - Zipcar, a subsidiary of Avis Budget Group, announced the launch of its car sharing service in Reykjavik, Iceland. This marks the first major city launch for the brand in the Nordic countries.

10:56 EDT Diana Shipping announces time charter contract for m/v Maera - Diana Shipping announced that, through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, it has entered into a time charter contract with Unico Logistics, Seoul, for one of its Panamax dry bulk vessels, the m/v Maera. The gross charter rate is $11,900 per day, minus a 5% commission paid to third parties, for a period of minimum nine months to maximum eleven months. The charter is expected to commence on September 19, 2017. The m/v Maera was previously chartered to Transgrain Shipping B.V., Rotterdam, at a gross charter rate of $8,500 per day, minus a 5% commission paid to third parties, for a period of sixty-eight days. This employment is anticipated to generate approximately $3.21M of gross revenue for the minimum scheduled period of the time charter.

10:40 EDT AMD rises after Morgan Stanley highlights AWS win - Shares of AMD (AMD) are on the rise after Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore commented on AMD's graphics win with Amazon (AMZN) Web Services, which joined previously announced Google (GOOG; GOOGL) and Alibaba (BABA) virtualization wins. Moore argued that while Nvidia (NVDA) still retains leadership in the segment, AMD is making progress. AWS WIN: In a blog post last week, AMD announced that AWS had chosen its Radeon Pro MxGPU - multiuser GPU - technology for its new Graphics Design instance type on Amazon AppStream 2.0. Amazon AppStream 2.0 is a fully managed, secure application streaming service that allows the user to stream desktop applications from AWS to any device running a web browser, without rewriting them. The new Graphics Design instance type runs on AMD's S7150x2 GPU, the virtualized graphics processor of its Radeon Pro graphics product. "With Graphics Design instances, users can run graphics-accelerated applications at a fraction of the cost of using graphics workstations and can lower the cost of streaming a graphics app on AppStream 2.0 by up to 50%. These instances are ideal for delivering applications that rely on hardware acceleration of DirectX, OpenGL or OpenCL," AMD explained. AMD MAKING PROGRESS: Morgan Stanley's Moore told investors in a research note this morning that while the graphics virtualization market is small and until recently dominated by Nvidia's GRID, AMD has gotten important wins, announcing Google and Alibaba late last year and now AWS. For now, the analyst noted that he would still expect Nvidia to retain leadership share in the segment, but acknowledged that AMD is making progress. The more exciting data center opportunity for graphics chips will be in deep learning training, Moore said, where AMD has also made progress with Baidu (BIDU). While the analyst believes it is a "healthy sign" that AMD's graphics team is building relationships with cloud vendors, he does not think progress in virtualization will correlate with wins in deep learning. PRICE ACTION: In morning trading, shares of AMD have gained nearly 4% to $13. Reference Link

10:32 EDT Clovis jumps as takeover rumors resurface - Shares of Clovis Oncology (CLVS) are rallying as investors weigh the validity of another takeover rumor. The conjecture today, being passed around by traders, has Eli Lilly (LLY) having interest in acquiring the company. Clovis, which develops anti-cancer agents known as PARP inhibitors, is no stranger to takeover speculation, like many companies, including its peer Tesaro (TSRO), in the biotechnology space. The Fly, in fulfilling its mission of explaining stock movement, often comes across the many unconfirmed rumors being passed through trading desks and social media platforms. On the occasion that rumors or speculation appear on The Fly's news feed, it should be viewed not as giving credence to the conjecture, rather as simply highlighting its impact on the stock prices of the companies involved. Clovis in morning trading is up 7%, or $5.14, to $74.60.

10:29 EDT L Brands gains after announcing new $250M share buyback program - Shares of L Brands (LB) climbed after the retailer announced a new share repurchase program. SHARE REPURCHASE: L Brands this morning announced that its board authorized a new $250M share repurchase program. The new plan includes $10.3M remaining under its previous share repurchase program. RECENT ANALYST COMMENTARY: The new share buyback program follows recent analyst commentary by Bernstein analyst Jamie Merriman, who said he expects a rebound to better growth. In a note to clients last week, Merriman started L Brands with an Outperform rating and $57 price target, and said his firm's Proprietary Consumer survey suggested that the brand remains strong, with the highest brand recognition among peers and strong ratings on fashion and quality. Merriman also said he believes that as Victoria's Secret's sales trends improve there is an opportunity for re-rating. "We expect cash return to continue, supporting shareholder return with a 6% dividend yield and buybacks, which will support earnings growth," Merriman said. WHAT'S NOTABLE: In August, L Brands reported that comparable store sales for the second quarter fell 8%, calling the results below its expectations. As a result, the retailer lowered its 2017 earnings per share view to $3.00-$3.20 from $3.10-$3.40, and said it sees third quarter earnings per share of 25-30c, below the 36c analysts expected at the time. Comps for the year are expected down low to mid-single digits, while Q3 SSS are seen flat to down low-single digits. Deutsche Bank's Paul Trussell said at the time that L Brands is entering the back half of the year in a clean inventory position, as comp compares get easier in the second half and pressure from the exit of swim and apparel last year should subside. Meanwhile, Jefferies analyst Randal Konik listed 10 reasons to sell the stock, including: Core business erosion, PINK may be coming under pressure, Victoria Secret's pricing power is waning, removal of catalog, lapping the exited categories will not be the answer to the comp weakness, Bath & Body Works at peak with difficult compares and margins starting to roll. PRICE ACTION: In morning trading, L Brands is up about 0.3% to $40.67, off earlier highs. Year-to-date, however, shares are down over 38%.

10:14 EDT Camping World's Windward/W82 in a partnership with Major League Baseball - Windward/W82, a leading outdoor gear specialist, and Major League Baseball announced a new partnership naming Windward/W82 the Official Boardsports Company of Major League Baseball. The new deal is part of a multi-year agreement between MLB and Camping World Holdings and select business brands in their portfolio. This long-term partnership includes major licensing and retail components that will feature officially licensed MLB products sold at Windward/W82 and other CWH retailers. Camping World brands are also granted rights to produce MLB licensed items themselves in a variety of consumer product categories. With this new agreement, Camping World plans to expand its brand awareness with an integrated marketing program that will reach millions of MLB fans through broadcast, digital, social, mobile and in-ballpark platforms. This includes LCS broadcast networks TBS, FOX and FS1, as well as MLB Media assets MLB Network, MLB.com and MLB Advanced Media mobile apps.

09:57 EDT Aaron's lower after Off Wall Street starts with Sell rating - Shares of Aaron's are moving lower after Off Wall Street initiated the stock with a Sell rating and $30 price target. The company, which provides lease-purchase solutions for furniture and consumer electronics, is down 7% to $40.04 in early trading. The firm sees business at Aaron's brick-and-mortar stores deteriorating over the longer term.

09:50 EDT Leading Brands trading resumes

09:46 EDT Citron Research calls Ubiquiti 'total fraud'

09:39 EDT Medtronic announces FDA approval, U.S. launch of Intellis platform - Medtronic announced FDA approval and U.S. launch of the Intellis platform for the management of certain types of chronic intractable pain. The Intellis platform was designed to overcome limitations with current spinal cord stimulation, or SCS, systems, such as battery performance, and can power the Evolve workflow, which standardizes guidance and balances high-dose, or HD, and low-dose, or LD, therapy settings. The Intellis platform can record and track patient activity 24/7 and is managed on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 tablet interface, enabling physicians to address the subjective and personal nature of chronic pain by monitoring progress and making modifications to better suit their patients' therapy needs.

09:36 EDT Bank of America up 17c to $24.55 in early trading

09:33 EDT ManTech to acquire InfoZen for $180M in cash - ManTech announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire InfoZen for $180M in cash. InfoZen is a leading IT solutions provider with domain expertise in modernization, agile / DevOps software development, cloud migration, and threat monitoring and assessment capabilities in support of critical national and homeland security missions. ManTech currently has no debt and will fund the acquisition from cash on hand with additional funding from its existing line of credit. ManTech expects the acquisition to be slightly accretive to its earnings per share in 2017.

09:31 EDT Wesco Aircraft appoints Kerry Shiba as CFO - Wesco Aircraft announced that its board of directors has appointed Kerry Shiba as executive vice president and CFO, effective September 18. Shiba succeeds Richard Weller, who previously announced his intention to retire. Prior to joining Wesco Aircraft, Shiba was executive vice president, CFO and secretary of Superior Industries International.

09:29 EDT On The Fly: Pre-market Movers - HIGHER: Orbital ATK (OA), up 20% after the company and Northrop Grumman (NOC) announced that Northrop will acquire the company for $134.50 per share... Northrop Grumman is up marginally after the announcement... Silver Spring Networks (SSNI), up 24.1% after Itron, Inc. (ITRI) and Silver Spring Networks announced that Itron will acquire Silver Spring for $16.25 per share... L Brands (LB), up 2% after announcing a $250M share repurchase program... Dimension Therapeutics (DMTX), up 9.5% after being acquired by Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical (RARE). LOWER: Finish Line (FINL), down 2.3% after being downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray... Taubman Centers (TCO), down 1.6% after being downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.

09:20 EDT Champions Oncology announces publication demonstrating accuracy of PDX models - Champions Oncology announced the publication entitled "Patient-derived xenografts effectively capture responses to oncology therapy in a heterogeneous cohort of patients with solid tumors" in the journal Annals of Oncology. Annals of Oncology is published by the European Society for Medical oncology, the leading European professional organization for medical oncology in Europe. Building on earlier clinical correlation data, this study further demonstrates that PDX models accurately predict patient response to oncology drugs with remarkable 85% positive predictive value. In the published study, tumors obtained from surgical or biopsy procedures from 237 cancer patients with a variety of solid tumors (including breast, colorectal, ovarian, lung, gastroesophageal, pancreatic cancer and sarcoma) were implanted into immunodeficient mice to establish individual PDX models. Treatment responses in the corresponding PDX models were compared with 129 treatments that were administered to the same patients clinically. In addition, consistent with the existing literature, PDX models faithfully preserved the genetic landscape of the original parental tumor.

09:15 EDT Orbital ATK says talks with Northrop Grumman started earlier this year - Orbital ATK (OA) says talks with Northrop Grumman (NOC) began earlier this year, but were not part of a competitive process.

09:06 EDT Cisco says Executive Chairman John Chambers will not stand for re-election - Cisco announced that Executive Chairman John Chambers has notified the Cisco board that he will not stand for re-election to the board in December. The board plans to appoint Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins to serve as chairman when Chambers' term expires at the annual meeting of shareholders on December 11. At that time, John will also be given the honorary title of Chairman Emeritus.

09:05 EDT Condor Hospitality Trust announces sale of non-core legacy hotel - Condor Hospitality Trust announced the closing on the sale of a legacy hotel asset, the 176-room Days Inn located at 200 John Wesley Blvd., Bossier City, LA 71112 for $1.4M. Net proceeds from the sale will be applied to outstanding debt on the company's $150M secured credit facility.

09:04 EDT Itron says 'very pleased' with combined Silver Spring/Itron backlog

09:04 EDT San Juan Basin Royalty Trust announces settlement with Burlington - Compass Bank, as Trustee of the San Juan Basin Royalty Trust (SJT), announced that the Trust entered into a compromise settlement agreement with Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ConocoPhillips (COP), with respect to the lawsuit that the Trust filed against Burlington on July 31, 2014. The lawsuit was filed in the 1st Judicial District Court, Santa Fe County, New Mexico, and styled Compass Bank, in its Capacity as Trustee of the San Juan Basin Royalty Trust v. Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Company LP and BROG GP LLC, No. D-101-CV-2014-01765. The Settlement Agreement provides that Burlington pay the Trust $7.5M to resolve the 2014 Litigation and all disputed and/or unresolved audit exceptions asserted by the Trust for the audit years January 1, 2007 through December 31, 2016. The Trust received the $7.5M on September 15, 2017. The settlement proceeds will be included in the September declaration of cash distribution payable October 16, 2017, to unit holders of record as of September 29, 2017. The Settlement Agreement includes a mutual release of each party and its affiliates for any claims or damages arising out of or related to any acts, events or omissions occurring prior to January 1, 2017, including with respect to any claims asserted by the Office of Natural Resource Revenue against Burlington and/or ConocoPhillips to pay additional royalties for production for periods prior to January 1, 2017. In June 2017, Burlington advised the Trust that the ONRR had asserted claims alleging that Burlington and ConocoPhillips underpaid royalties on gas production from certain federal leases based on the ONRR's interpretation of regulatory rules. Burlington further advised the Trust that Burlington has received multiple orders from the ONRR directing Burlington to pay additional royalties for production covering the time period from January 2002 through December 2016. Burlington disputes that it has any liability related to the ONRR claims; however, it contends that if liability is found to exist, it would be entitled to recoup the Trust's proportionate share of any additional royalties it might pay in accordance with any future judgment, settlement or other disposition of the ONRR claims. Pursuant to the Settlement Agreement, the Trust will be indemnified for any liability relating to the ONRR claims for periods prior to January 1, 2017 and Burlington has fully released the Trust from any such claims.

09:04 EDT Amazon announces third fulfillment center for Portland to create 1,000 FT roles - Amazon announced plans to open its third Oregon fulfillment center in Portland, which will create more than 1,000 full-time positions. The company recently announced an upcoming fulfillment center in Troutdale and Salem, in addition to the existing sortation center in Hillsboro and Prime Now hub in Portland. With the three upcoming fulfillment centers, Amazon will employ more than 3,500 full-time fulfillment associates across the state when all locations open starting in 2018. Associates at the one million square foot facility will pick, pack and ship larger customer items, such as sports equipment, gardening tools, and pet food.

09:01 EDT Parexel shareholders approve proposed acquisition by Pamplona Capital - PAREXEL announced that its shareholders, at a special meeting held on September 15, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts, approved the previously announced proposed acquisition of the Company by certain investment funds affiliated with Pamplona Capital Management. 78.3% of the company's shares outstanding were voted, with more than 98 percent of the votes cast in favor of the proposal, representing more than 77% of PAREXEL's issued and outstanding shares. Under the terms of the proposed acquisition, Pamplona will acquire all outstanding shares of PAREXEL for $88.10 per share in cash. The closing of the transaction is anticipated to occur on or about Friday, September 29, 2017, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions at such time. At the closing, PAREXEL will become a privately held company and shares of PAREXEL's common stock will no longer be listed on any public market.

08:55 EDT Leading Brands trading halted, news pending

08:51 EDT Northrop Grumman: Oribtal ATK an 'exceptionally well run company'

08:45 EDT Northrop Grumman says has 'very little overlap' with Orbital ATK operations - Northrop Grumman (NOC) says has "very little overlap" with Oribital OTK's (OA) operations. Northrop said Oribital ATK a "complementary fit," while Orbital called the companies a "strategic fit." Says can "no longer treat space as permissive environment." Says missile, missile defense increasingly in focus. Comments taken from the conference call discussing Northrop Grumman's plans to buy Orbital OTK for $9.2B. Orbital OTK is up 19.9% in premarket trading, while Northrop Grumman is fractionally higher.

08:42 EDT SilverBow Resources reports no damage following Hurricane Harvey - SilverBow Resources announced an update to operations following Hurricane Harvey. SilverBow's producing assets and facilities in South Texas sustained no damage during Hurricane Harvey. The company expects minimal cleanup costs and currently does not anticipate any insurance recovery related to the storm. All field crews and personnel, which includes one rig and one completion crew, have resumed normal operations. Additionally, the majority of our third party providers have restarted and resumed taking crude oil and natural gas. As such, the company's production has returned to pre-hurricane levels. The company is adjusting guidance for Q3 and FY17 to reflect the temporary curtailments of third-party midstream providers during the Hurricane. The company is now guiding for Q3 production of 149M to 152M cubic feet of natural gas equivalent per day. For the FY17, the company is now guiding for 146.5 to 150.5 MMcfe/d.

08:41 EDT Medifast to move corporate headquarters to Baltimore City by end of 2017 - Medifast announced plans to move its corporate headquarters to the heart of downtown Baltimore by the end of 2017. Medifast will move into a 51,000 sq. ft. space in the state-of-the-art Legg Mason Tower located in Baltimore's Harbor East neighborhood. More than 160 employees will move to the new downtown headquarters, while Medifast's manufacturing facility and related staff will remain at the current Owings Mills, Maryland location. The move follows Medifast's recent announcement that its community of Coaches rebranded to OPTAVIA

08:38 EDT Ampio completes enrollment of patients in 12-Week pivotal trial - Ampio Pharmaceuticals announces the completion of enrollment and dosing of patients in their pivotal single injection study on the "unmet medical need" of severe osteoarthritis of the knee. These patients experience not only pain but also the loss of function and diminished quality of life. The primary endpoint of this pivotal trial follows the Osteoarthritis Research Society International guidance, utilizing the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology Clinical Trials OMERACT-OARSI responder rate to address the signs and symptoms of severe OAK.

08:36 EDT Cellectar Biosciences promotes Jarrod Longcor to Chief Business Officer - Cellectar Biosciences announced that effective immediately, Jarrod Longcor, the company's senior vice president of corporate development and operations, has been promoted to Chief Business Officer. In his new role, Jarrod will be primarily responsible for corporate and business development, as well as oversight of the company's preclinical program and manufacturing operations.

08:33 EDT Taylor Morrison extends, increases stock repurchase program - Taylor Morrison announced that its Board of Directors has authorized an extension of its stock repurchase program until Dec. 31, 2018. The Board also increased the amount available for repurchases under the program to a maximum total amount of $100M of the Company's Class A Common Stock. The repurchase program had been due to expire on Dec. 31, 2017 and had $56.4M remaining under the existing authorization that is being extended and increased. Repurchases of the Company's Class A Common Stock under the program will occur from time to time in open market purchases, privately negotiated transactions or other transactions through Dec. 31, 2018.

08:31 EDT InfraREIT: Oncor's parent receives U.S. Bankruptcy Court Approval for exchange - InfraREIT announced that the parent company of Oncor Electric Delivery Company has received approval from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware for the proposed exchange transaction between InfraREIT's regulated subsidiary, Sharyland Distribution & Transmission Services and Oncor in which SDTS will exchange its retail distribution assets for a group of Oncor's transmission assets located in west and central Texas. Oncor's parent company obtaining consent from the Bankruptcy Court is one of the conditions required for completion of the transaction.

08:31 EDT Triumph Group announces sale of Triumph Processing - Embee Division to AMP - Triumph Group and All Metals Processing of Orange County announced the sale of Triumph Processing - Embee Division, Inc. to All Metals Processing. The transaction was effective September 14, 2017. The Embee Division generated revenues of approximately $42M in Triumph Group's fiscal year ended March 31, 2017. The new company will operate as Embee Processing. All Metal Processing is owned by Watson Family Investments, LLC. Seale & Associates acted as exclusive financial advisor to Triumph on the transaction. AeroAdvisory acted as exclusive financial advisor to All Metals on the transaction.

08:28 EDT Team CEO Ted Owen steps down, Gary Yesavage appointed Interim CEO - Team announced that Ted Owen has stepped down as CEO and that Gary Yesavage, a member of the Team board, has been appointed as Team's Interim CEO to serve until a permanent CEO is hired. The company has engaged a leading executive search firm to assist with identifying qualified external candidates. Owen has transitioned to the position of Special Advisor to the Chairman and to the Interim CEO, and has ceased to serve as the company's CEO, effective immediately. Having recently retired as President of Manufacturing for Chevron Corporation's Downstream and Chemicals Operations, Yesavage brings a deep understanding of much of the company's customer base along with the management experience to lead the company during this transition period. The board is continuing its comprehensive review of the company's operating plan, including the company's transaction integration process, financial planning, cost management, safety protocols and other matters of importance to help the company enhance shareholder value. The company expects any cost reduction initiatives to be in addition to the previously announced program to reduce the annual operating expense run rate by approximately $30 million. In addition to stepping down as CEO, Owen has resigned from the company's board. Owen will remain with the company in his new advisory role until he retires on December 31, 2017, to ensure a seamless transition of leadership.

08:20 EDT RedHill Biopharma receives Notice of Allowance from USPTO for YELIVA, MESUPRON - RedHill Biopharma announced that it has received a Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, for a new patent covering the use of two of RedHill's Phase II-stage proprietary investigational compounds, YELIVA and MESUPRON in combination with a known antibiotic. Upon issuance, on top of existing intellectual property protection covering the individual compounds, the new patent will provide RedHill with intellectual property protection covering its combination for the potential treatment of cancer, prevention of cancer recurrence or progression and inhibition of growth and proliferation of cancer cells.

08:17 EDT USA Technologies, Premier Food Service partner for cashless payments - USA Technologies announced a strategic agreement with Premier Food Service adding to its expanding list of customers that are going cashless and building customer loyalty programs for unattended retail experiences. USAT is working with Premier Food Service to upgrade hundreds of the company's machines to its state-of-the-art ePort Connect cashless payment system, enabling the company to track the acceptance of cash, credit/debit cards, and contactless payments, including mobile wallet payments. Premier Food Service has also worked with USAT to connect more than 300 Vendors Exchange Kiosks with a consumer engagement and loyalty program.

08:13 EDT HCI Group subsidiaries issue loss estimates from Hurricane Irma - HCI Group has issued initial loss estimates from Hurricane Irma, which made landfall in the Florida Keys last week before making a second landfall in the southwest coast of Florida shortly thereafter. Irma is the first major hurricane to make landfall in Florida since Hurricane Wilma struck in 2005. HCI's principal operating subsidiary, Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty Insurance Company, Inc., which is a leading provider of homeowners' insurance in Florida, issued a preliminary estimate indicating its losses related to Hurricane Irma will be in the range of $100M-$300M. These losses will exceed its $16M reinsurance retention level and trigger reinsurance recoveries, as well as trigger the loss of accrued benefits and deferrals under retrospective provisions within certain reinsurance contracts. HCI's captive reinsurance subsidiary, Claddaugh Casualty Insurance Company Ltd., which participates in the Homeowners Choice reinsurance program, estimates a loss of $34M from Hurricane Irma which is the full extent of the coverage it provided to Homeowners Choice.

08:11 EDT Teva announces sale of global women's health portfolio assets for $1.38B - Teva Pharmaceutical announced it has entered into two agreements to sell the remaining assets of its specialty global women's health business for $1.38B. Proceeds from these sales, combined with proceeds from the recently announced sale of PARAGARD total $2.48B and will be used by Teva to progress repayment of term loan debt. Teva has entered into a definitive agreement under which CVC Capital Partners Fund VI will acquire a portfolio of products within its global women's health business across contraception, fertility, menopause and osteoporosis for $703M in cash. The portfolio of products, which is marketed and sold outside of the U.S., includes Ovaleap, Zoely, Seasonique, Colpotrophine, Actonel and additional products. Teva has also entered into a definitive agreement under which Foundation Consumer Healthcare will acquire Plan B One-Step and Teva's value brands of emergency contraception, Take Action, Aftera, and Next Choice One Dose for $675M in cash. Completion of the transactions is subject to customary conditions, including antitrust clearance in the U.S. and EU respectively, together with employee consultations. The transactions are expected to close before the end of 2017. Until the transactions are completed, Teva will continue to market the products in the normal course, providing full support to manage the business and to meet the needs of customers and patients.

08:07 EDT Ipsen announces FDA approval of new indication for Somatuline - Ipsen Biopharmaceuticals, an affiliate of Ipsen, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a supplemental indication for Somatuline Depot Injection 120 mg for the treatment of carcinoid syndrome; when used, it reduces the frequency of short-acting somatostatin analog rescue therapy. Somatuline Depot is also approved for the improvement of progression-free survival in patients with unresectable, well- or moderately- differentiated, locally advanced or metastatic gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. The additional Somatuline Depot approval for carcinoid syndrome was based on "Evaluation of Lanreotide Depot/Autogel Efficacy and Safety as a Carcinoid Syndrome Treatment: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial," published in Endocrine Practice.

08:05 EDT Muddy Waters' Block says personally impacted by Equifax breach - Carson Block of Muddy Waters said on CNBC that he's personally suing Equifax for being impacted by the security breach. He's claiming damages of $500,000. The famed short-seller says he is not short shares of Equifax.

08:04 EDT DelMar Pharmaceuticals: FDA allows additional IND for VAL-083 - DelMar Pharmaceuticals announced that the U.S. FDA has allowed an additional Investigational New Drug Application to study its lead drug candidate VAL-083 as a potential treatment for ovarian cancer.

08:04 EDT Caron Block individually suing Equifax, but says not short shares - Carson Block of Muddy Waters is speaking on CNBC.

08:03 EDT Henry Schein announces $400M increase to share repurchase program - Henry Schein announced that its Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $400M of shares of the company's common stock. This program is in addition to the $400M repurchase program announced in October 2016, which currently has approximately $25M remaining authorized for future repurchases.

08:02 EDT AMC Entertainment to sell 12M shares of National CineMedia - AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC) announced it has entered into an agreement to sell 12M shares of National CineMedia (NCMI) common stock to Standard General for approximately $73.1M, representing a price of $6.09 per share. The purchase price was calculated using the five-day volume-weighted average price of NCM shares ending on Friday, September 15. The sale is scheduled to be completed on September 20. This transaction represents more than 80% of the NCM shares required to be sold in 2017 by AMC under the consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice in connection with AMC's acquisition of Carmike Cinemas in December 2016. The company expects to meet the DOJ's consent decree's requirement of owning less than 15% of NCM on or before December 20.This transaction is consistent with AMC's previously announced plan to identify approximately $400M of non-strategic assets that could be monetized over the next 24 months. This NCM share sale represents the third significant AMC asset monetization announcement since it announced this plan on August 4.

08:01 EDT CB&I to supply storage tanks for Greenfield Refinery Project in Oman - CB&I announced a consortium between CB&I and Saipem S.p.A. has been awarded a contract by Duqm Refinery and Petrochemicals Industries Company for EPC Package 3 for the Duqm Refinery Project. DRPIC is a joint venture between Oman Oil Company and Kuwait Petroleum International. The consortium's scope of work for Package 3 encompasses the engineering, procurement and construction of a product export terminal at Duqm Port, a crude tank farm at Ras Markaz and an 80-kilometer crude oil pipeline. CB&I will be performing all of the EPC works for storage tanks at the export terminal and crude tank farm, while Saipem - the leader of Package 3 - will perform the balance of the works. CB&I's portion of the contract is valued at approximately $140M.

07:25 EDT Pluristem granted Fast Track Designation for Phase III study of PLX-PAD cells - Pluristem Therapeutics announced that the FDA has granted Fast Track Designation to the company's ongoing Phase III study of PLX-PAD cells for the treatment of Critical Limb Ischemia, or CLI, in patients ineligible for revascularization. The FDA's Fast Track Designation is a process designed to facilitate the development and expedite the review of drugs to treat serious conditions and unmet medical needs. With Fast Track Designation, there is an increased possibility for a priority review by the FDA of PLX-PAD cells for the treatment of CLI.

07:23 EDT Nabriva Therapeutics announces topline results from LEAP 1 trial - Nabriva Therapeutics announced positive topline results from the lefamulin evaluation against pneumonia, or LEAP 1, trial, which evaluated the safety and efficacy of intravenous to oral lefamulin in patients with community-acquired bacterial pneumonia, or CABP. CABP is the leading cause of infectious death in the United States. In the LEAP 1 trial, Nabriva Therapeutics' first of two pivotal Phase 3 clinical trials of lefamulin in patients with CABP, lefamulin met the FDA primary endpoint of non-inferiority compared to moxifloxacin with or without adjunctive linezolid for early clinical response, or ECR, assessed 72 to 120 hours following initiation of therapy in the intent to treat, or ITT, patient population. In the trial, ECR rates were 87.3% for lefamulin and 90.2% for moxifloxacin with or without linezolid.

07:17 EDT Itron to acquire Silver Spring for $16.25 per share in cash, or approx. $830M - Itron, Inc. (ITRI) and Silver Spring Networks (SSNI) announced that they have signed a definitive agreement for Itron to acquire all outstanding shares of Silver Spring for $16.25 per share in cash. The transaction is valued at approximately $830M, net of $118M of Silver Spring's cash. This represents a premium of 25% to Silver Spring's closing share price on Sept. 15, 2017, the last trading day prior to the announcement of the transaction. The transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies. Itron anticipates approximately $50M in annualized cost synergies to be substantially realized within three years of completing the transaction by optimizing combined operations and expenses. The acquisition is expected to have a positive impact on Itron's long-term growth rate, be accretive to gross margin in the first year after completing the transaction and be accretive to non-GAAP EPS and adjusted EBITDA in the second year, excluding one-time, transaction-related costs and including stock-based compensation costs that Silver Spring currently excludes from its reported non-GAAP results. Itron plans to finance the transaction using a combination of cash and approximately $750 million in incremental new debt. Fully committed financing has been provided by Wells Fargo. The transaction is expected to close in late 2017 or early 2018 and is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval and the approval of Silver Spring's stockholders. Centerview Partners and Credit Suisse are acting as financial advisors to Itron, and Jones Day is acting as its legal advisor. Evercore is acting as financial advisor and Fenwick & West LLP as legal advisor to Silver Spring.

07:12 EDT OncoCyte reports 'positive' analytical validation study results of DetermaVu - OncoCyte announced positive final results from the Analytical Validation Study of its liquid biopsy lung cancer diagnostic test, DetermaVU. The accuracy results of the Analytical Validation Study reported today demonstrate sensitivity of 94.4%, specificity of 67.5% and Area Under the Curve, or AUC, of 0.93, which means that 93 percent of the samples tested during the Analytical Validation were correctly diagnosed. Sensitivity and specificity are statistical measures of test performance, with sensitivity measuring the percentage of malignant nodules that are identified correctly by the test and specificity measuring the percentage of benign nodules correctly identified. The AUC of a test is a measure of overall global accuracy that combines sensitivity and specificity, with 1.0 being perfect accuracy and 0.50 being a random result. The score of 0.93 reported at the recent IASLC meeting means that 93 percent of the samples were correctly identified. The next step in the process leading to commercial launch of DetermaVu is a CLIA Validation study, which is now underway and expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year. If the CLIA Validation study is successful, the final step will be a Clinical Validation study, which is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year. If the Clinical Validation study is successful, OncoCyte plans to launch DetermaVu.

07:09 EDT BioTime awarded $1.56M grant from NIH - BioTime announced that it has been awarded a grant of up to $1.56M from the Small Business Innovation Research program of the National Institutes of Health. The grant provides funding to further develop BioTime's innovative, next generation vision restoration program for more advanced retinal diseases and injuries, which severely impact the quality of life for millions of people with no treatment option. This initiative aims at improving vision in people affected by blindness, whether caused by retinal injuries, age-related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa or other causes. BioTime scientists have grown a piece of 3-dimensional retinal tissue using the company's proprietary pluripotent cell technology platform. The 3-D retinal tissue contains all the cell types that comprise the human retina, including retinal pigment epithelium cells, photoreceptors and ganglion cells. Data presented at ARVO demonstrates that BioTime's 3-D retinal tissue closely resembles a developing human retina. The technology may ultimately be used to repair and restore sections of degenerated retinal tissue to improve vision caused by retinal degeneration and traumatic injury. The company's 3-D retinal tissue technology may address the unmet need of implementing a retinal restoration strategy to address severe retinal degenerative diseases, with a mutation-free retinal tissue produced in a strictly controlled laboratory setting.

07:07 EDT Jernigan Capital closes $14.7M investment in Miami - Jernigan Capital announced that it has closed a $14.7M investment commitment in a proposed multi-story, all climate-controlled self-storage facility in Miami, Florida. The proposed 69,175 net rentable square foot facility will be a ground-up project located at 4250 S.W. 8th Street in Miami. The proposed facility, located in the Little Gables neighborhood between Miami and Coral Gables, will serve a high growth submarket largely occupied by renters. The site is along U.S. 41, a main east-west artery into downtown Miami with a traffic count of approximately 35,000 cars per day. Construction is expected to begin during the first quarter of 2018, and the facility is expected to open in Q219.

07:05 EDT Can-Fite BioPharma files patent application for CRS treatments - Can-Fite BioPharma announced it has filed a patent application to protect the use of its drugs and other ligands which target the A3 adenosine receptor to treat cytokine release syndrome. CAR-T cell therapies are designed to treat certain cancers by modifying an individual patient's own immune cells to specifically target their cancer cells. CRS, which is caused by an overactive immune response to the treatment, has been identified as a potentially severe and life-threatening side effect of CAR-T cell therapies. Can Fite's platform technology selectively targets A3AR, which plays a central role in mediating the mechanism of inflammation by reducing elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6, IL-1beta, NF-Kbeta, TNF-alpha, and more. As such, the Company believes that A3AR targeting may serve as an important treatment option for patients in reducing the risk of CRS without limiting the utility of the underlying cancer immunotherapy. Current treatment for CRS includes aggressive immunosuppression through the use of high doses of corticosteroids to reverse the syndrome. However, while corticosteroids may control some of these toxicities, their potential to block T-cell activation and negate the clinical benefit of CART-T is a concern. ACTERMA, in August 2017 became the first FDA approved treatment for severe CRS induced by CAR-T, however it can mediate the immunosuppressive effect which could limit the efficacy of the immunotherapy.

07:04 EDT Americas Silver provides updated mineral reserve, resource estimates - Americas Silver Corporation provides updated mineral reserve and resource estimates for its two 100% assets, the Galena Complex in Idaho, USA and the Cosala Operations in Sinaloa, Mexico, including the San Rafael, El Cajon, and Nuestra Senora mines, and the Zone 120 deposit. This updated Mineral Reserve and Resource estimate reflects the drilling programs completed between January 1, 2016 and June 30, 2017 as well as production data during that period with an effective date of June 30, 2017 for the estimates. The estimate does not include drill results from holes SR399 to SR401 completed in the third quarter at the Company's Zone 120 deposit released previously, nor the associated resources attributable to the Company's option on the San Felipe property. Highlights include: Silver inventory contains 28 million ounces of proven and probable reserves, 58 million ounces of measured and indicated resources and 37 million ounces of inferred resources, a decrease of 9%, and increases of 16% and 37%, respectively. San Rafael estimated proven and probable reserves increased by 512,000 tonnes, 650,000 ounces of silver, 12 million pounds of lead, and 34 million pounds of zinc. Zone 120 measured and indicated resource increased by 70% to 12.6 million ounces of contained silver while the inferred resource increased to 9.6 million silver ounces with silver grades increasing by approximately 46% and 98% respectively. Drilling is expected to resume early in the fourth quarter to follow-up on the recent exploration success outlined in the August 24, 2017 press release. Galena silver-lead ore proven and probable reserves were increased by 1.3 million ounces of silver, net of 18 months of production depletion.

07:03 EDT Francisco Partners completes sale of R2Net to Signet Jewelers - Francisco Partners announced the sale of portfolio company R2Net to Signet Jewelers. The acquisition brings together Signet's jewelry retail platforms with R2Net's world-class innovation capabilities and digital technology to accelerate Signet's execution of its Customer-First OmniChannel strategy.

07:02 EDT Pain Therapeutics awarded $2.2M grant from NIDA - Pain Therapeutics announced that it has been awarded a research and development grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, or NIDA. The grant of approximately $2.2M provides Pain Therapeutics with a path forward to develop FENROCK, a drug candidate for severe pain. FENROCK is a transdermal patch that contains the prescription drug fentanyl to manage pain and incorporates novel abuse-deterrent technology.

07:01 EDT Pain Therapeutics awarded $1.8M research grant from NIH - Pain Therapeutics announced it has been awarded an approximately $1.8M research grant from the National Institutes of Health, or NIH. This grant will support innovative technology developed by the company to diagnose Alzheimer's disease with a simple blood test.

06:53 EDT CONSOL announces update on Bailey mine permit - CONSOL Energy announced today that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, or DEP, is requiring more time to evaluate the approval of the Bailey mine permit for the 4L panel, and as a result, the company has decided to move the longwall to another panel in order to resume operations. The company expects the longwall move to last approximately four weeks and is implementing several measures in order to mitigate the production impact from this delay. These measures include working additional unscheduled shifts at the remaining four longwalls, compared to the previous five and a half day schedule. This operating schedule change will also allow the company to meet its customers' needs and to immediately recall some of the previously furloughed workers. As a result of increasing the operating schedule to offset the production impact from the longwall move delay, the company reaffirms previously stated full-year 2017 guidance for the Pennsylvania Mining Complex: 25.6M-27.6M tons and total coal capital expenditures of $112M-$120M. Also, the company reaffirms previously stated full-year 2017 adjusted EBITDA attributable to CONSOL Energy of approximately $345M, which is included in the expected 2017 total company adjusted EBITDA of $815M. The company continues to work closely with the necessary agencies to obtain operating permits, which allow for continuity of longwall mining operations. The Pennsylvania Mining Complex operates five total longwalls with approved permits as far out as ten years in advance.

06:51 EDT North Atlantic Drilling announces receipt of NYSE delisting notice - North Atlantic Drilling (NADL) announces that the company received a written notice from NYSE Regulation that its common stock is no longer suitable for listing pursuant to Listed Company Manual Section 802.01D because of the Company's announcement on September 12, 2017 that the Company and other consolidated subsidiaries of Seadrill (SDRL) filed prearranged chapter 11 cases in the Southern District of Texas. In reaching its delisting determination, NYSE Regulation noted that the shareholders of the Company will receive no recovery and therefore continued listing is no longer suitable. NYSE Regulation has informed the Company that application to the Securities and Exchange Commission to delist the Company's common stock is pending the completion of all applicable procedures, including any appeal by the Company of NYSE Regulation's decision.

06:41 EDT Radian Group board member Brian Montgomery nominated to lead FHA - Radian Group announced that board member Brian Montgomery has been honored as the official nominee to serve as Commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration. Notably, a veteran senior public servant, Montgomery served the nation as Commissioner of the FHA from 2005 to 2009. He joined Radian's Board of Directors in 2012, and has notified the company that he intends to officially resign his board duties upon U.S. Senate ratification and confirmation of his appointment.

06:37 EDT Meritor agrees to sell interest in Meritor WABCO JV to Wabco for $250M - Meritor (MTOR) announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell its interest in the Meritor WABCO joint venture with Wabco Holdings (WBC) to Wabco. The total purchase price for the sale is $250M, and Meritor will also receive a final partnership distribution immediately prior to the closing. The transaction is expected to close on Oct. 1, 2017. Following the closing, Meritor will continue to provide sales, service and training to Meritor WABCO customers through its DriveForce team for up to two years, and call center services for customer support and the processing of warranty claims for a period of approximately one year. In addition, Meritor will remain the exclusive distributor of a certain range of Wabco's aftermarket products in the United States and Canada, and the non-exclusive distributor in Mexico, following the completion of the transaction through an aftermarket distribution agreement. The parties have agreed to options that allow either party to terminate, at certain points during the first three and a half years, these distribution arrangements at an exercise price of between $225M and $265M based on the earnings of the business. Meritor intends to use the proceeds from the transaction toward its M2019 strategic priorities, which include paying down debt, funding strategic investments and repurchasing additional shares. In the near term, the company intends to pay down debt through the redemption of the remaining $175M of outstanding 2021 notes.

06:34 EDT TransEnterix reports progress on Senhance FDA submission - TransEnterix announced the company has filed its response to the FDA Additional Information request related to the company's Senhance Surgical Robotic System 510(k) submission. "We are very pleased to have submitted our AI response ahead of schedule, demonstrating our team's effectiveness and our ongoing collaboration with the FDA," said Todd M. Pope, President and CEO of TransEnterix. "The submission of our response is a key step towards achieving 510(k) clearance for the Senhance, which we continue to expect in 2017."

06:32 EDT Wabco agrees to buyout of Meritor WABCO joint venture - WABCO Holdings (WBC) announced that it will further expand its commitment and operations in the commercial vehicle market in North America by taking full ownership of the Meritor WABCO joint venture. WABCO has signed an agreement to purchase Meritor (MTOR) stake in the joint venture business. WABCO's purchase price is $250M. The transaction is expected to close on October 1, 2017 and immediately prior to closing, Meritor will receive a final closing partnership distribution. Meritor WABCO, employing approximately 200 persons, is headquartered in Troy, Michigan, U.S.A. and had sales of $300M in fiscal year 2016. It currently sells and distributes a range of WABCO's leading safety and efficiency technologies for commercial vehicles in North America. With this agreement, WABCO will take over the former joint venture's application engineering and supply chain operations, including the distribution center and customer service hub in Hebron, Kentucky. In addition, WABCO will continue to have exclusive access to a winter test track in Sault St. Marie, Michigan, and joint access to a year-round test track in East Liberty, Ohio to support local customers. Following closure of the buyout, WABCO has agreed for Meritor to continue to be its exclusive distributor for a certain range of WABCO's Aftermarket products in the U.S. and Canada, and its non-exclusive distributor in Mexico. In connection with the purchase transaction, both parties have the option to terminate the distribution arrangements at certain points during the first three and half years, for an exercise price between $225M-$265M based on the earnings of the business.

06:28 EDT Orbital ATK up 20.2% following announcement of acquisition by Northrop Grumman

06:17 EDT Northrop Grumman to acquire Orbital ATK for $7.8B in cash, assumes $1.4B in debt

06:06 EDT Soligenix announces $1.5M NCI SBIR grant award - Soligenix announced that the National Cancer Institute, or NCI, part of the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, has awarded Soligenix a Small Business Innovation Research, or SBIR, grant of approximately $1.5M over two years to support the conduct of its pivotal, Phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study evaluating SGX301 as a treatment for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.

06:04 EDT Trian issues letter to Procter & Gamble shareholders, urges vote for Peltz - Trian Fund Management, whose investment funds beneficially own approximately $3.5B of shares of The Procter & Gamble Company, mailed a letter to its fellow shareholders addressing key questions that all shareholders should be asking before voting at P&G's annual meeting on October 10. Trian has been listening to the concerns of its fellow shareholders about P&G and its latest letter addresses important questions about the Company's chronic underperformance, the Board's responsibilities to shareholders, Nelson Peltz's role as a director and the potential impact Trian's initiatives could have on Cincinnati. Most importantly, however, this letter highlights the troubling reality that the Company's Board not only accepts underperformance but rewards management for it, and is now forcing shareholders to subsidize efforts to prevent a qualified and independent investor from effectively spurring change in the boardroom. Trian urges all of its fellow shareholders to help revitalize P&G and to vote "FOR" Nelson Peltz on the WHITE Proxy Card.

05:46 EDT Nokia receives decision in patent license arbitration with LG Electronics - The International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce has issued its award for the binding arbitration between Nokia and LG Electronics. The companies had previously agreed that this would settle the royalty payment obligations for the royalty-bearing smartphone patent license from Nokia Technologies announced in June 2015. While details of the arbitration award and license agreement remain confidential, Nokia will follow its existing practices for disclosing patent licensing revenue in its quarterly announcements and expects that revenue for the agreement will be recognized in the third quarter of 2017, including an element of non-recurring catch-up revenue, with additional revenues expected during the term of the agreement.

05:42 EDT Duke Energy Florida announces 99% of customers power restored in 21 counties - Duke Energy Florida announced: "More than 99% of Irma-related outages will be restored in the following counties: Bay, Brevard, Columbia, Dixie, Flagler, Franklin, Gilchrist, Gulf, Hamilton, Hillsborough, Jefferson, Lafayette, Leon, Madison, Orange, excluding the northern Orange and Lake County border, Osceola, Pasco, Pinellas, Suwannee, Taylor and Wakulla. We will continue to work on isolated and scattered outages until all customers are restored. We will continue to work on isolated and scattered outages until all customers are restored." Duke Energy said its automated outage management system, or OMS, was returning to service, enabling more accurate restoration information and assisting in speeding up final restoration work for outages that exist after nearly 1.3M customers lost power from Hurricane Irma.