Stockwinners Market Radar for October 09, 2017 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

18:01 EDT Celanese to raise prices of acetate products across Asia - Celanese will increase list and off-list selling prices for the following products: ethyl acetate, butyl acetate, acetic acid, and acetic anhydride. The price increases will be effective immediately, or as contracts otherwise allow, and are incremental to previously announced increases.

17:49 EDT Apache sees Q3 North American production 206,000-208,000 BOE/d - Apache now expects its North American production volumes to be in the range of 206 to 208 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day for the 3rd quarter and 218 to 224 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day for the 4th quarter. The vast majority of these volume reductions consist of the deferral of natural gas. Information is from a company investor presentation.

17:20 EDT On The Fly: After Hours Movers - HIGHER: Ichor Holdings (ICHR), up 5.9% after it entered into an agreement to produced liquid delivery systems for a "key customer"... Leidos (LDOS), up 3.2% after it won a contract to provide IT services in support of the Social Security Administration Agency Strategic Plan... Campbell Soup (CPB), up 2.6% after it named Francisco Fraga chief technology and information officer. LOWER: Imperva (IMPV), down 7.9% after Aaron Kuan was named interim CFO, replacing Terry Schmid, who resigned from the role on October 3... Chesapeake (CHK), down 1.2% after the stock was downgraded to Underperform from Hold at Jefferies... AIG (AIG), down 0.9% after it said it estimates $2.9B-$3.1B in pre-tax catastrophe losses in the third quarter.

16:54 EDT Campbell Soup names Francisco Fraga Chief Technology and Information Officer - Campbell Soup Company (CPB) appointed Francisco Fraga Vice President and Chief Technology and Information Officer. In this role, Fraga will oversee Global Information Technology for Campbell, building a world-class IT function that delivers value to the business. Fraga reports to Bethmara Kessler, Senior Vice President, Integrated Global Services. Fraga joins Campbell from The Procter & Gamble Company (PG), where he spent 21 years in various leadership roles. Most recently, he led enterprise-wide IT services as IT Global Chief Technology Officer.

16:31 EDT Franklin Resources reports preliminary AUM $753.2B as of September 30 - Compared to $747.4B at August 31. The increase in assets under management was due to net market gains that more than offset modest net outflows. Preliminary average assets under management for the quarter ended September 30 were $749B.

16:21 EDT Pzena Investment reports preliminary AUM $35.4B as of September 30 - Up from $34.1B as of August 31, and $27.4B as of September 30, 2016.

16:19 EDT Leidos to support SSA under prime IT support services contract - Leidos will support the Social Security Administration, SSA, under a prime contract to provide information technology services in support of the SSA Agency Strategic Plan. The multiple-award indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract has up to a ten year period of performance, should all option periods be exercised, with a total contract ceiling of $2.3B. The contract was originally pursued by and awarded to Lockheed Martin's Information Systems & Global Solutions business, now a part of Leidos following the August 2016 merger. Work will be performed in Baltimore, Md.

16:17 EDT AIG sees $2.9B-$3.1B in pre-tax catastrophe losses in Q3 - American International Group announced it currently expects to report third quarter 2017 pre-tax catastrophe losses net of reinsurance of $2.9B-$3.1B, or $1.9B-$2B after-tax. This amount includes pre-tax estimated losses of $1.1B-$1.2B from Hurricane Harvey, $1B-$1.1B from Hurricane Irma, $600M-$700M from Hurricane Maria, and approximately $150M in additional catastrophe losses including Mexico earthquakes. This preliminary estimate involves the exercise of considerable judgment. Due to the complexity of factors contributing to the losses, there can be no assurance that AIG's ultimate losses associated with these events will not differ from this estimate, perhaps materially.

16:16 EDT Paycom CIO Kerber resigns, cites personal reasnos - Paycom Software announced the departure of William X. Kerber III, Paycom's chief information officer, effective immediately. Due to personal reasons, Kerber has decided to step down from his responsibilities at Paycom to focus on his family. Two of Paycom's senior technology leaders, Brad Smith and Shane Hadlock, will work together to assume Kerber's responsibilities until his successor is named. Smith, Paycom's Director of Software Development, has over 12 years of service with the company, while Hadlock, Paycom's Director of Information Technology, has served in his capacity for the last five years.

16:10 EDT Ocean Rig UDW announces discharge of joint provisional liquidators - Ocean Rig UDW announced that the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands has issued an order discharging Simon Appell of AlixPartners Services UK and Eleanor Fisher of Kalo as joint provisional liquidators of the company and its subsidiaries, Drill Rigs Holdings, Drillships Financing Holding, and Drillships Ocean Ventures, effective as of October 18.

16:07 EDT QIAGEN, CENTOGENE to collaborate in bioinformatics for genetic diseases - QIAGEN and CENTOGENE AG announced a collaboration and co-marketing agreement to provide customers more complete Sample to Insight research and clinical testing solutions in rare genetic diseases. CENTOGENE is a leading rare disease company providing insights into the complex interaction between genetics, biochemistry and clinical phenotypes of patients with hereditary disorders. More than 4,000 known genetic disorders are estimated to affect roughly 1 in 10 individuals.

16:07 EDT Ichor enters agreement to produce liquid delivery systems for 'key customer' - Ichor Holdings announced that the company has entered into a substantial agreement to produce liquid delivery systems for one of its "key customers." The agreement provides for design and manufacturing of Ichor's proprietary Liquid Delivery Systems to be integrated with semiconductor process equipment for one of Ichor's key customers. "These systems incorporate our unique design which reduces the footprint required on our customer's equipment and significantly reduces the cost," said Phil Barros, Chief Technology Officer for Ichor. "We are excited to enter into this relationship and look forward to expanding into other applications with this customer as well as other customers who have expressed interest in our technology."

16:03 EDT FDA accepts supplemental biologics license application for Prolia - Amgen announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted for review the supplemental Biologics License Application, sBLA, for Prolia for the treatment of patients with glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis, GIOP. The sBLA, which was submitted on July 28, is based on a Phase 3 study evaluating Prolia compared with risedronate in patients receiving glucocorticoid treatment. The FDA has set a Prescription Drug User Fee Act action date of May 28, 2018. Glucocorticoid medications, which are used to treat many inflammatory conditions, can cause significant side effects, including bone loss. GIOP is the most common form of secondary osteoporosis1, and it is estimated that one percent of the U.S. population is treated long-term with glucocorticoid medications.2 Within the first three months of beginning glucocorticoid treatment, fracture risk increases by up to 75 percent, with bone mineral density continuing to decline significantly in the months that follow.3 "We believe that Prolia can address a critical treatment need for patients with glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis, which is the most common drug-induced form of the disease," said Sean E. Harper, M.D., executive vice president of Research and Development at Amgen. "We will continue to work closely with the FDA as they review our application and look forward to expanding Prolia's benefits to patients with this serious condition that is often underestimated and untreated."

14:40 EDT Flexion CEO declines comment on takeover speculation - Flexion Therapeutics CEO Michael Clayman, while speaking on CNBC, said he won't comment as a matter of corporate policy when asked if his company has been approached about a takeover. The shares in afternoon trading are down 5% to $28.42.

13:56 EDT Medical Transcription Billing jumps after repaying term debt - Earlier today, MTBC reported certain initial highlights of the company's financial achievements during the third quarter of 2017. "The third quarter of 2017 was an important inflection point for MTBC and we believe that we are now as well positioned as we've ever been," said Bill Korn, MTBC's CFO. "While we will officially report our financial results on November 6, after our independent accountants review our financial statements for the third quarter, we wanted to provide some initial highlights of key accomplishments." "During the third quarter of 2017, we repaid all of our outstanding term debt and also fully satisfied our MediGain acquisition debt," said Mr. Korn. The details of the debt repayment are as follows: MTBC fully repaid the balance of its $8M term loans from Opus Bank, which had outstanding balances of approximately $7.3M as of January 1, almost two years ahead of maturity. On September 28, MTBC paid Prudential $5.3 million, which represented payment-in-full for the balance of the consideration owed for MTBC's MediGain transaction. Korn further explained, "We sold approximately $7.9M of additional non-convertible Series A Preferred Stock, enabling us to repay these debts without diluting our common stockholders. Our last tranche closed on September 28 and was oversubscribed even after being upsized. The monthly dividends on our preferred stock are less than the monthly principal repayments we were making to Opus Bank until we repaid the term loans in September." "As a result of the success of our growth strategy and acquisition integration efforts, we are pleased to report that our revenues have exceeded cash operating expenses since May 2017. On September 30, 2017, MTBC had approximately $2.7M of cash and $2M drawn on our revolver. We are in the process of initiating a new revolving line of credit with a bank that is very strong in healthcare and technology, which will leave us well-positioned for growth," explained Mr. Korn. Shares of MTBC are up around 7% to $2.97 per share in afternoon trading.

13:39 EDT Helix Energy jumps 7% after report of exploring alternatives

13:02 EDT Scripps Network to develop premium lifestyle shows for Facebook Watch - Scripps Networks Interactive (SNI) announced it will develop premium lifestyle shows for Watch, a new platform for mid-form video on Facebook (FB), as well as its featured Spotlight section. The company's digital production division, Scripps Lifestyle Studios, will produce shows inspired by popular Food Network, HGTV, and Travel Channel content, as well as shows created exclusively for Facebook. "This partnership with Facebook is a great complement to our efforts to engage passionate fans with compelling, premium content on every platform," said Henry Ahn, President of Content Distribution and Marketing for Scripps Networks Interactive.

12:07 EDT Steel stocks fall after Bloomberg says scrap metal prices settled lower - Shares of steel stocks and iron ore mining companies are all lower after Bloomberg reported earlier that scrap prices settled lower. Bloomberg, citing an email from Credit Suisse analyst Curt Woodworth, said that "the scrap settlement was finalized with obsolete down $30 a ton and prime down $40 a ton." Shares of U.S. Steel (X), Nucor (NUE), AK Steel (AKS), Worthington (WOR), Reliance (RS), Schnitzer Steel (SCHN), Commercial Metals (CMC), Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) and Vale (VALE) are all lower in midday trading. U.S. Steel is down almost 4% to $25.08 in morning trading, with Nucor down 1.6% to $55.24. AK Steel is down 3.5% to $5.39 per share in midday trading.

11:16 EDT InspireMD announces start of patient enrollment - InspireMD announced the start of patient enrollment in an investigator initiated trial in Russia, entitled: Independent Randomized Trial in Carotid Artery Revascularization Comparing the Stent Versus CGuard EPS. The objective of the trial is to assess the neuro protection and clinical superiority of the minimally invasive interventional procedure with the CGuard EPS versus Abbott's RX ACCULINK Carotid Stent in subjects at high risk for Carotid Endarterectomy, a surgical procedure.

11:03 EDT Lockheed Martin announces $337M in orders to supply Apache sensor systems - Lockheed Martin announced it has received $337M in orders to supply Apache Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor systems and services to the United States, United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The awards are part of an initial task order under a new indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract signed with the U.S. Army. The ID/IQ, with at least $2B in potential orders and a five-year period of performance, serves as the contracting vehicle to provide M-TADS/PNVS systems and services to U.S. and international customers.

10:44 EDT RBC calls Disney a top pick as 'least media stock in media sector' - Shares of Walt Disney (DIS) are on the rise after RBC Capital analyst Steven Cahall upgraded the stock to Top Pick on improved visibility and his belief the company has reached a turning point. The analyst sees the "non-Media" parts of Disney taking over the story, which provides potential for the market to reconsider the stock, he contends. TOP PICK: In a research note to investors this morning, RBC Capital's Steven Cahall upgraded Disney to Top Pick from Outperform on improved visibility, saying it is now primarily a "unique global content" company with clear strategic direction. Further, the analyst argued that the upside/downside should be primarily on execution, where Disney has excelled. The company has reached a turning point with ESPN approaching less than 20% of earnings and "non-Media" Disney remaining a global leader in content that is executing well, he contended. At a time when investors are worried about ad and affiliate trends, Cahall noted that Disney is "the least media stock in the media sector" and its non-Media earnings and direct-to-consumer approach give the stock potential for a rerating. Moreover, while the risk of subscriber declines has not vanished, the analyst pointed out that he thinks Media increasingly takes a back seat to the company's ability to deliver at Studio and Parks. The analyst also argued that investors will need to wait a few years to truly measure the direct-to-consumer strategy's success, but the addressable market for Disney's direct-to-consumer service is "potentially massive." Cahall trimmed his full year 2018 and 2019 earnings estimates for Disney, and lowered his price target on the shares to $125 from $130. DISNEY BETTING ON BAMTECH: Disney's announced subscription streaming services are both being built by BamTech, which grew out of Major Baseball Advanced Media and that has since developed technology that attracted outside clients, according to The New York Times. While there seems to be some sniping about how much Disney paid for BamTech, Disney contends that a big part of its value has been overlooked, the publication noted. "That's going to be a massive business, and BamTech is going to be a massive winner in it," Kevin Mayer, Disney's chief strategist, said in an interview. WHAT'S NOTABLE: Disney CEO Bob Iger has said about the company's streaming plans that the company is "going to launch big, and we're going to launch hot," the Times report on Disney's BamTech bet noted. Before settling on the BamTech deal, Disney had experimented with building a streaming platform on its own and "toyed with the idea" of buying Twitter (TWTR), the report also noted. PRICE ACTION: In morning trading, shares of Disney have gained about 1% to $100.90. Reference Link

09:28 EDT American Tower announces information on Tata Teleservices business - American Tower Corporation released information about its business in light of press reports regarding Tata Teleservices in India. For the quarter ended June 30, Tata Teleservices accounted for approximately $80M, or 5% of American Tower's consolidated property revenues, including approximately $32M of pass-through revenue. In addition, Tata Teleservices accounted for approximately $40M in gross margin for the quarter ended June 30. As of September 30, the average remaining non-cancellable contract term with Tata Teleservices was in excess of 6 years. More than 90% of the revenue and gross margin outlined above was generated on sites acquired as part of the Viom Networks transaction completed in April of 2016. American Tower Corporation holds a 51% controlling interest in Viom while Tata Teleservices and Tata Sons Limited hold approximately 33% and 2% minority interests, respectively. American Tower expects to fully enforce the average non-cancelable remaining contract terms on the leases with Tata Teleservices as well as the other contractual provisions included in the Viom transaction.

09:19 EDT General Motors announces acquisition of LIDAR technology company Strobe - General Motors announced it acquired LIDAR technology company Strobe. As part of the deal, Strobe's engineering talent joins GM's Cruise Automation team to define and develop next-generation LIDAR solutions for self-driving vehicles. "Strobe's LIDAR technology will significantly improve the cost and capabilities of our vehicles so that we can more quickly accomplish our mission to deploy driverless vehicles at scale," said Kyle Vogt, Founder and CEO, Cruise Automation.

09:16 EDT On The Fly: Pre-market Movers - HIGHER: OneMain (OMF), up 11.6% after the Wall Street Journal reported that the company is in advanced takeover discussions... Mazor Robotics (MZOR), up 8% after providing third quarter guidance... Flexion (FLXN), up 1.8% after it said that Zilretta received FDA approval. LOWER: General Electric (GE), down 1.1% after announcing the retirement of Robert Lane from the board and the election of Ed Garden, Chief Investment Officer and a Founding Partner of Trian Fund Management to the board... Medtronic (MDT), down 3.1% after being downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo... PTC Therapeutics (PTCT), down 8.2% after being downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan... Viacom (VIA, VIAB), down 3.1% after being downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Citi.

09:08 EDT Seven Stars Cloud Group CEO Bing Yang to resign, Bruno Wu to succeed - Seven Stars Cloud Group announced several management and Board of Director changes that will be effective immediately: Robert Benya will join the company as President & Chief Revenue Officer as well as a member of the Board of Directors. Benya is a highly distinguished media executive with over 35 years of experience who has pioneered numerous businesses and product innovations in the U.S. and Scandinavian cable television industries. In addition, Bruno Wu will continue in his role as Chairman and become the company's next CEO, succeeding Bing Yang, who currently serves as President & CEO. Yang will resign from both the CEO and Director positions immediately, but will remain with the company in an advisory role until the end of 2017 in order to complete a smooth transition. Yang will then return to Bruno Wu's Sun Seven Stars Media Group in 2018. Finally, Director Sean Wang has resigned from SSC's Board of Directors, but will remain in an advisory role with the company until the end of 2017. At that point, Wang will return to Sun Seven Stars Media Group's investment division.

09:05 EDT Radcom announces new NFV contract with leading top tier operator - Radcom announced that after a successful proof of concept with a world-leading top tier operator, it has signed a new Network Functions Virtualization contract for its fully virtualized, cloud-native MaveriQ solution. The NFV contract covers assurance for a virtualized network domain and provides a framework for additional orders by the operator.

09:04 EDT Honeywell launches Connected Aircraft software updates for GoDirect - Honeywell (HON) has unveiled new Connected Aircraft software updates for its GoDirect Cabin Connectivity suite of services, giving operators and ground crew better visibility into data use through real-time updates, sophisticated data traffic management tools, consultation services and additional billing options. Services offered via GoDirect Access, GoDirect Filter, GoDirect Data Control and GoDirect Network can generate savings of up to $100,000 per year, per aircraft. Operators can access GoDirect Cabin Connectivity apps and services through Apple's (AAPL) App Store, making implementation of the services quick and easy.

09:01 EDT Qualcomm signs 3G/4G patent license agreement with General Mobile - Qualcomm (QCOM) and General Mobile announced they have entered into a 3G and 4G patent license agreement. Under the terms of this agreement, Qualcomm has granted General Mobile a royalty-bearing patent license to develop, manufacture and sell 3G and 4G complete devices. With this agreement, General Mobile joins the growing list of OEMs around the world that have access to Qualcomm's leading technology. General Mobile is a leading Turkish and regional smartphone brand, and partner of Google's (GOOG, GOOGL) Android One program, bringing high quality Android smartphones to Turkey and other markets around the world. Following the global success of General Mobile's GM 4G Android One and GM 5 Plus Android One, the company has expanded its portfolio offering to consumers in over 35 different countries. With today's agreement, General Mobile can further the success of their existing product portfolio, utilizing Qualcomm's advanced technologies to foster innovation, develop new 4G/LTE-A devices, and strengthen the mobile ecosystem in Turkey.

08:51 EDT TherapeuticsMD sees Nasdaq move bringing up to 6M shares of buying - TherapeuticsMD CEO Robert Finizio, while speaking this morning on CNBC, said his company's move to the Nasdaq from New York Stock Exchange should bring an additional 4M-6M shares of buying due to indexing. Finizio referenced Nasdaq being home to the Biotechnology Index (NBI). TherapeuticsMD is trading up 25c to $5.25 in premarket trading.

08:36 EDT United Technologies names Judy Marks as President of Otis - United Technologies (UTX) has named Judy Marks as President of Otis. Marks joins UTC from Siemens (SIEGY), where she serves as CEO of Siemens USA and as CEO of Dresser-Rand, a Siemens business. She will report to UTC Chairman and CEO Greg Hayes and serve on the company's senior leadership team.

08:34 EDT Amyris appoints Eduardo Alvarez as COO - Amyris announced that Eduardo Alvarez joined Amyris as COO, subject to approval by the company's board in its upcoming quarterly meeting. This new position has been created to support the continued strong revenue growth of Amyris's business. Alvarez reports to John Melo, Amyris President and CEO. Previously, he served as Global Operations Strategy Leader for PwC. During his tenure, he co-led the integration of his prior company, Booz & Company, following its acquisition by PwC.

08:32 EDT Theravance Biopharma announces 'positive' new data on VIBATIV - Theravance Biopharma announced that positive new data from multiple studies of VIBATIV were presented at IDWeek 2017, which was held in San Diego, CA on October 4 - 8, 2017. Two presentations were made reporting preliminary new data from the ongoing Telavancin Observational Use Registry study, which is designed to report how VIBATIV is being used by healthcare practitioners to treat patients in real-world clinical settings. The presented findings, which focus on data from registry patients with diagnoses of bone and joint infections, bacteremia and/or infective endocarditis, report positive clinical responses for VIBATIV treatment ranging from 64.9% to 72.6% in each of these infection types. Positive clinical response was defined as cure or improvement leading to step-down oral therapy. The Company plans to present additional collections of data from the ongoing TOUR study at appropriate upcoming scientific conferences. The TOUR findings reported at IDWeek are based on a review of preliminary data collected from the fully enrolled registry of 1,059 patients. The Company expects future TOUR analyses to be updated as additional data become available and the study is completed.

08:05 EDT Regulators approve proposed Oceanwide acquisition of Genworth companies - Genworth Financial and China Oceanwide Holdings Group Co. announced that the South Carolina Department of Insurance has approved the proposed acquisition of control by Oceanwide of Genworth's South Carolina-domiciled special purpose financial captive insurance subsidiary, Rivermont Life Insurance Company I, as contemplated under the merger agreement entered into by Genworth and Oceanwide on Oct. 21, 2016. The South Carolina Department of Insurance's approval is conditioned on the continued protection of, and limited access to, certain personally identifiable information held by Genworth. In addition to approval by the South Carolina Department of Insurance, Genworth and Oceanwide, previously received approval from the Vermont Insurance Division. The Vermont Insurance Division approved the proposed acquisition of control by Oceanwide of Genworth's Vermont-domiciled special purpose financial captive insurance subsidiaries. Although Genworth and Oceanwide have received approvals from the North Carolina Department of Insurance, South Carolina Department of Insurance, Vermont Insurance Division and the Virginia Bureau of Insurance, the closing of the proposed merger transaction also remains subject to other conditions, including clearance by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and receipt of other required regulatory approvals in the U.S., China and other international jurisdictions.

08:03 EDT Splunk acquires assets from Rocana, terms not disclosed - Splunk announced it has acquired selected assets of Rocana, a privately held technology company offering analytics solutions for the IT market. Under the terms of the agreement, Splunk has acquired the technology and intellectual property assets of Rocana for an undisclosed amount. A number of technical employees from Rocana will also be joining Splunk as part of the transaction, which was funded with cash from Splunk's balance sheet. Splunk will leverage Rocana's technology and team to advance its market-leading machine data platform and machine learning capabilities across Splunk's product portfolio.

08:03 EDT Cummins, GILLIG announce electrified power partnership - GILLIG LLC and Cummins announced their electrified power partnership at the APTA public transportation show taking place in Atlanta. The technical collaboration work focuses on integrating and optimizing new battery electric technology from Cummins that will soon power GILLIG zero-emissions transit buses.

08:02 EDT Trovagene: FDA grants orphan drug designation to PCM-075 - Trovagene announced that the U.S. FDA granted an orphan drug designation to PCM-075 for the treatment of patients with acute myeloid leukemia on September 28. PCM-075 is an oral, highly-selective adenosine triphosphate competitive inhibitor of the serine/threonine Polo-like Kinase 1 enzyme, which appears to be over expressed in several different hematologic malignancies and solid tumor cancers. Trovagene is initiating a Phase 1b/2 open-label trial to evaluate the safety and anti-leukemic activity of PCM-075 in combination with standard-of-care in patients with AML, at ten research sites across the U.S., led by Hematologist Dr. Jorge Cortes, Deputy Department Chair, Department of Leukemia, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

07:48 EDT MiMedx increases share repurchase program by $10M - MiMedx announced the decision of its Board of Directors to authorize a $10M increase in the Company's Share Repurchase Program. This action by the MiMedx Board of Directors authorizing the additional $10M to the Company's Share Repurchase Program brings the total authorized to $110M since the Share Repurchase Program commenced in May 2014. The Company reported that in light of the short seller attacks and its strong balance sheet and cash flows, the MiMedx Board of Directors believes the stock repurchases continue to be an extremely positive investment for MiMedx. The Board also agreed to review this program again at its scheduled meeting on October 26, and to consider an additional commitment at that time.

07:32 EDT Sensus Healthcare announces abstract on treatment of Keloids with SRT - Sensus Healthcare announces that at the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery annual meeting, which took place October 5th-8th in Chicago, an abstract was presented illustrating the low recurrence rate of keloids post keloidectomy with a biological effective dose 30 (BED 30) of SRT. Recurrences of keloids at sites of previously excised keloids are notorious in that approximately 71% of cases recur following a keloid excision alone. In comparison, the abstract reports a significantly lower keloid recurrence rate, less than 2%, when combining keloidectomy and excision site treatment with SRT (BED 30).

07:10 EDT AstraZeneca reports EMA accepts marketing authorization application for Imfinzi - AstraZeneca, along with MedImmune, its global biologics research and development arm, has announced that the European Medicines Agency has accepted a Marketing Authorization Application for Imfinzi for the treatment of patients with locally-advanced, unresectable non-small cell lung cancer whose disease has not progressed following platinum-based chemoradiation therapy. This is the first registrational submission for Imfinzi in the European Union, the company noted.

07:07 EDT ITG reports September trading volume 2.6B shares - ITG announced that September U.S. trading volume was 2.6B shares and average daily volume was 130M shares, compared to 2.7B shares and ADV of 117M shares in August 2017 and 2.7 billion shares and ADV of 128M shares in September 2016. There were 20 trading days in September 2017, 23 trading days in August 2017 and 21 trading days in September 2016

07:06 EDT Lockheed Martin, Fincantieri Marinette Marine awarded U.S. Navy contract - The U.S. Navy awarded the Lockheed Martin and Fincantieri Marinette Marine team a contract to build an additional LCS. The contract value is under the 2017 congressional cost cap of $584M per ship. LCS 27 will be built at Fincantieri Marinette Marine, the Midwest's only naval shipyard, and is the 14th Freedom-variant LCS ordered by the U.S. Navy to date. The Lockheed Martin and Fincantieri Marinette Marine team is currently in full-rate production of the Freedom-variant, and has delivered five ships to the U.S. Navy to date, including the future USS Little Rock which was delivered to the U.S. Navy on Sept. 25. There are seven ships in various stages of construction at Fincantieri Marinette Marine, with two more in long-lead production.

07:05 EDT Greenhill & Co. announces revised terms for recapitalization, share repurchase - Greenhill & Co. announced revised plans for a leveraged recapitalization to put in place a capital structure designed to enhance long term shareholder value in the context of its current equity valuation, current tax rates and current opportunities in the credit market. The plan is intended to reduce taxes, increase earnings per share and increase employee alignment with shareholders, while offering those wishing to monetize their shares a significant opportunity for liquidity at a premium to the current share price. The previously announced Term Loan B financing has been upsized to $350M from $300M and has been allocated to lenders. The TLB, which has a 5 year term and carries a borrowing rate of LIBOR + 375 basis points, is expected to close and be funded this week. The facility will also include a $20M revolving credit facility, as previously announced. The net proceeds from the TLB financing will be used to repay all of the Firm's existing bank debt and help fund the repurchase of up to $285M of shares. The terms of the previously announced tender offer that will begin the implementation of the repurchase plan will shortly be amended to expand the tender offer to 12M shares (up from 9M) at a purchase price of $17.25 (up from $17.00). The amended tender offer price represents a 20% premium to the closing market price immediately prior to announcement of the Firm's recapitalization and repurchase plan. The expiration date of the tender offer, October 25, is not changed by the amendment. The previously announced $10M purchases of newly issued common stock by each of the Firm's Chairman and its CEO will be completed shortly after completion of the amended tender offer, at the tender offer price. Following completion of the tender offer and the 10 business day period provided by the tender offer rules, the remainder of the $285M share repurchase program is expected to be implemented through open market purchases or other means. The price and timing of share repurchases, as well as the total funds ultimately expended, will be subject to market conditions and other factors, such as the Firm's results of operations, financial position and capital requirements, general business conditions, legal, tax and regulatory constraints or restrictions, any contractual restrictions and other factors deemed relevant. Once the $285M share repurchase program is completed, the Firm expects to refrain from share repurchases, although it expects to continue to make repurchases of share equivalents through tax withholding on vesting RSUs, for a period of time in order to focus cash flow on debt repayment. As previously announced, in order to improve tax efficiency and accelerate the future repayment of debt, the Firm expects to substantially reduce or eliminate its quarterly dividend.

07:02 EDT Garmin announces GHD system continues progress on Cessna Citation Longitude - Garmin International announced the Garmin Head-up Display for super-midsize business aircraft continues to make progress with flight testing and certification on the Cessna Citation Longitude in conjunction with the G5000 integrated flight deck. The GHD system incorporates modern optical design within a single display unit, projecting a crisp, clear view of pertinent flight information while also offering superior integration with Garmin integrated flight decks. Garmin will also feature a state-of-the-art, fully functional HUD at the Garmin exhibit at the National Business Aviation Association Convention & Exhibition in Las Vegas, Nevada, October 10-12, which will allow customers to interact with and experience the GHD first-hand.

06:58 EDT Fluor awarded contract for propylene oxide, tertiary butyl alcohol plant - Fluor (FLR) announced that it was selected by LyondellBasell (LYB) to perform the engineering and procurement for its propylene oxide and tertiary butyl alcohol project located at its Channelview and Bayport complexes outside of Houston. Fluor booked the undisclosed contract value into backlog in the third quarter of 2017. The project represents the single-largest capital investment in LyondellBasell's history. When completed, the plant will produce 1B pounds per year of PO and 2.2B pounds per year of TBA. At the peak of construction, the project is expected to create up to 2,500 jobs and approximately 160 permanent positions when operational.

06:46 EDT Cleantech Solutions enters into exclusivity agreement with Inspirit Studio - Cleantech Solutions announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Sharing Economy Investment, or SEI, has entered into an exclusivity agreement with Inspirit Studio, regarding a potential acquisition by SEI of not less than 51% of Inspirit Studio. According to iimediaResearch, the number of users participating in the peer-to-peer delivery sharing market in China has grown from 124 million in 2014 to 231 million in 2016, and experts expect it to grow to 353 million by 2018. Approximately 1.4 billion transactions were recorded in the first quarter of 2017.

06:37 EDT Magellan Health receives regulatory approvals to acquire Senior Whole Health - Magellan Health announced that it has received all necessary regulatory approvals regarding its agreement to acquire Senior Whole Health, a healthcare company focused on serving complex, high-risk populations, providing both Medicare and Medicaid dual-eligible benefits to more than 22,000 members in Massachusetts and New York. Magellan now expects closing on or before December 31.

06:34 EDT ChromaDex names Kevin Farr as new CFO, effective immediately - ChromaDex (CDXC) announced that it has appointed Kevin Farr as new CFO, effective immediately. Farr is joining ChromaDex from Mattel (MAT), where he was Executive Vice President and CFO since 2000. Farr brings extensive global experience in building iconic consumer brands, including American Girl, Barbie, Fisher-Price, Hot Wheels and Thomas & Friends. ChromaDex expects that Thomas Varvaro will transition from ChromaDex over the coming months to pursue other opportunities. During this transition, he will take on the role of Senior Vice President, Finance and will report to Kevin Farr.

06:32 EDT Mallinckrodt will conduct Phase 4 trial of H.P Acthar Gel - Mallinckrodt announced it will conduct a new Phase 4, multi-center, randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled study to further assess the efficacy of H.P. Acthar Gel as a therapy option in patients with symptomatic sarcoidosis, one of 19 indications approved by the FDA.

06:01 EDT Inseego, Undagrid announce global strategic partenrship - Inseego and Undagrid announced a global strategic partnership. This cooperation leverages both companies' comprehensive know-how of asset information systems throughout aviation markets, providing owners of assets across airports the most complete asset utilization solution. The solution allows the companies within the airport industry to make smarter decisions, faster than ever before. With the partnership, Ctrack, the market leading asset tracking SaaS platform, and Undagrid, that is currently connecting leading airports around the world, will seamlessly connect to enable an entirely new level of asset visibility throughout the airport infrastructure. This partnership has already won a large project at Amsterdam airport with KLM, and additional projects in Germany, Hong Kong and Scandinavia.

05:29 EDT Microsoft, GE sign agreement on new wind project in Ireland - Microsoft (MSFT) announced a new wind energy agreement in Ireland. With the agreement, Microsoft will become one of the first multinational technology companies to support a new wind project in Ireland. Microsoft is entering into a 15-year power purchase agreement with General Electric (GE) to purchase 100% of the wind energy from its new, 37-megawatt Tullahennel wind farm in County Kerry, Ireland. The agreement will help support the growing demand for Microsoft Cloud services from Ireland. As part of the deal, Microsoft also signed an agreement with Dublin-based energy trading company ElectroRoute; it will provide energy trading services to Microsoft. In addition to producing energy, the project will produce valuable data on energy storage. Each turbine will have an integrated battery; Microsoft and GE will test how these batteries can be used to capture and store excess energy, and then provide it back to the grid as needed. This provides more predictable power to an increasingly green Irish grid, by smoothing out peaks and valleys in wind production. This will better enable intermittent clean power sources like wind energy to be added to the Irish grid. This will be the first deployment of battery integration into wind turbines to store energy in Europe.

05:24 EDT Walmart announces Mobile Express Returns - Walmart is focusing its attention on returns, with the introduction of Mobile Express Returns - an innovative, industry-first experience that combines Walmart's more than 4,700 locations with the Walmart app to make returning an item fast, easy - and maybe even a little enjoyable. The new simplified returns process will be available starting in early November for items sold and shipped by Walmart.com, followed by store purchases in early 2018. Walmart is also working to create a similar streamlined returns process for items sold by third-party sellers on Walmart.com. Using Mobile Express Returns, customers can complete the returns process in just two simple steps: 1. Initiate the Return: Using the Walmart App, select the Walmart transaction and items to return and follow the prompts to start the return process. 2. Finish the Return at the Store: At the store, fast-track through the line via the Mobile Express Lane at the Customer Service Desk. Scan the QR code displayed on the card reader with the Walmart app, and then hand the item to the associate.

05:09 EDT GSA confirms up to $980.21M contract award for SAIC - The General Services Administration confirmed Friday that the Battlefield Systems Engineering Services contract was competitively awarded to SAIC for a not-to-exceed amount of $980.21M with a period of performance of three years. Reference Link