Stockwinners Market Radar for October 03, 2018 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

20:53 EDT Steelcase sees medium term organic revenue growth of 5%-7% - Sees EPS growth of 2-times the rate of organic revenue growth. Expects growing return on invested capital, strong balance sheet, and stable dividend. Comments from the company's Analyst Day earlier today. Reference Link

19:03 EDT Fly Intel: After Hours Movers - UP AFTER EARNINGS: Resources Connection (RECN) up 18.7%. ALSO HIGHER: Hortonworks (HDP) and Cloudera (CLDR) to merge, up 25.0% and 23.5% respectively... Barnes & Noble (BKS) up 23.1% after announcing it will evaluate strategic alternatives after receiving interest in acquisition... HP Inc (HPQ) up 4.9% after providing initial FY19 guidance. DOWN AFTER EARNINGS: Rudolph Technologies (RTEC) down 14.4%... Pier1 Imports (PIR) down 8.5%... Synnex (SNX) down 6.7%. ALSO LOWER: Tilray (TLRY) down 5.0% after guiding Q3 revenue... Wildan Group (WLDN) down 1.6% after acquiring Lime Energy for $120M.

18:22 EDT LGI Homes announces 478 homes closed in September vs. 542 closed a year ago - LGI Homes announced 478 homes closed in September 2018, compared to 542 home closings in September 2017. In addition, the company announced quarterly home closings of 1,601 for the third quarter of 2018 compared to 1,729 home closings in the third quarter of 2017. The company finished the first nine months of 2018 with 4,660 home closings, a 16.5% increase over 4,001 home closings during the first nine months of 2017. As of the end of September 2018, the company had 81 active selling communities.

17:53 EDT Gilead chairman John Martin discloses sale of $3.9M in common stock - Gilead chairman John Martin disclosed in a filing that he had sold 50K shares of company stock. The total transaction value was $3.9M.

17:43 EDT Activision Blizzard names J. Allen Brack as president of Blizzard Entertainment - Activision Blizzard announced the appointment of Blizzard veteran and World of Warcraft Executive Producer J. Allen Brack as the new president of Blizzard Entertainment succeeding Mike Morhaime, who will remain a strategic advisor to the company. The company also announced the appointments of Chief Development Officer Ray Gresko and Blizzard Founder Allen Adham to Blizzard's executive leadership team. "J. has been with Blizzard for over 12 years leading the World of Warcraft team, and it takes vision, creativity and unwavering commitment to excellence to sustain a community of players the way J. has for over a decade," said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard. "J. is an inspiring leader. He has shown unwavering commitment to our community, to innovation and creative excellence and he cares deeply about ensuring the very best of Blizzard culture will be protected." "I am also excited to have Allen Adham, Blizzard's founder, who rejoined the company two years ago and Ray Gresko, Blizzard's Chief Development Officer, join Blizzard's executive leadership team. I have known both Allen and Ray for more than 25 years and they are two of the most capable entrepreneurs in the game industry. They will help make certain that inspiration and creativity remains the focus of Blizzard," said Kotick.

17:14 EDT Safran awarded $220.15M Air Force contract for remanufacture, supply - Safran has been awarded a $220.15M firm-fixed-price requirements contract for landing systems remanufacture and supply. This contract provides for a 10-year strategic remanufacture/supply for the KC-135 heat shields, main wheel, carbon brake, torque tube adjustor, assembly and piston housing. Work will be performed in Vellzyvillacoublay, France, and is expected to be complete by September 2028. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition.

17:12 EDT TransAtlantic Petroleum provides strategic alternatives update - TransAtlantic Petroleum announced the following update regarding its strategic alternatives process. During the third quarter of 2018, the company received a formal offer from N. Malone Mitchell 3rd, the company's CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors, on behalf of The Mitchell Group to acquire the entire company subject to certain conditions. The company is in discussions with Mitchell regarding the proposed offer and the parties are continuing the process to enter into a letter of intent during the fourth quarter of 2018. There is no assurance that the company will enter into a letter of intent or definitive agreement with Mitchell or any other party. The company will provide a further update at the appropriate time.

17:07 EDT HP Inc. up 4.9% afterhours following initial FY19 EPS guidance

17:02 EDT Garmin to integrate Spotify on compatible music watches - Garmin International, Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (GRMN), announces integration with Spotify (SPOT), the world's largest music streaming service, on compatible Garmin music watches. Garmin customers and Spotify Premium users with a fenix 5 Plus series watch can now store audio, enabling users to download and listen to music offline without having to take a phone along. This announcement is being made in conjunction with an exclusive media event in New York City on Oct. 3. The Spotify app is available now in the Connect IQ store for Garmin customers with a fenix 5 Plus series, Garmin's popular multisport GPS smartwatch that's built for athletes and adventures of all sizes.

16:57 EDT HP Inc. raises quarterly dividend by 15% - In fiscal 2019, the company indicated that it expects to return approximately 75% of free cash flow, with a 15% increase in the planned quarterly dividend amount, and the balance returned to shareholders through share repurchases.

16:43 EDT Granite Construction announces new reporting segments - Granite Construction announced that it will change its reportable segments. In alignment with the Company's strategic end-market diversification both organically and through recent acquisitions, these segment changes better reflect how the Company's chief operating decision maker (its Chief Executive Officer) regularly reviews financial information to allocate resources and assess performance. Starting with third quarter 2018 results that will be released on October 26, 2018, the Company's new end-market based segments will be: Transportation, Water, Specialty and Materials. The end market segments Transportation, Water and Specialty replace the Construction and Large Project Construction reportable segments with the composition of the Materials segment remaining unchanged except for the addition of certain material production activity related to the acquisition of Layne Christensen Company.

16:35 EDT Hortonworks trading resumes

16:33 EDT BWX Technologies JV awarded $850M contract extension at Portsmouth Plant - BWX Technologies announced that the Department of Energy has awarded Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, or FBP, a 30-month contract extension valued at approximately $850M. BWXT is a partner in the FBP joint venture. FBP is responsible for decontamination and decommissioning of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant. The scope of the project includes deactivation and preparation for demolition and disposal of all GDP facilities, process equipment, related process buildings and other ancillary facilities. The Portsmouth GDP operated from 1954 to 2001. Located in Pike County, Ohio, the plant occupies about 1,200 acres.The Department of Energy began its environmental cleanup program at the site in 1989, and the effort continues.

16:32 EDT FirstEnergy announces RFP to purchase SRECs, RECs for Ohio utilities - FirstEnergy announced a Request for Proposal to purchase both Ohio-compliant Solar Renewable Energy Credits and Renewable Energy Credits for its Ohio utilities - Ohio Edison, Cleveland Electric Illuminating and Toledo Edison. The purchases will help meet the utilities' 2018 renewable energy targets established under Ohio's alternative energy law.

16:31 EDT Pope Resources raises quarterly dividend 25% to $1.00 - The dividend is effective for unitholders of record on November 1, 2018 and payable on November 15, 2018.

16:24 EDT Rite Aid praises U.S. Senate for passing SUPPORT act - Rite Aid released the following statement praising the U.S. Senate for today's passage of the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act. Passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Sept. 28, a key provision aims to address the opioid epidemic by expanding eligibility for at-risk seniors to receive Medication Therapy Management counseling services from pharmacists through Medicare Part D. "Rite Aid applauds Congress for passing the 'SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act,' which will enable pharmacists to play a larger role in helping to combat the opioid crisis by providing Medication Therapy Management counseling services to at-risk seniors through Medicare Part D," the company said. "This is an important step in recognizing the value of community pharmacy in providing services beyond filling prescriptions in lowering overall healthcare costs and addressing key public health issues. We thank U.S. Representatives Mike Kelly, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Mike Doyle and Mike Thompson as well as U.S. Senators Pat Roberts and Jeanne Shaheen for their leadership on this important issue, and we encourage the President to sign this bill into law."

16:23 EDT Synnex CEO: 'We saw continued momentum in both of our business segments' - "We saw continued momentum in both of our business segments that resulted in record third quarter performance," said Dennis Polk, President and CEO, SYNNEX Corporation. "Our focus on profitable growth and leveraging the strategic investments we've made in our business drove solid margin and earnings expansion." "We are also excited about the expected close of the Convergys acquisition on October 5th. The talented and dedicated global associates of Convergys will significantly amplify Concentrix and our value proposition," Polk added. "We look forward to the growth and value that the combination of these two companies will create, and it will enhance our leadership position as a premier global customer engagement services company."

16:21 EDT Barnes & Noble jumps 19.1% after announcing formal review process

16:20 EDT Corvus Pharmaceuticals announces publication of preclinical results for CPI-444 - Corvus announced the publication of results of preclinical studies of CPI-444 demonstrating that it induces dose dependent anti-tumor responses as a monotherapy and in combination with anti-PD-1, anti-PD-L1 and anti-CTLA-4 therapies. The article, which is featured on the cover of and in the October issue of the journal Cancer Immunology Research, which is an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, or AACR. CPI-444, Corvus' lead product candidate, is a selective and potent inhibitor of the adenosine A2A receptor. It is currently being evaluated in clinical trials in patients with various solid tumors as a single agent and in combination with Genentech's atezolizumab, an anti-PD-L1 antibody. CPI-444 is a selective and potent inhibitor of the adenosine A2A receptor and provides dose dependent inhibition of tumor growth as a monotherapy in multiple tumor models. CPI-444 is synergistic with checkpoint inhibitors, demonstrating the elimination of tumors in up to 90% of treated mice and the restoration of immune responses in mice with tumors that are resistant to anti-PD-L1 or anti-CTLA-4 monotherapy. In monotherapy and combination-therapy, CPI-444 inhibited tumor growth and enabled long-term anti-tumor immune memory. CD8+ T-cells were shown to be required for a response with CPI-444 , demonstrating a role for CD8+ T-cells in mediating primary and secondary immune responses. Intratumor adenosine levels as measured in two models were shown to be approximately 100-150 nanomolar, which is a level that is completely blocked by CPI-444

16:17 EDT Synnex says acquisition of Convergys to close on October 5 - Synnex (SNX) announced that the acquisition of Convergys (CVG) is expected to close on Friday, October 5, 2018. Both SYNNEX and Convergys received their respective shareholder approval for this transaction and have been granted all regulatory approvals necessary to proceed with the close. The definitive agreement was originally announced on June 28, 2018. The transaction creates the second largest customer engagement services company in the world, with annual revenues of approximately $4.7B. The integration process has already begun through the collaborative efforts of teams from both companies and is expected to be complete over the next 12 months.

16:16 EDT Barnes & Noble enters process to evaluate strategic alternatives - Barnes & Noble announced that its board of directors has decided to enter into a formal review process to evaluate strategic alternatives for the company. This decision follows expressions of interest from multiple parties in making an offer to acquire the company, including from the company's chairman, Leonard Riggio. The board of directors has appointed a Special Committee of independent directors, comprised of Mark Carleton, Paul Guenther, Patricia Higgins and Kimberley Van Der Zon, to lead the strategic review process. The Special Committee will be advised by independent legal and financial advisors. Riggio has committed to support and vote his shares in favor of any transaction recommended by the Special Committee. There can be no assurance that a transaction will be consummated. The company further notes that it has observed rapid material accumulations of its stock by a party or parties that cannot be identified. In light of the impending strategic alternatives process and such share accumulations, the Board also announced the adoption of a short-term Shareholder Rights Plan. The adoption of the Rights Plan is intended to maximize the likelihood of a successful outcome for the strategic alternatives process. Under the terms of the Rights Plan, the rights will expire on October 2, 2019. In the absence of further action by the Board and subject to certain exceptions, the rights will be exercisable if a person or group, without Board approval, acquires 20% or more of Barnes & Noble's Common Stock or announces a tender offer which results in the ownership of 20% or more of Barnes & Noble's Common Stock. If the rights become exercisable, all rights holders will be entitled to acquire preferred shares equivalent to Barnes & Noble's Common Stock at a 50% discount.

16:15 EDT Willdan Group to acquire Lime Energy for $120M - Willdan Group and Lime Energy announced that Willdan has signed an agreement and plan of merger to acquire all outstanding shares of Lime Energy. The total purchase price of this acquisition is $120M in cash, subject to customary holdbacks and adjustments. Willdan expects the acquisition of Lime Energy to close during the fourth quarter of 2018. The $120M purchase price equates to approximately ten times Willdan's estimate of Lime Energy's anticipated Adjusted EBITDA for 2018, and Willdan anticipates that Lime Energy's 2018 revenue will be approximately $145M. Lime Energy designs and implements direct install energy efficiency programs for utilities that target energy savings for commercial customers. Lime Energy's programs help these businesses use less energy through the upgrade of existing equipment and installation of new, more energy efficient equipment. This service allows utilities to delay investments in transmission and distribution upgrades and new power plants, while cost-effectively complying with increasing environmental regulations.

16:10 EDT Fluor says DOE extends Portsmouth decontamination and decommissioning contract - Fluor Corporation (FLR) announced today that the U.S. Department of Energy has exercised its option to extend the current decontamination and decommissioning work on the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Ohio for an additional 30 months. The contract will be executed by Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, LLC, a Fluor-led partnership, together with BWX Technologies, Inc. (BWXT) and Jacobs (JEC). Fluor will book its share of the approximately $850M contract value in the third quarter of 2018. Fluor-BWXT started work on the initial five-year contract on March 28, 2011. The original contract was extended for 30 months in April 2016. The contract extension includes deactivation and preparation for demolition and disposal of all GDP facilities, process equipment, related process buildings, and other ancillary facilities, and to continue environmental remediation, uranium stewardship, and community outreach programs.

16:08 EDT Bluegreen Vacations sees $5M-$5.8M impact on Q3 system-wide sales - Bluegreen Vacations Corporation provided an initial assessment of the impact of Hurricane Florence on its operations. The company has nine Club Resorts and two Club Associate Resorts that were in the primary path of Hurricane Florence in North and South Carolina. Preliminary reports based on initial inspections indicate that physical damage was generally limited to water intrusion in rooms and common areas of the resorts. However, given the mandatory evacuations, resort and sales office closures, the disruption of owner and guest travel caused by the storm and the subsequent flooding, the company experienced cancelations in reservations, sales tours, rentals and other services. The impacted resorts in North Carolina included Blue Ridge Village, Club Lodges at Trillium, Waterwood Townhouses and Sandcastle Village II. The impacted resorts in South Carolina included King 583, Lodge Alley Inn, Horizons at 77th, Harbour Lights, Shore Crest Vacation Villas, Carolina Grande and Seaglass Tower. Of these resorts, only Lodge Alley Inn, Shore Crest Vacation Villas, and Carolina Grande have sales centers. The company's large off-site sales center in Myrtle Beach was also impacted. At this time, the company estimates that the storm caused a loss of system-wide sales in the third quarter of 2018 in the $5M-$5.8M range, with the related EBITDA impact estimated to be between $2M-$2.3M. The company also expects an additional impact on system-wide sales and EBITDA in the fourth quarter of 2018 from the ongoing flooding from Hurricane Florence, as well as the impact of reduced vacation package sales due to the storm which are expected to impact travel and sales in the fourth quarter of 2018. The company anticipates that it will provide an estimate of the impact on its fourth quarter results when it releases its earnings for the third quarter of 2018. While costs related to physical damage are still being determined, those costs are not expected to be material to the company's results of operations, financial position or cash flows.

16:07 EDT Ultra Clean reports on progress to resume production at Balan, Korea facility - Ultra Clean announced significant progress towards the resumption of production in Balan, Republic of Korea. As reported on September 19, a facility, operated by joint venture Cinos Co., was extensively damaged by a fire. There were no injuries and national and local environmental agencies have reported no environmental impacts. A majority of the production volume has been transferred to adjacent Cinos facilities. The remaining equipment necessary to resume full production is being sourced from multiple Quantum Global Technologies facilities and vendors and is currently being shipped to Balan. An expedited qualification process is underway. All employees have been redeployed to the adjacent Cinos facilities and it is expected that production supply will normalize in the coming weeks within the framework of delivery lead times. The company continues to work closely with the fire department and other local regulatory agencies to identify the exact cause of the fire. No additional details are available.

16:04 EDT Apollo Global affiliate West Corporation acquires Ambassador - West Corporation announced it has acquired ZFERRAL, d.b.a. Ambassador, a cloud-based relationship marketing platform. Ambassador empowers organizations to increase customers, referrals and revenue by leveraging the power of word-of-mouth. Its software simplifies referral marketing, automating the process of enrolling, tracking, rewarding and managing customers, affiliates, influencers, and partners.

15:10 EDT Adage Capital Partners GP reports 5.08% passive stake in National Vision

15:01 EDT GameStop in focus as Walmart enters collectibles business - Shares of GameStop (GME) were in focus after retail giant Walmart (WMT) announced that it is entering the collectibles sector. WHAT'S NEW: Earlier today, Walmart said that it is "leveling up its pop culture merchandise," introducing a new, dedicated collectibles section in the entertainment department of more than 3,500 stores starting the week of October 15. The retailer said it would be the exclusive brick and mortar retail home of Loot Crate, a subscription box service that will now be available for Walmart customers to purchase in store. Walmart added that the new section will also include new and exclusive products from Funko (FNKO), McFarlane Toys, and CultureFly. WHAT'S NOTABLE: In addition to selling video game software and hardware, GameStop is the owner of ThinkGeek, a retailer of collectibles pertaining to popular games, films, comic books, and television programs. According to its most recent earnings report, GameStop said that collectibles sales in the second quarter had increased 15.7% year-over-year to $141.7M, driven by continued expansion of licensed merchandise offerings, new and improved product offerings and notable growth in apparel. STREET RESEARCH: Following the Walmart announcement, Bank of America/Merill Lynch analyst Curtis Nagle maintained an Underperform rating and $10 price target on GameStop shares, saying that Walmart is trying to collect on the game retailer's best performing business. Nagle said the news is a negative for GameStop given that collectibles are the only category that is consistently growing for the company, that there were already concerns over how much collectibles distribution could move into mass channels, and that collectibles are already showing signs of deceleration. The analyst noted that GameStop will "no doubt" remain the destination for collectibles, but doesn't see how this announcement doesn't hurt growth and could likely be a headwind for overall traffic and game sales in GameStop stores. PRICE ACTION: GameStop shares are up 1% to $15.03 in late afternoon trading, while Walmart shares are down almost 1% at $94.24.

14:12 EDT Intelsat rises as analyst sees balance sheet questions as resolved - In a research note this morning, Cowen analyst Lance Vitanza told investors that he believes Intelsat no longer has a balance sheet problem. Furthermore, the analyst argued that the company's equity market cap having risen dramatically to over $4.2B suggests a meaningful disconnect in sentiment between equity and credit investors. BALANCE SHEET FAVORABLY RESOLVED: This morning, Cowen's Vitanza argued that yesterday's $700M tack-on offering of 8.5% Jackson Senior Notes due '24 completes the deft restoration of a balance sheet once widely viewed as ripe for restructuring. Proceeds from the tack-on offering will redeem the balance of the Jackson '21 tranche, leaving 2023 as Intelsat's next maturity "wall of consequence," he contended. Meanwhile, the analyst pointed out that the company's equity market cap has risen dramatically to over $4.2B, which he sees suggesting a meaningful disconnect in sentiment between equity and credit investors. C-BAND: Cowen's Vitanza also told investors that with Telesat now on board, a "market-based approach" to monetization appears increasingly likely as FCC Chairman Pai noted in prior writings and public comments that an auction process, while having some advantages, would likely add years to the timeline. Whether market-based or auctioned, the analyst expects an eventual monetization opportunity for lead coalition partners Intelsat and SES Global in particular. Each company could retain a third or more of whatever existing terrestrial wireless operators may ultimately pay for terrestrial access to the C-band spectrum, he contended. The analyst believes that while additional spectrum within the 500-MHz C-band could ultimately be harnessed for terrestrial mobility, the NPRM suggests an initial allocation of 100 MHz, which would amount to 31.5B MHzPOPs of spectrum. A hypothetical 50c/MHz-POP valuation would imply gross proceeds of $15.75B, he noted, adding that Intelsat could ultimately reap $5B or more. PRICE ACTION: In afternoon trading, shares of Intelsat have jumped over 7% to $33.21.

13:20 EDT Dell Technologies met with banks to discuss IPO 'contingency plan' - In a regulatory filing earlier, Dell Technologies stated that, as previously announced, Dell is pursuing a transaction, which it calls the "Class V transaction," whereby holders of shares of Class V common stock of Dell may elect to receive either shares of Class C common stock of Dell or cash, subject to pro ration and the other terms as previously described in filings with the SEC. This morning's filing stated: "Prior to the determination by Dell's board of directors that the Class V transaction is in the best interests of Dell's stockholders, the board conducted a comprehensive evaluation of three other distinct business opportunities, including an initial public offering of its Class C common stock. The Board continues to believe that the Class V transaction is in the best interests of Dell's stockholders and Dell is proceeding to seek stockholder approval for the Class V transaction. However, as a potential contingency plan in the event that the Class V transaction is not consummated, Dell has met with certain investment banks to explore a potential initial public offering of its Class C common stock. There is no assurance that the Board will determine to proceed with an initial public offering of its Class C common stock in the event that the Class V transaction is not consummated." Dell's Class V shares, which trade with the ticker DVMT, track Dell's stake in VMware (VMW).

13:03 EDT Eidos Therapeutics granted orphan status for amyloidosis treatment - The FDA granted Eidos Therapeutics orphan status for its treatment of transthyretin amyloidosis. Reference Link

12:38 EDT Volocopter selects PTC's Windchill product lifecycle management solution - PTC announced that German start-up Volocopter has selected PTC's Windchill product lifecycle management, PLM, solution for the development of its autonomous flying transportation systems. Windchill will record, configure, and secure interdisciplinary product structures, requirements descriptions and documents, and manage mechanical, aerodynamic, and electronic CAD models and the associated system software.

12:26 EDT General Motors rises on autonomous vehicle partnership with Honda - Shares of General Motors (GM) are rising after the company announced a partnership with Honda (HMC) to build a new autonomous vehicle. AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE PARTNERSHIP: On Wednesday, Cruise and GM announced that they partnered with Honda to work towards large-scale deployment of autonomous vehicle technology. Honda will work jointly with Cruise and General Motors to fund and develop a purpose-built autonomous vehicle for Cruise that can serve a wide variety of use cases and be manufactured at high volume for global deployment. In addition, Cruise, General Motors and Honda will explore opportunities for commercial deployment of the Cruise network. Honda will contribute approximately $2B over 12 years to these initiatives, which, together with a $750M equity investment in Cruise, brings its total commitment to the project to $2.75B. In addition to the recently announced SoftBank (SFTBF) investments, this transaction brings the post-money valuation of Cruise to $14.6B. EXECUTIVE COMMENTARY: "This is the logical next step in General Motors and Honda's relationship, given our joint work on electric vehicles, and our close integration with Cruise," said GM chairman and CEO Mary Barra. "Together, we can provide Cruise with the world's best design, engineering and manufacturing expertise, and global reach to establish them as the leader in autonomous vehicle technology -- while they move to deploy self-driving vehicles at scale." On a conference call following the announcement, GM said the company has the ability to scale technology quickly and said a "sizable portion" of the $2B Honda contribution will be for funding of development of the vehicle. In addition, GM noted that Honda will invest $750M in cash in GM Cruise in exchange for a 5.7% stake. WHAT'S NOTABLE: On May 31, General Motors announced that the SoftBank Vision Fund would invest $2.25B in GM Cruise Holdings to strengthen the company's plans to commercialize autonomous vehicle technology. GM also said it would invest $1.1B in GM Cruise upon closing of the transaction. The company said the investment would result in the SoftBank Vision Fund owning a 19.6% equity stake in GM Cruise and SoftBank would receive one of six GM Cruise directors' seats. Following the announcement, Evercore ISI analyst George Galliers upgraded GM to Outperform from In Line saying he had been assigning no value to the Cruise assets previously. Under his new sum-of-the-parts valuation, Galliers applied a 6.0x multiple on GM's core, attributed a value of about $8 per share for the Cruise assets and about 60c per share for GM's stake in Lyft before applying a 25% discount to both of the latter. He raised his price target on GM shares to $50 from $47. JPMorgan analyst Ryan Brinkman raised his price target for GM to $58 and reiterated an Overweight on the stock saying the investment is "positive on a number of fronts." The investment "puts a stake in the ground relative to the value of Cruise" and shows "just how inexpensive GM's core automotive operations really are," Brinkman said. In addition, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas raised his attribution of GM Autonomous value to $9.25B from $2B in his sum-of-the-parts model for GM and increased his sum-of-the-parts valuation of GM to $61. He also increased his price target on GM shares to $50 from $48 and kept an Overweight rating on the stock. PRIICE ACTION: GM rose roughly 2.8% to $34.24 in afternoon trading, while Honda shares trading in New York fell 3.5% to $29.41.

12:05 EDT Humana and Vancouver Clinic team up to add practices to network - Additional access to patient-focused primary care is coming to Clark County, Washington, thanks to Vancouver Clinic and Humana teaming up to add two primary care practices to Humana's Medicare Advantage Plan network. Part of a new value-based relationship between Vancouver Clinic and Humana, the two new neighborhood clinics, operated by Vancouver Clinic, will accept all Humana Medicare Advantage HMO and PPO plans offered in Washington, as well as a new Dual Eligible Special Needs Plan (for patients qualifying for both Medicare and Medicaid) that will be available Jan. 1, 2019. The first clinic is scheduled to open January 2019, located at 7809 NE Vancouver Plaza Drive in Vancouver. A second neighborhood clinic location will be added in the second half of 2019. "Our community continues to grow and it's really important that we provide care close to where patients live," said Mark Mantei, Vancouver Clinic CEO. "The neighborhood clinics we are opening will bring healthcare resources closer to patients and will offer integrated care teams that include doctors, nurses, health coaches, nutritionists, medication management, and social services resources who will help guide patients through the complex health system and ensure their care addresses the whole person."

12:00 EDT VelocityShares 3x Inv Natural Gas ETN falls -8.3% - VelocityShares 3x Inv Natural Gas ETN is down -8.3%, or -$1.33 to $14.71.

12:00 EDT Enzo Biochem rises 11.5% - Enzo Biochem is up 11.5%, or 45c to $4.37.

12:00 EDT Jupai Holdings rises 16.3% - Jupai Holdings is up 16.3%, or $1.24 to $8.86.

11:53 EDT Walmart enters into the Collectibles sector - Walmart said, in an earlier news release: "Walmart is levelling up its pop culture merchandise for fans, announcing it will introduce a new, dedicated collectibles section in the entertainment department of more than 3,500 stores starting the week of Oct. 15. This new destination for collectors will feature: The exclusive brick and mortar retail home of Loot Crate, An assortment of the best brands and selection of exclusive, accessories, toys, collectors boxes and more, with new and exclusive product from Funko, McFarlane Toys, and CultureFly. "Pop culture fans are passionate about their fandoms and look for ways to incorporate it into all aspects of their life. We're introducing a new assortment to serve fans in a way we haven't before. Our new collectibles section will be a destination for our customers to find exclusive merchandise at the best prices for all fandoms, with more to come!," said Brent Duwe, senior buying manager, Walmart U.S." Reference Link

11:50 EDT Nymox says safety of Fexapotide Triflutate demonstrated in trials - Nymox Pharmaceutical reported that after long-term safety assessments of repeated Fexapotide Triflutate intraprostatic injections, there have been no identifiable risks or serious side effects or adverse events identified associated or linked with the drug. FT is Nymox's lead drug for which the company is in the process of seeking U.S. and European marketing approvals for BPH and FT is also in late stage development for prostate cancer. Pivotal trial results for FT BPH studies involving 977 treated patients were published in 2018 in the World Journal of Urology May 2018 edition and the safety and efficacy results have been presented to the American Urology Association and previously to the European Association of Urology. Paul Averback, CEO of Nymox said, "For prostate cancer in particular, repeated injection treatments will be needed and a focal molecular treatment will have negligible value if there cannot be reliable safety expected from repeated injection. Prostate cancer is a multi-focal disease and it is to be expected that multiple focal molecular treatments will be utilized for optimal outcomes. Follow-up and re-treatment will be needed. Nymox undertook 2 large FT re-injection safety studies in 2010-2014 involving 351 subjects with BPH, who were subsequently followed for up to 7 years. These mandatory and adequately sized safety studies are absolutely required in order to demonstrate safety of re-injection, and this is a standard requirement. In addition, Nymox undertook extensive immunological testing involving over 1000 subject samples, demonstrating that FT does not lead to detectable antibody formation, which underlines FT safety and supports the lack of risk for allergic reactions. All laboratory testing and sexual function tests including semen analyses showed no changes in FT treated men compared to controls."

11:42 EDT Lennar COO: 'no relief' from existing soft lumber prices from new trade deal - Lennar COO Jon Jaffe said lumber prices peaked in Q3. Jaffe said there is no relief from existing soft lumber prices in Canada from the new trade deal.

11:19 EDT Lennar chairman 'very confident' market fluctuations benefit business model - Lennar chairman Stuart Miller said the company is "very confident that fluctuations in the market will come and go and work as a benefit for our business model."

11:01 EDT Siemens to acquire electric infrastructure manufacturer Russelectric - Siemens has announced plans to acquire Russelectric, a U.S. manufacturer of power control systems including paralleling switchgear and automatic transfer switches. "This strategic investment also strengthens Siemens' commitment to the U.S., the company's largest market in the world. Russelectric's approximately 400 employees across its headquarters and manufacturing facility in Hingham, MA and manufacturing and training hub in Broken Arrow, OK will be added to Siemens' existing U.S. footprint of over 50 manufacturing, R&D and digital hubs and its 50,000 U.S. employee base," the company stated. Upon closing of the acquisition, subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions, Siemens will wholly-own Russelectric, which will operate as "Russelectric, A Siemens Business." Closing is anticipated late 2018 to early 2019. Terms of this transaction are not disclosed.

10:45 EDT Analysts more cautious on Facebook following security breach in 'tough year' - In a research note this morning, Argus analyst Joseph Bonner lowered his price target on Facebook shares to $210 following the recently disclosed security breach that compromised personal information of 50M user accounts. However, the analyst argued that the headlines of a "massive" security breach may be excessive. Meanwhile, his peer at Deutsche Bank told investors yesterday that he sees heightened risk to estimates for Facebook after attending an advertising industry event. ARGUS CUTS TARGET, KEEPS BUY RATING: Following last week's disclosure that a security breach resulted in compromised personal information of 50M user accounts, Argus' Bonner lowered his price target on Facebook to $210 from $237. However, the analyst argued that the headlines of a "massive security breach" may be excessive, since it is not clear whether any accounts were misused, adding that fears of a massive fine may also be exaggerated as Facebook reported the breach within the GDPR-mandated 72-hour window. Facebook is having a "tough year," with continued fallout from the Russian troll operation in the 2016 election and the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the exit of several senior executives, and the recent report of the breach, he noted. Despite the challenging near-term outlook, Bonner remains bullish on Facebook based on its position as the dominant social media site. Moreover, the analyst told investors that even as flagship Facebook matures, Instagram, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp have all reached a critical mass of users and are poised for monetization. He reiterated a Buy rating on the stock. Meanwhile, in a research note yesterday, Deutsche Bank analyst Lloyd Walmsley said he sees heightened risk to the third and fourth quarters and 2019 consensus estimates for Facebook. After attending the first day of AdWeek, the analyst pointed out that he is starting to hear more cautious feedback and that Facebook seems on the defensive, particularly following last week's data breach disclosure. Walmsley, however, continues to view Facebook as attractively valued, reiterating a Buy rating and $205 price target on the shares. SECURITY BREACH UPDATE: Last night, Facebook posted an update on the recently disclosed security attack. "This was a serious issue and we worked fast to protect the security of people's accounts and investigate what happened," the company said. "We fixed the vulnerability and we reset the access tokens for a total of 90M accounts - 50M that had access tokens stolen and 40M that were subject to a 'View As' look-up in the last year. Resetting the access tokens protected the security of people's accounts and meant they had to log back in to Facebook or any of their apps that use Facebook Login." The company added that its investigation of the matter has so far found no evidence that the attackers accessed any apps using Facebook Login. WHAT'S NOTABLE: Users of Instagram, Facebook's photo-sharing social network, experienced an outage across several cities, including London, San Francisco and Singapore, Reuters reported. The mobile app and website, which were down temporarily on Wednesday, are now back up. The app had displayed an error message saying "couldn't refresh feed," while its website did not load for users. PRICE ACTION: In morning trading, shares of Facebook have gained about 1% to $160.70.

10:08 EDT SoundCloud, Pandora enter U.S. ad sales partnership - SoundCloud and Pandora announced that SoundCloud has partnered with Pandora as its exclusive U.S. advertising and sales representation. Launching in 2019, the agreement will enable advertisers and brands to purchase SoundCloud's U.S. ad inventory directly through Pandora, leveraging the company's direct sales capabilities, targeting data, and its recently launched audio programmatic product. SoundCloud and Pandora's combined U.S. audience offering reaches more than 100M unduplicated listeners-with 13% audience overlap between the two companies-making it easier for advertisers and brands to access the largest digital audio advertising marketplace. The new agreement expands SoundCloud's existing global relationship with AdsWizz.

10:01 EDT Huron names Sean Freeburger as chief information officer - Huron (HURN) announced that Sean Freeburger has joined the company as chief information officer. In this role, Freeburger will lead the global information technology function and play a key role in shaping the company's technology strategy. Prior to joining Huron, Freeburger was a managing director at Accenture (ACN) responsible for leading transformation across their global sales organization as well as their enterprise analytics function.

10:00 EDT VelocityShares 3x Inv Natural Gas ETN falls -5.2% - VelocityShares 3x Inv Natural Gas ETN is down -5.2%, or -84c to $15.20.

10:00 EDT Centrais Electricas rises 11.0% - Centrais Electricas is up 11.0%, or 46c to $4.66.

10:00 EDT Charah Solutions rises 13.2% - Charah Solutions is up 13.2%, or 99c to $8.50.

09:47 EDT CVR Refining falls -4.1% - CVR Refining is down -4.1%, or -80c to $18.66.

09:47 EDT Acuity Brands falls -8.0% - Acuity Brands is down -8.0%, or -$12.48 to $143.00.

09:47 EDT Centrais Electricas rises 13.8% - Centrais Electricas is up 13.8%, or 58c to $4.78.

09:42 EDT Century Aluminum falls, Alcoa rises after Norsk halts alumina refinery - Norsk Hydro (NHYDY) announced overnight that its alumina refinery Alunorte in Brazil is preparing for full curtailment of its operation. The decision was taken as the bauxite residue deposit area 1 is close to reaching its capacity, due to the embargo on the state-of-the-art press filter and the newly developed bauxite residue deposit area. Alunorte has been running at 50% production since March, following embargos from Brazilian authorities, the company said. It added, "Environmental authorities have confirmed that there was no spill or overflow from the residue areas. The embargos have prevented Alunorte from utilizing the newest bauxite residue deposit area, which was under commissioning in February, as well as the state-of-art press filter technology, representing an investment of more than BRL 1 billion. The press filter is the most modern and sustainable technology for depositing bauxite residue, reducing the required storage area and environmental footprint. Alunorte has since the embargo made efforts towards authorities for permission to utilize the press filter, as well as DRS2, without success. Due to the embargo Alunorte has been forced to operate only DRS1, which was originally planned to be phased out, and the less efficient drum filters. DRS1 is therefore approaching its end of life faster than anticipated, forcing Alunorte to take the responsible decision to temporarily shut down 100% of its operations. This will have immediate effect on the bauxite mine Paragominas, which will also shut down 100% of operations. Both Alunorte and Paragominas have initiated the shutdown process safely." Following the announcement shares of Century Aluminum are down 13%, or $1.59, to $10.31 while Alcoa (AA) is up 7%, or $3.01, to $44.58.

09:31 EDT Northern Trust to invest in Parilux Investment Technology - Northern Trust announced it has reached an agreement to invest in Parilux Investment Technology, a key step in the development of its Front Office Solutions business designed to meet the operational and technology needs of in-house investment teams managing complex, global multi-asset class portfolios. Parilux's market-leading software will power an integrated data management platform that delivers an exceptional range of information and functionality - including investment book of record, accounting and risk analytics for alternative assets, as well as performance reporting and document management - for investment teams of endowments, foundations, corporations, family offices and other sophisticated asset owners focused on asset allocation and manager selection.

09:27 EDT Wayfair to launch pop-up retail experience for the holiday season - Wayfair will launch two holiday pop-up shops on November 1. With locations at the Natick Mall in Natick, Massachusetts and the Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey, Wayfair will invite shoppers to explore the unlimited possibilities in home enabled by its flagship e-commerce site. "We are bringing the Wayfair brand directly to shoppers in a completely new format this holiday season," said Ed Macri, chief product and marketing officer, Wayfair. "Building on the success of our television advertising and direct mail, this pop-up experience is yet another way we are deepening engagement with customers beyond our online presence."

09:20 EDT Acuity Brands sees FY19 tax rate of approximately 25% - Management estimates FY19 annual tax rate of approximately 25% before any discrete items, assuming the tax rates in the company's taxing jurisdictions remain generally consistent throughout the year. Additionally, management expects fiscal 2019 capital expenditures will approximate 1.5% of net sales. CEO Vernon Nagel commented, "We remain cautiously optimistic for fiscal 2019. Third-party forecasts and leading indicators suggest that the North American lighting market, the Company's primary market, is projected to be up low-single digits in fiscal 2019. Our focus in fiscal 2019 is to garner additional top-line growth driven primarily by outperforming the growth rates of the markets we serve through execution of our previously announced growth strategies, continue to improve the mix of products and solutions sold as we execute our tiered solutions strategy, and leverage our fixed cost infrastructure to achieve targeted incremental margins to improve our overall profitability."

09:09 EDT Travelers makes strategic investment in drone operations company Kittyhawk - Travelers has made a strategic investment in Kittyhawk, an enterprise drone operations software company. The investment will help Kittyhawk bring unified drone operations to new markets. Travelers was one of the first to integrate drone operations into its claim inspections when it launched its drone program in 2016 and conducted its first large-scale deployment after Hurricane Matthew. Founded in 2015, Kittyhawk has received $9.5M in aggregate funding from Travelers, Bonfire Ventures, Boeing HorizonX Ventures, Freestyle Ventures and The Flying Object.

09:07 EDT Aduro dropped 13% after Janssen terminated license agreements - Aduro Biotech (ADRO) disclosed Monday night that it received written notices of termination from Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ) Janssen Biotech for its Research and License Agreements pertaining to the company's proprietary attenuated strains of Listeria for treatment of lung and prostate cancers. Under the terms of the Janssen agreements, Aduro granted Janssen an exclusive, worldwide license to research, develop, manufacture, use, sell and otherwise exploit products containing ADU-214, ADU-741 and GVAX Prostate for any and all uses. Additionally, the company granted Janssen exclusive rights to develop products utilizing its proprietary attenuated strains of Listeria for treatment of lung and prostate cancers. Aduro previously received upfront license fees and milestone payments upon completion of various development activities and was eligible to receive future contingent payments based on development, regulatory and commercial milestones as well as royalties on any net sales of licensed products by Janssen under each of the Janssen agreements. Pursuant to the terms of the Janssen agreements, upon Janssen's termination, Aduro regains worldwide rights for the development and commercialization of products containing ADU-214, ADU-741 and GVAX Prostate for any and all uses. Shares of Aduro Biotech closed yesterday down 13%, or 93c, to $6.24.

09:06 EDT Five9 selected by global university to for contact center operations - Five9 announced that it has been selected by a global university to serve as the core of their contact center operations. Offering on-campus and online education worldwide, the university's 400 agents serve prospective and enrolled students.

09:05 EDT Fly Intel: Pre-market Movers - HIGHER: J.C. Penney (JCP), up 8% after announcing Jill Soltau as CEO... Tempur Sealy (TPX), up 11% after Reuters reports rival Mattress Firm intends to file for bankruptcy protection as soon as this week... Paratek Pharmaceuticals (PRTK), up 5% after announcing FDA approval of Nuzyra... Michael Kors (KORS), up 2% after Citi analyst Paul Lejuez upgraded shares to Buy with a $79 price target. UP AFTER EARNINGS: Endologix (ELGX), up 15%. LOWER: Kala Pharmaceuticals (KALA), down 13% after its 7.5M share spot secondary offering priced at $8.25 per share... RPM (RPM), down 3% after CEO Frank Sullivan says profitability adversely affected by rising raw material costs... Vector Group (VGR), down 3% after Oppenheimer analyst Ian Zaffino downgraded the stock to Perform from Outperform, citing an increased risk to the dividend... Epizyme (EPZM), down 4% after a 8.33M share spot secondary offering priced at $9.00 per share... Covia (CVIA), down 5% after Credit Suisse analyst Jim Wicklund downgraded the stock to Underperform from Neutral. The analyst notes that the weakness that has rippled through the frack sand subsector since August came sooner than he expected.

09:03 EDT Marsh & McLennan acquires Eustis Insurance & Benefits, terms not disclosed - Marsh & McLennan Agency, the middle market agency subsidiary of Marsh, announced the acquisition of Eustis Insurance & Benefits, a leading independent insurance agency in Louisiana. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. As part of MMA, Eustis will maintain its existing office locations in Metairie, Mandeville, and Baton Rouge and operate as Eustis Insurance & Benefits, a Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC company. The acquisition marks MMA's first in Louisiana.

09:03 EDT Comtech awarded in excess of $19.7M funding from U.S. Army - Comtech Telecommunications announced that during 1Q19, its Command & Control Technologies group, which is part of Comtech's Government Solutions segment, received funding in excess of $19.7M to provide satellite communications and baseband equipment to the Deploying Security Forces.

09:00 EDT Upland Software acquires Rant & Rave, raises guidance

08:44 EDT Gilead says Biktarvy shows high efficacy, demonstrated tolerability profile - Gilead Sciences announced 96-week results from a Phase 3, randomized, double-blinded study evaluating the safety and efficacy of Biktarvy for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in treatment-naive adults. In the ongoing study, Biktarvy was found to be statistically non-inferior to a regimen of abacavir/dolutegravir/lamivudine through 96 weeks of therapy. Biktarvy is indicated in the U.S. as a complete regimen for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in adults who have no antiretroviral treatment history or to replace the current antiretroviral regimen in those adults who are virologically suppressed on a stable antiretroviral regimen for at least three months with no history of treatment failure and no known substitutions associated with resistance to the individual components of Biktarvy. No dosage adjustment of Biktarvy is required in adult patients with estimated creatinine clearance greater than or equal to 30 mL per minute. Biktarvy carries a Boxed Warning in its U.S. product label regarding the risk of post-treatment acute exacerbation of hepatitis B. In Study 1489, treatment-naive adults were randomized 1:1 in a blinded fashion to receive Biktarvy or ABC/DTG/3TC. At Week 96, non-inferiority was maintained from the primary endpoint measurement at Week 48, with 87.9 percent of patients taking Biktarvy and 89.8 percent of patients taking ABC/DTG/3TC achieving HIV-1 RNA levels less than 50 copies/mL. In the resistance analysis population, none of the study participants randomized to Biktarvy developed treatment-emergent resistance. There were no renal discontinuations and no cases of proximal renal tubulopathy or Fanconi syndrome in the Biktarvy treatment group. The median change in estimated glomerular filtration rate from baseline to Week 96 was significantly less with Biktarvy compared with ABC/DTG/3TC. Median changes in proteinuria were similar between both treatment groups. Additionally, the mean percent changes from baseline in spine and hip bone mineral density in the Biktarvy group were similar to ABC/DTG/3TC group. Biktarvy was well tolerated through Week 96. Discontinuations due to adverse events were low in both groups. The most commonly reported adverse events were nausea, diarrhea and headache. Study 1489 is ongoing and will remain randomized and blinded through 144 weeks.

08:39 EDT Zosano Pharma announces manufacturing, supply agreement for M207 - Zosano Pharma announced a manufacturing and supply agreement for M207 with a leading global contract development and manufacturing organization, which serves more than 400 clients in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. Under the terms of the agreement, Zosano will transfer its proprietary technology for the coating of zolmitriptan onto the ADAM delivery system. Additionally Zosano has entered into a long-term manufacturing and supply agreement.

08:38 EDT SG Blocks forms strategic alliance with Harrison, Walker and Harper - SG Blocks announced it has formed a strategic alliance with Harrison, Walker and Harper, or HWH, an engineering, contracting and industrial services firm. HWH will be SG Blocks' preferred partner to perform all the site work and installation of projects across the U.S. This includes single-family container-based modular homes that will be built through its subsidiary SG Residential. HWH will also provide up to $100M in bonding capacity for projects that give both companies a significant competitive advantage.

08:35 EDT DXC Technology acquires argodesign, terms not disclosed - DXC Technology announced the acquisition of argodesign, a nationally known product design consultancy based in Austin, TX. With a team of experienced designers, expert technologists, strategic thinkers, and passionate makers, argodesign will significantly enhance DXC's capabilities in interface design and user experience - key elements in delivering digital transformation solutions at scale. argodesign will continue to serve its clients worldwide as a growth partner to entrepreneurs and an incubator of new products and experiences. Financial terms were not disclosed.

08:34 EDT Cemtrex receives over $13M in new orders in EMS segment - Cemtrex announced that the company received over $13M in new orders in its Electronics Manufacturing Services, or EMS, Segment during its most recent quarter ended September 30. The company's new orders were driven primarily by customers in wearable smart devices, medical devices, industrial technology, automation, and measurement devices. The orders came from both new customers and existing customers such as ERBE, ABB, and Heinzmann. With these new orders the total EMS segment's backlog remains over $50M in total which puts the segment on a path toward organic growth of 10% over the next twelve months.

08:31 EDT Golden Entertainment enters long-term agreement with William Hill - Golden Entertainment has entered into a long-term agreement with William Hill to manage the company's race and sports operations in Nevada, Maryland and Montana. This expands upon Golden Entertainment's existing agreement with William Hill, which already operates the race and sports book at Pahrump Nugget Hotel & Gambling Hall as well as deposit kiosks at approximately 80 Golden Entertainment wholly-owned taverns and third party distributed gaming locations throughout Nevada. The partnership further extends William Hill's relationship with Golden Entertainment to include race and sports books operations at Stratosphere Casino, Hotel & Tower, Arizona Charlie's Decatur and Arizona Charlie's Boulder in Las Vegas and Aquarius Casino Resort in Laughlin, Nevada. William Hill will also continue to operate the race and sports books at Edgewater and Colorado Belle casino resorts in Laughlin after Golden Entertainment finalizes the acquisition of these properties in Q1 of 2019. In addition, the agreement provides that there will be a minimum of 100 William Hill mobile deposit kiosks at Golden Entertainment's wholly-owned taverns and third party distributed locations in Nevada. William Hill and Golden Entertainment will also pursue sports wagering opportunities in Montana and Maryland, subject to enabling legislation within these states. Golden Entertainment currently operates distributed gaming across Montana in approximately 300 locations and owns Rocky Gap Casino Resort in Maryland. William Hill is expected to begin operating Golden Entertainment's additional Nevada race and sports books by December 2018, subject to receiving required regulatory approvals.

08:22 EDT General Motors up 6% after partnering with Honda, Cruise on autonomous vehicle - In pre-market trading, shares are up nearly 6% to $35.26.

08:19 EDT Cruise, General Motors, Honda partner to build new autonomous vehicle - Cruise and General Motors (GM) announced that they have joined forces with Honda (HMC) to pursue the shared goal of transforming mobility through the large-scale deployment of autonomous vehicle technology. Honda will work jointly with Cruise and General Motors to fund and develop a purpose-built autonomous vehicle for Cruise that can serve a wide variety of use cases and be manufactured at high volume for global deployment. In addition, Cruise, General Motors and Honda will explore global opportunities for commercial deployment of the Cruise network. Honda will contribute approximately $2B over 12 years to these initiatives, which, together with a $750M equity investment in Cruise, brings its total commitment to the project to $2.75B. In addition to the recently announced SoftBank (SFTBY)investments, this transaction brings the post-money valuation of Cruise to $14.6B.

08:13 EDT Amyris signs supply, distribution agreement for new sweetener with ASR Group - Amyris announced it has signed its first supply and distribution agreement for its new, sugarcane-derived, zero calorie sweetener with ASR Group. The long-term agreement for a significant volume of Amyris's ingredient guarantees ASR Group a supply of the sugarcane-derived sweetener, key to the company's future plans to expand its product offering with a new sweetener brand to be marketed and distributed globally, via business to business and direct to consumer. The agreement also fits well with Amyris's strategy to create value for market leaders in long-term partnerships.

08:11 EDT Express Scripts: Diabetes Care Value program delivers savings of $42.6M - Express Scripts released new data showing significantly improved clinical outcomes and reduced drug spending for diabetes. In its inaugural year, the Diabetes Care Value program, part of the technology-supported, value-based SafeGuardRx platform, reduced diabetes drug spending by 19% - $360 per member per year - for the more than 800 plan sponsors enrolled in the program, delivering a total savings of $42.6M in 2017. In addition, Express Scripts diabetes specialist pharmacists, using advanced clinical analytics, improved compliance with recommended treatment guidelines by starting an additional 15% of enrolled patients at risk for heart attack or stroke on statin therapy. If all Express Scripts plans were to similarly increase statin use among their members with diabetes for better cholesterol control, they could prevent an estimated 13,000 heart attacks over the next 10 years.

08:06 EDT Catabasis says data supports MRI T2 as potential marker of clinical outcome - Catabasis Pharmaceuticals reported new data supporting magnetic resonance imaging T2 as a potential marker of clinical outcome in boys with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Data from ImagingDMD, the largest natural history database of MRI assessments in boys with DMD, demonstrate a strong correlation between a composite of lower leg MRI T2 and boys' functional abilities. These results highlight the clinical importance of the significant improvement observed in the MoveDMD trial with edasalonexent treatment for lower leg MRI T2 compared to the off-treatment control period. The utility of MRI T2 as a marker to predict disease progression in DMD was assessed in the ImagingDMD natural history database of more than 150 boys. The lower leg composite MRI T2 was highly correlated with functional abilities in boys with DMD. The lower leg composite MRI T2 correlated with ability to complete assessments of muscle function, with 2 milliseconds corresponding to clinically relevant functional changes. The MoveDMD edasalonexent trial also assessed MRI T2 and saw a statistically significant improvement in the lower leg composite MRI T2 rate of change following 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks of edasalonexent treatment compared to the off-treatment control period, supporting the potential clinical benefit of edasalonexent. These improvements in MRI T2 are consistent with the improvements observed in all assessments of muscle function with edasalonexent treatment compared to the off-treatment control period. Catabasis also presented new MoveDMD trial data and the Phase 3 PolarisDMD trial design at the International Congress of the World Muscle Society: MoveDMD Trial Data through 72 Weeks of Edasalonexent Treatment: New positive efficacy and safety results through 72 weeks of edasalonexent treatment were presented, showing preservation of muscle function and sustained disease-modifying effects in all assessments of muscle function in boys with DMD in the MoveDMD trial and open-label extension compared to the off-treatment control period. Significant decreases in muscle enzymes through 72 weeks were also seen in boys treated with edasalonexent, supporting the durability of edasalonexent treatment effects. Significantly decreased heart rate towards age-normative values was observed and supports the potential beneficial cardiac effects of edasalonexent. Boys with DMD in this age range typically have resting tachycardia, a heart rate that exceeds the normal resting rate, and is the first cardiac manifestation in boys with DMD. Cardiomyopathy is the leading cause of mortality in DMD. Edasalonexent continued to be well tolerated with no safety signals observed in the trial. Boys treated with edasalonexent continue to follow age-appropriate growth curves with age-appropriate increases in weight and height and overall BMI has trended down to age-normative values. PolarisDMD Phase 3 Trial Design for Edasalonexent: The recently initiated Phase 3 PolarisDMD trial will evaluate the efficacy and safety of edasalonexent in patients with DMD and is intended to support an application for commercial registration of edasalonexent. The PolarisDMD trial is expected to include approximately 40 clinical trial sites globally. The Phase 3 PolarisDMD trial is a one-year, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Catabasis plans to enroll approximately 125 patients ages 4 to 7 regardless of mutation type who have not been on steroids for at least 6 months. The primary efficacy endpoint will be change in the North Star Ambulatory Assessment score after 12 months of treatment with edasalonexent compared to placebo. Key secondary endpoints include the age-appropriate timed function tests time to stand, 4-stair climb and 10-meter walk/run. Assessments of growth, cardiac and bone health are also included. Top-line results from the Phase 3 PolarisDMD trial are expected in the second quarter of 2020.

08:03 EDT Be The Match BioTherapies, Cryoport announce strategic partnership - Be The Match BioTherapies and Cryoport announced a strategic partnership to deliver end-to-end supply chain services to the cell and gene therapy industry. The collaboration will support both organizations' efforts to standardize critical elements of the cell therapy supply chain, as well as processes in apheresis and transplant center networks. By pairing Cryoport's expertise in temperature controlled logistics with Be The Match BioTherapies' expertise in apheresis center onboarding and management, case management and logistics, clinical research, and outcomes data collection and analysis, the two organizations will offer full end-to-end supply chain and outcomes support for companies developing and delivering autologous and allogeneic cell and gene therapies. An important part of the agreement is to integrate Be The Match BioTherapies' MatchSource cell therapy supply chain software and Cryoport's Cryoportal Logistics Management Platform. The outcome is a platform that manages more cell therapy products than any other solution in the marketplace, enabling cell and gene therapy companies to more rapidly discover, develop and deliver next-generation therapies.

08:02 EDT Magal Security awarded $7.7M extension contract in the Americas - Magal Security Systems has been awarded, through one of the subsidiaries, a $7.7M extension to an ongoing project providing integrated security solutions for critical energy infrastructures protection in the Americas. Most of this order is scheduled to be delivered during the remainder of 2018.

07:38 EDT Cellular Biomedicine enters into patent license agreement with NCI - Cellular Biomedicine, or CBMG, announced it has entered into a patent license agreement with the National Cancer Institute, or NCI, an institute of the National Institutes of Health, within the Department of Health and Human Services. Pursuant to the license agreement, NCI granted CBMG a non-exclusive, sub-licensable worldwide license to develop, manufacture and commercialize next generation neoantigen-reactive tumor infiltrating lymphocyte technology to treat a variety of cancers.

07:36 EDT J.C. Penney spikes after naming former Joann Stores chief as new CEO - Shares of J.C. Penney (JCP) surged in pre-market trading after the company named Jill Soltau as its new chief executive officer. The CEO role has been vacant since the resignation of Marvin Ellison earlier this year to become the CEO of Lowe's (LOW). J.C. PENNEY GETS ITS CEO: On Tuesday after the market close, J.C. Penney said that Jill Soltau, the former president and CEO of fabric and crafts retailer Joann Stores, will become its next CEO. Her appointment is effective on October 15. In a statement, J.C. Penney director and chairman of the search committee Paul Brown said "Jill stood out from the start among an incredibly strong slate of candidates," adding that "As we looked for the right person to lead this iconic company, we wanted someone with rich apparel and merchandising experience and found Jill to be an ideal fit." Former CEO Marvin Ellison left the company in May to become CEO of Lowe's, and the CEO role at J.C. Penney has been vacant ever since. Additionally, last week, J.C. Penney announced the resignation of CFO Jeffrey Davis to pursue another opportunity. His departure was effective October 1. As J.C. Penney looks for Davis' replacement, the company said Jerry Murray, senior VP of finance, will serve as interim CFO. The retailer said it will consider both internal and external candidates to replace Davis, who has been CFO since July 24, 2017. This summer, Chief Customer Officer Joe McFarland quit after less than a year to become executive vice president, stores, at Lowe's. Following Ellison's departure, J.C. Penney created an "Office of the CEO," comprised of Davis, McFarland, Chief Information Officer and Chief Digital Officer Therace Risch and EVP of Supply Chain Mike Robbins. Just two of those executives are still working at J.C. Penney. WHAT'S NOTABLE: Mall-based retailers, including J.C. Penney, have been hurt by the increasing popularity of fast-fashion retailers like Zara, Forever 21 and H&M, as well as an increasing shift by shoppers to purchase online on sites like Amazon (AMZN). J.C. Penney has struggled more than some of its peers, including Nordstrom (JWN) and Macy's (M), and in August, cut its outlook for fiscal 2018 as it continued to deal with too much inventory. ANALYST COMMENTARY: In a research note to investors, Piper Jaffray analyst Erinn Murphy said Soltau has "direct insights" on J.C. Penney's core consumer given the overlap of the consumer base in her prior roles as Joann Stores CEO, but remains sidelined on shares due to her longer-term view on department store retailing and her belief that J.C. Penney is still in the process of "right-sizing" its inventory. Murphy has a Neutral rating and $1.50 price target on the shares. PRICE ACTION: In pre-market trading, shares of J.C. Penney are up nearly 13% to $1.76.

07:35 EDT Biogen to present research program data at MDS - Biogen announced it will present data from its movement disorders portfolio at the upcoming International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders, or MDS. Data being presented are from Biogen's research programs evaluating potential treatments for progressive supranuclear palsy, or PSP, and Parkinson's disease as part of its larger neurology pipeline. Biogen PSP presentations will focus on safety data from the Phase 1 long-term extension study and baseline demographics from the Phase 2 PASSPORT study. The company's BIIB092 program has recently met milestones, including recruitment completion for the Phase 2 PASSPORT study and fast track designation by the FDA for PSP. PSP is a rare neurodegenerative disease, considered to be a primary tauopathy, characterized by rapidly progressing physical impairments, such as difficulty speaking, swallowing and walking, as well as cognitive/behavioral impairments, such as apathy and dementia.

07:14 EDT ADMA Biologics receives FDA approval for third plasma collection center - ADMA Biologics has received FDA approval for its third plasma collection center in Marietta, Georgia. The facility commenced operations and initiated source plasma collection in December 2017 and is now FDA licensed to collect and enter into interstate commerce to sell and use the human source plasma for further manufacturing in the U.S. Additionally, ADMA BioCenters has received FDA approval for a license supplement to collect whole blood from donors with a rare blood type to produce source plasma that contains high levels of Anti-D antibodies which is the basis for producing Rho Immune Globulin. Other plasma products manufacturers use this Anti-D high-titer plasma to make a hyperimmune globulin which is used to prevent and treat conditions associated with Rh negative blood type. Market prices for Anti-D plasma can be as much as two times that of normal source plasma.

07:07 EDT Universal Stainless & Alloy reaches five-year CBA with Bridgeville facility - Universal Stainless & Alloy announced that it has reached a new five-year collective bargaining agreement, or CBA, with the hourly employees at its Bridgeville facility represented by Local 9531 of the United Steelworkers. The new five-year collective bargaining agreement has been ratified by the bargaining unit and will be effective retro-actively to September 1 when the prior labor agreement was scheduled to expire. The employees have continued to work under a contract extension that the parties agreed to while negotiations continued. The new contract maintains the flexible work rule terms and profit-sharing incentives contained in the prior agreement.

07:05 EDT Neon Therapeutics to present data from NT-001 at ESMO - Neon Therapeutics announced that updated data from NT-001, its ongoing Phase 1b clinical trial evaluating NEO-PV-01 in the metastatic setting, will be presented in an upcoming oral presentation at the European Society for Medical Oncology, or ESMO.

07:03 EDT Accenture wins $501M 10-year Department of Agriculture contract - Accenture has been awarded a contract to build a new cloud solution for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of the Chief Financial Officer. The contract, which has an estimated value of $501.2M over a 10-year performance period, is part of the USDA's broader modernization effort. Accenture Federal Services will help the USDA continue to migrate the technology for its financial operations from an on-premise data-center-based architecture to a cloud solution that will support applications and database requirements for storage, networking and infrastructure.

07:03 EDT Eagle Pharmaceuticals, USAMRICD enter agreement to evaluate RYANODEX effects - Eagle Pharmaceuticals announced that it has entered into an agreement with the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense to conduct a study to evaluate the neuroprotective effects of RYANODEX. The study will be conducted under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement, a written agreement that allows government laboratories to partner with private industries or academia on research and development projects. Eagle will bear all costs associated with the study. While the standard treatment of atropine and oxime is essential after exposure to a nerve agent, these drugs are not neuroprotective. If approved, RYANODEX would represent a first of its kind agent as a neuroprotective treatment for the amelioration of neurological damage due to nerve agent exposure. Nerve agent exposure often results in death.

07:01 EDT Becton Dickinson promotes Tom Polen to COO - BD announced that Tom Polen will add the responsibility of COO of BD, in addition to his current role as president. Polen continues to report Vincent A. Forlenza, chairman and CEO. As president and COO, Polen will have oversight of BD's three operating segments, its innovation and new product development pipeline, and global operations for the company, including all manufacturing facilities and supply chain operations. Polen was appointed president of BD in April 2017. The company has not had a COO role since 2016.

06:49 EDT RPM CEO says profitability adversely affected by rising raw material costs - "We saw strong top-line sales growth in the first quarter, with organic sales growth up 7.8%, while profitability continued to be adversely affected by rising raw material costs. In addition, bottom-line results reflected the impact of restructuring charges, higher legal and advertising costs in our consumer segment, and the adverse effect of transactional foreign exchange," stated Frank Sullivan, RPM chairman and CEO. "Our team is focused on driving increased profitability, long-term growth and enhanced value for our shareholders, and we are making good progress in executing on our operating improvement plan, which is specifically designed to increase margins, reduce working capital, and improve overall operating efficiency. During the quarter, we continued our strategic restructuring initiatives, including the reduction of more than 150 positions and the announced closure of four manufacturing facilities, all in line with our 2020 Margin Acceleration Plan," stated Sullivan.

06:34 EDT Quarterhill subsidiary signs license agreement with MediaTek - Wi-LAN, a Quarterhill (QTRH) company, announced that WiLAN's wholly-owned subsidiary, Polaris Innovations has granted a term license for certain patents owned by Polaris to MediaTek. The licensed patents relate to memory interface technology and are part of the portfolio that Polaris acquired from Infineon (IFNNY) in June 2015. MediaTek is headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan and is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The consideration paid by MediaTek to Polaris and all other terms of the license agreement are confidential.

06:21 EDT PetIQ, FDB announce upcoming release of first veterinary medications database - FDB and PetIQ announced their partnership on the upcoming release of the industry's first drug database of veterinary medications for a variety of pet species. The veterinary database will be the only drug database to deliver codified, up-to-date information on pet medications, structured for easy integration into existing pharmacy systems and workflows to support pet medication commerce and drug dispensing. The database of pet medications will be consistent in structure with the FDB MedKnowledge solution which has been widely deployed and used throughout the retail, PBM, and mail order pharmacy channels for decades.

06:09 EDT Patterson-UTI reports an average of 179 drilling rigs operating in September - Patterson-UTI reported that for the month of September, the company had an average of 179 drilling rigs operating. For the three months ended September 30, the company had an average of 178 drilling rigs operating. Average drilling rigs operating reported in the company's monthly announcements represent the average number of the company's drilling rigs that were operating under a drilling contract. The company cautioned that numerous factors in addition to average drilling rigs operating can impact the company's operating results and that a particular trend in the number of drilling rigs operating may or may not indicate a trend in or be indicative of the company's financial performance.

06:08 EDT North American Construction to acquire heavy construction assets for $199M - North American Construction Group has entered into a definitive purchase and sale agreement to acquire the heavy construction equipment fleet and related assets of Aecon Group for $199.1M in cash. A $10M deposit was paid upon signing the agreement, which will be credited towards the purchase price on closing. The balance of the price will be paid in four instalments with the first instalment of $153.6M due at closing and the following three instalments of $11.8M each being paid six, twelve and eighteen months following closing. The transaction is expected to provide NACG with over $220M of additional annual revenue capability and NACG expects the transaction to be accretive to EBITDA, free cash flow and earnings. Anticipates 2019 EPS could exceed $1.60, subject to the transaction closing by the end of 2018. Existing contractual commitments will be assigned to NACG, subject to customer and partner consents. The Transaction will be fully financed at closing through an upsized and extended credit facility with NACG's existing lenders, led by National Bank Financial Inc. NACG intends to use operational cash flow to de-lever its balance sheet by around $150M over the next three years.

06:05 EDT GoDaddy founder Bob Parsons to resign from board - GoDaddy announced that founder Bob Parsons has resigned from the GoDaddy board, effective Friday, October 5, to devote his full time efforts to the array of businesses he created under the Yam WorldWide Umbrella. Parsons served as Executive Chairman of the board until June of 2014, at which time he assumed a seat as board director. In 2012, Parsons created YAM Worldwide, a holding company with businesses today focused in the field of power sports, golf, real estate, hedge fund management, collateralized lending, advertising, music and video production, furniture manufacturing, and philanthropy.

06:02 EDT Coda Octopus Group selected to collaborate on strategic subsea projects - Coda Octopus Group announced that its wholly owned products subsidiary, Coda Octopus Products Limited, has been selected as one of eight Scottish companies to "develop innovative subsea systems and technologies" as part of the premier Scottish-Japanese "Joint Ocean Innovation" collaborative R&D program, with matched funding by The Nippon Foundation and Scottish Enterprise. Coda Octopus Products will be collaborating with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries on one of five strategic subsea projects under the joint program. It is expected that the funding over three years for the joint program will be a total of approximately $32M. In the program's first year, a total of up to $11.5MM has been committed to fund the thirteen Scottish and Japanese companies, chosen to develop various innovative subsea systems and technologies for the exploitation of ocean resources within a period of three years. No public announcements have been made regarding the individual company funding awards. However, the funding allocated to Coda Octopus is in the hundreds of thousands of pounds and is expected to increase over the three-year period. This presents a significant opportunity for Coda Octopus to have its real-time 3D sonar technology embedded into a number of major applications for autonomous and unmanned underwater vehicles, and becoming the standard for these applications.

05:23 EDT Gilead announces approval of Biktarvy in Hong Kong - Gilead Sciences announced that the Hong Kong Department of Health has approved Biktarvy, a once-daily single tablet regimen, or STR, for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in adults. Hong Kong is the first market in Asia to approve Biktarvy. The triple-combination, single-tablet therapy combines the potency of the novel integrase strand transfer inhibitor, or INSTI, bictegravir, with the demonstrated safety and efficacy profile of a guideline recommended dual nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor backbone - Descovy. BIC/FTC/TAF provides a convenient once-daily dosing STR without regards of food. Furthermore, BIC/FTC/TAF's use is not restricted by the patient's baseline viral load, CD4 cell count or HLA-B 5701 status.

05:15 EDT Novartis licenses three novel anti-infective programs to Boston Pharmaceuticals - Novartis announced that it has entered into a licensing and equity agreement with Boston Pharmaceuticals for the development of three novel anti-infective drug candidates that are part of the Novartis Infectious Diseases portfolio, which have the potential to address the need for new agents to treat antibiotic resistant Gram-negative infections. Antibiotic resistance is widely recognized as a major public health threat and innovative candidates to combat drug resistant bacteria remain a critical unmet need. Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, and the World Health Organization, or WHO, have identified CRE and drug resistant Pseudomonads as serious threats that pose significant risk to human health.

05:12 EDT ObsEva reports additional 'positive' Phase 3 results of IMPLANT 2 trial - ObsEva SA announced additional positive Phase 3 data from the IMPLANT 2 trial of its oral, oxytocin receptor antagonist, Nolasiban in patients undergoing IVF procedures, as well as future development plans following receipt of EU regulatory feedback. Data from the IMPLANT 2 trial showed that Nolasiban significantly increased live birth rate following IVF treatment. Live birth rate, or LBR, also called "Take Home Baby" rate is a key secondary endpoint in IMPLANT 2 trial of Nolasiban in IVF, and these new results show a clinically and statistically significant benefit in favor of Nolasiban. In the primary population, combined Day 3 and Day 5 embryo transfer, or ET, treatment with Nolasiban as a single 900mg oral dose 4h prior ET resulted in a live birth rate of 34.8% vs. 27.7% for patients receiving placebo, a 25% relative increase. The live birth rate in women undergoing Day 5 ET was 44.8% for those receiving Nolasiban, vs 33.2% for those receiving placebo, a 35% relative increase. LBR is an important endpoint as live birth is the ultimate goal of couples who undergo IVF treatment. These data are very consistent with the 10-week pregnancy rate of 35.6% for Nolasiban vs. 28.5% for placebo that were reported in February 2018.