Stockwinners Market Radar for November 28, 2018 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

19:29 EDT FDA approves Astellas Pharma's Xospata in AML treatment - Astellas Pharma announced that the FDA approved XOSPATA, or gilteritinib, for the treatment of adult patients who have relapsed or refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia with a FLT3 mutation as detected by an FDA-approved test. XOSPATA is an oral therapy and the first and only FLT3-targeting therapy to be approved by the FDA for this population. The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2018, approximately 19,000 people will be diagnosed with AML in the U.S. XOSPATA has demonstrated inhibitory activity against two different mutations, FLT3 internal tandem duplication and FLT3 tyrosine kinase domain. Impacting approximately 30% of AML patients, the FLT3-ITD mutation is associated with worsened disease free survival and overall survival. FLT3-TKD mutations impact approximately 7% of AML patients4 and, although the impact of these mutations is less clear, they have been associated with treatment resistance. Previously, XOSPATA was granted both Orphan Drug designation and Fast Track designation by the U.S. FDA. Gilteritinib also received Orphan Designation from the European Commission and Orphan Drug Designation from the Japan Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

18:58 EDT Fly Intel: After Hours Movers - UP AFTER EARNINGS: La-Z-Boy (LZB) up 8.5%... Veeva Systems (VEEV) up 7.9%... Box (BOX) up 5.3%. ALSO HIGHER: Qualcomm (QCOM) up 2.3% after reports that Paul Jacoms still considers taking company private... Cemex (CX) up 1.6% after commencing stock buyback... Angi Homeservices (ANGI) up 0.9% after being initiated with Outperform at Macquarie... Altria (MO) up 0.8% after WSJ report that the company is in talks to take minority stake in Juul... Yelp (YELP) up 0.8% after announcing new $250M stock buyback. DOWN AFTER EARNINGS: Tilly's (TLYS) down 10.2%... Guess (GES) down 0.9%... Descartes Systems (DSGX) down 0.7%. ALSO LOWER: Intelsat (I) down 10.7% after selling stock for shareholders.

18:46 EDT Tesla's Musk says you can return a Tesla in 3 days without a test drive - In response to a tweet from a user who purchased a Tesla Model 3, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that anyone who buys a Tesla without a test drive has three days to return it. "If you buy after a test drive, you still have 24 hours," Musk said. "Trying to incent buying with no test drive." Reference Link

17:55 EDT American Assets Trust Chairman Ernest Rady buys 7,668 shares of company stock - American Assets Trust Chairman Ernest Rady disclosed in a filing that he had purchased 7,668 shares of company stock at an average price of $39.65 per share between November 26 and November 28. The total transaction value was $304,018.

17:19 EDT MVC Capital extending $10M share repurchase program - MVC Capital provided an update to its previously announced program to repurchase $10M of its common stock by December 31. Since September 18 through November 27, MVC Capital has repurchased approximately 698,000 shares at an average price of $9.41 per share, totaling approximately $6.6M. The company expects to be able to repurchase a total of $7M-$8M of its shares by December 31. Accordingly, to allow for completion of the program, the company has determined to extend the program beyond December 31, 2018 until the full $10M of shares are repurchased.

17:03 EDT Axcelis secures multiple system order for ion implanters from customer in Japan - Axcelis confirmed receiving a multiple system order for both high-current and high-energy ion implanters from a major analog customer in Japan with deliveries scheduled in Q4 and Q1 of 2019. Expanding their engagement in the Japan market, Axcelis also plans to showcase their Purion platform of ion implanters in the SEMICON Japan exhibition.

16:55 EDT Guess down 8.5% to $20.00 after Q3 results, FY19 guidance

16:39 EDT Cheetah Mobile to take legal action against Kochava for 'misleading statements' - Cheetah Mobile announced plans to take legal action against mobile app attribution and analytics company Kochava for providing false information and opinions about Cheetah Mobile's advertising system to the media, leading to a sharp decline in the company's stock price. The company believes that Kochava's actions are misleading and completely without merit. Kochava has accused Cheetah Mobile's apps of engaging in a fraudulent advertising practice known as "click injection." Kochava has based this assertion on a series of tests carried out in a simulated smartphone environment, the results of which were shared with Cheetah Mobile and the media in a series of videos. However, upon analyzing the videos and other evidence, the company discovered that Kochava's testing methods contained fundamental mistakes, leading to a number of false or misleading conclusions.

16:32 EDT Merck announces European Commission approves DELSTRIGO, PIFELTRO - Merck announced that the European Commission has approved DELSTRIGO and PIFELTRO for the treatment of HIV-1 infection. DELSTRIGO is a new once-daily fixed-dose combination tablet of doravirine, lamivudine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate. It is indicated in the European Union for the treatment of adults with HIV-1 infection without past or present evidence of resistance to the non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor class of antiviral agents, lamivudine or tenofovir. PIFELTRO is a new, once-daily NNRTI indicated in combination with other antiretroviral medicines for the treatment of adults with HIV-1 infection without past or present evidence of resistance to the NNRTI class.

16:25 EDT Palo Alto announces integration of RedLock, VM-Series with AWS Security Hub - Palo Alto Networks (PANW) announced the integration of RedLock and VM-Series for AWS Security Hub (AMZN), a new security service from Amazon Web Services, Inc. "The Palo Alto Networks product integrations help customers verify that their users, applications, and data are secure through a single pane of glass. The RedLock integration allows customers to monitor advanced threats due to common cloud misconfigurations, stolen credentials, and malicious user and network activities, while the VM-Series integration automates policies to block malicious activity," said Varun Badhwar, senior vice president of products and engineering for public cloud security at Palo Alto Networks. "With more businesses moving to the cloud, it's critical that the alert data they receive provides them with actionable insights to successfully combat cyberattacks."

16:23 EDT La-Z-Boy raises quarterly dividend 8% to 13c per share - Subsequent to quarter end, the board of directors increased the company's regular quarterly dividend to shareholders by 8% to 13c per share. The dividend will be paid on December 20, 2018, to shareholders of record as of December 10, 2018.

16:21 EDT AvalonBay sees Q4 Established Communities rental revenue up 2.5%-2.6% - AvalonBay Communities announced its expectation with respect to Established Communities rental revenue growth for the three months ending December 31, 2018. This projection excludes the five Manhattan communities that are anticipated to be contributed to a joint venture during this calendar quarter and which are therefore not expected to be consolidated for financial reporting purposes for the period ending December 31, 2018. Excluding the impact of these five communities, the Company now expects Established Communities rental revenue for the three months ending December 31, 2018 to increase between 2.5% and 2.6% over the prior year period. The midpoint of this range is approximately 15 basis-points above what the company's expectation for fourth quarter performance was when the company published its outlook for full year 2018 Established Communities rental revenue growth on October 29, 2018. The company also announced that, in anticipation of the closing of the New York JV and the receipt of the proceeds of that transaction, the company expects that it will prepay, on or before December 31, 2018, $250M aggregate principal amount of its 6.10% notes due 2020, and incur a prepayment penalty of approximately $10M in connection with the prepayment. The incurrence of the prepayment penalty, which was not reflected in the guidance that the Company previously published in its earnings release dated October 29, 2018, is expected to negatively impact earnings per share and funds from operations per share by approximately 7c, and have no impact on core funds from operations per share.

16:19 EDT ProAssurance announces 50c per share special dividend - The ProAssurance Corporation board declared a special dividend of 50c per share and a regular dividend of 31c per share. Both will be paid on January 9, 2019 to shareholders who own our stock as of December 21, 2018.

16:17 EDT Gardner Denver names Neil Snyder as new CFO - Gardner Denver Holdings announced that Neil Snyder will succeed Todd Herndon as the company's Chief Financial Officer effective January 1, 2019. Herndon will stay on with the company to assist in the transition of the CFO role to Snyder. Snyder, currently Senior Vice President of Global Finance, Business Development & Planning, will, in his new role, report directly to Vicente Reynal, Chief Executive Officer. Snyder joined Gardner Denver in March 2016 as Vice President of Strategy & Planning, Industrials Segment. In January 2017, he was promoted to Senior Vice President of Strategy, Business Development & Planning, and in August 2018, he took on expanded responsibilities with the appointment to his current role of Senior Vice President of Global Finance, Business Development & Planning, which includes leadership of the global finance and controllership functions.

16:15 EDT Devon Energy names Duane Radtke vice chairman - Devon Energy announced that the company's board of directors has elected Duane C. Radtke as its new vice-chairman. Radtke has served as a member of the Devon board since 2010. He currently chairs the board's Compensation Committee and serves on the Reserves Committee. He has more than 45 years of experience in the energy industry. Devon also announced that board chairman John Richels will not stand for re-election at the annual meeting in June 2019 and plans to retire from the board at that time. Richels served as Devon's president and CEO from 2010 until July 2015 and has served as chairman of the board since June 2016.

16:13 EDT Liberty Tax receives unsolicited $13-per-share acquisition proposal - Liberty Tax, the parent company of Liberty Tax Service, announced that it has received an unsolicited and non-binding proposal from an unaffiliated private equity fund to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Liberty Tax for $13.00 per share. In light of the receipt of the unsolicited proposal, the board of Liberty Tax has determined to commence a review of strategic alternatives and solicit other potentially interested parties regarding an acquisition of the company. The board intends to carefully review the unsolicited proposal and other strategic alternatives that may be available to the company in consultation with its advisors. Liberty Tax has not set a definitive timetable for completion of its evaluation and there can be no assurance that this process will lead to the approval or completion of any transaction. Liberty Tax does not intend to disclose developments regarding this process unless and until its board approves a specific transaction or otherwise concludes its review of strategic alternatives.

16:12 EDT OFG Bancorp raises quarterly dividend to 7c from 6c per share - The dividend is payable on January 15, 2019, to holders of record on December 31, 2018. The ex-dividend date is December 28, 2018.

16:11 EDT OFG Bancorp raises quarter dividend to 28c from 24c per share - The dividend is payable on January 15, 2019, to holders of record on December 31, 2018. The ex-dividend date is December 28, 2018.

16:10 EDT Ellie Mae names Dan Madden as new CFO - Ellie Mae announced that Dan Madden will join the organization as executive vice president and Chief Financial Officer on December 20, 2018, reporting to Jonathan Corr, Ellie Mae's President and CEO. Dan currently serves as Chief Financial Officer for Revel Systems, a cloud-based POS platform, where he leads the growing organization's finance team. Prior to joining Revel, Dan was the Chief Financial Officer at Cepheid, a publicly traded leading molecular diagnostics company, and VP Finance & Corporate Controller at Symmetricom, where he led the company's finance, accounting and investor relations functions. Previously, Dan held financial leadership positions at Sonic Solutions, Advanced Fibre Communications, and McKesson. Dan began his career with Ernst & Young and holds a bachelor of science in Business Administration from California State University, Sacramento.

16:09 EDT Yelp announces new $250M share repurchase authorization - Yelp announced the authorization of a new share repurchase program to acquire up to $250M of its outstanding common stock. This new authorization represents a 25% increase over the previous $200M share repurchase program authorized in July 2017, which was completed in November. The company may repurchase shares at management's discretion, with the amount and timing of any repurchases subject to liquidity, cash flow and market conditions, among other factors. "The increased share repurchase authorization reflects our continued confidence in Yelp's financial strength and strategy," said Jeremy Stoppelman, founder and chief executive officer. "We are committed to generating sustainable, profitable growth and driving shareholder value for Yelp's investors over the long term."

16:08 EDT Eyenovia announces results of Phase 2 PG21 study - Eyenovia announced that the full results of its Phase II PG21 study have been published in the article in the November issue of the peer-review journal Clinical Ophthalmology. The topline results of the study were first reported by the company earlier this year. This is the first study to demonstrate the effect of Eyenovia micro-dose on intraocular pressure, or IOP, lowering, which is the main treatment paradigm for conditions such as glaucoma. In the study, subjects successfully self-administered high-precision micro-dose latanoprost 88% of the time after limited training. This is a significant improvement over the standard of care eyedropper which is successfully delivered less than 50% of the time, as demonstrated by multiple peer-review studies. Additionally, a single micro-dose, which uses 75% less drug and preservative than a standard eyedrop, achieved 29% IOP lowering from baseline - consistent with the 26% effect seen in other studies of conventional eyedrop Latanoprost.

16:07 EDT Veeva reports Q3 subscription service revenues up 25% at $178.2M

16:05 EDT FrontFour Capital Group reports 5.2% stake in MDC Partners - The Reporting Persons purchased the securities of the Issuer reported herein based on their belief that such securities, when purchased, were undervalued and represented an attractive investment opportunity. Over the past several months, FrontFour Capital has engaged in communications with the Issuer's management team and the Board regarding means to create shareholder value, including through changes to the composition of the Board. FrontFour first initiated private conversations with the Board in August 2018 in an attempt to constructively outline a strategy that would result in the replacement of Scott L. Kauffman as CEO with a candidate better suited to leverage the strength of the Issuer's agencies and grow the Issuer's market share in key industries. Shortly thereafter, the Board hastily announced Mr. Kauffman's intention to resign as CEO by December 31, 2018 without having commenced a search for his replacement, and then announced the launch of a strategic review process a week later. FrontFour has stressed the importance of shareholder representation on the Board to better align the perspective of the Board with that of the Issuer's shareholders, particularly at this critical juncture, but the Board has rejected FrontFour's requests. FrontFour continues to believe that significant changes to the composition of the Board are required in order to ensure that the best interests of shareholders are represented in the boardroom and therefore is evaluating all available options, including seeking changes to the composition of the Board at a special meeting of shareholders requisitioned for such purpose. FrontFour may continue to enter into discussions with management and the Board and reserves all rights to take any and all action with respect to its investment in the Issuer.

16:03 EDT Biohaven Pharmaceutical forming subsidiary BioShin for Asia-Pacific market - Biohaven Pharmaceutical (BHVN) has advanced the formation of a wholly owned subsidiary, BioShin, a Shanghai based limited liability company, to develop and commercialize its late-stage migraine and neurology portfolio in China and other Asia-Pacific markets. Biohaven's Chief of Corporate Strategy and Business Development, Donnie McGrath, has been appointed CEO of the new subsidiary which will be based in Shanghai. Previously, McGrath was Vice-President of Business Development and Head of Global Search and Evaluation at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY). Additional executive leaders appointed include Karl Lintel, COO, Zoey Wang, General Manager, and Elaine Hawkings, MSc, Head of Clinical Operations. BioShin plans to submit its first Investigational New Drug application to the China FDA before the end of 2018.

15:39 EDT Teva, Celltrion say FDA approves TRUXIMA for three NHL indications - Celltrion and Teva announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved TRUXIMA, a monoclonal antibody biosimilar to RITUXAN for the treatment of adult patients in three indications: Relapsed or refractory, low-grade or follicular, CD20-positive, B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma as a single agent; previously untreated follicular, CD20-positive, B-cell NHL in combination with first line chemotherapy and, in patients achieving a complete or partial response to a rituximab product in combination with chemotherapy, as single-agent maintenance therapy; non-progressing (including stable disease), low-grade, CD20-positive, B-cell NHL as a single agent after first-line cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and prednisone chemotherapy. "The approval of TRUXIMA is a significant milestone for Celltrion and, more notably, for the patients who need access to this important medication," said Woosung Kee, Chief Executive Officer of Celltrion. "TRUXIMA is the very first rituximab biosimilar to be approved in the United States for three non-Hodgkin's lymphoma indications and may help provide greater accessibility for patients."

15:34 EDT Tenable announces integration with Amazon Web Services Security Hub - Tenable (TENB) announced that it has integrated with Amazon's (AMZN) AWS Security Hub, a new offering from Amazon Web Services. The news follows the earlier announcement that Tenable.io is also available for purchase on AWS Marketplace, allowing customers to discover and assess cloud infrastructure assets for vulnerabilities to more effectively manage and reduce cyber risk across public cloud environments. The announcement builds on Tenable's existing integrations with AWS.

15:14 EDT Micron CEO says long-term trend toward more storage across many end markets

15:04 EDT Micron CEO says 'always assessing' production balance, capital investments

15:00 EDT Micron 'well positioned' in NAND technology, CEO says - Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra continues speaking at Credit Suisse's Technology, Media & Telecom Conference.

14:48 EDT FDA approves Astellas Pharma acute myeloid leukemia treatment - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that it has approved Xospata tablets for the treatment of adult patients who have relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia with a FLT3 mutation as detected by an FDA-approved test. The FDA also approved an expanded indication for a companion diagnostic, to include use with Xospata. The LeukoStrat CDx FLT3 Mutation Assay, developed by Invivoscribe Technologies, is used to detect the FLT3 mutation in patients with AML. The FDA granted this application Fast Track and Priority Review designation. Xospata also received Orphan Drug designation, which provides incentives to assist and encourage the development of drugs for rare diseases. The FDA granted the approval of Xospata to Astellas Pharma.

14:30 EDT Cleveland-Cliffs CEO says stock 'absurdly underappreciated'

14:13 EDT Veritex Holdings receives regulatory approval for Green Bancorp merger - Veritex Holdings announced Veritex received the regulatory approval from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas required to complete the transactions contemplated by the Agreement and Plan of Reorganization, dated as of July 23, 2018, by and among Veritex, MustMS, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, and Green Bancorp, Inc., the parent holding company of Green Bank, N.A., pursuant to which, subject to the terms and conditions of the Merger Agreement, Merger Sub will merge with and into Green, with Green continuing as the surviving corporation and a wholly owned subsidiary of Veritex, immediately thereafter, Green will merge with and into Veritex, with Veritex as the surviving corporation, and immediately thereafter, Green Bank will merge with and into Veritex Bank, with Veritex Bank continuing as the surviving bank. The Merger Transactions are expected to close on or about January 1, 2019, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of the closing conditions described in the Merger Agreement.

14:04 EDT Amazon trading higher by over 5% to $1,660.89 after hosting AWS re:Invent event

14:03 EDT AWS announces new machine learning services, including Amazon SageMaker - Today at the re:Invent event, Amazon Web Services, an Amazon.com company, announced 13 new machine learning capabilities and services, across all layers in the machine learning stack, to help put machine learning in the hands of even more developers. AWS introduced new Amazon SageMaker features making it easier for developers to build, train, and deploy machine learning models -- including low cost, automatic data labeling and reinforcement learning. AWS revealed new services, framework enhancements, and a custom chip to speed up machine learning training and inference, while reducing cost. AWS announced new artificial intelligence services that can extract text from virtually any document, read medical information, and provide customized personalization, recommendations, and forecasts using the same technology used by Amazon.com. And, last but certainly not least, AWS will help developers get rolling with machine learning with AWS DeepRacer, a new 1/18th scale autonomous model race car for developers, driven by reinforcement learning. Reference Link

13:58 EDT BBVA names Onur Genc as the next CEO - The board of directors of BBVA approved the succession plan for the company's Chief Executive Officer. Onur Genc, who is currently the CEO of BBVA Compass and U.S. country manager for BBVA, will replace Carlos Torres Vila as Group CEO. The succession is expected to take place on Dec. 31, 2018 when Carlos Torres Vila replaces Francisco Gonzalez as Group Executive Chairman, once the relevant authorizations have been obtained.

13:53 EDT AWS announces Control Tower, Security Hub and Lake Formation services - At AWS re:Invent, Amazon Web Services announced three new services that the company said "provide automation and prescriptive guidance to help customers build more quickly on AWS." The company stated: "AWS Control Tower gives customers an automated 'landing zone' that makes it easy to set up their multi-account environment and continuously govern their AWS workloads with rules for security, operations, and compliance. AWS Security Hub is a central place to manage security and compliance across an AWS environment so that customers can quickly see their AWS security and compliance state in one comprehensive view. AWS Lake Formation makes it much easier for customers to build a secure data lake by simplifying and automating many of the complex manual steps usually required, including collecting, cleaning, and cataloging data."

13:52 EDT Amazon Web Services announces AWS Outposts - Today at the re:Invent event, Amazon Web Services, an Amazon.com company, announced AWS Outposts, fully managed and configurable compute and storage racks built with AWS-designed hardware, that allow customers to run compute and storage on-premises, while seamlessly connecting to the rest of AWS's broad array of services in the cloud. Reference Link

13:50 EDT Amazon Web Services announces eight new storage services, capabilities - Today at the re:Invent event, Amazon Web Services, an Amazon.com company, announced eight new storage services and capabilities. "Our customers tell us that storage is foundational to everything they do," said Bill Vass, VP Engineering, Amazon Web Services. "By fully managing services for our customers, including all of the storage infrastructure, we make it easy and cost-effective for them to scale their business applications quickly and massively. As you can see from the announcements today, we're not close to being done innovating across our storage services to enable the best performance for all types of applications, automate storage management, simplify and accelerate data migration, and reduce customers' costs." Reference Link

13:32 EDT RPM realigning six business groups into four

13:14 EDT Amazon Web Services announces machine learning category of products - Amazon Web Services announced a new machine learning category of products offered by AWS Marketplace, which includes over 150 algorithms and model packages. "AWS Marketplace offers a tailored selection for vertical industries like retail (35 products), media (19 products), manufacturing (17 products), HCLS (15 products), and more. Customers can find solutions to critical use cases like breast cancer prediction, lymphoma classifications, hospital readmissions, loan risk prediction, vehicle recognition, retail localizer, botnet attack detection, automotive telematics, motion detection, demand forecasting, and speech recognition," the company said. Reference Link

13:08 EDT Horizon Media adopts Nielsen digital content ratings - Nielsen and Horizon Media announced the deepening of their relationship to include Digital Content Ratings data as part of the agency's proprietary media planning and activation tool, Cadence. With this agreement, Horizon clients will have access to an independent view of how audiences engage with content across devices and optimize their brand messages to connect with consumers.

13:01 EDT C&F Financial increases quarterly dividend 2.8% to 37c per share - The board of directors of C&F Financial Corporation has declared a regular cash dividend of 37c per share, which is payable January 1, 2019 to shareholders of record on December 14, 2018. This dividend represents a 2.8% increase over the prior quarter's dividend amount of 36c per share. This is the second increase in the Corporation's regular cash dividend during 2018, resulting in a cumulative increase of 8.8% over the regular cash dividend of 34c per share that was paid on January 1, 2018.

12:48 EDT RPM trading resumes

12:43 EDT Kentucky American Water files application with Kentucky PSC to adjust rates - Kentucky American Water announced today that it has filed an application with the Kentucky Public Service Commission, or PSC, to adjust its rates for water service in the communities it serves. Kentucky American Water's ongoing infrastructure investments, which will exceed $100 million in system improvements, are a key reason the rate increase is needed. These investments are necessary to maintain and enhance service, water quality, system reliability, and fire protection capabilities for customers while still keeping the cost of water service for most residential customers at about a penny per gallon, usually their most affordable utility bill. The company last filed for new rates through a general rate case filing in January 2016. "Water systems around the country, including some here in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, are struggling due to deferred investments in aging waterlines, treatment plants, pumps and other facilities. Kentucky American Water, on the other hand, continues to make proactive investments in aging infrastructure that are necessary to provide quality, reliable water service to the customers we serve throughout the region," said Kentucky American Water President Nick Rowe. "In fact, we have invested approximately $220 million in system improvements in the last decade alone. The level of service these investments support is critical for a community's quality of life and economic vitality, and such water system improvement projects support jobs in our region, too." The American Society of Civil Engineers' latest Report Card for America's Infrastructure, issued every four years since 2001, gave the nation's water systems a 'D' grade in 2017. This is similar to the last few reports and heightens the sense of urgency for water utilities to take actions that will address this serious infrastructure issue.

12:33 EDT Homebuilding stocks fall after sales of new homes plunge in October - Shares of U.S. homebuilders are falling in afternoon trading after a government report showed that U.S. sales fell to the weakest pace in October 2018 since March 2016, as mortgage rates rise. MONTHLY NEW RESIDENTIAL SALES: Sales of new single-family houses in October 2018 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 544,000, according to estimates released jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is approximately 8.9% below the revised September 2018 rate of 597,000 and is roughly 12% below the October 2017 estimate of 618,000. PRICE ACTION: Shares of companies related to the U.S. home construction industry include Beazer Homes (BZH), CalAtlantic (CAA), D.R. Horton (DHI), Hovnanian (HOV), KB Home (KBH), Lennar (LEN), PulteGroup (PHM), Beacon Roofing (BECN), and Masco (MAS).

12:06 EDT AWS introduces Amazon FSx for Windows File Server - Amazon Web Services (AMZN) chiev evangelist Jeff Barr in a blog post introduced Amazon FSx for Windows File Server. Barr noted that organizations that want to run Windows (MSFT) applications on the cloud are commonly looking for network file storage that's fully compatible with their applications and their Windows environments. For example, enterprises use Active Directory for identification and Windows Access Control Lists for fine-grained control over access to folders and files, and their applications typically rely on storage that provides full Windows file system compatibility. Amazon FSx for Windows File Server, Barr said, fits all of these needs, and more. It was designed from the ground up to work with a user's existing Windows applications and environments, making lift-and-shift of your Windows workloads to the cloud super-easy. Users get a native Windows file system backed by fully-managed Windows file servers, accessible via the widely adopted SMB protocol. Built on SSD storage, Amazon FSx for Windows File Server delivers the throughput, IOPS, and consistent sub-millisecond performance that is expected. Amazon FSx for Windows File Server is available now and people can start using it today in the US East (N. Virginia), US East (Ohio), US West (Oregon), and Europe (Ireland) Regions, with expansion to other Regions planned for the coming months.

12:00 EDT Tiffany falls -12.1% - Tiffany is down -12.1%, or -$12.66 to $92.28.

12:00 EDT MFC Bancorp rises 16.0% - MFC Bancorp is up 16.0%, or 69c to $5.01.

12:00 EDT Cheetah Mobile rises 23.9% - Cheetah Mobile is up 23.9%, or $1.31 to $6.79.

11:34 EDT Nintendo says sold over $250M in products from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday - Nintendo said that its Switch console set two new records from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday: It became the best-selling Nintendo console in U.S. history for that five-day period, surpassing even Wii system sales. Nintendo Switch also had its best-selling week ever in the United States. In fact, according to Adobe Analytics, Nintendo Switch was among the most-purchased items online on Thanksgiving Day and the overall top-selling video game product online for the Black Friday-Cyber Monday time period, the company said. Strong demand resulted in shoppers buying more than $250M in Nintendo products from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, according to Nintendo's internal sales figures. That sales total accounts for video game systems like Nintendo Switch and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems, retro systems like Nintendo Entertainment System: NES Classic Edition and Super Nintendo Entertainment System: Super NES Classic Edition, as well as all Nintendo-produced games and accessories. Total U.S. hardware sales for Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday increased 45% over the same period in 2017.

11:11 EDT Norfolk Southern EVP Alan Shaw confident in growth with intermodal next year - Norfolk Southern EVP and Chief Marketing Officer Alan Shaw said he is confident in growth in intermodal next year. Shaw said, "we've done a good job in pricing intermodal." Comments provided during 6th Annual Credit Suisse Industrials Conference.

11:01 EDT Papa John's continues slide after report of lost bidder - Shares of Papa John's (PZZA) are under pressure for a second straight day after the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Trian Fund Management has decided not to pursue a deal to acquire the pizza chain. Assuming no deal, Stifel analyst Chris O'Cull said investors should brace for a pullback in the stock to the low-$40s and encouraged the company's board to quickly add new members that can help guide a restaurant turnaround. REPORT SAYS PAPA JOHN'S LOST BIDDER: Trian Fund Management was evaluating a potential bid of Papa John's but has decided not to pursue a deal, The Wall Street Journal reported last night, citing people familiar with the matter. The pizza chain is in the midst of a sale process that began in August and some bidders remain interested in potentially taking a stake, but none is currently considering buying the whole company, sources told the Journal. Binding offers for Papa Johns's are due next week, the report added. STIFEL SAYS SHARES COULD TRADE IN LOW $40S WITHOUT DEAL: While noting that he has no knowledge of any M&A negotiations or discussions, Stifel analyst Chris O'Cull told investors that he still believes there are several obstacles a buyer would need to overcome, and a potential takeout bid would probably offer limited upside, especially after considering the arbitrage discount would likely be large given an obstinate founder owns 30% of the stock. Assuming no deal, then investors should brace for a pullback in the stock to low-$40s, he contended, adding that the board should "quickly add new members that can help guide a restaurant turnaround." O'Cull pointed out that the stock seems to be trading more on M&A chatter than fundamentals, but argued that a comprehensive longer-term plan coupled with adding fresh talent to the board could make Papa John's "a compelling 24-36 month investment prospect." Franchisees need a longer-term financial support plan given the profit declines have put many at risk of closing stores, the analyst contended, adding that he suspects middle management and support service employees are struggling to remain engaged given "they are probably reading the news headlines with some jitters about their job security." PRICE ACTION: In morning trading, shares of Papa John's have dropped more than 6% to $48.42. Yesterday, the stock fell 10% following the Wall Street Journal's report.

10:56 EDT CVS Health announces completion of acquisition of Aetna - CVS Health (CVS) announced that it has completed its acquisition of Aetna (AET). CVS Health President and Chief Executive Officer Larry J. Merlo. "By delivering the combined capabilities of our two leading organizations, we will transform the consumer health experience and build healthier communities through a new innovative health care model that is local, easier to use, less expensive and puts consumers at the center of their care...By fully integrating Aetna's medical information and analytics with CVS Health's pharmacy data, we can develop new ways to engage consumers in their total health and wellness through personal contacts and deeper collaboration with their primary care physicians. As a result, we expect patients will benefit from earlier interventions and better-connected care, leading to improved health outcomes and lower medical costs." Under the terms of the transaction, each outstanding share of Aetna common stock is being exchanged for $145.00 in cash and 0.8378 shares of CVS Health common stock. CVS Health is not issuing any fractional shares in the transaction. Instead, the total number of shares of CVS Health common stock that each Aetna shareholder is entitled to receive is being rounded down to the nearest whole number, and each Aetna shareholder is entitled to receive cash for any fractional share of CVS Health common stock that the Aetna shareholder is otherwise entitled to receive. The transaction values Aetna at $212 per share or approximately $70B. Including the assumption of Aetna's debt, the total value of the transaction is $78B. The combined company's shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "CVS." The Aetna brand name will continue to be used in reference to the health insurance products. Going forward, Aetna will operate as a stand-alone business within the CVS Health enterprise and will be led by members of its current management team. As a result of the acquisition, shareholders are expected to benefit from a number of outcomes, including enhanced competitive positioning; the delivery of more than $750 million in synergies in 2020; and a platform from which to accelerate growth. The roadmap for value creation over the longer term has the potential to deliver substantial incremental value through the development of products and services that provide the opportunity to generate significant new growth opportunities aimed at reducing medical costs, growing membership and enhancing revenues. In connection with the acquisition, on October 10, CVS Health previously announced that it had entered into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice that allowed it to proceed with the acquisition of Aetna. As part of the agreement reached with the DOJ, Aetna entered into an asset purchase agreement with a subsidiary of WellCare Health Plans (WCG) for the divestiture of Aetna's stand-alone Medicare Part D prescription drug plans, which have an aggregate of approximately 2.2 million members. The divestiture transaction is expected to close within the next few business days. Aetna will provide administrative services to and will retain the financial results of the divested plans through 2019. The acquisition of Aetna was also subject to certain state regulatory approvals which have all now been obtained.

10:53 EDT Wayfair pops after 'Cyber Five' direct retail sales increase 58% - Shares of Wayfair (W) surged after the online furniture and home goods retailer said its direct retail sales for the recent five-day holiday weekend were up 58% compared to last year. Following the report, an analyst noted that this represents an acceleration from the growth rates of the last two years. HOLIDAY WEEKEND DIRECT RETAIL SALES POP: Wayfair on Wednesday said its direct retail gross sales jumped 58% during the five-day shopping period covering Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday. While Cyber Monday was the peak sales day of the holiday weekend, Wayfair said in a statement that Black Friday marked the highest growth day as consumers continued to shift their spending from brick and mortar to online and "took advantage of Wayfair's unrivaled shopping experience for the home." The retailer also said that customers "shopped for every room of the house" over the holiday weekend, buying everyday essentials such as bedding and kitchenware as well as major furnishings including sofas, recliners and dining sets. "We see the overall cadence of holiday shopping changing with online becoming the clear leader throughout the holiday weekend, driving outsized growth," Chief Executive Niraj Shah said in a statement. 'IMPRESSIVE' RESULTS SUGGEST UPSIDE POTENTIAL: In a research note to investors after Wayfair's report, Baird analyst Colin Sebastian said the "impressive" results represent an acceleration from 53% in 2017 and 52% in 2016. He added that reported Q4 direct retail growth rates have averaged 80%-85% of the "Cyber Five" growth rate over the last two years, and that this year's Cyber Five results suggest there is "considerable upside potential" for the quarter. However, Sebastian cautioned that the "highly promotional" nature of the shopping holiday may be concentrating spending early in the holiday period and sees growth rates likely normalizing through the rest of the quarter. RECENT CITRON COMMENTS: In a November 2 report published to its website, Citron Research said that Wayfair "has become a textbook case of anti-economies of scale" and set a new "2019 stock target" of $40 on the shares. Citron's Andrew Left, who has stated in the past that Wayfair is "running an unsustainable business," told investors that Wayfair "has shown that it can only grow through spending... With increasing competition in the furniture business from Amazon (AMZN), along with competition from omni-channel retailers, there is no sign that the bleeding will stop or that Wayfair's business will rebound." PRICE ACTION: Shares of Wayfair are up 11.4% to $102.03 in morning trading.

10:38 EDT Dick's Sporting assessing hunt business in 'number of stores' - Says waiting to see how 10 stores without hunt business perform. Says looking at a number of stores where the hunt business underperforms and assessing whether to replace it with other categories.

10:29 EDT Dick's Sporting says sales in footwear were primarily flat - Says primarily due to low inventory during back-to-school season.

10:21 EDT Dick's Sporting believes vast majority of headwinds will diminish - Says sales were still pretty soft in Under Armour (UA, UAA) in Q3.

10:05 EDT Ebix to deploy forex exchange services at Dubai International Airport - Ebix announced that Dubai international Airport has selected Ebix to deploy Forex Exchange services at two of its airport terminals. Ebix's Forex Exchange services were selected by the Dubai Airport after a thorough competitive evaluation process involving more than 15 competitors of EbixCash. The Airport selected EbixCash to deploy its services across Terminals 1 and 2 of the Airport.

10:00 EDT Lockheed Martin: Backlog ensures 2020 sales growth regardless of defense budget

10:00 EDT VelocityShares 3x Inv Natural Gas ETN falls -14.2% - VelocityShares 3x Inv Natural Gas ETN is down -14.2%, or -$9.71 to $58.65.

10:00 EDT Atkore rises 17.3% - Atkore is up 17.3%, or $3.09 to $20.99.

10:00 EDT Cheetah Mobile rises 26.8% - Cheetah Mobile is up 26.8%, or $1.47 to $6.95.

09:55 EDT Lockheed Martin CEO says has 'strong' offering for Army's FARA contract

09:50 EDT FRONTEO Inc (ADS) trading resumes

09:45 EDT FRONTEO Inc (ADS) trading halted, volatility trading pause

09:32 EDT Dish appoints Suma Nallapati chief digital officer - DISH announced that it has appointed Suma Nallapati SVP and chief digital officer reporting to DISH chief information officer Atilla Tinic. Nallapati currently serves on Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper's cabinet as Secretary of Technology and State CIO. She will join DISH in mid-January when Colorado Governor-Elect Jared Polis assumes the office. Nallapati will lead DISH's application delivery and digital strategy implementation. Her technology portfolio will include sales, e-commerce, customer and partner management, billing and other various operational support systems.

09:19 EDT Fly Intel: Pre-market Movers - UP AFTER EARNINGS: Salesforce (CRM), up 8%... Nutanix (NTNX), up 8%... Burlington Stores (BURL), up 8%... Bitauto (BITA), up 4%. HIGHER: Gaming Partners (GPIC), up 71% after announcing deal to be acquired by Angel Holdings for $13.75 per share... Cheetah Mobile (CMCM), up 15% after saying there are "untrue" statements in BuzzFeed articles about the attribution of app installations. DOWN AFTER EARNINGS: Tiffany (TIF), down 12%... J.M. Smucker (SJM), down 5%... Chico's (CHS), down 31%. ALSO LOWER: Ceragon Networks (CRNT), down 3% after Needham analyst Alex Henderson downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy. The analyst notes that the company has delivered "solid results" and that its stock has benefited from strong execution and expectations of further improvement from 5G build-outs, but believes its valuation reflects the positive news... Global Net Lease (GNL), down 6% after its 4M share spot secondary offering priced at $20.20 per share.

09:10 EDT FlexShopper reports Black Friday results - FlexShopper announced record gross lease originations for Black Friday and the four day period from Black Friday through Cyber Monday. Black Friday gross lease originations increased from $474,357 to $683,342, or 44.1%, compared to Black Friday last year. Gross lease originations for the period from Black Friday through Cyber Monday increased from $1.5M to $2.1M, or 39.7%, compared to the same holiday period last year.

09:09 EDT Cinedigm to acquire ComicBlitz - Cinedigm announced an agreement to acquire the digital comic book service ComicBlitz, which will provide access to approximately 10,000 digital comic books, with more than 175,000 pages of content from a growing network of 30 or more publishers. ComicBlitz content will be distributed globally as a licensed offering for mobile carriers, OTT providers and other media companies. It will also be integrated with Cinedigm's existing and planned OTT services, including the fandom lifestyle network CONtv. Cinedigm expects that the acquisition will close before the end of the year. Cinedigm plans on rapidly enhancing ComicBlitz's content and services offering by leveraging Cinedigm's forthcoming, next-generation technology platform and expects to service global distribution of the ComicBlitz content and platform offerings alongside Cinedigm's existing footprint of nine OTT channel offerings. From a business perspective, the transaction is expected to generate revenues through content licensing, subscription and advertising revenues, new distribution platform partnerships and by accelerating global expansion of Cinedigm's OTT business. Cinedigm expects the acquisition will be accretive within the first quarter following closing, pending certain license deals currently in negotiation. The deal could be expected to generate more than $5M in incremental annual digital revenues within 18-24 months after closing, if new platform and licensing agreements related to this acquisition are consummated. This deal will support Cinedigm's strategy to provide high quality turn-key offerings to third party platforms on a global scale through acquisition and partnerships. It will also provide a deep portfolio of quality comic book offerings that significantly broadens the company's content portfolio for highly sought after fandom audiences worldwide. The worldwide digital comic book and graphic novel market is estimated at over $1B in annual sales. Launched in 2015, ComicBlitz has a distribution footprint of over 133 countries, with key penetration in North America and major territories including the United Kingdom, Australia, India, Mexico, Brazil and Germany.

09:04 EDT Santander's Open Bank goes all-in on Amazon Web Services - Amazon Web Services (AMZN) announced that Open Bank, a subsidiary of Santander Group (SAN), runs on the world's leading cloud for the most reliable infrastructure and the ability to innovate quickly and more frequently on behalf of its 1.3 million customers in Spain. The digital bank runs production workloads on AWS, including its website, mobile application, and core banking system. Openbank plans to expand internationally using AWS's global infrastructure to increase redundancy and fault tolerance by replicating key systems across geographic regions. Openbank chose AWS for its operational expertise, breadth of functionality, commitment to security, and understanding of the financial services industry, enabling the bank to innovate its business in the cloud. Openbank worked with AWS to migrate its mission-critical data lake from on-premises to a cloud-based architecture. The data lake now uses Amazon Simple Storage Service, Amazon Lambda, and Amazon Athena for a more flexible environment that empowers Openbank data scientists and engineers to harness and analyze customer data so that they can make better informed decisions faster. In addition, Openbank leveraged Amazon Elastic Container Service to create a web and mobile front-end application that supports digital interactions with bank customers such as performing credit risk analysis, requesting new loans, and recommending investment strategies.

09:02 EDT TripAdvisor and DoorDash partnering for food delivery service - TripAdvisor is integrating DoorDash's on-demand platform into the TripAdvisor experience. TripAdvisor users are now able to have food delivered through DoorDash in more than 1,800 cities throughout North America.

08:50 EDT Tiffany: Spending of Chinese tourists has droped in major markets outside China

08:44 EDT Tiffany says Q3 results were 'close' to expectations - Says mindful of external factors but won't be distracted by them. Says continuing to look at global pricing.

08:43 EDT Eastman Chemical completes new manufacturing facility - Eastman Chemical has completed a new isobutyric acid manufacturing facility at its Kingsport, Tennessee site and expects production to begin within the next few weeks. The new facility, when added to the Longview, Texas site isobutyric acid manufacturing facility, doubles Eastman's production capacity.

08:41 EDT United sees 'strong travel demand' to all locations except Latin America - Spikes in fuel pricing having less of an impact than in previous years. United Airlines executive vice president and CCO Andrew Nocella said, "As the price of fuel goes down, you may see some increase in ASM." Nocella also said due to fluctuating fuel costs "we have to plan cautiously." Nocella said "2019 is going to be a good year for our business." The company expects its premium economy cabins to be completed by end of 2020. The company expects to be able to monetize premium economy in 2021. Nocella said "Pacific is and area of strength, right now." If there's a trade issue, it may affect business class... China demand is still strong." Comments provided during 6th Annual Credit Suisse Industrials Conference.

08:38 EDT Barnes & Noble's Riggio says evaluating potential sale of company - In a regulatory filing, Barnes & Noble Executive Chairman Leonard Riggio said he is evaluating and may participate in a potential sale of the book retailer. "Such participation in the Potential Sale Process could include, without limitation, (i) making, individually or with others, an offer to acquire, and negotiating and executing a transaction to acquire, the Company or (ii) selling the Reporting Persons' beneficial ownership interest in the Company in connection with a transaction." Riggio is the beneficial owner of 14,052,132 shares, or 19.2%, of the Common Stock. Riggio is the direct beneficial owner of 5,794,491 shares of Common Stock.

08:36 EDT DaVita enters into credit agreement amendment permitting sale of DaVita Medical - In a regulatory 8-K filing released yesterday, DaVita disclosed that on November 21st, the company and JPMorgan entered into an amendment to the company's existing senior secured credit agreement that would permit the sale of the equity of DaVita Medical Holdings, LLC. The agreement will increase the maximum permitted leverage ratio from 4.50 to 1.00 to 5.00 to 1.00.

08:24 EDT Oshkosh confirms $1.69B order for 6,107 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles - Oshkosh Defense announced that the U.S. Army has placed a $1.69B order for 6,107 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles and associated installed and packaged kits. Today's delivery order marks the tenth order under the contract that was awarded to Oshkosh in August 2015. To date, Oshkosh has delivered more than 2,600 vehicles. Oshkosh expects a Full Rate Production decision in December 2018, followed by first Army unit equipped in early 2019. The JLTV fills a critical capability gap for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps by replacing a large portion of the legacy uparmored HMMWV fleet with a modern light protected vehicle.

08:16 EDT Bandera Partners nominates slate of directors for Luby's board - Bandera Partners, a significant shareholder of Luby's, announced that it has issued a public letter to the company's board of directors. The letter from Jeff Gramm read, in part: "Bandera Partners owns 2,619,721 shares of Luby's common stock or approximately 8.9% of the Company's outstanding shares...I have a fiduciary responsibility to the investors in my fund, and I'm writing today to tell you that what's happening at Luby's is simply not working. The Fuddruckers and Luby's restaurant concepts do not generate a sufficient return on capital to justify the investments management is making, under your direction and supervision, into the business. The strategy of plowing cash flows back into restaurants works with good concepts like Pappadeaux and Pappasito's, but it has been a failure at Luby's. Capital expenditures since fiscal 2008 have totaled $235M dollars, about six times the company's current market capitalization. The return on this investment has been dismal, and to pay down the debt you have accumulated in the process, Luby's is liquidating the most valuable asset shareholders own, the company's real estate. Luby's owned real estate portfolio is tremendously valuable. Its appraised value (net of debt) is over $4.00 per share of Common Stock, as compared to its current stock price around $1.40.1 It is brutally painful to watch the Company chisel away at its real estate portfolio to fund low-return investments into the business. Since fiscal 2008, Luby's has sold $88 million of assets. This capital, more than double the current market capitalization, is gone and forever lost to shareholders. Given the futility of recent investments into Luby's and Fuddruckers, has the Board considered a capital allocation strategy that preserves the real estate value and returns capital to the owners of the company, the shareholders?...I have tried to reach a mutually agreeable settlement with the company that would give Bandera sufficient seats on the company's Board to help foster positive change. Luby's has hired a very sophisticated and expensive corporate defense lawyer instead of engaging in substantive negotiations to improve the Board with fresh, independent faces...I tried to settle this matter amicably, and for the good of all shareholders, but you left me no choice but to nominate a slate of highly qualified directors with deep experience in finance, real estate and restaurant operations. You could have embraced them and offered to add at least some of them to the Board, instead of snubbing us, rejecting serious discussion, and forcing us to bring real choice directly to the shareholders. Besides me, our slate includes: Senator Phil Gramm: Sen. Gramm was an economics professor at Texas A&M before serving 24 years in the United States Congress...Stacy Hock: Ms. Hock is a highly-accomplished philanthropist, public policy activist, and business owner...Savneet Singh: Mr. Singh is a very well-respected entrepreneur who has launched various finance, software and real estate businesses...Brian Wright: Mr. Wright was introduced to me by a private equity investor who called him, "The best multi-unit operator I've ever worked with."...I understand that Luby's directors control approximately 38% of the outstanding shares of Common Stock. But I believe this is the outside shareholders' last chance to salvage their investment in the company, and I feel a responsibility to take on this difficult battle on their behalf, rather than subject myself and other Luby's shareholders to another year of value destruction."

08:10 EDT Minerva announces new patent application for MIN-117 - Minerva announced the filing of a U.S. patent application for use of its investigational proprietary compound, MIN-117, to treat pain. MIN-117 is currently in Phase 2b clinical development as a treatment for major depressive disorder, or MDD. Pre-clinical rat models submitted in the patent application included peripheral motoneuropathy, inflammatory pain and chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathic pain. Findings in these models showed that MIN-117 restored approximately 60% of the nociceptive pain threshold after peripheral motoneuropathy or inflammatory pain and significantly reduced, in a dose-dependent manner, chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathic pain.

08:07 EDT AMSC awarded long lead material contract from Huntington Ingalls - AMSC (ASMC) announced it has been awarded a long lead material contract from Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) for a HTS-based ship protection system to be deployed on LPD 30. AMSC's ship protection system is expected to be integrated into the LPD 30 at Huntington Ingalls' shipbuilding facility in Pascagoula, Mississippi. AMSC's ship protection system will provide the U.S. Navy with world class mine protection while reducing the weight of the degaussing system by 90% and reducing energy consumption by more than half that of legacy degaussing systems. The USS San Antonio-class vessels are a key element of the Navy's ability to project power ashore. Collectively they functionally replace nearly 40 amphibious ships, providing the Navy and Marine Corps with modern, sea-based platforms that are networked, survivable and built to operate with 21st century platforms.

08:04 EDT Mustang Bio sees initiating multicenter Phase 1/2 MB-102 trial in 2019 - Mustang Bio announced that additional safety and efficacy Phase 1 data evaluating MB-102 in relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia and blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm have been selected for an oral presentation at the AACR Special Conference on Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy. The presentation will take place on November 30, 2018, in Miami Beach, Florida.Martina Sersch, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer of Mustang, said, "We are excited about the additional data demonstrating MB-102's potential to treat patients with AML and BPDCN. Initial safety and tolerability data as well as preliminary data on efficacy are very promising in a population with high unmet medical need. Based on the Phase 1 data, we expect to submit an IND filing for MB-102 and look forward to initiating a multicenter Phase 1/2 clinical trial in 2019 in patients with AML, BPDCN and high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome."

08:03 EDT NCR announces multi-year managed services agreement with Punjab National Bank - NCR Corporation announced a new managed services agreement with Punjab National Bank. The three-year agreement establishes NCR as Punjab National Bank's key services support provider for a significant part of its global network of over 3,600 ATMs. PNB is India's sixth largest bank in terms of ATMs deployed in the country with 100 million customers, including approximately 40 million debit card holders. It maintains more than 6,692 branches and has a presence in nine countries. The new services agreement is another signal of NCR's commitment to growing its services business in India and investing in and growing Digital Connected Services. Specific services provided to PNB include incident management, cash management, electronic journal pulling services, content management & software distribution services, site management & maintenance services and general housekeeping and upkeep services.

08:02 EDT Salesforce announces Michaels to deploy Salesforce Marketing Cloud - Salesforce (CRM) announced that The Michaels Companies (MIK) is deploying Salesforce Marketing Cloud to engage and inspire its customers with personalized content, promotions and offers, and adding Heroku and MuleSoft Anypoint Platform to quickly build apps and create integrated, omnichannel shopping journeys. Together with its current instances of Salesforce Commerce Cloud and Service Cloud, Michaels is bringing its ecommerce, service and marketing onto one platform to create connected customer experiences across every touchpoint.

07:45 EDT Kura Oncology announces new patent for tipifarnib from USPTO - Kura Oncology announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, has issued a new patent protecting the company's lead drug candidate, tipifarnib, a potent and selective farnesyl transferase that is currently being studied in multiple solid tumor and hematologic indications, including a registration-directed trial in HRAS mutant head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, or HNSCC, and a Phase 2 trial in peripheral T-cell lymphoma, or PTCL. The patent includes multiple claims directed to the use of tipifarnib as a method of treating patients with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, or AITL, an aggressive form of T-cell lymphoma. The newly issued patent has an expiration date of November 2037, excluding any possible patent term extension. Kura continues to pursue U.S. and foreign patent protection in this and other indications. Kura is evaluating, on a prospective basis, the role of the CXCL12 pathway and markers of bone marrow homing as potential biomarkers of clinical activity for tipifarnib in hematologic malignancies.

07:39 EDT Alliqua to spin off and merge AquaMed Technologies with TO Pharmaceuticals - Alliqua and TO Pharmaceuticals, or TOP, announced plans for Alliqua to spin off its AquaMed Technologies subsidiary, which develops, manufactures and markets high water content, electron beam cross-linked aqueous polymer sheet hydrogel products and merge it with TOP, creating a new public bio-pharmaceutical company to be called TO Pharma, focused on discovering, developing and commercializing novel therapeutics based on TOP's proprietary cannabinoid product platform in a number of FDA-regulated clinical indications and in select OTC markets. Upon consummation of the spin off and merger, Alliqua's former shareholders will retain a minority stake with the former members of TOP holding a majority interest in TO Pharma. In connection with this transaction, TO Pharma intends to apply to list its shares of common stock on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Alliqua will distribute the shares of common stock of AquaMed on a pro rata basis to the record holders of Alliqua prior to the consummation of Alliqua's previously announced merger with Adynxx. The merger will be structured as an equity exchange. Upon closing, AquaMed will be renamed TO Pharma and will be headquartered in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, with TOP's Seth Yakatan expected to serve as CEO and Alliqua's David Johnson to serve as chairman of the board. The transaction has been approved by the boards of both Alliqua and TOP and is expected to close by Q1 2019.

07:38 EDT Dick's Sporting says Q3 SSS 'within our range of expectations' - "We are pleased to deliver another quarter of strong earnings. Our continued improvements in gross margin and disciplined expense management more than offset our strategic investments, and contributed to increased profitability compared to last year," said Edward Stack, Chairman and CEO. Stack continued, "Comparable sales were within our range of expectations, including continued headwinds in the hunt and electronics categories. Our efforts have been focused on driving profitable sales and managing our business to deliver higher earnings. As a result, we are pleased to increase our fiscal 2018 earnings guidance for a third consecutive quarter." "We remain focused on improving our core execution, delivering stronger merchandise assortments and presentations, and increasing our productivity," said Lauren Hobart, President of DICK'S Sporting Goods. "We are confident that the continued execution of these strategies will lead to stronger results and drive competitive advantage in the marketplace."

07:36 EDT RTW Investments purchased 967,742 shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals - RTW Investments announced the purchase of 967,742 shares of common stock of Rocket Pharmaceuticals at a price of $15.50 per share, for a total investment amount of $15M, in a private placement transaction. RTW is an existing stockholder of the company and an affiliate of Roderick Wong, the chairman of Rocket's board. The purchase of these shares is being made on the same terms as are being offered to the public in Rocket's underwritten offering of $55 million of shares of common stock and will close concurrently with the underwritten offering. RTW has signed a 90-day lock-up covering all of its holdings in Rocket. The sale of shares to RTW is not registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and such shares will be subject to customary resale restrictions.

07:35 EDT Chico's brand President Diane Ellis stepping down - Chico's FAS announced the departure of Diane Ellis, President of the Chico's brand, effective November 30. The company has initiated a search to identify a new Chico's brand President. In the interim, the Chico's brand will be led by Shelley Broader, the company's CEO and President.

07:32 EDT Wayfair reports 58% increase in direct retail sales for five-day holiday weekend - Wayfair reported a 58% increase year over year in direct retail gross sales, defined as dollars of order intake, for the five-day peak shopping period of Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday. While Cyber Monday was the peak sales day of the holiday weekend, Black Friday marked the highest growth day as consumers continued to shift their spending from brick and mortar to online and took advantage of Wayfair's unrivaled shopping experience for the home. Throughout the peak holiday weekend, Wayfair customers shopped for every room of the house, purchasing everyday essentials such as bedding and kitchenware as well as major furnishings including sofas, recliners and dining sets. On Cyber Monday alone, Wayfair customers purchased a Christmas tree every 10 seconds, a sofa every nine seconds, a mattress every six seconds, a barstool every five seconds, and a rug approximately every one and a half seconds. In addition, shoppers took advantage of Wayfair's great deals on lighting, faucets and vanities while benefitting from fast, two-day delivery and assembly services on renovation items. Wayfair sold a faucet or vanity every 15 seconds on Cyber Monday. This year, Wayfair unveiled exclusive collections of seasonal decor with the expansion of Wayfair Basics, offering an array of affordable options for tree skirts and decorative lighting as well as holiday trees spanning more styles and colors than ever before. Pre-lit faux garland was among the most popular decor items this year and consumers also mixed and matched across thousands of new styles available in Wayfair's Five for $25 Ornament Shop. In housewares, Wayfair customers stocked up on kitchen gadgets such as deep fryers and air fryers as well as coffee makers, toasters, blenders and hand mixers. Shoppers also invested in larger outdoor items such as hot tubs, gazebos, swing sets and trampolines. Storage items such as deck boxes and outdoor sheds were also popular as many consumers begin to pack up their outdoor furniture, decor and recreation items in preparation for the winter season. Among the heaviest items to ship during the five-day period was a 3,000-pound wooden storage shed. In addition to extensive deals sitewide, Wayfair also launched its first-ever MyWay Members-Only Sale, offering exclusive prices with discounts of up to 75 percent, which runs through November 30.

07:19 EDT GasLog declares 40c special dividend, authorizes $50M share repurchase program - GasLog announced that its board has approved the payment of a special dividend. In addition, the board has authorized the company to establish a share repurchase program. Payment of a special dividend in the amount of 40c per common share, payable on December 17 to shareholders of record on December 10. Authorization of a share repurchase program of up to $50M covering the period January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2021.

07:10 EDT Kaman receives orders for two additional K-MAX aircraft - Kaman Aerosystems announced that it received orders for two additional K-MAX helicopters, expanding the fleet of operators to two new customers who will take delivery in the coming months. Further, given consistent demand the company has approved continuous manufacture of the versatile medium lift workhorse aircraft with the authorization of Lot III production. Mountain Blade Runner Helicopters of Montrose, Colorado, will become the newest K-MAX operator, utilizing the aircraft to support high altitude external lift operations and firefighting missions. St. Louis Helicopter of Sellersburg, Indiana, will also expand its fleet with the addition of a K-MAX. The aircraft will be used for agricultural aerial solutions, such as seeding, fertilizing and firefighting, where the increased lift capacity will expand their overall capability. St. Louis Helicopter will finance their aircraft through a leasing arrangement with Rainier Heli International Inc. Kaman and Rainier entered into an agreement earlier this year under which Rainer offers K-MAX leasing solutions to customers.

07:08 EDT Acceleron receives FDA Fast Track Designation for ACE-083 - Acceleron Pharma announced that the FDA has granted Fast Track designation to ACE-083, the company's locally-acting "Myostatin+" muscle agent, for the treatment of patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. ACE-083 is currently being evaluated in two Phase 2 trials: one in CMT and one in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, or FSHD. Preliminary results from Part 2 of the trials are expected by year end 2019 for CMT and in the second half of 2019 for FSHD. Earlier this year, the FDA granted Fast Track and Orphan Drug designations for ACE-083 for the treatment of patients with FSHD.

07:03 EDT Ternium confirms and provides full support to chairman Paolo Rocca - Ternium (TX) has been informed that on November 27, the Argentine first-instance judge conducting an investigation into allegations involving payments purportedly made by the Techint Group in 2008 to Argentine government officials issued a preliminary decision to include Ternium's Chairman Paolo Rocca in the investigation proceedings. "The Board of Directors of Ternium has been monitoring the situation in consultation with its internal and external legal advisors and, after review of the decision adopted by the judge, has confirmed Mr. Rocca as Chairman of the company. The Board has instructed Mr. Rocca to continue fulfilling his responsibilities with the full support of the Board," Ternium announced last night. Tenaris (TS) also issued a similar statement of support of Rocca as Chairman and CEO of Tenaris.

07:03 EDT Fuling Global sells Sanmen Factory for $5.8M - Fuling Global's wholly-owned subsidiary, Zhejiang Great Plastics Technology, signed sales contracts to sell the real properties previously used as one of its manufacturing factories in China to Zhejiang Zhongye Packaging Technology, an unrelated third party, for total cash consideration of approximately $5.8M. The transaction is for sales of four adjacent industrial properties at Binhai Xincheng, with combined land and floor areas of 30,349 square meters and 33,480 square meters, respectively. The company plans to relocate all related machines and equipment to its new Wenling Factory in the next two to three weeks and expects minimal disruption to its normal operation.

06:51 EDT J.Jill CFO Dave Biese to leave company on April 30, 2019 - J.Jill announced that Executive Vice President, Chief Financial and Operating Officer Dave Biese will be leaving the company on April 30, 2019. Mr. Biese will work closely with management to ensure a smooth transition to his successor. J.Jill's Board of Directors has retained Heidrick & Struggles, a leading executive search firm, to assist in identifying a new CFO.

06:45 EDT Tiffany reports Q3 comparable store sales ex-FX up 3%

06:40 EDT Tiffany reports Q3 comparable store sales up 2% - On a constant-exchange-rate basis that excludes the effect of translating foreign-currency-denominated sales into U.S. dollars, worldwide net sales and comparable sales increased 5% and 3%, respectively.

06:32 EDT Humana raises 2019 Medicare Advantage membership growth outlook - Based on actual annual election period results to date, the company is revising its net membership growth estimate for its individual Medicare Advantage products for the year ended December 31, 2019 to 350,000 to 400,000 members, compared to its initial estimate of 250,000 to 300,000 members. The revised membership estimate represents expected net membership gains of 11 percent to 13 percent above the expected year ended December 31, 2018 membership level of approximately 3.07 million members. The improved estimate is attributable to higher than forecasted retention of existing members during AEP as well as higher than anticipated sales. The company confirms its initial expectations for group Medicare Advantage net membership gains for the same period, projecting an increase of approximately 30,000 members year over year. For PDP, the Company now estimates a net membership decline of 750,000 to 800,000 members for the year ended December 31, 2019, compared to its initial estimate of a decline of approximately 500,000 members. The net decline is primarily attributable to the competitive nature of the industry and the pricing discipline the Company is employing, which has resulted in it no longer being the low cost plan in any market for 2019.

06:31 EDT Humana announces $750M accelerated share repurchase - Humana (HUM) announced that it will repurchase $750M of its common stock through an accelerated stock repurchase agreement with Goldman Sachs & Co. (GS), as part of the $3B share repurchase program that Humana announced on December 14, 2017. The ASR Agreement is consistent with the company's previously anticipated capital deployment plans for the remainder of 2018 and 2019, and is expected to be funded through a combination of parent cash and debt financing. Final settlement under the ASR Agreement is expected to occur in the first quarter of 2019.

06:17 EDT Teva recalling certain blood pressure medicine in the U.S. - Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA) has initiated a voluntary recall in the United States, to the patient level, of all lots of Amlodipine / Valsartan combination tablets and Amlodipine / Valsartan / Hydrochlorothiazide combination tablets due to an impurity detected above specification limits in an active pharmaceutical ingredient manufactured by Mylan India (MYL). The impurity found in Mylan's valsartan API is known as N-nitroso-diethylamine, which has been classified as a probable human carcinogen. This chemical is typically found in very small amounts in certain foods, drinking water, air pollution, and certain industrial processes. Amlodipine/Valsartan combination tablets and Amlodipine/Valsartan/Hydrochlorothiazide combination tablets are used for the treatment of high blood pressure. To date, Teva has not received any reports of adverse events signaling a potential link or exposure to valsartan.

06:01 EDT iClick Interactive Asia announces $10M share repurchase program - iClick Interactive Asia announced its board of directors has approved a share repurchase program in which the company may purchase its own ADSs with an aggregate value of up to $10M over the next 12-month period, ending 27 November 2019. iClick expects to fund the repurchase from its existing cash balance, including cash generated from its operations

05:29 EDT Sina reports Q3 EPS 93c, consensus 69c - Reports Q3 revenue $557.2M, consensus $551.36M. Reports Q3 GAAP EPS 62c.