Stockwinners Market Radar for December 13, 2018 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

18:31 EDT DOJ reaches settlement with Nexstar - The Department of Justice announced that it has reached a settlement with Nexstar Media Group Inc. (NXST), one of the largest owners of television stations in the country, as part of its ongoing investigation into exchanges of competitively sensitive information in the broadcast television industry. The Department filed an amended complaint today in the case United States v. Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBGI), et al., adding Nexstar Media Group Inc. as a defendant. At the same time, the Department filed a proposed settlement with Nexstar that, if approved by the court, would resolve the competitive harm alleged in the complaint. The Department filed its original complaint in the case on Nov. 13, 2018, along with proposed settlements with six other television broadcasting companies. According to the amended complaint, Nexstar agreed with other entities in many metropolitan areas across the United States to exchange revenue pacing information, and also engaged in the exchange of other forms of non-public sales information in certain metropolitan areas. Pacing compares a broadcast station's revenues booked for a certain time period to the revenues booked in the same point in the previous year. Pacing indicates how each station is performing versus the rest of the market and provides insight into each station's remaining spot advertising for the period. By exchanging pacing information, Nexstar and other broadcasters were better able to anticipate whether their competitors were likely to raise, maintain, or lower spot advertising prices, which in turn helped inform their stations' own pricing strategies and negotiations with advertisers. As a result, the information exchanges harmed the competitive price-setting process. The proposed settlement prohibits the direct or indirect sharing of such competitively sensitive information. The Department has determined that prohibiting this conduct would resolve the antitrust concerns raised as a result of Nexstar's conduct. The proposed settlement further requires Nexstar to cooperate in the Department's ongoing investigation and to adopt rigorous antitrust compliance and reporting measures to prevent similar anticompetitive conduct in the future. The settlement has a seven year term, and it will continue to apply to stations currently owned by Nexstar, even if those stations are acquired by another company.

18:10 EDT XPO Logistics says report from short selling firm 'intentionally misleading' - XPO Logistics issued the following statement: "Today's report from a short selling firm is intentionally misleading, with significant inaccuracies, and fails to reflect that XPO has delivered strong performance for its long-term shareholders. The facts demonstrate that the short seller's claims, most of which have been previously floated and refuted, are largely baseless and an attempt to string together unrelated pieces of incorrect information to paint an inaccurate impression of the company. Of particular note, our accounting practices are based on Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and are audited annually and reviewed quarterly by our independent auditors. XPO's long-term financial outlook remains positive. We will communicate directly with our investors and customers regarding this short seller's report."

17:55 EDT Starbucks slips after cutting long-term EPS target - Shares of Starbucks (SBUX) were lower in after-hours trading following multiple announcements from the company's Investor Day. Of note, the company reiterated its fiscal 2019 guidance and presented long-term financial targets. LONG-TERM TARGETS: The coffee giant announced as part of its investor day that it expects adjusted earnings per share to growth at least 10% per year over the longer term, a figure which is lower than the company's previous forecast of 12% growth on this basis. The company added that long-term revenue growth will be between 7%-9%. In addition, Starbucks reaffirmed its FY19 guidance for adjusted EPS of $2.61-$2.66, FY19 global comparable store sales growth near the lower end of the 3%-5% range, and consolidated revenue growth of 5%-7%. Analysts expect the company to report FY19 EPS of $2.65 on revenue of $26.1B. PRICE ACTION: In post-market trading, Starbucks shares are lower by 3.5% to $64.54.

17:42 EDT Vail Resorts director John Sorte sells over $500,000 in company shares - Vail Resorts director John Sorte disclosed in a filing that he had sold 2,134 shares of company stock at an average price of $240.02 per share on December 12. The total transaction value was $512,204.

17:42 EDT One Liberty Properties acquires industrial property in Missouri for $10M - One Liberty Properties announced that it acquired a 120,000 square foot Class A industrial property on 8.64 acres located in Green Park, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis for $10.0 million, representing an approximately 7.2% cap rate. The building is net leased to a subsidiary of Dufresne Spencer Group Holdings, LLC, the largest licensee of Ashley Furniture. The lease, which is guaranteed by Dufresne, expires at the end of 2023.

17:34 EDT Copa Holdings reports November traffic up 6.7% - Copa Holdings released preliminary passenger traffic statistics for November. For the month of November, Copa Holdings' system-wide passenger traffic, or RPMs, increased 6.7% year over year, while capacity, or ASMs, increased 4.1%. As a result, system load factor for the month was 84.3%, 2.1 percentage points higher than November 2017.

17:30 EDT J B Hunt Transport Services trading resumes

17:25 EDT Waste Management boosts dividend, plans $1.5B buyback - Waste Management announced that its board has approved a 10.2% increase in the planned quarterly dividend rate for 2019, from 46.5c to 51.25c per share. On an annual basis, the per share dividend increases from $1.86 to $2.05. This marks the sixteenth consecutive year that the Company has increased its planned quarterly dividend. The company also received authorization from its board to repurchase $1.5B of the company's common stock.This new authorization is effective immediately and supersedes the $1.25B authorization announced in 2017, under which the Company had repurchased approximately $1B of its common stock. "In 2018 we expect to generate strong free cash flow and return approximately 90% of that cash to our shareholders through dividends and share repurchases," said Jim Fish, President and CEO of Waste Management. Our expected free cash flow growth, together with our disciplined approach to capital allocation, supports our decision to substantially increase our dividend rate and request a new share repurchase authorization. The planned 19c per share annual increase in our dividend is the highest that we have seen in fifteen years and demonstrates our confidence in the strength of the free cash flow generation of our business." Waste Management's Board of Directors must declare each future quarterly dividend prior to payment. The Board of Directors intends to declare the first quarter 2019 dividend in February, at which time the Company will announce the record and payment dates for this dividend. It is expected that the first increased dividend will be paid in March of 2019.

17:08 EDT Acacia reports 400G single carrier DWDM transmission on Marea cable - Acacia announced the first 400G single carrier DWDM transmission on the 6,600 km Marea submarine cable between Virginia Beach, Virginia and Bilbao, Spain. The field demonstration was conducted by Acacia in collaboration with Microsoft and Facebook, and helped to demonstrate that improvements in capacity and spectral efficiency can enable increased utilization of deployed fiber and improved network capacity. The growth of cloud and internet services are driving the need for increasing subsea network capacity. Meeting these demands requires advanced coherent transmission systems that support higher data rates that weren't possible in prior transatlantic systems. The Marea submarine cable, a joint project between Microsoft, Facebook, and global telecommunications infrastructure company Telxius, features an "open" design that allows it to evolve with technology and enables adoption of new technologies, such as the Acacia AC1200 coherent module. The field demonstration was performed with Acacia's AC1200 coherent module, which is powered by its Pico digital signal processor. Acacia's AC1200 supports a combination of high baud rate, flexible modulation formats and enhanced performance features that enable improvements in capacity and reach. Utilizing Acacia's patented Fractional QAM modulation, the field demonstration achieved 400G transmission using approximately 4 bits/symbol, with a baud rate of nearly 70G baud. Additionally, modulation formats greater than 4 bits/symbol were utilized to achieve a spectral efficiency of 6.41 b/s/Hz on the same 6,600 km cable.

17:06 EDT Tel-Instrument receives $615K test set order - Tel-Instrument has received a $615K order for the T-47/M5 Mode 5 test set from a major military customer in the Asia-Pacific region. This order will be shipped in Q3. The company anticipates continued revenue growth and a return to profitability starting in the current fiscal quarter.

17:02 EDT J.B. Hunt announces arbitration update with BNSF Railway Company - J.B. Hunt Transport Services announced receipt of the arbitrators' Clarified Interim Award of October 5, 2018, issued on December 7, 2018 in J.B. Hunt Transport's arbitration with BNSF Railway Company. Subsequent to the initial Interim Award of October 5, 2018, both parties made additional submissions to the arbitration panel that resulted in the Clarified Interim Award regarding certain issues related to determining the revenue division between the parties. The parties have been instructed to make further submissions on the revenue divisions as well as other confidential issues raised during the arbitration process so that the panel can issue an appropriate interim and/or final award regarding all issues raised during the proceeding. JBHT will record pretax charges for contingent liabilities in the fourth quarter 2018 of $89.4M claimed by the BNSF for the period May 1, 2016 through December 31, 2017 and $44.6M for the period January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018, for a total of $134 M or 93c per diluted share.

17:02 EDT NewMarket approves new $500M stock repurchase program - NewMarket approved a new share repurchase program to repurchase up to $500M of NewMarket's outstanding common stock effective January 1, 2019 until December 31, 2021. The repurchase program does not require NewMarket to acquire any specific number of shares and may be terminated or suspended at any time. This new authorization replaces NewMarket's prior share repurchase program, which expires on December 31.

17:00 EDT Advaxis receives notice of termination from Amgen relating to ADXS-NEO program - On December 10, Advaxis (ADXS) received a written notice of termination from Amgen (AMGN) with respect to the license and collaboration Agreement, dated as of August 1, 2016 pertaining to the development and commercialization of the company's ADXS-NEO program, a novel, preclinical investigational immunotherapy, using the company's proprietary Listeria monocytogenes attenuated bacterial vector, which activates a patient's immune system to respond against unique mutations, or neoepitopes, contained in and identified from an individual patient's tumor. The termination is effective as of February 8, 2019. The Company's ADXS-NEO study is currently enrolling patients and the company will evaluate whether to re-partner the ADXS-NEO program. Under the terms of the Amgen Agreement, Amgen received an exclusive worldwide license to develop and commercialize the ADXS-NEO program. Amgen previously made an upfront payment to the Company of $40M, purchased $25n of the company's common stock and reimbursed the company for certain research and development costs in support of the ADXS-NEO program. Under the Amgen Agreement, the Company and Amgen collaborated through a joint steering committee for the development and commercialization of ADXS-NEO. The Company was eligible to receive future contingent payments based on development, regulatory and sales milestones as well as high single digit to double digit royalty payments based on worldwide sales of licensed products by Amgen. Pursuant to the terms of the Amgen Agreement, upon Amgen's termination, the license to Amgen will terminate and the Company will regain worldwide rights for the development and commercialization of its ADXS-NEO program. In addition, Amgen will have certain obligations as set forth in the Amgen Agreement, including promptly deleting or destroying any materials related to the development or manufacturing of the ADXS-NEO program. During the fiscal years ended October 31 and 2017, the Company recorded reimbursements of approximately $5.8M and $7.5M respectively, relating to the Amgen Agreement

16:51 EDT Agile Therapeutics to resubmit the Twirla NDA in 1H19 - On December 13, Agile Therapeutics issued a press release announcing that, on December 11, 2018, it had met with the Division of Bone, Reproductive and Urological Products, or DBRUP, to discuss the design and success criteria of the comparative wear study between Twirla and Xulane suggested by the FDA's Office of New Drugs, or OND in its decision on the company's formal dispute resolution request, which was announced in October 2018. The Company expects to conduct a crossover wear study in healthy women with a Body Mass Index less than 35 kg/m2 who will be randomized to either Twirla or Xulane for the first week and then switched to the patch not initially worn for the second week. The company plans to discuss the results of the meeting and the design of the study in more detail after it receives the final meeting minutes from the FDA in January. The company announced that its current plan is to complete the study in the first quarter of 2019, and to resubmit the Twirla new drug application in the first half of 2019, which, if the company is successful, provides it the opportunity to receive approval by the end of 2019.

16:38 EDT Sealed Air board approves a new three-year restructuring program - The Board of Directors of Sealed Air has approved a new three-year restructuring program to drive total annualized savings by the end of 2021 in the range of $215 to $235M. The total cash cost of the New Program is estimated to be in the range of $190 to $220M, which will be incurred primarily in 2019 and 2020. The restructuring program costs include: headcount related costs in the range of $110 to $125Mn; other associated costs in the range of $70 to $85M; and capital expenditures of approximately $10M.

16:36 EDT Sealed Air announces reinvent SEE strategy - Sealed Air announced its Reinvent SEE strategy to drive profitable growth and earnings power. SEE Operational Excellence will focus on the following key areas: speed to market for new innovations, SG&A productivity, product cost efficiency, channel optimization and customer service enhancements. "Over the last several months, we conducted a thorough assessment of our entire organization and the market opportunities available across the global packaging industry. This assessment confirmed that we are well positioned to continue delivering organic growth above our core markets. It also reinforced the need to grow market share and move into adjacent markets with greater speed and efficiency, as we accelerate returns on our highly differentiated innovations. Through our Reinvent SEE strategy, we will transform Sealed Air into a company that delivers world-class operating leverage performance," said Ted Doheny, President and CEO of Sealed Air. "By improving how we innovate, buy, make, and solve, we will address our customers' most critical packaging challenges, lead the industry with sustainable solutions and make every customer a reference. We will create long-term value for our shareholders through consistent, profitable growth and increased earnings power."

16:32 EDT CTI Industries to divest operating, economic interest in Clever Container - CTI Industries announced its intention to divest its operating and economic interest in Clever Container, a direct-to-consumer home organization and container products company in which CTI has a 28.5% ownership interest. This planned divestiture is expected to occur during 2019. For the year ended December 31, 2017, Clever accounted for less than 10% of CTI's total sales and generated a modest operating loss. Clever has announced that as of December 16, 2018, it will cease its direct selling operations and change its go-to market strategy by utilizing an online sales platform. CTI has consolidated the results of Clever as a Variable Interest Entity since 2013 and intends to reduce these elements with the goal of fully exiting its equity investment by the end of 2019. This reduction will occur in connection with Clever's new online sales platform, which CTI will monitor to ensure maximum recovery on its investment and receivables.

16:31 EDT LRAD authorizes new $5M share-repurchase program

16:26 EDT SemGroup unit in long-term gas processing pact at Wapiti gas plant - SemCAMS, a subsidiary of SemGroup announced that it has executed a long-term agreement with the Canadian subsidiary of a large international oil and gas company to process sour gas production at its Wapiti Gas Plant. The take-or-pay agreement secures 70 mmcf per day of Montney gas for a 10-year term. The 200 mmcf per day Wapiti Gas Plant, which is expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2019, is now 95 percent contracted. "We are pleased to secure this long-term processing agreement that effectively fills SemCAMS Wapiti Gas Plant and helps ensure the plant will operate in the most efficient and cost effective manner," said Dave Gosse, SemCAMS' Vice President and General Manager. "This agreement underscores the need for our Wapiti Gas Plant and the unique services we are able to offer customers with our existing pipelines and sour gas processing plants. With the Wapiti plant essentially fully contracted, we are increasing our focus on the Pipestone area development and look forward to continuing our work with producers and the community to safely and efficiently develop the Montney formation." In the fall, SemCAMS received Alberta Energy Regulator approval to construct a 280 mmcf per day sour gas plant in the Pipestone area. The new plant will be connected to the Wapiti Gas Plant via the Pipestone pipeline, which is currently under construction and is expected to begin gathering gas from the Pipestone area in the fourth quarter of 2019. The pipeline is designed to provide operational synergies and efficiencies to both the Wapiti plant and the Pipestone plant through SemCAMS integrated pipeline and gas plant system.

16:23 EDT Costco down 2.8% after reporting Q1 earnings results

16:22 EDT Sterling Construction announces stock buyback of up to 2M shares - Sterling Construction Company announced that its board of directors has adopted a stock repurchase program. Under the repurchase program, Sterling may repurchase up to 2M shares of its outstanding common stock through June 30, 2020. The repurchase program permits shares to be repurchased in the open market or in private transactions and pursuant to any trading plan that may be adopted in accordance with all applicable securities laws and regulations, including Rule 10b5-1 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

16:22 EDT Pioneer Natural announces $2B common share repurchase program - Pioneer Natural Resources Company announced that its board of directors authorized a common stock repurchase program that will allow the company to repurchase up to $2B of its common stock. Based upon Pioneer's current share price, this represents approximately 8% of the company's market capitalization. Under the stock repurchase program, the company may repurchase shares from time to time at management's discretion in accordance with applicable securities laws, including through open market transactions, privately negotiated transactions or any combination thereof. In addition, shares may also be purchased pursuant to a trading plan meeting the requirements of Rule 10b5-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which would permit shares to be repurchased when Pioneer might otherwise be precluded from doing so under insider trading laws. The amount and timing of repurchases are subject to several factors, including stock price, trading volume, general market conditions, legal requirements, general business conditions, and corporate considerations determined by Pioneer's management, such as liquidity and capital needs. The stock repurchase program has no time limit and may be modified, suspended or terminated at any time by Pioneer's board of directors. The company intends to fund repurchases under the program from existing cash and cash equivalents and future cash flow. This share repurchase program replaces and terminates Pioneer's prior $100M share repurchase program announced in February 2018.

16:20 EDT Starbucks sees over $5B cash generation in FY19

16:19 EDT Agile Therapeutics meets with FDA on comparative wear study of Twirla, Xulane - Agile Therapeutics announced that on December 11, it met with the FDA Division of Bone, Reproductive, and Urologic Products , or DBRUP, to discuss the design of a comparative wear study between Twirla and Xulane as suggested by FDA's Office of New Drugs, or OND, in its decision on the company's formal dispute resolution request, which was announced in October. The company plans to discuss the results of the meeting in more detail after it receives the final meeting minutes from the FDA in January. The company met with DBRUP on December 11 in order to discuss the specific design and success criteria of the comparative wear study. In general, the company expects to conduct a crossover wear study in healthy women with a body mass index, or BMI, less than 35 kg/m2 who will be randomized to either Twirla or Xulane for the first week and then switched to the patch not initially worn for the second week.

16:18 EDT Conformis updates new product development opportunities - Conformis plans to continue to execute its new product development programs focusing on the Conformis Hip System, iTotal G3 and cementless Press Fit knee. In the second half of 2019, Conformis expects to achieve full commercial launch of its Conformis Hip System, as well as the limited commercial release of its iTotal G3 total knee. Conformis also remains on track to deliver the limited commercial release of its cementless knee offering in early 2020. "We recently achieved our 100th total hip arthroplasty case at Conformis and remain very positive about the status and value proposition of our Conformis Hip System. One of our goals when identifying the cost reductions announced today was to insure that they do not affect our previously announced commitment and investment plans for full commercial launch of our Conformis Hip System in the second half of 2019," said Mark Augusti. "Entering the $7 billion hip arthroplasty market remains a key growth opportunity and a priority for the Company."

16:15 EDT Conformis reduces debt facility from$30M to $15M - Conformis announced it is implementing steps to improve its overall business model, including the prioritization of certain product development opportunities, cost reduction initiatives with the optimization of sales, marketing and administrative expenses and a reduction of its workforce. In connection with these cost-saving measures, Conformis also announced the reduction of its debt facility from $30M to $15M. Conformis is taking these strategic actions to strengthen its focus on specific areas of opportunity that it believes will enable it to achieve profitability in 2021. "We are taking decisive actions to prioritize our highest-impact new product opportunities, our Conformis Hip System and our cementless Press Fit total knee, which we believe provide us an opportunity to build a stronger, more sustainable business. As a result of these actions, we believe we can achieve profitability in 2021," said Mark Augusti, Chief Executive Officer, Conformis. "These actions included the difficult decision to part ways with many valued employees. On behalf of the entire Company, I thank these colleagues for their many contributions to the business."

16:12 EDT Starbucks sees long-term adjusted EPS growth of at least 10% - Starbucks said at its biennial Investor Conference today in New York City that it aims to expand its retail store portfolio by approximately 6% to 7% net new units and grow same store sales by 3% to 4%, globally, each year while continuing to invest in its partners and elevate the Starbucks Experience. The company said that longer term, it expects consolidated revenue growth of 7% to 9% and non-GAAP earnings per share growth of at least 10%. In addition, CFO Pat Grismer reiterated the company's FY19 targets, as previously disclosed in the Q4 FY18 earnings announcement, while also articulating a sustainable double-digit non-GAAP EPS growth model for the future.

16:09 EDT Leggett & Platt expects Q4 charges of approximately 19c per share - Leggett & Platt expects to incur restructuring-related charges in 4Q18 and in 2019. These charges are related primarily to the Fashion Bed and Home Furniture businesses. The restructuring activity should be substantially complete by the end of 2019. The company expects Q4 restructuring-related charges of around $16M pretax, or half non-cash; Q4 note impairment charges of approx. $16M pretax; a Q4 EPS impact of approximately 19c. Excluding these charges, the company is not updating its 2018 guidance. In Q4, the company also expects to record an approximate $16M non-cash impairment charge related to a note receivable.

16:07 EDT OrthoPediatrics announces U.S. launch of RESPONSE 4.5/5.0mm System - OrthoPediatrics announced the full-scale U.S. launch of its 26th surgical system, the RESPONSE 4.5/5.0mm System following FDA 510 clearance in October. The company's newest system represents a product expansion for physicians to treat complex scoliosis in smaller stature patients at a younger age. The RESPONSE 4.5/5.0mm System, designed in collaboration with pediatric orthopedic surgeons, builds upon the implant and instrument technology of the RESPONSE 5.5/6.0mm System to expand the platform offering. The new small stature scoliosis system offers a hybrid implant technology allowing the option of either a 4.5mm rod in cobalt-chromium or 5.0mm rod in titanium or cobalt-chromium, multiple implant connector options, and new instrumentation.

16:06 EDT CubeSmart increases quarterly dividend 6.7% - CubeSmart announced that its board declared a quarterly dividend of 32c per common share for the period ending December 31. The dividend is payable on January 15, 2019 to common shareholders of record on January 2, 2019. The quarterly distribution represents an annualized dividend rate of $1.28 per share, an increase of 8c per share from the previous annual rate of $1.20 per share.

16:05 EDT Trevena TRV734 data presented at American College of Neuropsychopharmacology - Trevena announced that TRV734 data were featured in a presentation at the annual meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology as part of Trevena's ongoing collaboration with the National Institute on Drug Abuse, or NIDA. The presentation included data on Trevena compounds TRV130 and TRV734, and highlighted data showing that TRV734 reduced drug-seeking behavior in a rat model of relapse. These data suggest that TRV734 may be a novel, oral maintenance treatment for addiction to opioids or heroin. Preclinical studies performed by NIDA scientists suggest that biased mu opioid receptor ligands, like TRV734, may offer an alternative to current opioid maintenance therapies.

16:01 EDT Conmed to acquire Buffalo Filter for $365M - CONMED announced a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held Buffalo Filter LLC for $365M on a cash-free, debt-free basis. The transaction is expected to be financed through a combination of new convertible notes and an expanded and amended credit facility. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of U.S. regulatory approval, and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2019. In conjunction with the acquisition, the company is reiterating previously issued financial guidance for 2018. Going forward, the acquisition is expected to improve the profitability profile of CONMED by adding approximately 50 basis points to the organic constant currency revenue growth of the company. The impact on overall gross margins is expected to be neutral in 2019 and accretive thereafter. The acquisition is expected to improve adjusted operating margins of the company by approximately 100 basis points in the first year and an additional 100 basis points by year three. Based on the anticipated date of closing, CONMED expects the acquisition to be neutral to adjusted cash earnings per share in 2019 and between 10c and 15c per share accretive in 2020. On a GAAP basis, the transaction is expected to be dilutive in 2019, and less dilutive or increasingly accretive thereafter, due to estimated amortization expense and acquisition-related net charges, which are based on a preliminary valuation and are subject to change.

15:11 EDT Starbucks says starting new rewards program in China - Starbucks executives continue presenting during the company's investor day meeting.

15:08 EDT RadNet and MemorialCare expand joint venture - MemorialCare and RadNet have expanded their joint venture that began early this year. With acquisition of four Orange County Diagnostic Imaging Centers effective Dec. 1, the joint venture offers the region's most expansive network of imaging facilities with 30 freestanding imaging centers throughout Orange and Los Angeles counties, each located within a short distance from MemorialCare physician offices. The joint venture began operations Jan. 1, with RadNet and MemorialCare contributing outpatient imaging centers in Orange County, Long Beach, South Bay and other cities. The new sites are in Laguna Woods, Santa Ana, Irvine and Mission Viejo. The Irvine center will become a new MemorialCare Breast Center, offering comprehensive imaging services specific to breast health. The Mission Viejo site currently under construction opens in early 2019.

14:44 EDT Chipotle announces hiring of Chief Legal Officer and Chief Development Officer - Chipotle Mexican Grill announced that its executive leadership team is now complete with the hiring of Roger Theodoredis as the company's chief legal officer and Tabassum Zalotrawala as chief development officer. Both Theodoredis and Zalotrawala will report to CEO Brian Niccol. Theodoredis comes to Chipotle from Danone North America, where he served as general secretary with responsibility for legal, public affairs, communications, scientific affairs and corporate security. Zalotrawala most recently served as chief development officer and vice president design, construction, facilities and strategic sourcing at Panda Restaurant Group.

14:32 EDT Starbucks to expand nitro cold brew to remaining U.S. company-owned stores

14:28 EDT Starbucks says mix of mobile order and drive-through rising - Starbucks sees more opportunity for U.S. growth in middle of country. Starbucks executives continue presenting during the company's investor day meeting.

14:14 EDT American Water says CPUC approves general rate case - The California Public Utilities Commission, or CPUC, has approved a decision in the company's general rate case for new water and wastewater rates for customers statewide, California American Water, a subsidiary of American Water, announced. The company's rate request, which was filed in July 2016, will set rates through 2020. The decision approves approximately $103M in capital investment in infrastructure replacements and improvements in 2018 and 2019.

13:56 EDT Starbucks sees growing faster than global specialty coffeeshop category

13:51 EDT Constellium trading higher by 1.67% during 2018 Analyst Day presentation - Constellium management is holding the company's 2018 Analyst Day from 1pm ET to 4:30pm ET.

13:29 EDT Hill International selected by the ERBD to provide railway supervision services - Hill International announced it was selected by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to provide, as a leader of a joint venture, construction supervision services for the railway rehabilitation and upgrade of the Fushe Kosove - Hani i Elezitrailway line. The project will improve the connection between Kosovo's railway network and the wider European network through Pan-European Corridor X, running southwards from Fushe Kosove to the Macedonian border. The current contract refers to the first stage (out of three stages covered by joint financing efforts of EBRD and European Union-Western Balkans Investment Framework which spans over 48 months and includes the defects period, and which will involve construction rehabilitation and upgrade of 64 km of track to comply to the European standards for speed up to 120km/h from current 40-60km/h. Hill's team of professionals will work closely with the implementing authority - Infrastruktura e Hekurudhave te Kosoves, the national railway infrastructure company, to provide professional services for construction supervision, contract administration, project controls, associated reporting and on-the-job training.

13:23 EDT New York AG sues Target, Walmart over lead-contaminated toy sales - New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood announced a lawsuit against Target (TGT), Walmart (WMT), and importer LaRose Industries, for "allegedly committing thousands of violations of multiple New York laws governing the safety of children's toys sold in the state." The action stems from testing conducted by the Attorney General's office that found "Cra-Z-Jewelz" jewelry-making kits that were imported by LaRose, and sold by the retailers Target and Walmart in New York, contained parts with lead levels up to 10-times higher than the federal limit of 100 parts per million. The suit asks the court to assess civil penalties against the companies for violating state laws; penalties could collectively range from $70 to $6,000 for each Cra-Z-Jewelz kit the companies sought to sell in New York, Underwood says in a statement. Reference Link

13:20 EDT Health Insurance Innovations trading resumes

13:01 EDT Aegion names Kenneth Young as controller - Aegion Corporation announced the appointment of Kenneth L. Young as its SVP and Controller, effective December 12, 2018. Young, who has served as the company's Interim Controller since April 2018, also will continue to serve as the company's Treasurer.

12:59 EDT Health Insurance Innovations boosts repurchase program to $100M from $50M - Health Insurance Innovations said its board authorized an increase in the company's previously disclosed share repurchase program from $50M to $100M of the company's outstanding Class A common stock. The share repurchase authorization, which was initially approved and announced in October 2017, permits the company to periodically repurchase shares for cash through October 2019 .

12:49 EDT Arthur J. Gallagher announces new financial, retirement services practice - Financial wellbeing is essential to overall employee and organizational health. To help employers achieve optimized organizational wellbeing, Gallagher has created a unified consulting practice focused on delivering group and individual financial wellbeing solutions. Gallagher's new Financial & Retirement Services practice will enable easy accessibility to the unique skill sets of renowned experts who are critical to achieving successful retirement planning, sophisticated investment solutions, independent fiduciary services, actuarial consulting services, executive benefit retention programs and individual life insurance needs. Financial stresses in particular are having a significant impact on the workforce. According to Gallagher's 2018 Benefits Strategy & Benchmarking Survey, more than six out of ten employers re addressing the negative effect of financial stress on productivity by providing employees with access to financial advisors and nearly half provide financial-literacy education to help employees make better saving and spending decisions.

12:44 EDT Health Insurance Innovations trading halted, news pending

12:39 EDT YouTube says removed 7.8M videos, 224M comments from July-Sept 2018 - Google's YouTube said that it is expanding its YouTube Community Guidelines Enforcement Report to include additional data like channel removals, the number of comments removed, and the policy reason why a video or channel was removed. The company said that, from July to September 2018, it removed 7.8M videos, 81% of which were first detected by machines. Of those detected by machines, 74.5% had never received a single view. In addition, the company said that, from July to September of 2018, its teams removed over 224M comments for violating Community Guidelines. The majority of removals were for spam and the total number of removals represents a fraction of the billions of comments posted on YouTube each quarter, YouTube said. "As we have removed more comments, we've seen our comment ecosystem actually grow, not shrink," the company noted. "Daily users are 11% more likely to be commenters than they were last year." Reference Link

12:35 EDT Berry Petroleum announces $100M share repurchase program - Berry Petroleum announced that its board has adopted a program for the opportunistic repurchase of up to $100 million of its common stock. Based on the Board's evaluation of current market conditions for its stock they authorized current repurchases of up to $50 million under the program. Purchases may be made from time to time in the open market, in privately negotiated transactions or otherwise. The manner, timing and amount of any purchases will be determined by the Company based on its evaluation of market conditions, stock price, compliance with outstanding agreements and other factors, may be commenced or suspended at any time without notice and does not obligate the Company to purchase shares during any period or at all. Any shares acquired will be available for general corporate purposes.

12:17 EDT Guardant Health, AstraZeneca partner to develop companion diagnostics tests - Guardant Health (GH) announced a multi-year agreement with AstraZeneca (AZN) to develop blood-based companion diagnostic tests supporting the commercialization of AstraZeneca's oncology portfolio based on Guardant's industry-leading comprehensive liquid biopsy platform.Under the terms of the agreement, Guardant Health will develop and pursue FDA approval for a Guardant360 CDx test for Tagrisso, AstraZeneca's best-in-class, third-generation EGFR inhibitor in advanced non small cell lung cancer. Use of this assay will help identify patients that may respond to Tagrisso via a minimally-invasive blood test.Guardant Health will also develop a plasma-based tumor mutational burden score CDx test using GuardantOMNI to predict response to AstraZeneca immunotherapy and targeted therapies within its oncology portfolio. AstraZeneca presented TMB data using this device from the Phase III MYSTIC trial at the European Society for Medical Oncology Immuno-Oncology 2018 Congress. The US Food and Drug Administration has granted breakthrough designation to the GuardantOMNI diagnostic device for its proprietary plasma-based TMB score. The Guardant TMB scoring methodology is optimized for plasma-based testing by accounting for several factors, including tumor shedding, to maximize sensitivity and specificity. The agreement allows for development of further liquid biopsy CDx tests for AstraZeneca's other clinical development programs.

12:12 EDT Sotheby's Asia 2018 aggregate auction sales $985M, 'leads' Asia for last 3 years - "2018 has been the best year in the history of Sotheby's Asia," commented Kevin Ching, Chief Executive Officer of Sotheby's Asia. "With an auction total of $1B, well ahead of our competitors for the third consecutive year, the results cement our leadership in Asia. It is the combination of our unparalleled expertise and passion, innovative sale concepts, and our absolute commitment to clients that drives our continued success in an increasingly discerning and competitive market." Sotheby's Asia 2018 aggregate auction sales reaches HK$7.68B or US$985M, the highest total in the company's 45-year history in the region. It also marks Sotheby's third consecutive year as the market leader in Asia. 12 'white-glove' sales 7 works sold for more than HK$100M each.

12:00 EDT NL Industries falls -9.5% - NL Industries is down -9.5%, or -37c to $3.54.

12:00 EDT Tailored Brands falls -29.6% - Tailored Brands is down -29.6%, or -$5.97 to $14.17.

12:00 EDT Vince Holding rises 14.4% - Vince Holding is up 14.4%, or $1.46 to $11.61.

11:43 EDT Denison Mines buys 1,334 hectare Virgin River property, south of Athabasca Basin - Eagle Plains Resources has completed a tri-party agreement with Tarku Resources and Denison Mines whereby Denison Mines has purchased the 1,334 hectare Virgin River property which is contiguous with Denison's South Dufferin Project located immediately south of the Athabasca Basin in northern Saskatchewan. The property is interpreted to overlie the Virgin River Shear/Snowbird Tectonic Zone, a regional-scale geologic feature which is associated with Cameco's Centennial Deposit located 40 kilometres northeast of the property. As per the terms of the agreement, Denison will reserve in Eagle Plain's favour a 2% Net Smelter Return royalty on all future production relating to the disposition. This royalty can be reduced at any time to a 1% NSR royalty by paying Eagle Plains $CDN 1,000,000.

11:08 EDT Facebook says more than 400M people monthly spend at least one minute on Watch - Facebook Head of Video, Fidji Simo, stated in a blog post: "2018 was a big year for Facebook Watch. Watch launched to every country around the world, the platform opened to videos from all Pages, and we debuted dozens of Facebook Originals...Three months since our global launch, there are already more than 400 million people monthly and 75 million people daily who spend at least one minute on Watch - and on average, these 75 million daily visitors spend more than 20 minutes in Watch. We're seeing that people are regularly coming back to catch up on the videos they care about and watching for longer periods of time." Simo also announced in the post that Facebook Watch is now available around the world on desktop and on Facebook Lite and that that Ad Breaks are now available to eligible Pages in 40 countries around the world. Additionally, Simo announced the renewal of four shows for a second season: Huda Boss, Five Points, Sacred Lies, and Sorry For Your Loss. Reference Link

11:03 EDT OPPO selects Keysight's 5G New Radio network emulation solutions - Keysight Technologies announced that OPPO has selected Keysight's 5G New Radio network emulation solutions for protocol and radio frequency performance validation in sub-6GHz frequency bands.The Chinese-based smartphone manufacturer is targeting commercial release of its first 5G mobile device in 2019. Leveraging Keysight's 5G test solutions, OPPO will accelerate the development of their 5G smartphones and meet their strategic go-to-market goals. On November 29, OPPO used Keysight's UXM-based 5G NR network emulation solutions to successfully establish a 5G video call, thereby completing one of the world's first 5G signaling and data connections based on OPPO's commercially available mobile phone.

10:25 EDT Under Armour CEO says reaction from attendees at investor day was positive - Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank is being interviewed on CNBC.

10:04 EDT CTI BioPharma to cut approx. 50% of total workforce in restructuring - CTI BioPharma announced a restructuring plan to improve efficiencies and reduce costs within the organization. As part of this plan, workforce reductions have been implemented that impact approximately 50% of the total number of the company's employees. Cost savings of approximately $20M primarily associated with reduced employee costs are expected over three years. The company plans to provide financial guidance in the first half of 2019 when details of the U.S. Phase 3 trial design, including trial size and dosing schedule, have been determined.

10:00 EDT Oxford Industries falls -9.0% - Oxford Industries is down -9.0%, or -$6.76 to $68.05.

10:00 EDT Tailored Brands falls -27.5% - Tailored Brands is down -27.5%, or -$5.54 to $14.60.

10:00 EDT Qudian rises 13.9% - Qudian is up 13.9%, or 73c to $5.99.

09:53 EDT Spruce Point calls XPO financials 'dubious,' sees up to 100% downside risk - Short seller Spruce Point Management issued a "Strong Sell" rating on XPO Logistics, claiming the shares have 40%-60% intermediate term downside risk and 100% long-term downside risk. "Based on our forensic investigation, we believe XPO is executing an identical playbook to URI - resulting in financial irregularities that conveniently cover its growing financial strain and inability to complete additional acquisitions despite repeated promises," Spruce Point writes in a research report posted on its website. "Given its unreliable and dubious financials, $4.7 bn debt burden, inability to generate sustaining free cash flow, and dependency on external capital and asset sales, we have a worst-case terminal price target of zero," says the short seller. Shares of XPO Logistics are down 4%, or $2.34, to $57.94 in early trading. Reference Link

09:47 EDT VelocityShares 3x Inv Natural Gas ETN falls -11.3% - VelocityShares 3x Inv Natural Gas ETN is down -11.3%, or -$7.28 to $57.37.

09:47 EDT VelocityShares 3x Long Natural Gas ETN rises 11.5% - VelocityShares 3x Long Natural Gas ETN is up 11.5%, or $13.46 to $130.30.

09:47 EDT Qudian rises 18.3% - Qudian is up 18.3%, or 96c to $6.22.

09:32 EDT PPG to invest in automated dispense cell manufacturing for automotive parts - PPG announced that it is increasing its investment in automated dispense cell manufacturing of paint and related coatings for the automotive parts and accessories decorative space. Financial details are not being disclosed. PPG recently launched an APAD dispense cell operation at its San Juan del Rio, Mexico, coatings facility and will begin production on an additional cell in 2019 in Sriperumbudur, India. These cells are in addition to PPG's recent APAD investments in Germany and Russia and the dispense cells already online at the Company's APAD facilities in Valladolid, Spain; Oak Creek, Wisconsin; and Tianjin, China.

09:22 EDT SunLink Health Systems announces amendment to share repurchase program - SunLink Health Systems announced that, having purchased all the 300,000 shares authorized under its share repurchase program announced November 29, 2018, its Board of Directors has approved a modification to the share repurchase program that authorizes the Company to purchase up to an additional 450,000 shares of its common stock or approximately 6% of its currently outstanding shares. Under the modified share repurchase program, the Company may repurchase up to an additional 450,000 shares in open market and privately negotiated transactions and block trades in accordance with applicable securities laws and regulations. The extent to which the Company repurchases additional shares, and the timing of such repurchases, will depend upon a number of factors, including business and market conditions, regulatory requirements and other corporate considerations determined by the Company's management. There is no assurance as to the exact number of shares, if any, that will be repurchased by the Company. The share repurchase program does not have an expiration date and may be modified, terminated or extended by the Company without prior notice. The Company expects to fund any additional repurchases with cash on hand or from future cash flow.

09:17 EDT MFA Financial names Gudmundur Kristjansson and Bryan Wulfsohn Co-CIOs - MFA Financial has named Gudmundur Kristjansson and Bryan Wulfsohn Co-Chief Investment Officers of the company effective January 1, 2019. Kristjansson joined MFA in 2007, and currently serves as a Senior VP of the company. From 2005 to 2007, Kristjansson served as an Associate in Trading and Analytics at Performance Trust Capital Partners. Wulfsohn joined MFA in 2010, and currently serves as a Senior VP of the company. From 2008 to 2010, Wulfsohn served as a Senior Financial Analyst at Retail Properties of America.

09:09 EDT Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian says '2019 looks promising' - Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian ended his segment with five things to take away from the Investor Day: 1. FY19 is expected to deliver profits over $5B with return to margin expansion driving double-digit EPS growth and 15% after-tax ROIC. 2. Delta is a powerful consumer brand rooted in a unique culture, with building momentum and a sustainable revenue premium. 3. Increasingly diverse revenue stream with less than half of revenues from main cabin and strong growth prospects from premium products. 4. Non-fuel unit cost trajectory below inflation as efficiency initiatives gain momentum and fleet transformation continues. 5. Pipeline of opportunity to drive top-line growth and margin expansion from fleet transformation, technology innovation, joint ventures, loyalty program, and MRO expansion. Comments provided during Investor Day 2018 conference call.

09:06 EDT Aptevo Therapeutics doses first patient in Phase 1/1b trial of APVO436 - Aptevo Therapeutics announced that the first patient has been dosed in a Phase 1/1b clinical trial of APVO436, a novel anti-CD123 by anti-CD3 bispecific antibody based on Aptevo's Adaptir technology, which is being developed for the treatment of patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, or AML, and High-Grade Myelodysplastic Syndrome, or MDS. As an immunotherapy, APVO436 is designed to engage the immune system to mount a targeted response against CD123-expressing hematological tumors. Cytokine release syndrome, or CRS, is a concern with T-cell activating therapies and has been associated with severe complications in clinical trials. In preclinical studies, APVO436 induced lower levels of several key T-cell cytokines, including IFNg, IL-2, IL-6, and TNFa. Aptevo believes that the improved cytokine activation profile observed in preclinical studies of APVO436 suggest that it could offer a potential safety advantage with reduced toxicities compared to other CD123 x CD3 T-cell engagers at comparable or higher doses.

09:04 EDT Fly Intel: Pre-market Movers - HIGHER: General Electric (GE), up 13% after JPMorgan analyst Stephen Tusa, who has been the most prominent bear on the stock, upgraded GE to Neutral from Underweight. The company also announced plans to launch a $1.2B industrial IoT software company... Aflac (AFL), up 4% after confirming reports that it is in discussions with Japan Post Holdings for a minority investment. UP AFTER EARNINGS: Ciena (CIEN), up 7%... Qudian (QD), up 18%. DOWN AFTER EARNINGS: Tailored Brands (TLRD), down 25%... Fred's (FRED), down 11%. LOWER: Delta (DAL), down 1% after issuing FY19 guidance... Applied Genetics (AGTC), down 37% after interim data from rAAV2tYF-CB-hRS1 trial showed no signs of clinical activity and the company reported Biogen's (BIIB) termination of a collaboration agreement... Tocagen (TOCA), down 12% after its 3M share secondary offering priced at $10.00 per share.

09:03 EDT Comtech announces $1.2M in orders for City of Baltimore - Comtech Telecommunications announced, that during its first and second quarters of fiscal 2019, its Command & Control Technologies group, which is part of Comtech's Government Solutions segment, received orders totaling $1.2M to deliver advanced communication solutions for the City of Baltimore. Under these orders, Comtech will continue to provide critical Information Technology staffing and support to various agencies within the City of Baltimore, including the Baltimore City Office of Information & Technology, the Baltimore City Police Department, Department of Public Works and other City Agencies. Comtech has been supporting the City of Baltimore under an existing contract since 2015. The Command & Control Technologies group is a leading provider of mission-critical, highly-mobile C4ISR solutions.

09:01 EDT Ridgedale Partners issues follow up letter to BBX Capital CEO Alan Levan - Ridgedale Partners, LLC, a significant shareholder in the common stock of BBX Capital Corporation, has issued a follow-up letter to Alan B. Levan, Chairman of the Board and CEO of BBX, seeking a response to the specific, accretive proposal outlined in Ridgedale's November letter that would allow the company to repurchase the Class B Common Stock at an over 50% premium to the market price of the Class A Common Stock. In the letter, Ridgedale addresses the company's "responses" to date that appear to be blatantly vindictive and hostile towards shareholders, as well as the documented history of management's abrogation of fiduciary duties owed to its investors which drove the structure of Ridgedale's original proposal. Ridgedale argues in the letter that its actions are a "necessary response to Levan's documented elevation of his own self-interest over BBX constituencies to whom he owes a fiduciary duty."

08:45 EDT Bombardier JV awarded $453M contract to support China high-speed rail network - Bombardier Sifang Transportation Ltd., a joint venture of Bombardier Transportation, announced that it has won a second contract this year to support China's evolving high-speed rail network. The new contract, awarded by China Railway Corp., is to supply 168 CR400AF new Chinese standard high-speed train cars and is valued at approximately $453M. Bombardier Transportation owns 50% of the shares in BST, which is consolidated by Bombardier Transportation's partner CRRC Sifang Co., Ltd. The 168 cars will be configured into fifteen 8-car trainsets and three 16-car trainsets with an operating speed of 350 km/h.

08:40 EDT Carolina Trust, Clover Community announce shareholder approval for merger - Carolina Trust BancShares and Clover Community Bankshares announced the receipt of required shareholder approvals to consummate their previously announced merger. At separate shareholders' meetings held on December 12, each parent company's respective shareholders approved the merger agreement and the transactions contemplated thereby, including the merger of Clover with and into Carolina Trust. The merger, which has received all required regulatory approvals, is expected to close on January 1, 2019, subject to satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.

08:35 EDT Points International, Amadeus announce strategic partnership for loyalty program - Amadeus and Points International announced a strategic partnership that will enable airlines to integrate Points' solutions within existing Amadeus loyalty management and awards solutions. Amadeus loyalty management and awards allow airlines to offer full seat availability, miles and cash payments and the use of miles for seat upgrades and ancillaries as part of their loyalty programs. At the same time, Points' loyalty commerce platform solutions provide a guaranteed revenue stream to airlines while engaging members via offers through a full suite of loyalty currency retailing services, private branded hotel and car booking services and mileage exchange and incentives. Through this partnership, Amadeus and Points will introduce a portfolio of services to their loyalty program members. This portfolio will help airlines further improve loyalty redemption and member engagement.

08:33 EDT Youngevity's CLR Roasters joins Amazon Vendor Central - Youngevity International (YGYI) announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, CLR Roasters, has accepted an invitation to join Amazon Vendor Central and hired Digital Operative to help grow their brand internationally. Per the new agreement, CLR Roasters will offer its Cafe La Rica espresso and Josie's Java House coffee brands on Amazon Vendor Central, while Amazon (AMZN) handles the logistics of selling to customers, order fulfillment, and customer support.

08:28 EDT Yulong Eco-Materials closes $75M acquisition of Michelangelo's crucifixion piece - Yulong Eco-Materials announced that it has closed the acquisition for Michelangelo's crucifixion painting. YECO signed a sale and purchase agreement to acquire Michelangelo's Crucifixion painting for $75M on November 19. The acquisition was acquired via the issuance of 7.5M YECO restricted shares valued at $10.00 per share.

08:15 EDT MabVax Therapeutics engages Objective Capital to explore asset sales - MabVax Therapeutics announced that it has engaged Objective Capital Partners to serve as a financial advisor to assist the company in exploring the sale of clinical and preclinical assets of the company with the goal of maximizing the value of these assets within the near term. Objective Capital Partners will be leading the asset sale process for the company, by soliciting and evaluating transaction options for the sale of the company's existing assets. MabVax seeks to complete the sale process by January 2019.

08:12 EDT Plantronics, HP Inc. collaborate on Microsoft Teams video conference solution - Plantronics (PLT) announced a new native Microsoft (MSFT) Teams video conference solution in collaboration with HP, Inc. (HPQ). The new solution uses the HP Elite Slice for meeting rooms G2 Skype Room System Audio Ready as the controller for the Microsoft Teams video and content sharing, the Polycom Trio 8500 for sound and the Polycom EagleEye IV USB camera for video capture. Plantronics and HP have joined forces to address the customer demand of a native Microsoft Teams video conferencing experience in larger conference rooms.

08:11 EDT Mondelez to sell Kraft-branded cheese unit in Middle East and Africa to Arla - Mondelez International announced that it has reached an agreement to sell its Kraft-branded Cheese Business in Middle East and Africa to Arla Foods of Denmark. Financial details of the transaction will not be disclosed. The move enables Mondelez International to focus on its newly-announced strategic plan to drive top-line growth and generate attractive returns, centered around three priorities: accelerate consumer-centric growth, drive operational excellence and build a winning growth culture. Under this plan, the company will continue to focus on faster-growing snacks categories, including its core Chocolate, Biscuits, and Gum & Candy offerings. The transaction is expected to close in the next few months, subject to regulatory approvals.

08:09 EDT Flowserve to introduce 2022 financial targets at Analyst Day - Flowserve Corporation is holding its 2018 Analyst Day meeting in New York City. Flowserve's management team will provide an overview of the company's strategy, including an update on the Flowserve 2.0 transformation. Additionally, the company will introduce new 4-year financial targets, which include: Average revenue growth of 200 basis points above market levels through 2022; Fiscal year 2022 operating margins between 15%-17%; Free cash flow generation of 100%+ of net income in full year 2022; Return on Invested Capital between 15%-20% in 2022. "As we continue to work on delivering a strong close to the current year, Flowserve is aggressively positioning itself for success in 2019 and beyond," stated CEO Scott Rowe. "We believe our Flowserve 2.0 strategic initiatives will position the company well for above market growth and provide substantial financial improvement in the years ahead. Today we are presenting new 2022 financial targets that underscore our earnings potential once the Flowserve 2.0 transformation is complete. Our transformation efforts are intended to deliver outsized growth through a market-led, customer centric focus, create a flexible cost structure and establish an operating platform utilizing enterprise wide processes. Through successful execution of our plan, we are confident in our ability to drive significant value for our customers, associates and shareholders."

08:07 EDT comScore's Campaign Ratings beta selected by DISH and Sling TV - Comscore's Campaign Ratings beta has been selected by DISH Media. DISH Media encompasses inventory of both DISH and Sling TV and marks the first multichannel video programming distributor to join Comscore's cross-platform video ad measurement solution. DISH Media's inclusion broadens the measurement to include addressable and linear ads beginning with Sling TV, with DISH to be added in 1H19. The solution will now be able to account for person-level reach and provide co-viewing insights for addressable, as well as linear national network audiences and OTT.

08:06 EDT XBiotech announces post-hoc analysis for bermekimab study published - XBiotech announced the publication of findings on key biomarker analysis of colorectal cancer patients treated with bermekimab in its European Phase III study. The manuscript has been published online in the journal OncoImmunology. The findings report that patients with relatively low levels of IL-1ra or IL-6 were more likely to respond to bermekimab therapy and achieve the study's primary endpoint. The study's primary endpoint measured a combination of physical symptoms-pain, fatigue, anorexia and muscle wasting-which tend to worsen with advanced cancer, to assess whether these symptoms stabilized or improved with treatment. Patients that achieved the primary endpoint in the Phase III study had one-fifth as many serious adverse events, were twice as likely to have no tumor growth, improved significantly with all life quality measures, and had almost three-fold increase in survival compared to failures. Results from analysis found that for patients with relatively low IL-1ra levels at the start, 41% of those treated with bermekimab achieved the primary endpoint, compared to only 33% of patients for the entire bermekimab treatment group. However, in the publication it is reported that for those with relatively low pretreatment levels of both IL-1ra and IL-6, 46% of patients in the bermekimab group versus only 17% in placebo achieved the primary endpoint. About 28% of patients in the study met the criteria of low IL-1ra and low IL-6.

08:04 EDT FrontFour sends letter to Medley Capital shareholders stating 'serious concerns' - FrontFour Capital Group, a significant shareholder of Medley Capital, issued an open letter to the Medley Capital shareholders regarding its serious concerns with the proposed combination of Medley Capital, Sierra Income Corporation and Medley Management. The full text of the letter follows: Dear Fellow Shareholders, FrontFour Capital Group is a significant shareholder of Medley Capital Corporation with ownership of ~2 million shares or 3.7% of the outstanding shares. We are writing to express our strong opposition to the proposed combination of MCC, Sierra Income Corporation and Medley Management that was announced on August 8, 2018. In our view, the transaction fails to maximize value for MCC shareholders and is a brazen attempt by MCC's external manager and the controlling shareholders of MDLY to transfer material value in MCC to MDLY owners, including Brook and Seth Taube. FrontFour believes the contemplated transaction is the result of a highly flawed process that significantly undervalues the equity of MCC, transfers value to MDLY shareholders at the expense of MCC shareholders and secures the position of a management team that has a track record of destroying significant shareholder value. Our attempts to privately communicate our concerns to the independent members of MCC's Board of Directors have been met with a series of inadequate, generic answers to our specific questions from Medley LLC's General Counsel. Accordingly, we have been left no other choice but to publicly voice our opposition to the transaction and highlight key issues that should concern all MCC shareholders. As fellow MCC shareholders, we all have an important decision to make. With MCC shares currently trading at around $3.30 per share, the proposed transaction provides no apparent path to bridge the massive ~44% discount to MCC's current NAV of $5.90 per share. It appears the Board of Directors has failed to seek superior proposals, which we believe is wholly inconsistent with its fiduciary duties. It is not surprising that the Special Committee's financial advisor, Sandler O'Neill, went to great lengths in their "fairness opinion" to disassociate themselves with the process and structure of the transaction. They stated, "Our opinion...does not address the form or structure of the Transaction or any other transactions contemplated in the Agreements, the relative merits of the Transaction as compared to any other alternative transactions or business strategies that might exist for the Company or the effect of any other transaction in which the Company might engage." We believe the best course of action is for MCC shareholders to vote down the proposed transaction and commence a process to maximize value for MCC shareholders. Upon speaking to multiple M&A advisors, we are confident that a superior outcome could be achieved as there are many precedent BDC transactions and publicly listed portfolio wind-up processes that have successfully maximized value for shareholders. As MCC shareholders, we have the flexibility to internalize and terminate MDLY as our manager with 60 days' notice - a valuable strategic option. Shareholders may legitimately ask themselves why we should continue to pay fees to a manager that has destroyed hundreds of millions of dollars in value. We believe MCC's equity could be worth 0.8x to 1.0x NAV or $4.72 to $5.90 per share in an outright sale or windup, representing a potential return of 40% - 70%. In a conservative scenario where we assume that all 4 and 5 rated credit assets are written off, we arrive at a NAV of $4.97 per share or 0.84x. In addition, it is very important to note that either directly or indirectly precedent transactions suggest that an MCC management contract could be worth 4x to 6x revenue. As per MCC's latest 10K for the fiscal year ended 9/30/18, MCC paid MDLY $3.3MM or $13.2MM annualized. This could equate to $50MM to $80MM or $0.97 to $1.45 per share of value. Simply said, through one or more creative transactions including an outright sale, asset monetization and/or windup scenario, significant potential value of approximately $5.69 to $7.35 per share can be realized for MCC shareholders.

07:43 EDT Altair completes tender offer for all outstanding shares of Datawatch - Altair (ALTR) announced the expiration of the tender offer by its wholly owned subsidiary, Dallas Merger Sub, for all of the issued and outstanding shares of common stock of Datawatch (DWCH) for a price of $13.10 per share in cash, without interest and less any applicable withholding taxes. The offer expired on midnight December 12. Altair expects to complete the acquisition of Datawatch through a merger without a vote of Datawatch stockholders pursuant to Section 251 of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware. The depository for the offer has advised Altair that, as of the expiration of the Offer, a total of 8,954,113 shares had been validly tendered into and not validly withdrawn from the offer, which tendered shares represent approximately 70% of Datawatch's outstanding shares of common stock and a sufficient number of shares such that the minimum tender condition to the Offer was satisfied. Additionally, the depository has advised that an additional 2,162,329 shares had been tendered by notice of guaranteed delivery, representing approximately 17% of the Datawatch shares of common stock outstanding. Accordingly, all shares that were validly tendered and not validly withdrawn were accepted for payment and Dallas Merger Sub will promptly pay for all such tendered shares in accordance with the terms of the offer. As a result of the merger, Datawatch will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Altair. In the merger, each share of Datawatch will be cancelled and converted into the right to receive the same $13.10 per share in cash, without interest and less any applicable withholding taxes, that was paid in the offer. Following completion of the merger, Datawatch's common stock will no longer be listed for trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market.

07:39 EDT Delta Air Lines sees FY19 non-fuel unit cost growth of about 1% - For 2019, Delta sees non-fuel unit cost growth of approximately 1%. CFO Paul Jacobson said: "2018 has demonstrated Delta's resiliency as we've overcome 90 percent of a $2 billion headwind from fuel costs. With a structurally improved business model that produces strong cash generation, we remain committed to continued reinvestment in our business, an investment-grade balance sheet and industry-leading shareholder returns."

07:34 EDT Orchard Therapeutics to build-out gene therapy facility in California - Orchard Therapeutics announced that it has signed a long-term lease agreement to build-out a gene therapy manufacturing facility in Fremont, California. The new 150,000-square-foot facility increases Orchard's California footprint and adds to the Foster City and Menlo Park, California sites, which oversee the ongoing development and validation of the manufacture of Orchard's ex vivo gene therapy product candidates. Once operational, the new site will provide significant additional CGMP manufacturing capacity for both lentiviral vector and cryopreserved cell therapy products, enhancing Orchard's ability to manufacture and deliver gene-corrected hematopoetic stem cells for a wide range of diseases on a global basis. In addition to this expanded capacity, Orchard also plans to continue its close collaborations with the company's contract manufacturing partners. The build-out of Orchard's new manufacturing facility is expected to begin in 2019, and the company expects to hire more than 100 full-time employees over the next few years to support in-house manufacturing efforts.

07:32 EDT Pareteum adds $24M in agreements during December - Pareteum has added five additional three-year agreements in December 2018 totaling $24M in 36-month contractual revenue backlog. The new agreements include: connectivity solutions for Ecuador-based mobile virtual network operator; roaming and mobile services for Latin-American telecommunications company across Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Colombia; integrated solutions for European telecommunications company that provides mobile and software solutions throughout UK; smart billing solutions for international startup company; and connectivity solutions for US mobile virtual network operator.

07:23 EDT SeaWorld says DOJ ends probe, does not intend to take action against company - SeaWorld said in a regulatory filing that "On December 11, 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice informed SeaWorld Entertainment that it does not intend to take any action against the company or any individuals in connection with the investigation previously disclosed by the company concerning disclosures and public statements made by the company and certain individuals on or before August 2014 and trading in the company's securities. The company considers the DOJ matter concluded."

07:14 EDT Ciena announces new $500M share repurchase program - Ciena announced that its board has authorized a new program to repurchase up to $500M of its common stock, replacing the previous targeted repurchase plan. During FY18, Ciena repurchased approximately 4.3M shares of its common stock at an average price of $25.86 per share for an aggregate purchase price of $111M.

07:10 EDT Silver Lake to acquire majority stake in ServiceMax from GE Digital - GE Digital and Silver Lake announced an agreement for GE Digital to sell a majority stake in ServiceMax to Silver Lake. Under the agreement, GE will retain a 10% equity ownership in ServiceMax. Since GE Digital acquired the company in 2016, ServiceMax has continued to invest in its technology and delivered growth that has outpaced the market over the past two years. ServiceMax and GE Digital have also entered into a reseller agreement to ensure ongoing collaboration to serve their joint customers, including GE's industrial business units, and plan to continue to deeply integrate their technology offerings. In collaboration with Silver Lake, ServiceMax will enjoy increased agility to accelerate its growth initiatives, pursue new strategic partnerships and execute a dedicated Field Service Management agenda. ServiceMax offers cloud software tools that improve the productivity of complex service and equipment-centric business operations for over 400 corporate customers across dozens of industries. As a separate company, ServiceMax will have the strategic focus required to penetrate the vast $34B global Field Service Management software market opportunity. The majority of the approximately 39 million field technicians globally who install, maintain and repair machines do not currently have access to any Field Service Management software such as ServiceMax. With this new relationship, GE Digital and ServiceMax will continue to work together to provide solutions that help companies transform how they operate and manage their industrial assets across the entire asset lifecycle. The two companies will continue to advance the integration between GE Digital's Predix Asset Performance Management suite and ServiceMax's field service management solution - arming customers with a complete solution for proactive and predictive maintenance. The transaction is expected to close in early 2019. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

07:07 EDT Avon Products appoints Gustavo Arnal as CFO - Avon Products (AVP) announced that Gustavo Arnal has been appointed Executive Vice President and CFO, effective during Spring 2019. Gustavo will report directly to Jan Zijderveld, Avon's CEO as a member of the Executive Committee. Jamie Wilson, Avon's current CFO, has chosen to step down from his full time executive role and will be pursuing a range of professional business opportunities in the next stage of his career. Gustavo Arnal is a seasoned global operating executive with over 25 years of experience working in strategy, operations and finance positions for consumer goods and retail businesses. Gustavo joins from Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), where he has served as Senior Vice President, CFO of International Divisions and Global Functions.

07:06 EDT Sandy Spring Bancorp announces 1.8M share stock repurchase program - Sandy Spring Bancorp announced that the company's board of directors has authorized the repurchase of up to 1.8M shares of the company's common stock, or approximately 5% of currently outstanding shares. Repurchases, which will be conducted through open market purchases or privately negotiated transactions, will be made from time to time depending on market conditions and other factors.

07:05 EDT Ritchie Bros. sells $60M+ of equipment at Texas auction - Ritchie Bros. finished strong with its tenth and final Texas auction of 2018, selling 4,150+ equipment items and trucks for $60M+ in Fort Worth over two days.

07:04 EDT Rhythm Pharmaceuticals enrolls first patient in Phase 3 setmelanotide trial - Rhythm Pharmaceuticals announced the enrollment of the first patient in a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial evaluating setmelanotide, the company's first-in-class melanocortin-4, or MC4R, agonist, in Bardet-Biedl Syndrome, or BBS and Alstrom Syndrome. The company made the announcement at its symposium. The combined pivotal Phase 3 trial is a multinational, open-label, single-arm study designed to enroll 30 patients, including at least 20 patients with BBS and at least six patients with Alstrom Syndrome, aged six years and older. The trial is expected to consist of 52 weeks of treatment with setmelanotide administered once daily by subcutaneous injection, including a 14-week placebo-controlled period. The primary endpoint of the trial is a responder analysis after approximately 52 weeks of therapy. The company plans to continue enrolling supplemental patients following enrollment of the last pivotal patient in order to generate additional data regarding the safety and efficacy in people living with BBS and Alstrom Syndrome.

07:02 EDT Check-Cap: FDA conditionally approves IDE application to study C-Scan system - Check-Cap announced that the U.S. FDA has conditionally approved the company's Investigational Device Exemption application to initiate a U.S. pilot study of the C-Scan system. The FDA's conditional approval of the IDE requires Check-Cap to provide additional information to the FDA and Check-Cap may begin enrolling patients immediately upon approval by the study site's Institutional Review Board.

06:46 EDT Brown & Brown enters into $100M accelerated share repurchase program - Brown & Brown has entered into an accelerated share repurchase program with Royal Bank of Canada for $100M of the company's common stock. The ASR is part of the company's board-approved $400M share repurchase authorization announced on July 20, 2015.

06:38 EDT Aflac in discussions with Japan Post Holdings for minority investment - Aflac noted the recent media reports and confirms that it is engaged in discussions with Japan Post Holdings regarding a potential minority investment in Aflac achieved through open market purchases. The discussions do not involve Aflac or any of its subsidiaries becoming a member of the Japan Post Group. No assurance can be given that any transaction will occur or agreement will be reached. Aflac is not otherwise in a position to comment on the terms, timing or form of any transaction. The company does not intend to make any further press releases or announcements regarding this matter unless a definitive agreement has been reached or discussions have terminated.

06:35 EDT Amag Pharmaceuticals to acquire Perosphere Pharmaceuticals for $50M - AMAG Pharmaceuticals announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Perosphere Pharmaceuticals, a private biopharmaceutical company. Through this acquisition, AMAG will acquire global rights to ciraparantag, a next generation anticoagulant reversal agent, further enhancing its development pipeline and leveraging AMAG's expertise in hematology. Ciraparantag is being investigated for patients treated with novel oral anticoagulants or low molecular weight heparin when reversal of the anticoagulant effect of these products is needed for emergency surgery, urgent procedures or due to life-threatening or uncontrolled bleeding. Ciraparantag has been granted Fast Track review designation by the U.S. FDA and has patent protection through 2034. Under the terms of the agreement, at closing AMAG will pay Perosphere equityholders $50M and will assume $12M under a term loan and up to $6.2M of Perosphere's other liabilities. Perosphere equityholders will be eligible to receive regulatory milestones of up to $140M (based on a final label with no boxed warning in the U.S.), inclusive of a $40M milestone payment upon approval by the European Medicines Agency. Perosphere equityholders are also eligible to receive commercial sales milestone payments of up to an aggregate of $225M. The first commercial sales milestone payment of $20M would be payable upon achieving annual net sales of $100M. Provided certain clinical milestones are met, the Phase 3 program will be partially funded by an existing agreement with a global pharmaceutical company, which does not currently have commercialization rights to ciraparantag. In addition, as part of the Phase 3 program, AMAG plans to utilize a bedside coagulometer, currently being developed by Perosphere Technologies. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2019, subject to customary closing conditions. The costs expected to be incurred in 2019 to advance this new pipeline asset do not change AMAG's preliminary view of 2019 negative adjusted EBITDA of approximately $50M, as previously disclosed on November 1, 2018. AMAG plans to issue 2019 guidance in early January.

06:34 EDT Amag Pharmaceuticals to acquire Pharmaceuticals for $50M - AMAG Pharmaceuticals announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Perosphere Pharmaceuticals, a private biopharmaceutical company. Through this acquisition, AMAG will acquire global rights to ciraparantag, a next generation anticoagulant reversal agent, further enhancing its development pipeline and leveraging AMAG's expertise in hematology. Ciraparantag is being investigated for patients treated with novel oral anticoagulants or low molecular weight heparin when reversal of the anticoagulant effect of these products is needed for emergency surgery, urgent procedures or due to life-threatening or uncontrolled bleeding. Ciraparantag has been granted Fast Track review designation by the U.S. FDA and has patent protection through 2034. Under the terms of the agreement, at closing AMAG will pay Perosphere equityholders $50M and will assume $12M under a term loan and up to $6.2M of Perosphere's other liabilities. Perosphere equityholders will be eligible to receive regulatory milestones of up to $140M (based on a final label with no boxed warning in the U.S.), inclusive of a $40M milestone payment upon approval by the European Medicines Agency. Perosphere equityholders are also eligible to receive commercial sales milestone payments of up to an aggregate of $225M. The first commercial sales milestone payment of $20M would be payable upon achieving annual net sales of $100M. Provided certain clinical milestones are met, the Phase 3 program will be partially funded by an existing agreement with a global pharmaceutical company, which does not currently have commercialization rights to ciraparantag. In addition, as part of the Phase 3 program, AMAG plans to utilize a bedside coagulometer, currently being developed by Perosphere Technologies. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2019, subject to customary closing conditions. The costs expected to be incurred in 2019 to advance this new pipeline asset do not change AMAG's preliminary view of 2019 negative adjusted EBITDA of approximately $50M, as previously disclosed on November 1, 2018. AMAG plans to issue 2019 guidance in early January.

06:31 EDT Amag Pharmaceuticals to acquire Pharmaceuticals for $50M

06:10 EDT Starbucks opens 23,000-square-foot Reserve Roastery in New York - Starbucks announced the opening of Starbucks Reserve Roastery New York, which opens its doors to the public on Friday, December 14. Located in the meatpacking district, the New York location marks Starbucks fourth Roastery and second location in the U.S. The New York Roastery joins locations in Seattle, Shanghai and Milan with future openings coming to Tokyo and Chicago in 2019.

06:06 EDT Kirkland Lake Gold reports high-grade intercepts at Swan Zone, Australia - Kirkland Lake Gold announced new high-grade results from the ongoing underground drilling programs at the Fosterville Mine in Victoria, Australia. Recent underground infill drilling targeting the down-plunge extensions of Swan continues to return results that provide confirmation of the geological model and continuity of high-grade, visible-gold bearing mineralization on the Swan Fault. Results from 47 new drill holes, totaling 17,169 m, continue to return intervals with exceptionally high grades and visible-gold outside of the December 31, 2017 Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources in the Swan Zone. Recent drilling demonstrates the continuous nature of high-grade, visible-gold bearing quartz veins with substantial widths covering a down-dip extent of approximately 75 m, approximately 100 m down-plunge of current Mineral Reserves. In addition, drilling has confirmed that high-grade, visible-gold mineralization continues to be prevalent at least 200 m down-plunge from current Mineral Reserves. Reported drill results are from 47 holes, or 17,169 m, of which 20 contain visible-gold mineralization, and have greater than100 gram-m intercepts, with four of those intervals containing greater than 1,000 gram-m.

06:03 EDT Ball Corp. agrees to sell Chinese metal beverage packaging facilities for $225M - Ball Corporation announced an agreement to sell its metal beverage packaging facilities in China to ORG Technology for approximately $225M total transaction consideration including cash, plus potential additional consideration related to the relocation of an existing facility over the next several years, which the company currently expects to be in the range of $50M-$75M. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and is expected to close during the second half of 2019. Assets included in the sale are beverage can and end plants in Beijing, Foshan, Hubei and Qingdao, China, and associated contracts and other related assets. As part of the transaction, Ball also will license its beverage can and end technology to ORG in China, and reinvest approximately $50M, largely from the anticipated relocation proceeds, in ORG's shares, while agreeing to cooperate on future commercial opportunities with mutual customers by leveraging the expertise of ORG in China and Ball in the markets it serves.

06:01 EDT JinkoSolar to supply 9 MW for juwi 1500 V project in Greece - JinkoSolar announced that it supplied juwi Hellas SA, with 9 MW of PV solar modules for juwi's first 1500V DC system in Greece. juwi Hellas SA, has signed a contract with ATEN Energy SA, which belongs to the group of companies of Hellenic Petroleum SA. ATEN project is juwi's first 1500V DC system in Greece and it is also certified according to IEC 62446-1:2016. The ATEN project, one of the largest PV plants in Greece, was built in just three months by juwi Hellas SA and is already in operation. JinkoSolar delivered the 9 MW of PV solar modules for the project.

05:36 EDT Discovery announces agreement with European Tour to expand GOLFTV portfolio - Discovery and the European Tour have announced a new partnership that will see GOLFTV continue to expand its portfolio and move towards becoming the established 'digital home of golf' for fans around the world. The wide-ranging agreement includes international multi-platform live rights, in selected territories,* to all European Tour events and the next two Ryder Cups**, as well as Discovery collaborating to further grow the European Tour's digital platforms, showcasing the Tour's innovative content worldwide. The partnership will bring coverage of the European Tour and Ryder Cup together under GOLFTV, the global live and on-demand video streaming service launching in January 2019. Fans will be able to follow all the world's greatest players, week in and week out, with a growing portfolio of content that will make GOLFTV an unmissable destination for golf entertainment worldwide.

05:22 EDT Amazon extends holiday free shipping promotion to Dec. 18 - Prime members can shop all the way up until Christmas Eve with Prime FREE Same-Day Delivery and Prime Now. Additionally, all customers in the U.S. can enjoy free shipping on hundreds of millions of items, and this holiday season Amazon has extended the free shipping cutoff with no minimum purchase through December 18 for orders that will arrive in time for Christmas. A majority of Prime members in the U.S. have access to free one-day shipping or faster, and Amazon today announced that Prime FREE Same-Day Delivery and Prime FREE One-Day Shipping expanded this year to more than 10,000 cities and towns coast-to-coast. Plus, Prime members in more than 30 cities have access to free ultrafast delivery through Prime Now, where customers can shop many of the same products and deals that are available on Amazon.com and receive them in as little as an hour.