Stockwinners Market Radar for February 14, 2020 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

18:47 EST Agile Therapeutics announces FDA approval of Twirla transdermal system - Agile Therapeutics announced that the U.S. FDA has approved Twirla transdermal system. Twirla is designed for weekly application to deliver a 30 mcg daily dose of ethinyl estradiol, a type of estrogen, along with a 120 mcg daily dose of levonorgestrel, a well-known progestin with a long history in the category. The newly approved patch can be worn on the abdomen, buttock, or upper torso.

18:07 EST United Technologies' Amato sells 12,546 common shares - In a regulatory filing, United Technologies EVP and chief HR officer Elizabeth B. Amato disclosed the sale of 12,546 common shares of the company at a price of $155.1841 per share on February 12.

17:22 EST Oshkosh awarded $407.34M Army contract modification - Oshkosh was awarded a $407.34M modification to a contract to procure joint light tactical vehicles and associated kits. Work will be performed in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, with an estimated completion date of January 31, 2022. FY18 and FY20 other procurement, Army procurement, U. S. Marine Corps and Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $407.34M were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command is the contracting activity.

17:13 EST Halozyme enters into $12M asset purchase agreement with High Tides' KushBar - Halo Labs is pleased to announce that it has entered into an asset purchase agreement with High Tide Inc and affiliates thereof for the $12M purchase of High Tides' KushBar retail cannabis brand, retail cannabis stores and all associated assets. The transaction provides for the acquisition by Halo of 3 licensed cannabis retail stores and the rights to 5 locations across Alberta which have already received development permits for aggregate consideration of $12M, payable in common shares of Halo at a deemed price of $0.26 per Halo Share.

17:06 EST Paulson adds Pretium, exits United Tech in Q4 - John Paulson's Paulson & Co. disclosed in an SEC filing its holdings as of December 31, 2019. The fund's six new buys during the fourth quarter included, by size of position, Pretium Resources (PVG), Tech Data (TECD), Tiffany (TIF), and LogMeIn (LOGM). Paulson exited 13 positions during the quarter, including by size of previous position Callon Petroleum (CPE), United Technologies (UTX), PG&E (PCG), International Seaways (INSW), and Lyft (LYFT). The fund increased its stake in three holdings, including by size of previous position Sprint (S), Barrick Gold (GOLD), and Synthesis Energy Systems (SES). Paulson reduced its stake in five holdings, including by size of previous position Caesars Entertainment (CZR), QEP Resources (QEP), Newmark Group (NMRK), and Allergan (AGN). The fund's top holdings as of December 31, in order of size, were Bausch Health (BHC), SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), Allergan, Discovery Class C (DISCK), and Horizon Therapeutics (HZNP).

17:01 EST Teleflex announces worldwide recall of Comfort Flo humidification system - Teleflex has announced a worldwide voluntary recall of the COMFORT FLO Humidification System. The recalled products provide a continuous flow of heated and humidified gas to COMFORT FLO patients in professional health care environments.

16:56 EST Lone Pine takes new stake in PayPal, exits Activision Blizzard - Stephen Mandel's Lone Pine Capital disclosed in an SEC filing its holdings as of December 31, 2019. Lone Pine's 12 new buys during the fourth quarter included, by size of position, PayPal (PYPL), Match Group (MTCH), Luckin Coffee (LK), DexCom (DXCM), and Under Armour (UAA). Lone Pine exited eight positions during the quarter, including by size of previous position, Activision Blizzard (ATVI), Tiffany & Co. (TIF), Booking Holdings (BKNG), and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Lone Pine increased its stake in 12 holdings, including by size of previous position, Facebook (FB), Shopify (SHOP), Mastercard (MA), MercadoLibre (MELI), and Netflix (NFLX). Lone Pine reduced its stake in 14 holdings, including by size of previous position, Amazon (AMZN), salesforce.com (CRM), Autodesk (ADSK), Iqvia (IQV), and Microsoft (MSFT). Lone Pine's top holdings as of December 31, 2019, in order of size, were Alibaba (BABA), UnitedHealth (UNH), Amazon, Adobe (ADBE), and Netflix.

16:41 EST Pershing Square boosts Howard Hughes stake, lowers Starbucks stake - Pershing Square disclosed in an SEC filing its holdings as of December 31, 2019. In the fourth quarter, Pershing increased its stake in two holdings, by size of previous position, Howard Hughes (HHC) and Agilent Technologies (A). Pershing reduced its stake in one holding, Starbucks (SBUX). Pershing's top holdings as of December 31, 2019, in order of size, were Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), Hilton Worldwide Holdings (HLT), Lowe's Companies (LOW), Restaurant Brands International (QSR), and Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B).

16:34 EST Lilis Energy signs purchase and sale agreement to divest certain assets - On February 12, the company executed a purchase and sale agreement for the sale of approximately 1,185 undeveloped net acres, being the company's northernmost acreage in Lea County, New Mexico, for expected net cash proceeds of approximately $24.9M. Proceeds will be used to fund a substantial portion of the borrowing base deficiency with the balance to be used for general corporate purposes.

16:31 EST Hyatt increases quarterly cash dividend 5.3% to 20c per share - Hyatt announced that its board of directors has declared a cash dividend of 20c per share of Class A common stock and Class B common stock for Q1, reflecting a 5.3% increase in the quarterly cash dividend from 19c. The dividend is payable on March 9 to shareholders of record as of February 26.

16:26 EST MDU Resources buys prestressed-concrete business of Oldcastle Infrastructure - MDU Resources announced it has acquired the assets of Oldcastle Infrastructure Spokane, the Washington-based prestressed-construction business previously owned by Oldcastle Infrastructure. The Spokane operation produces precast and prestressed concrete components for projects throughout Washington, Idaho and Oregon. It has become part of Knife River Corporation, the construction materials subsidiary of MDU Resources. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. MDU Resources anticipates the acquisition will be accretive to earnings per share.

16:20 EST Soros boosts Boeing stake, lowers Peloton stake, exits eBay - George Soros' Soros Fund Management disclosed in an SEC filing its holdings as of December 31, 2019. Soros's 32 new buys during the fourth quarter included, by size of position, Activision Blizzard (ATVI), Tiffany & Co. (TIF), Campbell Soup (CPB), and Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD). Soros exited 23 positions during the quarter, including by size of previous position, eBay (EBAY), Dominion Energy (D), TransDigm (TDG), and Cypress Semiconductor (CY). Soros increased its stake in 20 holdings, including by size of previous position, NortonLifeLock (NLOK), Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Vistra (VST), and Boeing (BA). Soros reduced its stake in 24 holdings, including by size of previous position, VICI Properties (VICI), Caesars Entertainment (CZR), Peloton (PTON), and E*Trade (ETFC). Soros's top holdings as of December 31, 2019, in order of size, were Liberty Broadband (LBRDK), VICI Properties, Alphabet Class A (GOOGL), and Norton LifeLock.

16:12 EST Tepper's Appaloosa adds Intelsat, exits Boeing in Q4 - David Tepper's Appaloosa Management disclosed in an SEC filing its holdings as of December 31, 2019. The fund's one new buy during the fourth quarter was Intelsat (I). Appaloosa exited four positions during the quarter, including by size of position SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP), Boeing (BA), and Mr Cooper Group (COOP). The fund increased its stake in six holdings, including by size of previous position Alibaba (BABA), Micron (MU), Amazon (AMZN), Energy Transfer LP (ET), and UnitedHealth (UNH). Appaloosa reduced its stake in six holdings, including by size of previous position Clearway Energy Class C (CWEN), Clearway Energy Class A, Caesars Entertainment (CZR), PG&E (PCG), and Broadcom (AVGO). The fund's told holdings as of December 31, in order of size, were Alphabet Class C (GOOG), Facebook (FB), Amazon, Alibaba, and Micron.

16:02 EST Sio Capital reports 6.11% passive stake in Zafgen - In a regulatory filing, Sio Capital disclosed a 6.11% stake in Zafgen, which represents over 2.28M shares. The filing does not allow for activism.

15:59 EST ISS recommends InterXion shareholders vote in favor of Digital Realty deal - InterXion Holding (INXN) announced that independent proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services, or "ISS," recommends that InterXion shareholders vote "FOR" all proposals related to the company's proposed strategic stock-for-stock combination with Digital Realty Trust (DLR) at the Extraordinary General Meeting of InterXion scheduled for February 27. David Ruberg, InterXion's CEO, said, "We are pleased that ISS supports the Board's recommendation that shareholders vote "FOR" all proposals to be voted on at the EGM, which, if approved, will enable the process to proceed and InterXion's shareholders to decide about the proposed transaction via the exchange offer."

15:40 EST Philip Morris chairman sells 30,000 common shares - In a regulatory filing, Philip Morris chairman Louis C. Camilleri disclosed the sale of 30,000 common shares of the company at a price of $88.3311 per share on February 12.

15:28 EST ISS recommends InterXion shareholders fote in favor of Digital Realty deal - InterXion Holding (INXN) announced that independent proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services, or "ISS," recommends that InterXion shareholders vote "FOR" all proposals related to the company's proposed strategic stock-for-stock combination with Digital Realty Trust (DLR) at the Extraordinary General Meeting of InterXion scheduled for February 27. David Ruberg, InterXion's CEO, said, "We are pleased that ISS supports the Board's recommendation that shareholders vote "FOR" all proposals to be voted on at the EGM, which, if approved, will enable the process to proceed and InterXion's shareholders to decide about the proposed transaction via the exchange offer."

14:45 EST CPI Aerostructures trading resumes

14:31 EST CPI Aerostructures to restate FY18, year-to-date FY19 financial statements - CPI Aerostructures announced that the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors of CPI Aero determined, based on the recommendation of management and in consultation with CPI Aero's independent registered public accounting firm, that the company's financial statements included in its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, quarterly reports on Forms 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2018, June 30, 2018, and September 30, 2018, and quarterly reports on Forms 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2019, June 30, 2019, and September 30, 2019 should no longer be relied upon due to an error in those financial statements relating to the company's recognition of revenue fromcontracts with customers under ASC Topic 606. Similarly, the independent auditor's reports on the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting for the year ended December 31, 2018, management's reports on the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, press releases, and investor communications describing the company's financial statements for such periods should no longer be relied upon. The company's cash flows from operations for the affected periods are not expected to be impacted. The error was uncovered as part of the preparation of the company's 2019 annual financial statements. After reconsideration of the terms of the company's contracts with customers, Management's preliminary conclusion is that certain revenues and net income were recognized prematurely or inaccurately due to an incorrect application of generally accepted accounting principles. Therefore, previously reported revenue and net income are believed to have been overstated. The error is also expected to have an impact on the company's balance sheets for the affected periods. Specifically, retained earnings and contract assets are believed to be overstated. The company expects to amend its annual report and quarterly reports and to restate the financial statements and other disclosures contained therein "as soon as reasonably practical." Management has determined that a material weakness existed in the company's internal control over financial reporting as of the end of each of the affected periods. The company said it has reviewed its financial closing process and believes it has identified the corrective action necessary to remediate the cause of the error. The Company plans to include a discussion of the company's plan to remediate the material weakness in its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019.

14:03 EST Tiger Global adds PayPal, exits Fiat Chrysler in Q4 - Chase Coleman's Tiger Global disclosed in an SEC filing its holdings as of December 31, 2019. The fund's five new buys during the fourth quarter included, by size of position, PayPal (PYPL), Alphabet Class A (GOOGL), Cardlytics (CDLX), XP Inc. Class A (XP), and Bill.com (BILL). Tiger exited 16 positions during the quarter, including by size of previous position Fiat Chrysler (FCAU), MercadoLibre (MELI), Wayfair (W), Switch (SWCH), and Beyond Meat (BYND). The fund increased its stake in 15 holdings, including by size of previous position Uber (UBER), Elastic (ESTC), Pinduoduo (PDD), MongoDB (MDB), and RingCentral (RNG). Tiger reduced its stake in 17 holdings, including by size of previous position Alibaba (BABA), Microsoft (MSFT), Facebook Class A (FB), Salesforce (CRM), and Adobe (ADBE). The fund's top holdings as of December 31, in order of size, were JD.com Class A (JD), Apollo Global (APO), Microsoft, Facebook, and TransDigm (TDG).

13:56 EST CPI Aerostructures trading halted, news pending

13:27 EST Engine Capital tells CymaBay to liquidate if Seladelpar can't move forward - Engine Capital disclosed an increased stake in CymaBay Therapeutics of 9.7%, which represents over 6.68M shares. On February 14, Engine delivered a letter to the company's board, which states in part, "We invested in CBAY because we believe the Company is undervalued and there are opportunities readily available to CBAY's Board of Directors to significantly increase shareholder value...The Company's recent decision to suspend development of Seladelpar was obviously an incredible disappointment. The Company now faces a new reality and we commend the Board and management team for moving aggressively to reduce CymaBay's workforce by 60% in short order. Unfortunately, more has to be done to further reduce costs and conserve the Company's primary asset - its cash. We are concerned by the elevated cash burn of the Company. In its recent update letter from January 29, 2020, CBAY implied $10 to $15 million of cash burn for general corporate purposes for the first 6 months of the year. This is simply too high. Based on similar exercises done at other pharma companies (in similar situations), we believe the appropriate semi-annual cash burn for a company with just over 20 employees should be between $5 and $7.5 million. We assume that the Company is also using some external experts to review data and discuss its findings with the FDA, which may explain some of the difference, but we are skeptical from the outside that this alone can justify these elevated costs. Shareholders have suffered immensely with CBAY's stock down almost 85% over the past 12 months. At this point, everything should be on the table to reduce the cash burn, including senior management and Board members taking deep compensation cuts. Given this elevated cash burn, time is of the essence and the Company needs to conclude its strategic review process as expeditiously as possible. Our hope is that the Company can work with the FDA to find an economical path forward for Seladelpar. If that is not possible, Engine strongly believes that CymaBay should simply liquidate and return cash to shareholders as quickly as possible. We believe that under this scenario, shareholders could receive north of $2 per share, resulting in a very good risk-adjusted return. The other alternative that the Board is likely considering is some type of transaction such as a reverse merger, a licensing agreement or an acquisition. Engine has reviewed the track record of such transactions in this space and it is abysmal. Most of these transactions end up destroying significant value over time."

13:05 EST Baker Hughes reports U.S. rig count unchanged at 790 rigs - Baker Hughes reports the U.S. rig count is unchanged from last week at 790, with oil rigs up 2 to 678, gas rigs down 1 to 110, and miscellaneous rigs down 1 to 2.

12:10 EST Navidea trading resumes

11:56 EST Roku CEO says global supply chain hasn't seen big impact from coronavirus - Anthony Wood is speaking on CNBC.

11:52 EST Navidea trading halted, news pending

11:30 EST Morphic presents 'positive' preclinical MORF-057 data - Morphic Therapeutic announced an oral presentation today highlighting Morphic's product candidate MORF-057 at the 15th Congress of the European Crohn's and Colitis Organisation. MORF-057 is in development as an oral inhibitor of the alpha4beta7 integrin, a clinically proven target for the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases. "The approved antibody therapeutic vedolizumab has provided validation of alpha4beta7 as an effective target for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. However, a significant opportunity remains to address IBD with an orally administered therapeutic," commented Bruce Rogers, Ph.D., chief scientific officer of Morphic Therapeutic. "We are highly encouraged that the data presented at ECCO demonstrate MORF-057's favorable in vitro pharmacodynamic characteristics and these results are reinforced by the positive outcomes in in vivo models using oral administration of MORF-057. These data further strengthen our conviction to move MORF-057 forward into clinical studies as planned."

11:05 EST Omega Advisors takes new positions in Ferro, Workday, exits Marathon Petroleum - Leon Cooperman's Omega Advisors disclosed in an SEC filing its holdings as of December 31, 2019. Omega's five new buys during the fourth quarter were, by size of position, Ferro (FOE), Workday (WDAY), Iqvia (IQV), Sutter Rock (SSSS), and Sierra Metals (SMTS). Omega exited six positions during the quarter, including by size of previous position, Marathon Petroleum (MPC), Corteva (CTVA), Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO), McClatchy (MNI), and Cloudflare (NET). Omega increased its stake in 20 holdings, including by size of previous position, DuPont (DD), Diamondback Energy (FANG), Energy Transfer (ET), Mr. Cooper Group (COOP), and Carnival (CCL). Omega reduced its stake in nine holdings, including by size of previous position, Twin River (TRWH), Chimera (CIM), Altisource Portfolio Solutions (ASPS), AMC Networks (AMCX), and Aspen Group (ASPU). Omega's top holdings as of December 31, 2019, in order of size, were Fiserv (FISV), Alphabet Class A (GOOGL), Cigna (CI), United Airlines (UAL), and WPX Energy (WPX).

10:03 EST Xerox appoints Joanne Collins Smee as chief commercial, SMB and channels officer - Xerox Holdings announced the appointment of Joanne Collins Smee as EVP and chief commercial, SMB and channels officer. In this newly created role, she reports to John Visentin, vice chairman and CEO of Xerox. Collins Smee joined Xerox in September 2018 as chief commercial officer and has spearheaded the development of Xerox's software and services strategy. She also will lead Xerox Business Solutions, the company's unit focused on serving the SMB, and U.S. channel partners.

10:00 EST American Axle falls -9.9% - American Axle is down -9.9%, or -$1.01 to $9.21.

10:00 EST TriNet rises 12.5% - TriNet is up 12.5%, or $6.36 to $57.20.

10:00 EST Canopy Growth rises 20.0% - Canopy Growth is up 20.0%, or $3.91 to $23.43.

09:47 EST CryoLife falls -7.9% - CryoLife is down -7.9%, or -$2.40 to $27.90.

09:47 EST Agnico Eagle falls -12.7% - Agnico Eagle is down -12.7%, or -$7.49 to $51.62.

09:47 EST Chemours rises 9.8% - Chemours is up 9.8%, or $1.53 to $17.21.

09:42 EST Takeda says Phase 3 VISIBLE 2 trial met primary endpoint in week 52 patients - Takeda Pharmaceutical announced results from the phase 3 VISIBLE 2 clinical trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of an investigational subcutaneous formulation of the gut-selective biologic vedolizumab for use during maintenance therapy in adult patients with moderately to severely active Crohn's disease. The study evaluated patients who achieved clinical response at week 6 following two doses of open-label vedolizumab intravenous induction therapy at weeks 0 and 2.1 The results show that at week 52, significantly more patients on vedolizumab SC compared to placebo were in clinical remission, meeting the study's primary endpoint. These data were announced during an oral presentation at the 15th Congress of the European Crohn's and Colitis Organisation in Vienna, Austria. Results for the following secondary endpoints were also presented at the congress. The enhanced clinical response rate was 52.0% in patients receiving vedolizumab SC versus 44.8% in patients on placebo at week 52. The difference between the treatment groups was not statistically significant, and consequently statistical testing for the remaining secondary endpoints was not performed.

09:39 EST Google says five new games to launch on cloud gaming service Stadia - The Stadia Team said in part in a blog posting: " You're already looking forward to DOOM Eternal, Get Packed, Orcs Must Die! 3, Baldur's Gate 3 and many more games coming to Stadia this year. Now, get set to explore the inner workings of a child's memories, or leap into arcade chaos with your friends with a trio of titles making their debut on Stadia this spring and summer...before they land anywhere else. First on Stadia. In addition to these First on Stadia games, we're happy to announce a pair of remarkable entries in two beloved franchises are coming to Stadia. Prepare to mow down extraterrestrial invaders on land and battle flotillas of fearsome foes in the skies across two classic gaming series. Take a look at some of what's coming: Lost Words: Beyond the Page is a narrative-driven, atmospheric puzzler set inside the pages of a young girl's diary. A new, remade version of the Panzer Dragoon game - true to the original, with improved graphics and controls, that suit modern gaming standards! On a far, lone planet, you encounter two dragons awaken from the ancient times. Step into the shoes of the legendary action hero Sam "Serious" Stone and experience one of the most explosive shooter game series of all time as you save the world from a merciless alien invasion.Tired of playing alone? Go to war against Mental's horde with up to 16 players online or 4 players in local co-op, blasting your way through the campaign or the stand-alone survival mode. Serious Sam Collection includes all content from Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter, Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter and Serious Sam 3: BFE, including The Legend of the Beast and Jewel of the Nile expansions.Stacks On Stacks (On Stacks) is a zany 3D tower builder. Play as the Master Stacker, Rockit, who must use her psychic helmet to clean up the colorful bricks falling all over her madcap world." Reference Link

09:33 EST Fitch cuts Kraft Heinz debt rating to junk status on leverage concerns - Fitch Ratings downgraded the Long-Term Issuer Default Rating for Kraft Heinz Company, Kraft Heinz Foods Company and Kraft Canada to "BB+" from "BBB-", and Short-Term IDRs to "B" from "F3". The rating outlook is Stable. The downgrade reflects Fitch's view that Kraft's leverage will remain elevated above four-times for a "prolonged period" due to ongoing EBITDA "challenges" and limited near term debt reduction potential. Following Kraft's commentary around 2020 operating headwinds which would suggest a nearly 8% EBITDA decline and its commitment to maintain its dividend, Fitch estimates the company may need to divest up to 20% of its projected 2020 EBITDA to support debt reduction necessary to reduce leverage.

09:22 EST GTY Technology Holdings to receive $12M loan, review strategic alternatives - GTY Technology Holdings announced that it entered into a definitive credit agreement providing for a $12M unsecured loan with funds managed by UBS O'Connor. The proceeds of the loan will be used for working capital and general corporate purposes. The company also announced that it is reviewing a broad range of potential strategic alternatives focused on maximizing shareholder value. These alternatives could include, among others, continuing to execute on the company's business plan or entering into one or more potential strategic transactions. "GTY Technology Holdings is committed to delivering value to all our stakeholders, including our customers, stockholders, and employees," said Stephen Rohleder, chairman and CEO. "GTY is focused on becoming the pre-eminent native SaaS/Cloud software company serving the Public Sector market in North America. We continue to be excited by our growth opportunities in the public sector as our customers continue on their digital modernization journeys. As we seek to accelerate the scaling of our business and enhance stockholder value, the Board is reviewing a broad range of potential strategic alternatives to best position the Company for the future."

09:15 EST Diana Shipping announces cancellation of sale of dry bulk vessel m/v Calipso - Diana Shipping announced that it has received a notice of cancellation of the Memorandum of Agreement, between a separate wholly-owned subsidiary and an unaffiliated third party, to sell the 2005-built Panamax vessel "Calipso", as previously announced. The buyers elected to exercise their right to cancel the Contract as a result of vessel's missing the cancelling date stipulated therein, due to unforeseen events, unrelated to the condition of the vessel, and have requested the refund of the deposit of the purchase price held in joint escrow account by the deposit holder. The Company has taken steps to release the deposit to the buyers. Upon completion of the previously announced sale of one Capesize dry bulk vessel, the m/v Norfolk, Diana Shipping Inc.'s fleet will consist of 41 dry bulk vessels. As of today, the combined carrying capacity of the Company's fleet, including the m/v Norfolk, is approximately 5.2 million dwt with a weighted average age of 9.66 years.

09:05 EST Amazon Web Services chosen as cloud, AI provider for Second Spectrum - Amazon Web Services, or AWS, an Amazon company, announced that Second Spectrum, the official optical tracking and analytics provider of sports leagues such as the National Basketball Association and the English Premier League, has chosen AWS as its preferred cloud, machine learning, or ML, and artificial intelligence, or AI, provider. Second Spectrum has also selected AWS media services to help deliver new kinds of live game-watching experiences to fans. Second Spectrum uses AWS's services to help sports leagues and their media partners deliver analytics, visualizations, and searchable video clips during games and matches. Second Spectrum's content-generation service runs on AWS. The process begins when Second Spectrum applies ML and computer vision techniques to its proprietary optical tracking system, which collects 3D spatial data from cameras at live sporting events, and then indexes the video in real time with metadata such as the identity and location of players, and the type of play in progress. Second Spectrum technology then references that real-time information against historical team and player data housed on AWS to generate stats, analytics and its proprietary metrics like quantified shot quality and quantified shooter impact, and uses AWS's infrastructure to construct 3D visualizations and augmented video to support live broadcasts. By expanding its relationship with AWS, Second Spectrum will begin working with Amazon SageMaker to explore ways of enhancing and tuning its ML models on years of video data captured in dozens of sports venues, enabling it to generate new predictive stats during live games.

08:41 EST Canopy Growth up 22% to $23.95 after reporting Q3 results

08:34 EST BankFinancial announces expansion of Equipment Finance - BankFinancial announced the expansion of BankFinancial Equipment Finance. BankFinancial Equipment Finance's capabilities now include leasing to governmental, middle-market and small business lessees, as well as continuing its corporate leasing, lending, deposit and treasury management services to independent equipment lessors nationwide. BankFinancial Equipment Finance is led by Ms. Marci Slagle, President of BankFinancial Equipment Finance. Ms. Slagle is a Certified Lease Finance Professional with over 20 years' experience in the commercial equipment leasing industry. Ms. Slagle is a former member of the Equipment Finance and Lease Association Steering Committee - Middle Market Leasing and she is also an Executive Committee member and Past President of the CLFP Foundation.

08:32 EST Sellas Life Sciences announces feedback from Type C review with FDA - SELLAS Life Sciences Group announced feedback from a Type C review with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regarding its clinical development program for nelipepimut-S in patients with triple negative breast cancer. Based on written feedback from the FDA and on the totality of clinical, safety and translational NPS data presented to date, the Company has finalized the design and plan for a Phase 3 registration-enabling study of NPS in combination with trastuzumab for the treatment of patients with TNBC in the adjuvant setting after standard treatment. If successful, this study may be considered as the basis for a Biologics License Application submission to the FDA. The planned Phase 3 study will be a 1:1 randomized, blinded two-arm study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the NPS vaccine in combination with trastuzumab vs. GM-CSF alone as maintenance treatment in the adjuvant setting following standard-of-care therapy in patients with TNBC, defined as hormone receptor-negative, HER2 1+/2+ tumors, at high risk of recurrence. The FDA indicated in its feedback that there is adequate safety information to support the use of NPS in combination with trastuzumab. SELLAS previously reported the final efficacy and safety results from a Phase 2b study of NPS in combination with trastuzumab in TNBC patients. The disease-free survival rate at 24 months was 92.6% for the combination arm vs. 70.2% for the trastuzumab alone arm, a clinically meaningful and statistically significant improvement in favor of the combination therapy. This was associated with a statistically significant reduction of 71.9% in the frequency of clinically detected recurrences also in favor of the combination arm. Immune response analysis showed that non-recurrent TNBC patients mounted both vigorous NPS-specific clonal CD8+ cytotoxic T-lymphocyte expansion and enhanced in vivo post-antigen challenge cutaneous delayed type hypersensitivity. Most treatment-emergent adverse events were mild or moderate and consisted of manageable local injection site reactions, skin induration, pruritus, and fatigue.

08:31 EST Funko announces Bandai as exclusive distributor in Japan - Funko announced that Bandai, the Japanese manufacturer and toy licensee, will become the exclusive distributor for Funko products across Japan. Bandai will take full control of the distribution channel in Q4 of this year, with the goal of bringing gaming, anime, movie and television Pop! vinyl figurines to mass market within Japan.

08:19 EST Acasti Pharma to seek FDA guidance prior to unblinding TRILOGY 2 data - Consequently, the Company intends to request a meeting with the FDA to discuss the TRILOGY 1 data, and will seek their guidance about how to conduct the analysis of the TRILOGY 2 data prior to unblinding TRILOGY 2. The Company continues to remain blinded to the TRILOGY 2 data. Upon submission of the meeting request, which is expected to be sent to the FDA in calendar Q2, 2020, the FDA will have 75 days to respond and schedule a meeting. Given the need to complete the audit and review of the TRILOGY 1 data, and obtain FDA feedback, the Company now anticipates the unblinding of the topline results for TRILOGY 2 sometime in calendar Q3 of 2020. Acasti will provide further guidance as to the timing of reporting TRILOGY 2 data based on progress of the audits and feedback from the FDA. Accordingly, key secondary and exploratory endpoints from both TRILOGY 1 and TRILOGY 2 studies, would now be expected as soon as possible after the unblinding of TRILOGY 2 results. If the interpretation of the analyses produced as an outcome of the TRILOGY 1 audits and post-hoc data review are supported by the FDA, and if TRILOGY 2 achieves statistical significance, Acasti believes it may still have a viable path forward to file an NDA for CaPre. At December 31, 2019, Acasti had $25.7 million of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. This capital is expected to also fund the ongoing study investigations, as well as continued work on the NDA. With the Government funding, capital raised through the established at-the-market program during Q3, recent exercise of warrants and cash on hand, the Company is sufficiently funded through December 2020, based on management's current projections.

08:16 EST Acasti Pharma sees cash sufficient through at least December 2020 - Cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled $25.7 million as of December 31, 2019, compared to $28.9 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2018. The decrease was mainly generated by the operating loss partially offset by the net proceeds from the sale of shares through the established ATM program and the recent exercise of warrants. As stated above, Acasti believes that existing cash will fully fund the Company's operations through at least December of 2020. Acasti projects that additional funds will be needed in the future, for activities necessary to prepare for commercial launch, including the scale up of our manufacturing operations, the completion of the potential regulatory submission package (assuming positive Phase 3 clinical results), and the expansion of business development and US commercial launch activities. If Acasti does not raise additional funds, it may not be able to realize its assets and discharge its liabilities in the normal course of business. As a result, there exists a material uncertainty about the Acasti's ability to continue as a going concern and to realize its assets and discharge its liabilities in the normal course of business.

08:11 EST HCI Group insurance subsidiary enters into policy replacement agreement - HCI Group announced that its wholly owned insurance subsidiary, Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty Insurance Company, Inc., has entered into a definitive policy replacement agreement with Anchor Property & Casualty Insurance Company under which Anchor will cancel all its policies as of April 1, 2020 and Homeowners Choice will offer to those policyholders short-term replacement policies having substantially the same terms and rates as the cancelled policies and expiring the same dates the cancelled policies would have expired had they not been cancelled. Anchor's policyholders will be under no obligation to accept the replacement policies. Anchor will retain liability for policyholder claims arising from events occurring on or before March 31, 2020. Upon expiration of the replacement policies, Homeowners Choice will offer renewals to the policyholders at its own rates and terms. The agreement contains no purchase price for the transition of business to Homeowners Choice, but to encourage a smooth transition, includes a payment based on the premium in force associated with the replacement polices remaining in force at June 1, 2020.

08:09 EST Quotient announces CE Mark approval for Initial SDS Microarray - Quotient announced that it has received the Conformite Europeene Mark approval for the Initial Serological Disease Screening Microarray.

08:08 EST SUMR Brands enacts restructuring plan for approx. $7.5M annualized cost savings - SUMR Brands announced that the Company has taken steps to further streamline operations and improve its financial outlook. The Company has begun enacting a strategic restructuring plan that it anticipates will result in annualized cost savings of approximately $7.5M when complete. In addition to headcount savings and supplier cost concessions already implemented, the Company expects to sublease a portion of its warehousing facility in Riverside, California and vacate its UK distribution center, as well as undertake other identified initiatives. The UK closure, scheduled for the end of March, is expected to result in operating efficiencies and better customer service; international product distribution will, henceforth, be handled by the Company's existing third-party facility in China. As a reminder, the Company will host a Special Shareholders Meeting on March 5. 2020, to approve a potential reverse stock split. Due to the timing of this and other matters related to its restructuring activities, SUMR Brands will host its fourth quarter, 2019 earnings conference call on Thursday, March 19; additional details will be provided closer to that date.

08:06 EST PPL Corp. sets carbon reduction goal of at least 80% from 2010 levels by 2050 - PPL announced it has set a more aggressive carbon reduction goal of at least 80% from 2010 levels by 2050 and has accelerated its previous 70% goal by 10 years to 2040. PPL expects to achieve the reductions through a variety of actions. These include replacing Kentucky coal-fired generation over time with a mix of renewables and natural gas while meeting obligations to provide least-cost and reliable service to customers. In addition, the actions include steps across PPL's U.S. and U.K. businesses to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions from vehicle fleets and substations.

07:46 EST SmileDirectClub says NBC piece 'misrepresents' company, quality of care - SmileDirectClub issues the following statement in response to an NBC Nightly News story on the company. The company said, in part, "We are disappointed that though we provided NBC with the opportunity to obtain all relevant facts as to the safety and efficacy of teledentistry for the provision of clear aligner therapy, NBC failed to provide its viewers with a balanced and fair news story reflecting those facts. The piece misrepresents SmileDirectClub and the quality of care provided by the over 250 state-licensed dentists and orthodontists across the country who use our platform to treat their patients. We are surprised by the journalist's blatant disregard for the facts and failure to include all of the accurate information we provided. Notably, the almost five-minute report and online story does not include one interview or statement from the more than 750,000 satisfied customers who have used our products to improve their lives, nor does it include a single interview with any of the hundreds of dentists who have publicly supported our technology. In fact, though NBC conducted interviews over the last 30 days with these doctors and customers under the guise of providing a fair and balanced story, their statements were not included or referenced in this story. SmileDirectClub made customers, doctors and team members available for hours of in-person interviews, phone calls and email correspondence. The Company provided a tremendous amount of critical information that would have allowed NBC to report a more accurate and balanced story...There is no investigation into SmileDirectClub by the Federal Drug Administration or the FTC, and SmileDirectClub is in full compliance with FDA regulations, including its 510K manufacturing certification. The letter referenced from members of Congress to the FDA is based on misinformation originated by dental trade organizations and is nothing more than the latest in a series of anti-competitive publicity tactics designed to attempt to limit our success, which is a direct threat to traditional orthodontia. Of the nine congressmen who signed this letter, five are dentists, an interest that should be noted by an organization such as NBC Nightly News...Lastly, the California law states that dentists should review the "...patient's most recent diagnostic digital or conventional radiographs or other equivalent bone imaging suitable for orthodontia. New radiographs or other equivalent bone imaging shall be ordered if deemed appropriate by the treating dentist." The doctors who use our platform are required to comply with the laws in every state in which they practice when using our platform, including the laws of the State of California. While SmileDirectClub disagrees that the legislature should be setting clinical standards, we ensure that our model requires compliance with all laws."

07:35 EST Aramark names Carl Mittleman COO, International - Aramark has named Carl Mittleman COO, International succeeding Brent Franks, who leaves Aramark after a successful seven-year tenure. Mittleman, who has been with the company for 25 years, most recently served as president, sports and entertainment. Mittleman joined Aramark as a college intern and held positions of increased responsibility in sales and operations in Aramark Germany, leisure and sports and entertainment. He moved through the ranks of GM, district manager and regional VP and for the last five years has led sports and entertainment as president.

07:32 EST Gibraltar Industries acquires assets of Delta Separations for $50M in cash - Gibraltar Industries announced it has acquired the assets of California-based Delta Separations, a privately-held engineering and manufacturing company of centrifugal ethanol-based extraction systems for $50M in an all cash transaction that closed February 13. The company sells direct to cannabis, hemp, and biomass processors focused on the production of botanical oil extracts for a variety of consumer products. Delta Separations' 2019 revenue was $46M, and Gibraltar expects Delta Separations to be accretive in 2020.

07:07 EST Myriad Genetics announces presentation of new data on Prolaris - Myriad Genetics announced that it is presenting new data at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitouranary Cancer Symposium in San Francisco, California. The key finding is that Prolaris accurately predicts which men with intermediate or high-risk prostate cancer will benefit from multi-modality therapy and which can avoid unnecessary treatment. The investigators evaluated 718 men with intermediate or high-risk prostate cancer. The Prolaris score predicted metastasis and remained highly predictive after adjusting for the effect of standard clinical and pathological features. In the study, patients above the high-risk threshold with a Prolaris score of greater than 2.112, which comprised approximately 44 percent of the men in the study, saw a statistically significant benefit from multi-modality therapy leading to a reduction in risk of metastases. Patients below the high-risk threshold saw no benefit from multi-modality therapy, suggesting that such patients may be able to avoid additional morbidity associated with additional treatment.

07:06 EST Medigus signs MOU for license, sale of MUSE system in Latin America for $4.5M - Medigus announced the signing of a $4,000,000 non-binding MOU agreement with L-1 Systems Ltd. for the licensing and sale of know-how and goods relating to the Medigus Ultrasonic Surgical Endostapler system in the Latin America region. In addition, Medigus shall receive an additional payment of $500,000 in consideration for support services to be provided during the first year following the execution of the definitive agreement. Under the terms of the MOU, the parties will use commercially reasonable efforts to negotiate and execute the definitive agreement within one hundred and eighty days of the date hereof. If executed this will be the second engagement of the company regarding the commercialization and licensing of the MUSE system. The first agreement, was signed with Golden Grand for the know-how licensing and sale of goods for Medigus Ultrasonic Surgical Endostapler system in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao in consideration for which Medigus is entitled to receive $3,000,000 subject to completion of certain milestones. Medigus strategy is to engage new partners through similar MUSE system licensing and sale agreements in additional territories worldwide. The MUSE system is a single-use flexible transoral stapler that merges the latest advancements in microvisual, ultrasonic and surgical stapling. The device comes equipped with an ultrasonic sight and range finder and a micro ScoutCam CMOS camera, which enables a single physician to perform an incisionless transoral fundoplication - the procedure intended to treat the anatomical cause of gastroesophageal reflux disease.

06:50 EST Newell Brands reports Q4 gross margin 32.5% vs. 34.6% in prior year - Productivity and pricing were offset by headwinds from tariffs, inflation and mix. Normalized gross margin was 33.5% compared with 34.2% in the prior year period.

06:47 EST Ingersoll-Rand sets February 24 for proposed spin-off of Industrial segment - Ingersoll-Rand (IR) announced that it has set a record date of February 24 for the proposed spin-off of its Industrial segment. The spin-off and the previously announced merger are expected to be completed on February 29, subject to certain remaining conditions including the approval by the stockholders of Gardner Denver Holdings (GDI). Subject to the satisfaction or waiver of customary closing conditions, Ingersoll Rand will distribute all of the shares of common stock of its wholly owned subsidiary, Ingersoll-Rand U.S. HoldCo, to Ingersoll Rand shareholders as of the record date by means of a pro rata distribution. The distribution will not impact the number of shares held by shareholders in Ingersoll-Rand, which is expected to change its name to Trane Technologies and its ticker symbol to "TT" following the merger. Immediately following the spin-off, Ingersoll Rand Industrial will merge with a subsidiary of Gardner Denver. Upon completion of the merger, Ingersoll Rand shareholders are expected to collectively own approximately 50.1% of the shares of Gardner Denver common stock on a fully-diluted basis, and current Gardner Denver stockholders are expected to collectively own approximately 49.9% on a fully-diluted basis.

06:37 EST Global Cord Blood expects negative impact from coronavirus in Q4 - Global Cord Blood provided an update on the impact of the novel coronavirus, or n-CoV, on its operations. On December 31, 2019, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission first reported the appearance of 2019-nCoV in the city. Since then, nCoV has spread to other regions of China, including in GCBC's primary markets of Beijing, Guangdong and Zhejiang. As the epidemic continued, different cities in China took different measures, including implementing complete or partial lockdowns. Meanwhile, the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays were extended in order to curb the spread of the virus, resulting in insufficient work force and delayed production for many industries. These preventative measures have also impacted the company's daily operations. The efforts enacted to control nCoV have placed heavy pressure on GCBC's marketing, promotional and sales activities. Part of the company's salesforce is unable to return to work due to lockdowns implemented in various cities, and some hospitals are restricting entrance to hospital staffs and patients. These measures have had a meaningful impact on the company's marketing efforts and access to potential clients, rendering client conversion extremely challenging at this time. The company is focused on protecting the safety and well-being of its work force while also ensuring that no disruption occurs to the day-to-day services that it provides to existing clients. Therefore, the company has increased its efforts to purchase necessary medical supplies and equipment, which is expected to lead to an increase in operating costs.The GCBC management team is paying close attention to the development of the virus and continues to assess the related risks and impacts on the business and its performance. Although the company has begun to explore new marketing models and initiatives, the management team believes that the benefits will be more meaningful in the long term. It remains difficult to estimate the duration and magnitude of nCoV, but the company anticipates a negative impact to its Q4 performance ending March 31. Because of the fluidity of the situation, management will not rule out the possibility of adjusting its sales target for the current fiscal year or its strategy for the coming fiscal year. In light of the rapidly changing situation across different regions, the company will continue to derive new countermeasures to mitigate nCoV impact in any way possible.

06:31 EST RBS sees GBP 0.8B-GBP 1.0B of strategic costs during 2020 - RBS plans ongoing operating cost take out by reducing operating expenses excluding strategic costs, litigation and conduct costs and operating lease depreciation costs by GBP 250 million in 2020 compared with 2019. We expect to incur GBP 0.8-1.0 billion of strategic costs during 2020 resulting from a refocussing of NatWest Markets and the continued resizing of the Group's cost base. We anticipate that NatWest Markets exit, restructuring and disposal costs will be around GBP 0.6 billion in 2020, with around GBP 0.4 billion as disposal losses through income and GBP 0.2 billion through strategic costs.

06:11 EST Corporacion America Airport provides update on Florence airport project - Corporacion America Airports announced that its subsidiary, Toscana Aeroporti, has been notified by the Council of State that it has rejected the appeal lodged on July 25, 2019 by TA, against judgement No.793. This appeal had been filed jointly with, among others, Italy's Ministry of Environment and Protection of the Land and Sea, Italy's Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, Italian Civil Aviation Authority and Municipality of Florence, Region of Tuscany. On May 27, 2019, the Regional Administrative Court of Tuscany, through judgment Nro.793, had overturned the favorable Environmental Impact Assessment decree issued on December 28, 2017, for the project outlined in 2014-2029 Master Plan for Florence Airport. "While fully respecting today's judgment, the company is firmly convinced of the need for the Florence airport to construct a new runway and a new terminal to remedy the airport's evident critical infrastructure concerns and will therefore verify the conditions and actions to be taken, together with the competent entities - and first and foremost the Italian Civil Aviation Authority - to move ahead with the project. Importantly, the work done by TA in connection with the Environmental Impact Assessment for the Florence Airport Master Pan was carried out according to the opinions and instructions provided by the competent ministries and the competent Environmental Compatibility Assessment Commission, by virtue of the positive opinions obtained from the Italian Environmental Compatibility Assessment Commission, Italy's Ministry of Environment and Protection of the Land and Sea, Italy's Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Italy's Ministry for Infrastructure and Transport."

05:18 EST Scientific Games, William Hill Extend UK, Europe Sports and Casino Partnership - Scientific Games and William Hill have agreed to extend their partnership for an additional four years through 2024. Scientific Games will continue to provide its industry-leading OpenSports solutions to William Hill in the U.K. and Europe, building on a long-standing relationship since 2007. This agreement expands on Scientific Games' long history with William Hill and ensures that the two industry leaders will continue to offer its next level, sophisticated sportsbook and iGaming solutions to enhance the player experience. Under the terms of the new agreement, William Hill will utilise Scientific Games' OpenSports solution on a modular basis. This will enable William Hill to operate with a greater degree of speed and flexibility, including the capability to deploy proprietary products across multiple jurisdictions in Europe.