Stockwinners Market Radar for May 04, 2021 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

19:28 EDT Anaplan CFO sells 35K shares of common stock - In a regulatory filing, Anaplan disclosed that its CFO David Morton sold 35K shares of common stock on April 30th in a total transaction size of $2.1M, reducing his stake by about 80%.

18:45 EDT Skillz appoints Ian Lee as CFO - Skillz (SKLZ) announced that veteran finance and investor relations executive Ian Lee has been hired as the company's CFO. Lee will join the company on June 21 from Airbnb (ABNB), where he served as Head of Investor Relations and was on the core deal team for the company's successful 2020 IPO. As CFO, Lee will report directly to Paradise and oversee the company's finance functions, including accounting, investor relations, FP&A, tax, corporate development, and strategy. Formerly Head of Investor Relations of Airbnb, Lee was a key member of the company's IPO preparation team, culminating in Airbnb's successful $4B offering in December 2020 to its current $100B market cap. He has also led investor relations as a senior finance executive at other world-class technology firms, including Atlassian and Trulia, both of which he helped take public; as well as holding IR leadership roles at Hewlett-Packard and Omnicom Group.

18:22 EDT Goodyear Tire CEO: We are always focused on the balance sheet - In an interview on CNBC's Mad Money, Rich Kramer said Goodyear's goal is to get back to an investment grade credit rating. He noted the company has never had a problem getting rubber.

18:01 EDT Perspecta awarded position on $700M BPA from DHS - Perspecta announced that it has been awarded a position on a five-year, Multiple Award Blanket Purchase Agreement with an aggregate value of $700M from the Department of Homeland Security to provide national security investigations.

17:48 EDT Exagen, Allegheny Health Network enter exclusive license agreement - Exagen, Allegheny Health Network, or AHN, Research Institute and the AHN Autoimmunity Institute jointly announced the execution of a research collaboration agreement and an exclusive license agreement. The collaboration will focus on the development of novel patented biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis and monitoring of autoimmune diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus, or SLE. Under the terms of the research collaboration and license agreement, Exagen will acquire a worldwide exclusive license to four distinct families of inventions from the laboratory of Joseph Ahearn and Susan Manzi in addition to access to the Autoimmunity Institute's clinical biobank. The parties will mutually invest in the collaborative development of the patents, leading to the development and commercialization of a suite of novel biomarker assays that were developed using a specialized technology known as CB-CAPs or 'Cell-Bound Complement Activation Products.'

17:43 EDT Wrap Technologies announces LAPD Commissioners Board extends BolaWrap program - Wrap Technologies reported that the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners has approved a one-year extension of the BolaWrap pilot program, an item on the agenda for the Commission's May 4 special meeting, which took place earlier.

17:37 EDT Pool Corp. raises dividend to 58c per share, share repurchase program by $450M - Pool Corp. announced that its board of directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of 80c per share, a 38% increase over the previous quarterly dividend amount of 58c per share. The dividend is payable on May 28 to stockholders of record on May 17. As of May 3, there were 40,131,408 shares of common stock outstanding. The company also announced that the board has authorized an additional $450M under its existing share repurchase program for the purchase of the company's common stock in the open market at prevailing market prices. This amount adds to the $107.4M remaining under its existing authorization as of May 4, bringing its total authorization available to $557.4M.

17:34 EDT Match Group jumps 6% to $147.00 after Q1 results, Q2 guidance top estimates

17:29 EDT Werewolf Therapeutics directors buy 712.5K shares of common stock - In a regulatory filing, Werewolf Therapeutics disclosed that director Alon Lazarus bought 400K shares and director Sakae Asanuma bought 312.5K shares of common stock in a total transaction size of $11.4M.

17:18 EDT Caesars jumps 5% to $100.02 after Q1 results

17:07 EDT Tarsus announces FDA acceptance of IND for TP-05 for Lyme disease - Tarsus Pharmaceuticals announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted the Company's Investigational New Drug application for TP-05, an oral, non-vaccine therapeutic for the prevention of Lyme disease. With this IND acceptance, Tarsus will initiate a Phase 1 single ascending dose and multiple ascending dose, study to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of TP-05 in healthy volunteers. Study initiation is anticipated in July. "We are pleased that the FDA has accepted the IND for TP-05, which is an important milestone in our pipeline development. Currently, there are no approved pharmacological prophylactic options for tick kill and preventing transmission of Lyme disease, which has the potential to cause severe, often debilitating symptoms with permanent and irreversible damage," said Bobak Azamian, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Tarsus. "There is a significant unmet need for a therapeutic to quickly and reliably prevent this disease that can lead to poor outcomes for so many people. We look forward to initiating our clinical development program for TP-05 and advancing the path for this much-needed therapeutic for Lyme disease prevention."Lyme disease is transmitted to humans after the bite of a blacklegged tick infected with the Borrelia bacteria. It is the most common vector-borne disease in the United States and can result in inflammation, nerve, joint and muscle pain and swelling, numbness, shortness of breath and - in severe cases - neurological complications such as facial palsy, vision issues, and meningitis symptoms, including severe headaches and neck stiffness. Lyme disease impacts more than 300,000 people in the U.S. each year and over 30 million are at high or moderate risk for contracting the disease.

17:07 EDT Caesars says weekends in Las Vegas sold out for foreseeable future - Says remain excited about bookings for the second half. Says 2022 revenue on the books is trending up about 50%. Comments taken from Q1 earnings conference call.

17:02 EDT Host Hotels buys Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World for $610M - Host Hotels & Resorts, announced that it has acquired the fee simple interest in the 444-room Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort for approximately $610 million in cash.Located within Walt Disney World Resort, one of the most visited destination resorts in the world, the hotel sits on 289 acres, provides complimentary transport to four Walt Disney World Resort theme parks, and is the only AAA Five Diamond-rated hotel in Central Florida. James F. Risoleo, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort is a truly iconic and irreplaceable property that is well-positioned to benefit from significant demand as the pandemic subsides and the 18-month celebration of Walt Disney World's 50th anniversary begins in October. A strong market leader with a 2019 RevPAR Index over 215, this resort is now Host Hotels' highest-ranked property based on 2019 RevPAR and Total RevPAR, and fifth highest based on EBITDA per key." Risoleo continued, "Our ability to execute on this off-market acquisition underscores the benefits of our prudent and disciplined capital allocation approach that emphasized maximizing balance sheet capacity and liquidity toward the end of the cycle. Our strong financial foundation of $2.5 billion in total available liquidity at year-2020, including FF&E reserves, has enabled us to invest in high-quality properties that we expect to elevate our EBITDA growth profile and create long-term value for our shareholders and other stakeholders."

17:00 EDT KAR Auction says previous guidance 'remains unchanged' - KAR stated, "The company has been subject to numerous COVID-19-related orders and directives that have caused us to modify our business practices. All ADESA auction locations in the U.S. and Canada are offering vehicles for sale via ADESA Simulcast, DealerBlock and Simulcast+. Auction locations have resumed offering ancillary and related services, where possible and as permitted by government directives. However, given the evolving health, economic, social and governmental environments, the continuing impact that COVID-19 could have on our business remains uncertain. The broader implications for our business and results of operations remain uncertain and will depend on many factors outside our control, including, without limitation, the timing, extent, trajectory and duration of the pandemic, the imposition of protective public safety measures, the timing and number of people receiving vaccinations and effectiveness, and the timing to which normal economic and operating conditions resumes. Even after the COVID-19 outbreak has subsided, we may continue to experience materially adverse impacts to our business. The company's previously stated guidance remains unchanged."

16:53 EDT Durect in talks with 'multiple' potential partners for Posimir - Durect said it is in discussions with "multiple" potential licensees of commercialization rights to Posimir, for which the company currently holds worldwide rights. "Our goal is to put a commercial license in place in time for the licensee to launch the product in Q4 2021," Durect notes in its earnings release. In February, Posimir was granted FDA approval in adults for administration into the subacromial space under direct arthroscopic visualization to produce post-surgical analgesia for up to 72 hours following arthroscopic subacromial decompression.

16:50 EDT Stryker corporate controller sells over 5,000 common shares - In a regulatory filing, Stryker corporate controller William Berry, Jr. disclosed the sale of 5,011 common shares of the company on April 30 at a price of $261.2764 per share.

16:46 EDT Ecolab CTO sells over 6,000 common shares - In a regulatory filing, Ecolab chief technical officer Barry Berger disclosed the sale of 6,460 common shares of the company on May 3 at a price of $227.453 per share.

16:44 EDT Esco Technologies sees FY21 EBITDA close with 2019, pre-COVID level - Management's current expectations for 2021 show growth in Sales, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EPS, and cash flow from operating activities compared to 2020, with Adjusted EBITDA reasonably consistent with 2019, pre-COVID.

16:39 EDT Activision Blizzard: Pay-per-performance aligned with shareholders

16:38 EDT Dolby announces retirement of CFO Lewis Chew - Dolby Laboratories announced that after more than a 30 year career of financial leadership, Lewis Chew, Executive Vice President and CFO has decided to retire later this year and focus more time on his family. The company is initiating a global search to identify its next CFO. During this period, Lewis will continue in his role to support the transition.

16:37 EDT Upwork announces the work marketplace - Upwork announced a new industry category - the work marketplace - which enables freelancing to reach its full potential by giving freelancers and companies multiple ways to Upwork. "While others have relegated freelancing to 'gig' jobs with weak pay, poor quality work, and a general culture of impermanence, we have always envisioned a better way to work with freelancers at the heart of every business, doing critical work that goes against the old freelancer stereotype and challenges the traditional notions of what makes a workforce and how work gets done," said Upwork President and CEO Hayden Brown. "It's a profound moment when you realize there is a freelancer somewhere in the world who can make whatever you're dreaming up a reality; it fundamentally changes how you work and makes the impossible possible," said Kevin Scott, head of technology, PGA of America. "My epiphany came when I was trying to find someone with a rare combination of skills that were seemingly impossible to find. I looked on Upwork and was able to find the exact person we were looking for. You hear a lot about how statistically the best people in the world don't work for your organization - and it never rang true to me until we met that person. We've been finding great people on Upwork ever since, which has helped make our team stronger."

16:36 EDT Ducommun CEO says 2021 'looks promising for the aerospace industry' - CEO Stephen Oswald said, "Looking ahead, we are optimistic that increasing build rates in the second half of 2021 and 2022 will have a positive impact on key aircraft platforms across our customers such as Boeing, Airbus and Gulfstream. We believe pent-up demand in air travel and vaccination progress will ultimately drive increased shipments across a host of programs where Ducommun has a strong market position. While still early, 2021 looks promising for the aerospace industry, and Ducommun is uniquely positioned to benefit as the economy continues to strengthen."

16:35 EDT Masonite sees 'strong' FY margin growth - The company said: "Based on the continued strength of our residential end markets, favorable foreign exchange, and actions we are taking to offset inflation, we have raised our outlook accordingly. While inflation presents a near term challenge, we continue to expect strong full year margin growth and we believe 2021 will be an exceptional year overall for Masonite's growth and our commitment of delivering Doors That Do More."

16:33 EDT HollyFrontier to acquire Puget Sound Refinery for $350M - HollyFrontier (HFC) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Puget Sound Refinery, the on-site cogeneration facility and related logistics assets, from Equilon Enterprises LLC d/b/a Shell Oil Products US (RDS.A) for a purchase price of $350 million, plus hydrocarbon inventory to be valued at closing with an estimated current value in the range of $150-180 million. HollyFrontier expects to fund the acquisition with a one-year suspension of its regular quarterly dividend and cash on hand and expects the transaction to be immediately accretive to HollyFrontier's earnings per share and free cash flow. HollyFrontier expects the transaction to close in the fourth quarter 2021, subject to regulatory clearance and other customary closing conditions. The HollyFrontier Board of Directors approved the one-year suspension of the regular quarterly dividend effective with the dividend to be declared for the first quarter of 2021 and is expected to resume the dividend after such time. Mike Jennings, President and CEO of HollyFrontier commented, "We are excited to announce the acquisition of the Puget Sound Refinery, an asset with a strong record of financial and operational performance. We believe that the Puget Sound Refinery will complement our existing refining business, with sales into premium product markets and advantaged access to Canadian crude. We are committed to the continued safe and environmentally responsible operations of the facility and welcome Puget Sound's highly skilled workforce to the HollyFrontier family."

16:32 EDT Skillz says 2020 financial statements should no longer be relied upon - Skillz disclosed that on April 29, the Audit Committee of its board concluded that the company's consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020 "should no longer be relied upon due to changes required to reclassify the Warrants as liabilities and record non-cash fair value adjustments into earnings to align with the guidance set forth in the Statement." The company is preparing an amendment to its annual report, reflecting this reclassification of the warrants as liabilities and recognition of related non-cash fair value adjustments into earnings. "As soon as practicable following the filing of this Current Report on Form 8-K, the Company will file the Amended Form 10-K, which will include restated consolidated financial statements that reflect the revised accounting and valuation of the Warrants," it said.

16:30 EDT Pioneer Natural sees FY21 oil production 351-366 MBOPD - The Company expects its 2021 drilling, completions and facilities capital budget to range between $2.95 billion to $3.25 billion, inclusive of an additional $530 million to $570 million related to the DoublePoint acquisition. An additional $100 million and $50 million is budgeted for integration expenses related to the acquisition of Parsley and DoublePoint, respectively, resulting in a total 2021 capital budget3 range of $3.1 billion to $3.4 billion. The Company expects its capital program to be fully funded from forecasted 2021 cash flow5 of approximately $5.9 billion. During 2021, the Company plans to operate an average of 22 to 24 horizontal drilling rigs in the Permian Basin, including a one-rig average program in the Delaware Basin and a three-rig average program in the southern Midland Basin joint venture area. Pioneer plans to reduce the operated rigs on DoublePoint acreage from 7 rigs in May to 5 rigs by the end of the year, or by approximately 30%. The 2021 capital program is expected to place 470 to 510 wells on production, which includes the addition of approximately 90 wells on the acreage acquired in the DoublePoint transaction. Pioneer expects 2021 oil production of 351 to 366 MBOPD and total production of 605 to 631 MBOEPD, which includes current production from DoublePoint of approximately 92 MBOEPD and approximately 100 MBOEPD forecasted during the second half of 2021.

16:27 EDT Inogen not providing FY21 guidance, sees increased operating expense - The company states: "Because of the uncertainties related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company is still unable to provide guidance for the full year 2021. Given the uncertain scope and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company is unable to estimate the related impact on its financial results, including revenue, net income or loss, and Adjusted EBITDA estimates for such period. Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Company believes it is prudent to continue to make investments in clinical research, research and development, and building the necessary infrastructure to support its strategy to focus on rentals at the onset-of-care. Given such investment initiatives, which the Company believes will support future revenue growth and predictability as well as margin expansion, the Company expects increased operating expense for the year in 2021. In addition, while the Company incurred minimal expenses related to bonus and performance-based stock-based compensation in 2020, it expects such costs to increase in 2021 along with certain expenses related to the previously announced recent officer transitions. Regarding the second quarter of 2021, the Company expects all sales channels to increase versus the comparative period in the prior year, with the largest percentage growth expected in its rental channel. The Company expects to continue to see the largest COVID-19 related impact on its international business-to-business sales channel primarily due to the continued reduced operational capacity of the respiratory assessment centers and slower vaccine rollouts than the United States."

16:26 EDT Prescience withdraws its slate of nominees to MiMedx's board - Prescience Point Capital Management, an investment firm that is the beneficial owner of approximately 8.1% of the outstanding shares of MiMedx Group, announced that it has withdrawn its slate of nominees for election to the Board of Directors at the Annual Meeting of Shareholders, scheduled to be held on May 27. Prescience Point believes that its activism and research efforts have raised awareness of the need for positive change and led to significant enhancements in corporate governance, improved investor relations and a greater focus on enhancing shareholder value at MiMedx, making it unnecessary to pursue further actions to reconstitute the Board at the present time. Prescience Point is encouraged that the Company has adopted Prescience Point's proposed governance changes.

16:19 EDT Bluegreen Vacations Holding sees merger with Bluegreen Vacations effected May 5 - Bluegreen Vacations Holding (BVH) announced that the company filed a Current Report on Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 3, 2021, in which BVH disclosed that it expects to effect the merger with Bluegreen Vacations Corporation (BXG) on May 5, 2021. As previously disclosed, BVH, which currently beneficially owns approximately 93% of the outstanding common stock of Bluegreen, plans to acquire all of the approximately 7% of Bluegreen's outstanding common stock not already owned by BVH, pursuant to a statutory, short-form merger under Florida law. In connection with the merger, each share of Bluegreen's common stock that is outstanding at the effective time of the merger, other than shares beneficially owned by BVH, will be converted into the right to receive 0.51 shares of BVH's Class A Common Stock, with any fractional share being rounded up to the nearest whole share.

16:17 EDT Allegiant Travel sees Q2 system ASMs year over two-year 2.0%-6-0% - Sees Q2 scheduled service revenue - year over two-year change, excluding fixed fee and other revenue down 6%-10%; and fuel cost per gallon $1.99.

16:16 EDT Ultragenyx backs FY21 Crysvita revenue $180M-$190M - The company reaffirms the 2021 guidance range for Crysvita that was provided at the beginning of the year. This range is $180M to $190M and includes the North American profit share region and the other regions where product sales are recognized.

16:16 EDT Match Group sees Q2 adjusted EBITDA $255M-$260M

16:13 EDT Denny's can't reasonably provide business outlook for FY21 at this time - Given the dynamic and evolving impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company's operations and uncertainty about the timing and extent of an anticipated recovery, the Company cannot reasonably provide a business outlook for the fiscal year ending December 29, 2021 at this time.

16:12 EDT Lyft reports Q1 active riders 13.494M, down 36.4% - Reports Q1 revenue per active rider $45.13, up 0.2%.

16:07 EDT Esperion pro-forma cash balance as of March 31 was $297.9M - Esperion's pro-forma cash balance as of March 31 was $297.9M as a result of the $30M upfront payment from Daiichi Sankyo and the $50M payment from Oberland Capital to be received in May 2021. Research and development expenses for the full year 2021 are expected to be $120 million to $130M. Selling, general and administrative expenses for the full year 2021 are expected to be $200M to $210M ESPERION continues to expect full-year 2021 operating expenses to be approximately $320M to $340M, inclusive of $30M of non-cash, stock-based compensation.

16:06 EDT Magnolia Oil & Gas sees Q2 production about 66 MBoe/d - "Inclusive of the additional rig for the back half of the year, we expect Magnolia's capital spending for drilling and completing wells to be somewhat less than $300 million this year," the company said. "Our D&C capital is expected to increase during the second quarter and during the second half of the year, which coincides with the added activity. Magnolia's total production for 2021 is currently expected to grow 6 to 9 percent compared to full-year 2020 levels. Looking at the second quarter of 2021, total production is forecast to be about 66 Mboe/d, a 6 percent increase from first quarter production levels. Oil price differentials are anticipated to be approximately a $3 per barrel discount to Magellan East Houston ("MEH") during the second quarter. The fully diluted share count for the second quarter of 2021 is expected to be approximately 245 million shares which is 4 percent lower than fourth quarter 2020 levels."

16:04 EDT Alarm.com sees Q2 SaaS/license revenue $108.9M-$109.1M

16:03 EDT Cerus raises FY21 product revenue guidance to $110M-$114M from $106M-$110M

16:00 EDT Lattice Semiconductor reports Q1 EPS 22c, consensus 19c - Reports Q1 revenue $115.7M, consensus $110.14M. Jim Anderson, president and CEO, said, "We grew revenue 19% in Q1 year-over-year, along with a 52% expansion in non-GAAP net income year-over-year. Revenue from our new Lattice Nexus(TM) platform increased sequentially in Q1 2021, and we began production of our second Nexus device, Certus(TM)-NX. Our recent addition to the S&P MidCap 400 Index recognizes our strong financial results, innovation and momentum. We are excited to be entering a new growth phase for the Company and look forward to providing a full business update at our Investor Day on May 11."

15:39 EDT J.B. Hunt CCO Simpson sells 3,000 common shares - In a regulatory filing, J.B. Hunt CCO Shelley Simpson disclosed the sale of 3,000 common shares of the company on May 4 at a price of $174.50 per share.

15:16 EDT Stabilis Energy reports MOU with Port of Corpus Christi Authority - The Port of Corpus Christi Authority and Stabilis Solutions have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU, to facilitate the use of LNG as a marine fuel at the Port of Corpus Christi. According to the MOU, the Port of Corpus Christi will provide suitable access to dock space for shore-to-ship fueling operations while Stabilis will deploy its existing fleet of mobile cryogenic assets, including LNG transportation and distribution equipment, from its LNG production plant in South Texas to support LNG fueling operations. "We are excited to partner with the Port of Corpus Christi on this opportunity. The use of LNG as a marine fuel is critical for marine operators to reduce their emissions profile, and Stabilis is uniquely positioned to provide this service to customers along the Gulf Coast and beyond," said Jim Reddinger, President and CEO of Stabilis Solutions.

14:49 EDT Amazon's AWS announces general availability of Amazon DevOps Guru - Amazon Web Services, AWS, an Amazon announced the general availability of Amazon DevOps Guru, a fully managed operations service that uses machine learning to make it easier for developers to improve application availability by automatically detecting operational issues and recommending specific actions for remediation. Informed by years of Amazon.com and AWS operational excellence, Amazon DevOps Guru applies machine learning to automatically analyze data like application metrics, logs, events, and traces for behaviors that deviate from normal operating patterns. When Amazon DevOps Guru identifies anomalous application behavior that could cause potential outages or service disruptions, it alerts developers with issue details to help them quickly understand the potential impact and likely causes of the issue, with specific recommendations for remediation. Developers can use remediation suggestions from Amazon DevOps Guru to reduce time to resolution when issues arise and improve application availability-all with no manual setup or machine learning expertise required. There are no upfront costs or commitments with Amazon DevOps Guru, and customers pay only for the data Amazon DevOps Guru analyzes. To get started with Amazon DevOps Guru, visit: aws.amazon.com/devops-guru As more organizations move to cloud-based application deployment and microservice architectures to scale their businesses, applications have become increasingly distributed, and developers need more automated practices to maintain application availability and reduce the time and effort spent detecting, debugging, and resolving operational issues. Application downtime events caused by faulty code or config changes, unbalanced container clusters, or resource exhaustion (e.g. CPU, memory, disk, etc.) inevitably lead to bad customer experiences and lost revenue. Companies invest a considerable amount of developer resources, time, and money to deploy multiple monitoring tools, often managed separately, and then have to develop and maintain custom alerts for common issues like spikes in load balancer errors or drops in application request rates. Setting thresholds to identify and alert when application resources are behaving abnormally is difficult to get right, involves manual setup, and requires thresholds that must be continually updated as application usage changes . If a threshold is set too high, developers don't see alarms until operational performance is severely impacted. When a threshold is set too low, developers get too many false positives, which they are prone to ignore. Even when developers get alerted to a potential operational issue, the process of identifying the root cause can still prove difficult. Using existing tools, developers often have difficulty triangulating the root cause of an operational issue from graphs and alarms, and even when they are able to find the root cause, they are often left without the right information to fix it. Each troubleshooting attempt is a cold start where teams must spend hours or days identifying problems, and this leads to time consuming, tedious work that slows down the time to resolve an operational failure and can prolong application disruptions. Amazon DevOps Guru's machine learning models leverage over 20 years of operational expertise in building, scaling, and maintaining highly available applications for Amazon.com

14:23 EDT Union Pacific sees 55% full-year operating ratio in 2022 - During today's investor day, Union Pacific CEO Lance Fritz stated that 2022 is the year the company expects to reach its "long stated" goal of a 55% full-year operating ratio.

13:57 EDT WNBA to broadcast certain games on Twitter, Oculus, Paramount+ - The WNBA's 25th season, which will include a 32-game schedule for each team, will feature 100 national telecasts across ABC (DIS), ESPN, ESPN2, CBS Television Network (VIAC), CBS Sports Network and NBA TV. Games are also set to be streamed on Twitter (TWTR), Facebook Watch (FB), and Oculus from Facebook. Google (GOOGL), recently announced as a premier supporter of the league as a WNBA Changemaker, as well as an Official Technology Partner and the WNBA's Official Trends and Fan Insights Partner, will be the presenting partner of the WNBA on ESPN. In addition, as part of the commitment of CBS Sports to the WNBA, the network and the league, which first partnered in 2019, have announced a multi-year extension of their relationship through which CBS Sports will present WNBA regular season games, including 40 contests this season, featuring up to three games on the CBS Television Network that will also stream live on Paramount+. NBA TV, now in its 19th consecutive year of carrying WNBA games, will feature 35 games during the 2021 season. Reference Link

12:01 EDT Danimer Scientific falls -12.2% - Danimer Scientific is down -12.2%, or -$2.88 to $20.75.

12:00 EDT Maxar Technologies falls -26.3% - Maxar Technologies is down -26.3%, or -$10.33 to $28.90.

12:00 EDT Arconic rises 16.2% - Arconic is up 16.2%, or $4.75 to $34.11.

11:32 EDT Dick's Sporting announces four store openings, including new off-price concept - Dick's Sporting Goods announced it will "expand its nationwide footprint" with the grand opening of one Dick's Sporting Goods location, one Warehouse Sale location and two locations of a new off-price store concept - "Going, Going, Gone!" - in May. "The new Going, Going, Gone! locations will offer surprising deals on unique finds in footwear and apparel from the brands customers have enjoyed shopping for at Dick's Sporting Goods for years. Deep discounts will be available at these locations throughout the year," the company stated.

11:19 EDT Teva announces U.S. launch of generic erythromycin tablets USP - Teva Pharmaceuticals, a U.S. affiliate of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, announced the launch of its 250 mg and 500 mg strength generic erythromycin tablets - a therapeutic equivalent for the reference listed drug Erythromycin Tablets from Arbor Pharmaceuticals. "With nearly 550 generic medicines available, Teva has the largest portfolio of FDA-approved generic products on the market and holds the leading position in first-to-file opportunities, with approximately 100 pending first-to-files in the U.S.," Teva stated.

11:10 EDT Dominion's Surry Power Station's licenses renewed for additional 20 years - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved Dominion Energy's application to renew Surry Power Station's operating licenses for an additional 20-years. The power station operates two nuclear units in Surry County, VA, capable of producing clean electricity for 419,000 homes. Dominion Energy filed a similar application to renew the licenses of the two North Anna Power Station units in Louisa County, Va., in 2020. The NRC is currently reviewing that application.

11:00 EDT Domtar trading resumes

10:42 EDT Domtar acknowledges talks with Paper Excellence about potential transaction - Domtar announced that it has been made aware of press speculation regarding discussions between the corporation and Paper Excellence with respect to a possible business combination or acquisition. "In response to that speculation, Domtar acknowledges that its management has been in discussions with Paper Excellence about such a potential transaction. However, these discussions may or may not result in an agreement. Domtar does not intend to make further comment unless or until there is a transaction to announce," the company stated in a press release following a report last night from Bloomberg.

10:37 EDT Reed's announces expanded beverage distribution with CVS Pharmacy - Reed's (REED) announces further distribution with CVS Pharmacy (CVS) as the company's varieties expand into over 1,000 stores. The expansion builds on the existing availability of Reed's Extra and Zero Sugar Extra Ginger Beer. Options now include Reed's Really Real Ginger Ale Original and Zero Sugar as well as Certified Ketogenic sodas from Virgil's in Zero Sugar flavors like Root Beer, Cream Soda and Cola.

10:27 EDT Landsea Homes closes acquisition of Vintage Estate Homes for 54.6M in cash - Landsea Homes announced it closed the purchase of Vintage Estate Homes, a Florida-based homebuilder with communities in Florida and Texas, for $54.6M in cash. With the closing of this transaction, Vintage Estate Homes employees are becoming part of the Landsea Homes team. Builder Advisor Group represented Vintage Estate Homes as its broker in this transaction.

10:22 EDT ChemoCentryx slides after FDA staff cite 'uncertainties' about Avacopan study - Shares of ChemoCentryx are down 44% to $27.39 in morning trading after the FDA posted to its site the briefing documents for the May 6 meeting of the Arthritis Advisory Committee Meeting to discuss new drug application 214487, for avacopan oral capsules, submitted by ChemoCentryx for the treatment of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis. In the documents, FDA staff stated in part: "AAV is a rare and serious disease associated with high morbidity and mortality. It is also a disease with high unmet need for new therapies. Given these considerations, in principle, a single adequate and well-controlled study may be considered to establish substantial evidence of efficacy. However, in CL010_168, there are substantial uncertainties around the phase 3 study design and results, raising questions about the adequacy of this single trial to inform the benefit-risk assessment... As discussed in the FDA Guidance for Industry Non-Inferiority Clinical Trials to Establish Effectiveness, noninferiority designs are credible and appropriate only in situations in which the active control has shown a consistent effect in prior superiority trials conducted in a patient population similar to the population in the clinical investigation being planned. The utility of a non-inferiority comparison is dependent on knowing that the active control had its expected effect in the non-inferiority study. However, the Applicant has not provided adequate data or information that would isolate the effect of prednisone to inform the margin of the non-inferiority comparison in this study... As a result, though statistical significance was observed for both noninferiority and superiority at Week 52 for the primary endpoint, it is not clear if the comparisons between the avacopan and prednisone arm beyond Week 26 are meaningful. Superiority of the avacopan arm over the prednisone arm was not achieved for remission at Week 26. Beyond the assessment of remission in the primary endpoint, the secondary endpoints provide limited information to support a treatment benefit of avacopan." Reference Link

10:19 EDT Sysco sees 'flattish' free cash flow for Q4

10:16 EDT ChemoCentryx down 37% to $30.84 after FDA posts documents for Avacopan meeting

10:14 EDT ProQR Therapeutics to receive up to $115M in agreement with Yarrow Biotechnology - RTW Investments and ProQR Therapeutics earlier announced that Yarrow Biotechnology, a company newly created by RTW, has in-licensed exclusive rights to ProQR's antisense oligonucleotide technology to develop and commercialize potential therapies for an undisclosed non-ophthalmic target. Under the terms of the agreement, ProQR is eligible to receive up to $115M of upfront and milestone payments, plus single digit percentage royalties on the net sales of any resulting products during the royalty term. ProQR will also have the right to receive an undisclosed percentage of equity in the form of shares of common stock of Yarrow. ProQR will be responsible for certain preclinical activities with reimbursement for the research costs by Yarrow, while Yarrow will be responsible for continuing development of the program and commercialization activities. Gerard Platenburg, Chief Innovation Officer at ProQR, will join Yarrow's board of directors.

10:12 EDT Sysco expects to hire over 6,000 associates in 2H

10:09 EDT ChemoCentryx trading halted, volatility trading pause

10:06 EDT Sysco: Pace of recovery is accelerating - Says now serving more independent customers compared to pre-COVID. Says well positioned to take market share as the business returns to the Food-Away-From-Home sector. Comments taken from Q3 earnings conference call.

10:01 EDT Enterprise Financial announces 2M share repurchase program - Enterprise Financial Services previously disclosed on Form 10-Q filed with the U.S. SEC on April 30 that the company's Board of Directors approved a new share repurchase program, which replaces and supersedes the prior share repurchase program announced on May 4, 2015. Pursuant to the new share repurchase program, the company will be authorized to repurchase up to 2M shares of its common stock from time to time in the open market or through privately negotiated transactions.

09:34 EDT Genprex initiates site recruitment for Acclaim-2 clinical trial - Genprex (GNPX) announces it has commenced clinical trial site recruitment for its upcoming Acclaim-2 clinical trial for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer, or NSCLC. Acclaim-2 is an open-label, multi-center Phase 1/2 clinical trial that combines Genprex's lead drug candidate, REQORSA immunogene therapy, with Merck's (MRK) Keytruda in patients with late-stage NSCLC who are low expressors of the protein programmed death-ligand 1. The company plans to conduct the Acclaim-2 clinical trial in approximately 15 sites with about 150 patients in an adaptive Phase 1/2 design. The final protocol is subject to change based on input from investigators, Genprex noted.

09:29 EDT Domtar trading halted, news pending

09:28 EDT Twitter to acquire subscription ad-blocking service Scroll - Twitter plans to acquire the subscription service Scroll, Mike Park, Twitter's vice president for product, said in a blog post announcing the deal. Park said: "People come to Twitter every day to discover and read about what's happening. Publishers, journalists, and writers drive this conversation, keeping the world informed and igniting discussions around the news, issues, and topics we collectively care about. If Twitter is where so much of this conversation lives, it should be easier and simpler to read the content that drives it." Park added: "We plan to include Scroll as part of an upcoming subscription offering we're currently exploring. As a Twitter subscriber, picture getting access to premium features where you can easily read articles from your favorite news outlet or a writer's newsletter from Revue, with a portion of your subscription going to the publishers and writers creating the content." Reference Link

09:23 EDT BAE Systems gets $76M contract for additional vertical launch system cannisters - BAE Systems has been awarded a $76M contract modification to produce additional Vertical Launch System canisters for the U.S. Navy. The canisters play a critical role for storing, transporting, and firing a range of offensive and defensive missiles from the deck of the Navy's guided-missile cruisers and destroyers. "The VLS is a highly-survivable and versatile system and our canisters play a key role in equipping the Navy with this world-class capability," said Brent Butcher, vice president of the Weapon Systems product line at BAE Systems. "BAE Systems has partnered with the Navy and its allies for more than 30 years to provide them with the most flexible and reliable weapon systems to execute a variety of missions effectively, and we look forward to continuing that commitment with this VLS technology." Under the contract now totaling $306 million, BAE Systems will produce canisters for the Mk 13, Mk 14, Mk 25, Mk 29 and other hardware for the Navy. The contract will also support purchases from the governments of Australia, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, Spain, and Turkey under a Foreign Military Sales program.

09:23 EDT MiMedx urges shareholders to vote for its directors at company's annual meeting - MiMedx urged shareholders to consider "several key questions about Prescience Point's interests, motivations and actions regarding the disruptive proxy fight it is waging to gain undue influence over the MiMedx board of directors. MiMedx believes shareholders deserve to have the facts before voting their shares at the company's 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders," the company said. MiMedx argued, "publicly reported trading activity shows that Prescience Point has generated short-term trading profits driven by its promotional, self-publication, of a 'report' with lofty share price targets." The company then urged shareholders to "vote the WHITE proxy card for MiMedx's four highly qualified directors standing for election - Dr. M. Kathleen Behrens, Todd Newton, Timothy Wright, and Dr. Phyllis Gardner."

09:21 EDT 22nd Century, KeyGene extend, expand plant research partnership - 22nd Century Group announced that it has reached an agreement to extend and expand its plant research partnership agreement with KeyGene. The new partnership agreement extends the length of the exclusive worldwide collaboration 22nd Century has with KeyGene to develop new, disruptive hemp/cannabis plants and intellectual property for the life science, medicinal, and pharmaceutical end-use markets. It also expands the partnership to include research and development activity for non-combustible, alternative tobacco plant applications, such as protein production, and 22nd Century's third plant franchise, plus it establishes a new governance structure and working model to accelerate development timelines across all three crop/trait programs.

09:19 EDT Ford reports April U.S. sales up 64.8% to 197,813 vehicles - "Ford's retail sales not only increased 57% over year ago, but also exceeded April 2019 by 24%. Strong customer reaction to our newest products, despite tight inventory, confirms our strategy of investing in electrified vehicles, along with trucks and SUVs. In April, we not only beat pre-coronavirus sales numbers from April 2019, but we saw record electrified vehicle sales for the month, along with record April Ford and Lincoln SUV sales. Trucks had their best retail performance since 2008," said Andrew Frick, vice president, Ford Sales U.S. and Canada. Mustang Mach-E sales totaled 1,951, F-150 PowerBoost sales totaled 3,365, while Escape electrified sales totaled 3,695 in April. Electrified vehicle sales totaled 11,172 - up 262%.

09:18 EDT Elbit Systems and Textron team to develop an Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle - As the United States Marine Corps, or USMC, Systems Command works toward the next phase of replacing the legacy Light Armored Vehicle with a modern, robust Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle, or ARV, Elbit Systems of America (ESLT) has teamed with Textron Systems (TXT) to produce a solution that provides Marines with transformational capabilities, including enhanced situational understanding technologies. The USMC has identified characteristics their new ARV must include as the core-manned next-generation system for light armored reconnaissance battalions. In response, Textron Systems has partnered with Elbit Systems of America and others to create the Cottonmouth prototype ARV. The successful ARV prototype will ultimately replace the USMC's Light Armored Vehicle that's been in use since the 1980s.

09:09 EDT Woodward says near-term outlook remains clouded by COVID - In its Outlook section accompanying yesterday's earnings, the company stated: "The ongoing rollout of vaccines across many countries is driving optimism for economic recovery, but the enduring turbulence caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, including significantly reduced global passenger travel and new viral variants, continues to cloud near-term forecasts. While we believe many of our markets will improve for the remainder of this year and into 2022, we will continue to withhold guidance as we navigate the uncertain economic landscape."

09:07 EDT NI acquires monoDrive to accelerate autonomous vehicle development - NI announced it has acquired monoDrive, a leader in ultra-high fidelity simulation software for advanced driver-assistance systems and autonomous vehicle development. The acquisition expands NI's reach in the ADAS and simulation markets and will enable NI's transportation customers to accelerate the development, test, and deployment of safer autonomous systems. The design cycles for ADAS are complex and automotive OEMs and suppliers need systems that streamline the transitions between simulation, lab-based and physical test environments to ultimately create safer vehicles. Today, disparate tools cause siloed processes, time-to-market delays, and lead to higher costs that reduce the pace of innovation and hinder the quality of advanced technologies. NI will leverage monoDrive's expertise in signal processing and advanced simulation to help customers accelerate the delivery of ADAS through high fidelity driving environments capable of modeling numerous sensors and thousands of real-time scenarios. This approach combined with NI's software-connected systems will help transportation customers streamline the transitions between simulation, lab-based and physical testing environments. In doing so, NI will now enable vehicle manufacturers and suppliers to accelerate the shift to self-driving vehicles.

09:04 EDT Thunder Bridge Acquisition II responds to SEC guidance applicable to warrants - Thunder Bridge Acquisition II is announcing that as a result of recent guidance issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the accounting and reporting of warrants issued by Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, it has restated its previously issued financial statements included in the Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 to change the accounting treatment of its public and private placement warrants. "As the restated financials reflect, there is no cash impact to Thunder Bridge II's business or historical financial statements in the affected period due to this restatement. The change in the accounting treatment of the warrants has no effect on Thunder Bridge II's ongoing operations or its plans to complete the business combination that it announced on December 15, 2020 with indie Semiconductor, a leading pure-play provider of next-generation semiconductor and software solutions for the rapidly growing Autotech market, enabling ADAS/Autonomous, Connectivity, User Experience and Vehicle Electrification applications. Consistent with historical market practice for SPACs, the Company had been accounting for the Warrants as Shareholders' Equity. With the recent SEC Statement, however, the Company has restated its financial statements such that the Warrants are accounted for as a Warrant liability and marked-to-market each reporting period. In general, under mark-to-market accounting, as the stock price increases, the fair value of the Warrant liability recorded on the Company's balance sheet increases, and the Company recognizes additional noncash expense in the Statement of Operations for the Change in fair value of warrant liability, with the opposite effect when the stock price declines. The change in the accounting treatment for the Warrants caused the Company to record a Warrant liability on the restated Balance Sheet at December 31, 2020 and recognize a noncash expense for the Change in fair value of Warrant liability in the restated Statement of Operations for the Year Ended December 31, 2020. There was no change to the Company's previously Net Change in Cash in the Statement of Cash Flows for the Year Ended December 31, 2020."

09:03 EDT Castor Maritime announces vessel acquisition for $21M - Castor Maritime announces that it entered, through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, into an agreement to acquire a 2013 Japanese-built Kamsarmax dry bulk carrier from an unaffiliated third-party for a purchase price of $21M. The acquisition is expected to be consummated by taking delivery of the vessel within the second quarter or beginning of the third quarter of this year and is subject to the satisfaction of certain customary closing conditions.

09:02 EDT Arthur J. Gallagher unit acquires Total Safety Consulting, terms not disclosed - Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. announced that its risk management services subsidiary, Gallagher Bassett Services, has acquired Bayonne, New Jersey-based Total Safety Consulting and its affiliates, including TSC Training Academy. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in 1996, TSC offers a full range of integral safety services to support the construction development process.

09:00 EDT CVS Health says paying down debt 'remains a top priority' - Says continues to use technology to lower cost structure. Expects to have 1,000 Health Hubs by end of 2021.

08:56 EDT SmileDirectClub down 10% to $9.60 after disclosing cybersecurity event

08:54 EDT APA announces agreement with Egypt's MOP to help modernize petroleum sector - APA announced it has reached an agreement in principle with Egypt's Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, or MOP, and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation in support of the MOP's efforts to modernize the country's petroleum sector. The new Production Sharing Contract, or PSC, will consolidate the majority of the concessions in the Western Desert of Egypt operated by APA subsidiary Apache Egypt into a single new concession, which will account for more than 90% of the company's gross production volumes in Egypt on a barrel of oil equivalent basis. The changes simplify the contractual relationship with EGPC and include provisions to create a single cost recovery pool, adjust cost oil and gas and profit oil and gas participation, facilitate recovery of prior investment, update day-to-day operational governance, and refresh the term length of both exploration and development leases. The Apache entity that will become the sole contractor is owned two-thirds by Apache and one-third by Sinopec. The new PSC is subject to certain approvals within the Government of Egypt and ratification by Parliament.

08:51 EDT UGI and Global Common Energy partner to develop renewable natural gas - Cayuga RNG Holdings announced that it has entered into definitive agreements to develop dairy farm digester projects to produce renewable natural gas in upstate New York. Cayuga RNG is a joint venture owned by a subsidiary of UGI Energy Services, a subsidiary of UGI , and Global Common Energy. Cayuga RNG's first project will be developed at the Spruce Haven Farm located in the Finger Lakes region of Cayuga County, New York. The project will incorporate an existing anaerobic digester that generates biogas, which is currently used to produce renewable electricity. The proposed project, which is expected to be completed in the second half of calendar year 2022, will upgrade the biogas to produce an expected 50 million cubic feet of RNG each year from on-site dairy waste feedstock. The RNG supply will be delivered to a local natural gas pipeline serving its regional distribution system. Cayuga RNG is in the process of developing other dairy digesters in Cayuga County and upstate New York. RNG projects reduce waste and long-term greenhouse gas emissions, while also increasing the use of renewable energy. GHI, a wholly owned subsidiary of UGIES, will be the exclusive off-taker and marketer of RNG for Cayuga RNG.

08:49 EDT Elliott Investment Management responds to Public Storage presentation - Elliott Investment Management released the following statement on behalf of Portfolio Manager Johannes Weber regarding Public Storage's Investor Day Presentation: "Over the course of our engagement with Public Storage, we have seen the company make substantial strides in transparency and investor communication, and its real commitment to change was clearly evident in yesterday's Investor Day presentation. We expect management to follow through on these commitments, and we look forward to the changes announced yesterday flowing through to Public Storage's financials as the company capitalizes on its significant growth prospects."

08:48 EDT California Water Service creates TWSC subsidiary, owns majority of BVRT utility - California Water Service Group announced that its new subsidiary, TWSC, or Texas Water Service, now owns the majority of BVRT Utility, a Texas-based utility development company owning and operating four wastewater utilities serving growing communities outside of Austin and San Antonio. Texas Water Service initially invested funds to enable BVRT to continue to build wastewater infrastructure. Today it converted its investment to equity, with the intention of continuing to invest in BVRT's existing infrastructure and new developments, and has the right to eventually acquire all of BVRT's growing portfolio of wastewater systems. BVRT's four wastewater utilities currently serve or are under contract to serve over 2,500 connections, with a potential total build-out of more than 61,000 connections. Texas Water Service, through its partnership with BVRT, is actively and aggressively pursuing additional opportunities to build and enhance wastewater infrastructure.

08:44 EDT Commvault sees subscription renewals as revenue tailwind for next few years

08:42 EDT Commvault entering FY22 'with wind at our backs' - Comments taken from Q4 earnings conference call.

08:36 EDT American Outdoor Brands names Curtis Smith as Chief Marketing Officer - American Outdoor Brands (AOUT) announced that Curtis Smith has been named Chief Marketing Officer. In this newly created role, Smith will lead the company's Marketing, Brand Management, Creative, e-commerce, and Customer Service teams. Smith joined the company as a divisional Vice President of Marketing in October 2017, prior to its spin-off as American Outdoor Brands, in August 2020. Earlier, he was a Global Product Lane Director at Vista Outdoor (VSTO).

08:30 EDT Cantaloupe, Castles Technology enter arrangement for cashless solution - Cantaloupe and Castles Technology announced a commercial arrangement to introduce a next-generation cashless solution. In addition, the agreement contemplates the two companies will leverage their respective market positions to drive sales, delivery, and increased adoption. The solution envisions a value proposition for the market, with the goal of offering consumers an experience in unattended retail that's richer and much more compelling.

08:28 EDT CVS Health says cash flows 'remain strong' - Says has paid down $15B of debt since Aetna acquisition. Says "on track" for "low 3X" leverage goal by 2022. Says COVID-19 to have "minimal" impact on FY21 results. Sees FY21 CapEx $2.7B-$3B. Sees 54% of FY21 earnings in 1H21. Says "well-positioned to deliver sustainable long-term growth."

08:18 EDT Rezolute announces study results from Phase 1a of RZ402 - Rezolute announced results from its first-in-human Phase 1a clinical study of RZ402, the company's investigational oral plasma kallikrein inhibitor, for the treatment of diabetic macular edema, or DME. Single dose oral administration of RZ402 resulted in plasma concentrations that substantially exceeded target pharmacologically active drug levels, demonstrating the potential for once daily dosing, and supporting the advancement of developmental activities toward Phase 2, including a Phase 1b multiple-ascending dose study. RZ402 was generally safe and well-tolerated at all doses tested, without dose-limiting toxicities. RZ402-101 is a first-in-human Phase 1a, single-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, single ascending dose study in healthy adult volunteers. The study objectives were to characterize the safety profile and pharmacokinetics of RZ402 administered as single oral doses. The study enrolled 30 subjects in three planned sequential dose-level cohorts of 25 mg, 100 mg, and 250 mg. Within each ten-subject dose cohort, subjects were randomized 8:2 to receive either RZ402 oral solution or matched placebo. After receiving single doses, participants remained in the clinic for seven days for serial pharmacokinetic and safety assessments, before completing two outpatient follow-up visits at study days 14 and 30. Dose advancement proceeded following blinded reviews of safety and pharmacokinetic data from the preceding cohort. Single doses of RZ402 resulted in dose-dependent increases in systemic exposure. Plasma concentrations of RZ402 exceeded the 3.5 ng/mL target concentration that was pharmacologically active in animal models of DME for a 24-hour period after receipt of the 25 mg starting dose, and by greater than 20 and greater than 5-fold at maximum concentration and 24 hours after dosing, respectively, at the highest dose tested. Across this dose and exposure range, there were no serious adverse events, adverse drug reactions, or discontinuations due to adverse events, and no imbalance of adverse events between the treatment and placebo control groups. Similarly, regular laboratory, hemodynamic, cardiac, and ophthalmologic safety examinations were unremarkable.

08:16 EDT CVS Health says 'results show we're providing superior value' - Says results reflect growth in new and current markets. Says each of the company's businesses performed "at or above" expectations. Saw continued momentum in government services business. Says visits to flagship digital properties increased 80% in Q1. Says "exploring every avenue for growth." Comments taken from Q1 earnings conference call.

08:15 EDT Soleno Therapeutics announces presentation of behavioral data from study of DCCR - Soleno Therapeutics announced the presentation of positive behavioral outcomes data from the company's ongoing open-label extension study of DCCR Extended-Release tablets for patients with Prader-Willi Syndrome, or PWS, at the Pediatric Academic Societies 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting. As part of the ongoing Phase 3 program of DCCR in PWS, interviews are being conducted with caregivers of C602 study participants to characterize individual patient experiences with DCCR. The interviews are performed at multiple timepoints during the Phase 3 program by Casimir. The poster highlights the analysis of a subset of 48 interviews of caregivers whose child had received at least 13 weeks of DCCR treatment in C602. Folia Health utilized a combination of natural language processing and qualitative analytic techniques to process and analyze the transcript data from the caregiver interviews. Through the 48 interviews, 39 behavioral outcomes were identified in seven outcome domains, with an average of 22 +/- 5.9 behaviors reported. The three most frequently reported domains were Food-seeking Behaviors, Mealtime Behaviors, and Daily Life Behaviors. Twenty three percent of participants reported a negative behavior change and 6% reported more than one negative change. Most participants reported positive change in one or more behavioral outcomes on DCCR, more than 70% reported positive changes in one quarter or more of behaviors, while 48% reported positive changes in more than half of behaviors.

08:12 EDT Great Lakes Dredge believes 2021 domestic market will remain 'strong' - The company said: "We see strong support for offshore wind from the Biden administration. In March, the White House announced new initiatives that will advance the administration's goals to expand the nation's offshore wind energy capacity in the coming decade by opening new areas of development, improving environmental permitting, and increasing public financing for projects. The administration committed to approving 16 offshore wind projects by 2025 and stated it would direct $230 million in federal transportation dollars to fund port infrastructure and earmark $3 billion in loan guarantees from the Department of Energy. President Biden has set a target to install 30GW of offshore wind energy by 2030. In addition, in January, the White House released a Buy America fact sheet that emphasized President Biden's strong support for the Jones Act and its importance to renewable offshore energy."

08:11 EDT Shift launches service to purchase cars in Las Vegas region - Shift announced the launch of its service to purchase cars from consumers in the Las Vegas region. With the addition of this new market, the company's first in the state of Nevada, consumers are now eligible to sell their cars directly to Shift in 11 geographies across the U.S.

08:09 EDT Exelixis to acquire AMHR2 antibody technology from GamaMabs Pharma for $5M - Exelixis and GamaMabs Pharma announced that they have entered into an agreement under which Exelixis will, upon the future closing of the asset purchase and subject to certain conditions to closing, acquire all rights, title and interest in GamaMabs' AMHR2 antibody technology. Exelixis will pay GamaMabs $5M upon signing of the agreement, make additional payments upon completion of closing conditions, and make additional milestone payments after closing, contingent upon various events. Once the transfer is completed, Exelixis will control 100% of GamaMabs' AMHR2 franchise technology including all assets pertaining to GamaMabs' monoclonal antibody drug product murlentamab, or GM-102. While AMHR2 expression is normally restricted to ovary, testis and adrenal tissues, it is also expressed in ovarian, endometrial, renal, liver, colon and lung tumors. Murlentamab, a monoclonal antibody targeting AMHR2, was well tolerated when administered on its own in Phase 1 and 2 studies, with no dose-limiting toxicities observed. In early 2021, GamaMabs discontinued development of murlentamab given the modest single-agent efficacy observed in these trials. Although it does not have plans to move murlentamab forward, Exelixis is encouraged by the potential of the AMHR2 target as it pursues the further discovery and development of novel biologics.

08:07 EDT IPG Photonics says Eugene Scherbakov to succeed Valentin Gapontsev as CEO - IPG Photonics Corporation announced a management change, which is effective immediately. Eugene A. Scherbakov Ph.D., currently COO, Managing Director of IPG Laser GmbH, Senior Vice President, Europe and Director, succeeds Valentin P. Gapontsev, Ph.D., as IPG Photonics' CEO. Dr. Valentin Gapontsev, founder of the company and current CEO and Chairman of the Board, becomes Executive Chairman and continues his involvement in directing research and development and strategy. "Dr. Scherbakov's technological knowledge as well as extensive understanding of the Company's operations, sales and customers contributed significantly to IPG's success since he joined us in 1995," said Dr. Valentin Gapontsev. "Dr. Scherbakov's leadership at our German operations and expertise resulted in operational excellence and lower production costs for our vertical integration model, making fiber laser technology more cost competitive with traditional materials processing technologies, while preserving IPG's strong profitability and industry-leading margins." Dr. Gapontsev continued, "The technology and product opportunities for IPG are enormous and I look forward to spending more time on our technical strategy. It's an exciting evolution for me and a very good transition for the Company."

08:07 EDT Accenture acquires assets from ThinkTank, terms undisclosed - Accenture announced that it is acquiring assets from ThinkTank, a Denver-based digital engagement technology company. ThinkTank's cloud-based, intelligent stakeholder engagement platform assets and team will join Accenture's intelligent platform services group, strengthening Accenture's capabilities and resources to help clients quickly and effectively deploy and adopt enterprise software applications. Terms of the transaction are not being disclosed. ThinkTank's Engage platform is used to guide teams through planning and transformation programs with clear alignment and better decision-making. The Engage platform will be integrated with Accenture myConcerto for a single, proprietary platform.

08:05 EDT Jack Henry announces retirement of chairman of the board John Prim - Jack Henry & Associates announced that John Prim, chairman of the board of directors will retire effective June 30. Prim has served in his current role since 2012, and prior to that, served as CEO officer for nearly 12 years. During his tenure with Jack Henry, he also served as chief operating officer, and later president. Prim has spent his entire career supporting the financial industry. He is a proven leader who has been instrumental in working closely with the board of directors, executive management team, and other dedicated associates to contribute to Jack Henry's continued growth.

08:04 EDT Pacira sees 2021 product sales negatively impacted by Covid-19 pandemic - The company's 2021 product sales continue to be negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which mandated significant postponement or suspension in the scheduling of elective surgical procedures resulting from public health guidance and government directives. Elective surgery restrictions began to lift on a state-by-state basis in April 2020. In order to provide greater transparency, the company will continue to report monthly intra-quarter unaudited net product sales until it has gained enough visibility around the impacts of COVID-19. The company is also providing weekly EXPAREL utilization and elective surgery data within its investor presentation, it said in a statement.

07:57 EDT Ametek acquires NSI-MI Technologies for $230M - Ametek announced that it has acquired NSI-MI Technologies, a provider of radio frequency and microwave test and measurement solutions and services. NSI-MI was acquired for $230M and has annual sales of approximately $90M. NSI-MI's expertise in advanced radio frequency and microwave technologies allows them to provide complete test and measurement systems for niche applications across the aerospace, defense, automotive, wireless communications, and research markets. The company has a portfolio of testing instrumentation, components and software, while also providing customers with anechoic and simulation chambers, and a set of aftermarket services. NSI-MI is headquartered in Suwanee, Georgia with additional operations in Torrance, California and Sheffield, U.K. NSI-MI joins Ametek as part of its electronic instruments group.

07:52 EDT Laird Superfood acquires Picky Bars for $12M, sees accretion in 2022 - Laird Superfood announced that on May 3 it entered into a definitive agreement to purchase all of the equity interests of fellow Central-Oregon based Picky Bars,for a total purchase price of $12M in cash and stock subject to a customary post-closing working capital adjustment. The transaction closed simultaneously with execution. The transaction represents an acquisition multiple of approximately 1.2x estimated 2022 revenue. Laird Superfood expects the transaction to be supportive of its path to an improving gross margin profile and accretive to the net income of Laird Superfood in 2022 and beyond. In 2021, the Company does not expect the transaction to have any meaningful impact on the Company's net income (loss) per share. Picky Bars' product portfolio includes the namesake Picky Bar as well as Performance Oatmeal, Performance Granola, Pancakes and Drizzle nut-butter, with best-in-class direct-to-consumer distribution to a loyal fanbase. Picky Bars' direct-to-consumer platform includes the Picky Club, a monthly subscription box and loyalty program. The transaction is aligned with Laird Superfood's strategic goals, specifically the addition of unique and innovative daily-use products across the Company's omnichannel platform, and the acquisition of highly complementary assets such as a recurring direct-to-consumer customer base. Laird Superfood's strategic goals prioritize a shared product ethos supporting high athletic performance, authenticity and environmental sustainability. Paul Hodge, Chief Executive Officer of Laird Superfood said, "We are so excited to welcome Picky Bars into the Laird family. Founded by three incredible athletes who are true to their mission and vision, Picky Bars aligns with our core values of trust and authenticity and our product ethos prioritizing high performance and sustainability, not just for athletes, but for everyone in everyday life. This is an exceptional foundation to build on the many synergies we anticipate from this acquisition, starting with the immediate expansion of our brand platform in the massive Bars and Snacks category, where we believe consumers are increasingly "picky" and seek whole food, healthier bar choices as well as sustainable options. Picky also has a line of Performance Breakfast products including Performance Oatmeal, Granola and Pancakes, which are exciting and additive to the Laird Superfood morning ritual."

07:47 EDT Incyte backs FY21 Jakafi revenue view $2.13B-$2.2B - Sees FY21 other hematology/oncology revenue $145M-$160M

07:42 EDT Pfizer CEO says delivered 'strong financial results' in Q1 - Dr. Albert Bourla, Chairman and CEO, stated: "I am extremely proud of the way we have begun 2021, delivering strong financial results in the first quarter. Even excluding the growth provided from BNT162b2, our revenues grew 8% operationally, which aligns with our stated goal of delivering at least a 6% compound annual growth rate through 2025. In addition, we have achieved important clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones across our pipeline and portfolio while also continuing to increase our capacity to supply urgently-needed doses of BNT162b2 to the world. Each of these accomplishments further demonstrates our commitment to Pfizer's purpose: Breakthroughs that change patients' lives." Frank D'Amelio, CFO and Executive Vice President, Global Supply, stated: "I am very happy with the performance of all of our therapeutic areas this quarter. Multiple innovative and biosimilar products across our portfolio delivered growth, demonstrating the strength of our business and the depth and breadth of our growth drivers. I am also pleased with our recent announcement that we will maintain our dividend for second-quarter 2021 at the current level, even after Viatris begins paying its dividend. This will make 2021 the 12th year in a row with a dividend increase. I remain confident in Pfizer's ability to continue to deliver on our commitments to our patients and shareholders in 2021 and beyond."

07:41 EDT Ferrari: Confident in reaching top end of 2021 guidance range

07:39 EDT Arko's subsidiary GPM receives $1B real property commitment from Oak Street - GPM Investments, a subsidiary of ARKO, entered into an agreement with real estate investment firm Oak Street Real Estate Capital. Under and subject to the terms of the agreement, Oak Street has agreed to purchase and lease to GPM real estate associated with acquisitions of convenience store brands and fueling stations. GPM would own and operate the related acquired businesses, whereas Oak Street would own the real estate and lease it to GPM. Oak Street is committing up to $1B to the program for a one-year period.

07:35 EDT CME Group reports ADV of 16.4M contracts in April

07:34 EDT Palatin announces U.S. patent term extension for Vyleesi - Palatin Technologies announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued Notices of Final Determination and Requirement for Election on a patent term extension for two U.S. patents covering the Vyleesi drug substance, U.S. patents 6,579,968 and 6,794,489. The term of only one patent may be extended and will have an expiration date of June 25, 2025.

07:33 EDT Fluor to divest it services business AMECO for $73M - Fluor announced the divestiture of its North American equipment and fleet services business, AMECO, to One Equity Partners for $73M. This transaction is another significant step in completing the AMECO divestiture announced by Fluor in September 2019. Fluor previously sold its AMECO Caribbean business in Jamaica in August 2020 and is actively marketing its remaining AMECO South America and ServiTrade Mozambique operations. Fluor looks forward to continue working together with AMECO in the U.S. and Canada. Fluor used BofA Securities as its financial advisor for this transaction.

07:31 EDT SolarWinds announces top management appointments - SolarWinds announced it has extended its executive team with three new appointments: Rohini Kasturi, EVP, Chief Product Officer; Tim Brown, Chief Information Security Officer, or CISO; and Andrea Webb, SVP, Chief Customer Officer. The newly appointed executive roles reinforce the company's commitment to customer experience and success, security, and product innovations to support an increasingly hybrid IT world. Rohini Kasturi is a seasoned product executive with more than 25 patents in the SaaS, cloud, data, analytics, security, and SDx spaces. He comes to SolarWinds from Pulse Secure where, as Chief Product Officer, he transformed its on-premises product portfolio to SaaS while driving product excellence. Tim Brown joined the company in 2017 as Vice President, Security with responsibilities spanning internal IT security, product security and security strategy, and has now expanded his role as SolarWinds CISO. As a former Dell Fellow and CTO, Brown understands the challenges and aspirations of the person responsible for driving digital innovation and change. He has over 25 years of experience developing and implementing security technology. He is also an avid inventor and holds 18 issued patents on security-related topics. Since joining the company in 2002, Andrea Webb has built a world-class team contributing heavily to the renewals, customer service, sales engineering, and customer success areas of the business. In her new role as SVP, Chief Customer Officer, Webb will focus on expanding our customer success culture and simplifying user experiences. She will be tasked with improving the teams' ability to share expertise across the organization in support of the SolarWinds vision to put customer success at the forefront of its corporate strategy.

07:29 EDT Encompass Health, Piedmont Healthcare announce joint venture - Encompass Health and Piedmont Healthcare announced they have executed a joint venture agreement to operate inpatient rehabilitation hospitals in Georgia. The parties are currently partnered on Regional Rehabilitation Hospital, in Phenix City, Alabama. Recently, the partnership was granted certificates of need to own and operate new inpatient rehabilitation hospitals in Atlanta and Columbus, Georgia. In Columbus, the joint venture will construct a new 40-bed, freestanding inpatient rehabilitation hospital near the Piedmont Columbus Regional Northside Campus. The 40-bed Atlanta location will be built inside of the Piedmont Atlanta Hospital. Both new Georgia hospitals are expected to begin providing inpatient rehabilitation services beginning 2023. In addition, anticipated to be effective June 2021, Piedmont Healthcare will assume partial ownership of Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Newnan in Georgia, a 60-bed inpatient rehabilitation hospital opened by Encompass Health in December 2014. These additions will bring the partnership's inpatient rehabilitation hospital count to four.

07:26 EDT Bio-Techne, 908 Devices announce joint collaboration - Bio-Techne (TECH) and 908 Devices (MASS) announced a joint collaboration to develop an extended workflow solution for protein characterization. Bio-Techne, a global life sciences company providing innovative tools and bioactive reagents for the research and clinical diagnostic communities, and owner of the leading ProteinSimple branded protein analysis portfolio of products, will pair its Maurice icIEF separation instrument with 908 Devices ZipChip device to deliver a seamless workflow for deeper protein characterization. Maurice and the iCE technology are the gold standard in protein characterization, providing absorbance and native fluorescence icIEF detection as well as CE-SDS, saving significant development time and reducing the time to commercialization.

07:25 EDT Charles River reports Q1 EPS $2.53, consensus $2.19 - Reports Q1 revenue $824.57M, consensus $798.18M. James Foster, chairman, president and CEO said, "Our first-quarter performance demonstrates the power of our unique, non-clinical portfolio and the strength of the biopharmaceutical market environment. A global focus on scientific innovation is driving record levels of investment in the biopharmaceutical industry, which is generating biomedical breakthroughs across multiple therapeutic areas at a rapid pace. We believe these factors are resulting in unprecedented client demand across most of our businesses."

07:23 EDT ViiV Healthcare initiates rolling submission of NDA for cabotegravir for PrEP - ViiV Healthcare, the global specialist HIV company majority owned by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), with Pfizer (PFE) and Shionogi Limited as shareholders, announced the initiation of a rolling submission of a new drug application, or NDA, with the US Food and Drug Administration for investigational, long-acting, injectable cabotegravir for the prevention of HIV, also called pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. The rolling submission allows ViiV Healthcare to submit portions of the regulatory application to the FDA as they are completed, rather than waiting until every section of the NDA is complete to submit the entire application for review. The complete submission will be based on results from two phase IIb/III studies, HPTN 083 and HPTN 084. HPTN 083 evaluated the safety and efficacy of long-acting cabotegravir for HIV prevention in men who have sex with men and transgender women.1 HPTN 084 evaluated cabotegravir for HIV prevention in women who are at increased risk of HIV acquisition.2 The Data Safety Monitoring Board stopped the blinded, randomized portion of both studies early after cabotegravir was shown to be superior to daily emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate tablets, ViiV noted.

07:20 EDT BioLineRx reports 'positive' results from GENESIS Phase 3 trial of motixafortide - BioLineRx announced positive top-line results from the company's GENESIS Phase 3 trial evaluating its lead clinical candidate, Motixafortide, in combination with granulocyte colony stimulating factor for hematopoietic stem-cell mobilization for autologous bone marrow transplantation in multiple myeloma patients. An analysis of data on all 122 enrolled patients found highly statistically significant evidence across all primary and secondary endpoints favoring Motixafortide in addition to G-CSF, as compared to placebo plus G-CSF. In addition, the combination was found to be safe and well tolerated. The primary endpoint of the study demonstrated a 4.9-fold increase in the proportion of patients in the treatment arm, as compared to the control arm mobilizing greater than or equal to 6 million CD34+ cells/kg in up to two apheresis sessions, and after only one administration of Motixafortide. This translates to an odds-ratio of 12.9. The study also achieved its main secondary endpoint, demonstrating a 14.1-fold increase in the proportion of patients in the treatment arm, as compared to the control arm, who mobilized greater than or equal to 6 million CD34+ cells/kg in just one apheresis session. This translates to an odds-ratio of 56.0. Other important data from the study include median number of CD34+ cells collected on the first day of apheresis - a 5.6-fold increase. The addition of Motixafortide to G-CSF also allowed 88.3% of patients to undergo transplantation after only one apheresis session, compared to 10.8% in the G-CSF arm - an 8.2-fold increase. Engraftment endpoints, including the number of days needed for engraftment, success of engraftment and the durability of engraftment 100 days post-transplant, further support the study's success.

07:15 EDT Checkmate Pharmaceuticals reports initiation of Phase 2 CMP-001 trial - Checkmate Pharmaceuticals announced that patient dosing was initiated in a Phase 2 trial intended to assess the efficacy and safety of vidutolimod in combination with nivolumab for the treatment of patients with anti-PD-1 refractory advanced melanoma. Vidutolimod is an advanced generation Toll-like receptor 9 agonist, delivered as a biologic virus-like particle utilizing a CpG-A oligodeoxynucleotide as a key component. Checkmate previously announced initiation of dosing in patients in an additional trial which is evaluating the efficacy and safety of vidutolimod in combination with nivolumab compared to nivolumab monotherapy in patients with first-line metastatic or unresectable melanoma. The data from these two trials are intended to support a biologics license application for the treatment of patients with anti-PD-1 refractory advanced melanoma. Initiation of dosing in this pivotal trial is an important milestone as we move towards potential registration of vidutolimod in melanoma," said Barry Labinger, President and CEO of Checkmate. "Melanoma is estimated to be the fifth most diagnosed cancer in the United States, with more than 100,000 new cases and 7,000 deaths per year. There is a significant unmet medical need for patients who have progressed following treatment with anti-PD-1 therapy since there is no well-established standard of care." Checkmate previously announced initiation of patient dosing in a Phase 2 trial of vidutolimod in combination with pembrolizumab to evaluate safety and efficacy in patients with first-line head and neck cancer.

07:11 EDT Apollo Global reports Q1 AUM $461.1B vs. $455.5B in Q4 - Reports Q1 Management fees $457.2M vs. $396.6M last year.

07:11 EDT NuStar Energy sees FY21 spending $140M-$170M - "Last year, our assets, our business and our employees demonstrated incredible strength and resilience," Barron noted. "Faced with the challenges of a global pandemic, we still moved more barrels and generated more adjusted EBITDA in 2020 than we did in 2019. And in 2021, even after layering in the impact of a historically unprecedented winter storm, NuStar remains solidly positioned to fund 100% of our 2021 spending, approximately $140M-$170M, from our internally generated cash flows. We also remain on track to generate EBITDA for 2021 comparable to 2020's strong results, after taking into account our sale of the Texas City terminal in December of last year. And we see continuing signs of recovery on the horizon, as expectations for demand, utilization, and crude prices for 2021 have all improved," Barron concluded.

07:06 EDT Exterran boosts low end of FY adjusted EBITDA view to $150M-$160M - The company said: "Based on our strong backlog and increased commercial activity, we are raising the low end of our full year 2021 guidance for adjusted EBITDA to $150 from $140 million, with an updated guidance range of $150-$160 million. We expect Exterran's adjusted EBITDA to grow at a compounded rate of at least 15%, over the next two years, resulting in adjusted EBITDA of more than $200 million in 2023. We are excited about the strong momentum of our core business, as well as the EWS business' bright prospects for continued growth and value creation."

07:03 EDT Canadian National: Continuing to receive support for Kansas City deal - CN (CNI) announced that it has continued to receive support from customers, suppliers, elected officials and other stakeholders for its proposed combination with Kansas City Southern (KSU). According to the company, 100 additional letters have been sent to CN and filed with the Surface Transportation Board in favor of CN's proposed combination with KCS, bringing the total number of support letters CN has received to more than 700. Of note, 66 of the letters filed with the STB explicitly support CN's proposed combination with KCS, and 34 of the letters specifically ask the Board to approve CN's use of a voting trust, CN said. CN will continue to communicate and engage with its customers and various stakeholders as it works towards an agreed transaction with KCS.

06:56 EDT Global Payments to acquire Zego for $925M in cash, inclusive of a tax asset - Global Payments announced an agreement to acquire Zego from Vista Equity Partners. Zego provides resident experience management software and digital commerce solutions to property managers primarily in the United States. The transaction extends Global Payments' leadership in software into the real estate vertical, a $6.5B target addressable market with a strong payments nexus and significant secular tailwinds. Under the terms of the acquisition agreement, Global Payments will acquire Zego in an all cash transaction valued at $925M, inclusive of a tax asset. The effective purchase price is approximately $830M, net of the tax asset. Global Payments will finance the acquisition with its existing credit facility and cash on hand. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, is expected to close by the end of the second quarter.

06:41 EDT Jounce Therapeutics sees FY21 gross cash burn $95.0M-$110.0M - The company said, "Based on its current operating and development plans, Jounce continues to expect gross cash burn on operating expenses and capital expenditures for the FY21 to be approximately $95.0M-$110.0M. Given the strength of its balance sheet, Jounce expects its existing cash, cash equivalents and investments to be sufficient to enable the funding of its operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements through the second quarter of 2023."

06:35 EDT CVS Health reports Q1 SSS up 0.4% - Reports Q1 pharmacy SSS up 4.1%. Reports Q1 front store SSS down 11.4%. Reports Q1 prescription volume up 1%. Reports Q1 dispensing rate 87.4%.

06:26 EDT ReneSola, Eiffel sign JV agreement to develop solar projects in Europe - ReneSola announced the signing of JV agreement with Eiffel that aims to accelerate the development and financing of ReneSola Power's current and future solar projects across Europe. With the signing of the joint venture agreements, ReneSola Power and Eiffel Investment Group have created European Solar Energy Development JV, a 51/49 joint venture company with ReneSola Power having a 51% ownership stake and Eiffel a 49%. The initial portfolio will consist in 340 MW advanced stage development projects located in Poland, Spain, and France, which both partners will support and develop to reach ready-to-build stage. The joint venture company intends to fund the development of up to 700 MW of solar projects in the next three years across Europe.

06:22 EDT Armada Hoffler reports core property portfolio occupancy at 94.0% as of March 31 - Company reports core operating property portfolio occupancy at 94.0% as of March 31, compared to 94.4% as of December 31, 2020. The Company's March 31 occupancy includes office at 97.2%, retail at 93.9%, and multifamily at 92.2%.

06:19 EDT Louisiana-Pacific sees Q2 adjusted EBITDA over $580M - Sees Q2 SmartSide revenue up over 30%. Sees Q2 OSB revenue sequentially higher. Sees Q2 capital expenditures $230M-$250M.

06:16 EDT Bunge sees FY21 CapEx $425M-$475M - Sees FY21 adjusted annual effective tax rate in the range of 20%-22%; net interest expense in the range of $230M-$240M.

06:06 EDT Bunge raises quarterly dividend 5% to 52.5c per share - The dividend is payable on September 2 to shareholders of record on August 19.

05:49 EDT Omeros announces approval of HSCT-TMA ICD-10 codes - Omeros announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, has approved an International Classification of Diseases, or ICD-10, diagnosis code, M31.11 - hematopoietic stem cell transplantation-associated thrombotic microangiopathy, or HSCT-TMA. The company said the absence of a specific HSCT-TMA diagnosis code has led to underreporting of diagnoses and inaccurate coding, which has complicated reporting of the incidence and outcomes of the disease. This new ICD-10 code, which will be effective October 1, will allow clinicians, payers and others to accurately track the incidence of HSCT-TMA. Separately, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, has approved two ICD-10-PCS codes for the administration of narsoplimab: XW03357 - Introduction of Narsoplimab Monoclonal Antibody into Peripheral Vein, and XW04357 - Introduction of Narsoplimab Monoclonal Antibody into Central Vein, Percutaneous Approach, New Technology Group 7. ICD-10-PCS codes are used by billers to identify procedures and services performed during an inpatient stay. These new procedure codes will also be effective October 1.

05:37 EDT TransAlta enters PPA with Pembina Pipeline - TransAlta (TAC) announced that it has entered into a long-term power purchase agreement, or PPA, with Pembina Pipeline (PBA) for the offtake of 100 MW from its proposed 130 MW Garden Plain Wind Power Project to be located approximately 30 km north of Hanna, Alberta. Under this agreement, Pembina will receive both renewable electricity and environmental attributes for an 18-year term. This long-term contract with Pembina enables TransAlta to add the 130 MW Garden Plain Wind Project to its growing wind generation fleet. Pembina and TransAlta have entered into an 18-year PPA for 100 MW, commencing on the Commercial Operation Date, or COD, of Garden Plain. The PPA with Pembina provides the foundation that supports the investment in the 130 MW Garden Plain project. TransAlta is currently marketing the remaining 30 MW of the facility to commercial and industrial electricity customers that are looking to reduce the carbon intensity of their operations. To the extent contracts for the remaining 30 MW are not secured, the excess energy will be offered into the merchant wholesale power market in Alberta. The project will consist of 26 Siemens-Gamesa SGRE SG-145 turbines with construction expected to begin in the fall of 2021, and with a target COD in the second half of 2022. TransAlta will construct, own and operate the facility. Total construction capital of the project is estimated at approximately $195M.

05:29 EDT ObsEva completes enrollment for EDELWEISS 3 trial of Yeslty - ObsEva announced that it has completed enrollment for the Phase 3 EDELWEISS 3 trial of Yeslty for patients with moderate to severe endometriosis-associated pain, or EAP. Enrollment completion is an important milestone, and data from the primary endpoint readout are expected in Q4.

05:17 EDT NanoString announces GeoMx Digital used to understand lung impact of SARS-CoV-2 - NanoString announced that a peer-reviewed publication using the GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiler, or DSP, is to be published in the journal Nature. This paper describes using the GeoMx DSP to develop a foundational dataset to better understand the biological impact of SARS-CoV-2, or COVD-19, infection in human lungs, which may lead to the identification of new therapeutic interventions and prevention strategies. Researchers from a network of institutions used the GeoMx DSP to characterize autopsy lung tissue samples from patients who had been infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In conjunction with single-cell RNA sequencing data collected for the project, researchers utilized the Cancer Transcriptome Atlas, or CTA, and the Whole Transcriptome Atlas, or WTA, with additional custom content specific for SARS-CoV-2 genes, to produce and spatially map a comprehensive cell-type atlas. The ability to pinpoint cellular processes, expression pathways, and immune cell profiles in this way offers insights into systemic COVID-19 disease progression. The study, to be published in Nature is entitled "COVID-19 tissue atlases reveal SARS-COV-2 pathology and cellular targets."

05:04 EDT Jacobs Engineering named sole provider of $39.5M Highways England's HRE contract - Jacobs has been awarded the role of sole provider for Highways England's Historical Railways Estate, or HRE, term contract and is tasked with the maintenance and disposal of over 3,000 assets that make up the estate, including 77 listed structures across the United Kingdom. Jacobs will continue its role as professional services supplier to Highways England delivering multi-disciplinary services including design, site supervision, bridge and scour assessments, abnormal load checking and stakeholder management, as well as environmental, ecological and estate management services across HRE's assets, which include viaducts, bridges, tunnels and culverts. Highways England estimates the contract value to be $39.5M over the seven-year period, with the option to extend to ten years.