Stockwinners Market Radar for February 18, 2022 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

19:03 EST Change Healthcare says DOJ has until Feb. 27 to sue to block merger - As previously disclosed, on January 5, 2021, Change Healthcare (CHNG) entered into a plan of merger with UnitedHealth Group (UNH), pursuant to which UnitedHealth will acquire the company, and on August 7, 2021, the company and UnitedHealth entered into a timing agreement with the Department of Justice n connection with the DOJ's review of the merger. The timing agreement provides that UnitedHealth and the Change Healthcare will provide the DOJ with ten days' notice before the consummation of the merger, during which time the DOJ may seek to block the consummation of the merger through the filing of a lawsuit. Effective February 17, 2022, UnitedHealth Group and the Change provided such notice to the DOJ. Accordingly, the DOJ now has until February 27 to initiate litigation to block the consummation of the Merger.

17:32 EST OceanPal cancels Calipso time charter contract, enter time charter trip contract - OceanPal announced the cancellation of the time charter contract with Crystal Sea Shipping for its Panamax dry bulk vessel, the m/v Calipso, as announced on February 11. Charterers have exercised their right to cancel the time charter contract since the vessel was not delivered, due to unforeseen delays during berthing and discharging operations, unrelated to the condition of the vessel, within the pre-agreed period. The company also announced that, through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, it has entered into a time charter trip contract with Atlantic Coal And Bulk Pte. Ltd. for the aforementioned vessel, at a gross charter rate of $17,850 per day, minus a 5% commission paid to third parties, for about 25 days. The charter commenced earlier.

17:26 EST Ocugen says FDA lifts clinical hold on IND application for COVID vaccine - Ocugen announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has lifted its clinical hold on the company's Investigational New Drug application to evaluate the COVID-19 vaccine candidate, BBV152, known as COVAXIN outside the United States. COVAXIN is a whole-virion inactivated COVID-19 investigational vaccine candidate that uses the same vero cell manufacturing platform that has been used in the production of polio vaccines for decades. "We are pleased to be able to move our clinical program for COVAXIN forward, which we hope will bring us closer to offering an alternative COVID-19 vaccine," said Dr. Shankar Musunuri, Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, and Co-Founder of Ocugen. "We firmly believe that managing this pandemic requires more than one approach to vaccines, so we are heartened to be able to continue developing our vaccine candidate."

17:04 EST PacWest Bancorp board authorizes $100M stock buyback - According to a regulatory filing, on February 15, 2022, the PacWest Bancorp Board of Directors authorized a new stock repurchase program, effective March 1, 2022, to repurchase company common shares with an aggregate purchase price not to exceed $100M and with a program maturity date of February 28, 2023.

16:35 EST Homology Medicines trading resumes

16:19 EST Newpark Resources enters cooperation agreement with BLR, adds member to board - Newpark Resources announced that the company has entered into a cooperation agreement with Bradley Radoff and affiliates, or BLR, pursuant to which Donald Young will be appointed to the board of directors, effective March 1. With Young's appointment, the board will increase in size by one director. In addition, as part of the cooperation agreement, the company agreed to nominate a diverse candidate with either transactional or industrials expertise for election to the board at the 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders in place of an incumbent director who will not stand for re-election.

16:13 EST Homology Medicines announces FDA clinial hold on pheNIX gene therapy trial - Homology Medicines announced that the FDA has notified the company that its pheNIX gene therapy trial of HMI-102 in adults with phenylketonuria, or PKU, has been placed on clinical hold due to the need to modify risk mitigation measures in the study in response to observations of elevated liver function tests. The company expects to receive an official clinical hold letter within 30 days. Homology plans to provide an update pending further clarity from the FDA.

16:06 EST Kellogg announces supply chain leadership change - Kellogg Company announced changes to its Supply Chain leadership. After nearly 40 years of Kellogg service, Alistair Hirst, senior VP, Global Supply Chain has decided to retire later this year. In accordance with succession plans, Rodrigo Lance, currently VP, Kellogg North America Supply Chain, will succeed Hirst. Lance and Hirst will work together to ensure a smooth transition over the coming months. Hirst joined Kellogg in 1984 serving in several roles of increasing responsibility at Kellogg's Springs, South Africa plant, and in 1993 was named Production Manager at Kellogg's Botany, Australia plant.

15:44 EST FDA says added four lots of AstraZeneca COVID vaccine acceptable for export - The FDA is announcing that it has found an additional four lots of AstraZeneca (AZN) COVID-19 vaccine drug substance manufactured at the Emergent (EBS) facility in Baltimore, Maryland, to be acceptable for use for potential export. "The AstraZeneca vaccine is not authorized for use in the U.S., but the FDA understands that these AstraZeneca lots, or vaccine made from these lots, may now be exported for use. The agency conducted a thorough review of facility records and the results of quality testing performed by the manufacturer and reached its decision based on this review, taking into consideration the current worldwide COVID-19 public health emergency. At this time, the agency does not anticipate making any more determinations on additional AstraZeneca lots manufactured at the Emergent facility," the FDA stated on its website. Reference Link

14:50 EST Alliance Resource Partners says CFO Cantrell to retire in Q1 of 2023 - In a regulatory filing, Alliance Resource Partners said that on February 14, the Partnership announced that Megan Cordle has been named the Vice President, Controller, and Chief Accounting Officer of the Partnership. Cordle succeeds Robert Fouch effective with his retirement on March 1, the company noted. The Partnership is also announcing that Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Brian Cantrell will retire from the Partnership sometime during the first quarter of 2023. "Cantrell's planned retirement is part of an orderly succession plan, and the Partnership has initiated steps to identify a new chief financial officer and expects to do so during 2022," the filing stated.

14:42 EST Sonder Holdings Inc trading resumes

14:02 EST Intel names Christoph Schell as Chief Commercial Officer - Intel (INTC) announced that Christoph Schell has been appointed executive vice president and chief commercial officer to lead the Sales, Marketing and Communications Group, starting March 14. Schell will succeed Michelle Johnston Holthaus, who will take on a new role as general manager of Intel's Client Computing Group. Schell joins Intel from HP Inc. (HPQ), where he was most recently chief commercial officer. "Christoph has an exceptional track record of driving innovative and disruptive go-to-market strategies around the globe. He brings expertise in understanding business segments, verticals and the solutions and services customers want. We are harnessing our core strengths as an advantage to grow in our traditional markets and accelerate our entry into new ones. I'm confident Christoph is the right leader to take on this critical role and guide the talented SMG organization to achieve our growing ambitions," said Pat Gelsinger, Intel CEO.

13:49 EST Exact Sciences CFO sees 'clear line of sight to profitability in 2024' - Jeffrey Elliott, Exact Sciences' CFO, stated while presenting at the SVB Leerink Global Healthcare conference: "So we're fortunate to have a very strong balance sheet. We ended last year with over $1 billion of cash on hand. We also recently put in place a credit facility of up to $150 million. So a hallmark of Exact has always been a strong balance sheet. That will continue for years to come. The difference now is that we have a clear line of sight to profitability in 2024. So for the full year, we expect to be EBITDA positive, adjusted EBITDA positive, which, in this environment, I think, really helps sets us apart, right? In this environment, you see funding challenges. You see companies. You see the stock market volatility. So the fact that we have a big revenue base, we guided to this year about $2 billion of revenue, a strong balance sheet and a clear path to profitability is unique."

13:03 EST EMD Serono says EC approves Tepmetko for certain NSCLC patients - EMD Serono, the Healthcare business of Merck KGaA in the U.S. and Canada, announced that the European Commission has approved once-daily oral Tepmetko as monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, or NSCLC, harboring alterations leading to mesenchymal-epithelial transition factor gene exon 14 skipping, who require systemic therapy following prior treatment with immunotherapy and/or platinum-based chemotherapy. "With the European Commission's approval of TEPMETKO, we are now able to bring this important medicine to more patients with this hard-to-treat and aggressive form of lung cancer. As pioneers in the targeting of the MET signaling pathway, we will now be working on ways to bring this medicine to patients in Europe who may benefit," said Andrew Paterson, Chief Marketing Officer for the Healthcare business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany.

13:01 EST Baker Hughes reports U.S. rig count up 10 to 645 rigs

12:52 EST Baker Hughes reports U.S. rig count up 22 to 635 rigs

12:25 EST Mueller Industries raises quarterly dividend to 25c per share - Mueller Industries announced that its Board of Directors has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend. The company is raising the quarterly dividend to 25c per share payable on April 1, 2022 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on March 18, 2022. This represents a 92 percent increase over the 2021 quarterly dividend.

12:11 EST Spotify users unable to access Joe Rogan Experience podcast - The Joe Rogan Experience podcast is not loading on Spotify and not showing up in search results, various outlets are reporting. Users are met with a "Something went wrong" popup. Shares of Spotify are down 4% to $152.77 in midday trading.

12:00 EST Quanergy falls -11.9% - Quanergy is down -11.9%, or -50c to $3.69.

12:00 EST Ritchie Bros. falls -15.2% - Ritchie Bros. is down -15.2%, or -$8.76 to $48.69.

12:00 EST Energy Vault rises 21.1% - Energy Vault is up 21.1%, or $2.34 to $13.44.

11:53 EST Medtronic reports FDA expanded approval for cardiac cryoablation catheters - Medtronic announced that the Freezor and Freezor Xtra Cardiac Cryoablation Catheters are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and are "the only ablation catheters" approved to treat the growing prevalence of pediatric Atrioventricular Nodal Reentrant Tachycardia, or AVNRT, the most common form of supraventricular tachycardia. "We're proud of our work with PACES and FDA in this first-of-its-kind, multi-stakeholder initiative to address a critical patient population. The shared commitment to collaborate and grow this therapy's unique position to treat AVNRT patients demonstrates our confidence in the proven safety and efficacy of our cryoablation technology," said Rebecca Seidel, president of the Cardiac Ablation Solutions business, which is part of the Cardiovascular Portfolio at Medtronic.

11:13 EST MDV Stock trading resumes

11:08 EST MDV Stock trading halted, volatility trading pause

10:51 EST GE down nearly 5% after warning on impact of supply chain, labor pressures - Shares of General Electric are down $4.70, or almost 5%, to $93.76 after the company stated earlier in a letter to investors that it continues to see supply chain pressure across most of its businesses, as material and labor availability and inflation are affecting Healthcare, Renewable Energy and Aviation, and that it expects "these challenges to persist at least through the first half of the year."

10:30 EST Deere sees supply constraints continuing through 2022

10:28 EST Peoples Bancorp board authorizes $2M stock repurchase program - Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program, whereby up to $2M will be allocated to repurchase the Company's common stock. At December 31, 2021, the Company had assets of $1.6B and stockholder's equity of $142.4M.

10:23 EST GE down 2% to $96.54 after investor letter on supply chain pressures

10:14 EST Deere sees material, freight costs improving in 2H22

10:00 EST Cooper-Standard falls -11.8% - Cooper-Standard is down -11.8%, or -$1.80 to $13.50.

10:00 EST Permian Basin Royalty Trust falls -13.6% - Permian Basin Royalty Trust is down -13.6%, or -$1.57 to $10.00.

10:00 EST Gelesis rises 27.3% - Gelesis is up 27.3%, or 75c to $3.50.

09:55 EST Greenlight Biosciences Holdings PBC trading resumes

09:54 EST Karyopharm jumps as Bloomberg says SVB Leerink confirms presentation cancelled - Shares of Karyopharm Therapeutics are up $1.58, or 13%, to $13.58 in morning trading after Bloomberg headlines indicated that SVB Leerink confirmed that the company cancelled a planned presentation at a conference. Should cancellations can drive speculation regarding whether the company is involved in talks or plans that prompted the change.

09:49 EST Leafly Holdings Inc trading resumes

09:47 EST Shake Shack falls -11.3% - Shake Shack is down -11.3%, or -$8.48 to $66.70.

09:47 EST AMN Healthcare rises 13.6% - AMN Healthcare is up 13.6%, or $12.71 to $106.00.

09:47 EST Energy Vault rises 51.0% - Energy Vault is up 51.0%, or $5.67 to $16.77.

09:44 EST Leafly Holdings Inc trading halted, volatility trading pause

09:40 EST Cepton Inc trading resumes

09:38 EST Vistas Media Acquisition Company Inc trading resumes

09:33 EST Vistas Media Acquisition Company Inc trading halted, volatility trading pause

09:31 EST Cepton Inc trading halted, volatility trading pause

09:21 EST Immunic announces blinded baseline characteristics of phase 2 CALDOSE-1 trial - Immunic announced that Evelyn Peelen, Ph.D., Senior Manager Translational Pharmacology at Immunic, will present preclinical data on the potent anti-inflammatory activity of vidofludimus calcium, the company's selective oral DHODH inhibitor, at the 17th Congress of European Crohn's and Colitis Organization, or ECCO, during the Virtual Poster Exhibition - Basic Science / ePosters being held today. Additionally, Immunic announced the blinded baseline characteristics of its phase 2 CALDOSE-1 trial of vidofludimus calcium in moderate-to-severe UC. In October 2021, Immunic announced the completion of enrollment of the trial. At completion of patient recruitment, the trial had randomized a total of 263 patients into four arms: three active dosing arms of 10 mg, 30 mg and 45 mg, as well as placebo. Top-line data for the induction phase is expected to be available in June of 2022. "Immunic believes that these blinded baseline characteristics of randomized patients and the methodology regarding endoscopic assessments contributes to ensuring an optimized study read-out," the company stated.

09:11 EST Flowers Foods increases quarterly dividend 5% to 21c per share - Flowers Foods announced that its board of directors has declared a quarterly dividend of 21c per share, an increase of 5% over the same quarter last year. This is the 78th consecutive quarterly dividend paid by the company and is payable on March 18 to shareholders of record on March 4.

09:07 EST Kraft Heinz, Google enter multi-year strategic partnership - Kraft Heinz (KHC) and Google (GOOG) announced a new, multi-year strategic partnership in an effort to strengthen Kraft Heinz's focus on understanding its consumers and offering them the products, experiences, and news they want most. By utilizing Google Cloud artificial intelligence and machine learning tools to drive real-time insights from data, Kraft Heinz will drive food innovations such as new flavors, new formulations, and new products, while also shortening time-to-market by reducing the time it takes to decipher what consumers are looking for within a specific category or purchase channel. Kraft Heinz will be able to better understand consumer behavior through insights from its privacy-centric customer data platform built on Google Cloud. Kraft Heinz will be able to use first-party data to personalize consumer experiences from call centers to in-store shopping.

09:05 EST WISeKey says security chips being used to protect IoT devices - The company said, "WISeKey security chips are being used to protect all sort of IoT devices such as #drones and their captured images, satellite communication from agriculture and logistics sensors. These semiconductors, when placed on any object, securely issue NFTs to authenticate and track the object much like an embedded ePassport and confirm the identity of the object on the Blockchain ledger. This digital identity, used throughout the object's lifetime, allows them to become a "Trusted Object" of the Internet, prove their identity and provide verifiable data. WISeKey IoT and data analytics help supply chain managers to make decisions on their objects and prevent possible accidents or other delay-inducing occurrences that happen on the way. The supply-chain benefits from the billions of WISeKey's secure chips are already embedded in high-tech products and goods to protect data, communication and firmware against cyberattacks."

09:02 EST Guardion Health Sciences announces pricing of $11M public offering - Guardion Health Sciences announced the pricing of a previously announced public offering of 37,000,000 shares of its common stock, Class A warrants to purchase up to 37,000,000 shares of its common stock and Class B warrants to purchase up to 37,000,000 shares of its common stock for gross proceeds of approximately $11.1 million prior to deducting placement agent fees and offering expenses. The price to the public for a share of common stock and related Class A warrant and Class B warrant was $0.30. The Class A warrants have an exercise price of $0.37 per share and expire on the fifth anniversary of the date of issuance. The Class B warrants have an exercise price of $0.37 per share and expire eighteen months from the date of issuance. The closing of the offering is expected to take place on or about February 23, 2022, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of customary closing conditions. Roth Capital Partners is acting as the lead agent and Maxim Group LLC is acting as co-agent for the proposed public offering. Guardion intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for working capital and general corporate purposes.

08:57 EST AgriFORCE Growing Systems announces publication of U.S. patent application - AgriFORCE Growing Systems announced that a U.S.patent application entitled "Structures for Growing Plants" has been published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. There are corresponding patent publications in other countries, such as Canada, China, and Europe. The published patent application1highlights innovative design elements of the GrowHouse structure and operational systems, which can allow for: transmissive panels that maximize the full light spectrum; Internet-of-Things technologies, automation and use of artificial intelligence; enhanced insulation for maximizing energy efficiency; foam generators for temperature and ultraviolet light control; and a sealed positive pressure environment that provides optimal temperature, humidity, velocity, filtration, and sanitation of airflow.

08:45 EST JPMorgan CFO: 'Entirely plausible that we could hit' 17% ROTCE in 2023

08:37 EST Legend Biotech reports preliminary FY21 adjusted loss $335.8M-$364.7M - Legend Biotech, in conjunction with an announcement to be issued by Legend Biotech's majority shareholder, GenScript Biotech Corporation, pursuant to the rules of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited, announced preliminary, unaudited financial results for FY21. Legend Biotech expects to report a non-cash fair value loss of approximately $5.7M-$6.4M caused by the changes of fair value of Legend Biotech's warrant liability. As of December 31, 2021, Legend Biotech had approximately $688.9M of cash and cash equivalents, approximately $168.2M of time deposits and approximately $29.9M of financial assets measured at amortized cost.

08:32 EST Troika IO launches bitcoin NFTs backed by luxury brands - Troika Media Group, through its subsidiary, Troika IO, has started to use the Bitcoin ledger to secure its non-fungible tokens backed by luxury brands. With more fashion and luxury brands looking to capitalize on NFTs and crypto offerings, Troika IO will provide a new way for brands to list luxury assets tied to NFTs using a familiar asset such as Bitcoin. Troika's NFT marketplace, Redeeem NFT, serves as a marketplace for luxury asset-backed NFTs and lists a number of rare luxury goods including handbags and wallets, shoes and accessories, and collectable art pieces. Asset-backed NFTs are verified physical items stored in a secure vault. Each item is represented by a series of NFTs that delineate ownership of the physical item and users can choose to redeem the NFT for the physical item at any time, which will be delivered locally by a secure service. Since its launch, Troika.IO has worked with a popular consignment company to authenticate and integrate major luxury fashion brands to its exchange in 2022.

08:25 EST Dollar Tree chairman Bob Sasser to retire - Dollar Tree announced that Bob Sasser intends to retire from his role as executive chairman of Dollar Tree's board of directors prior to the company's 2022 annual meeting of shareholders. In recognition of his many years of outstanding service to the company, the board has unanimously determined to bestow Bob Sasser with the honorary title of chairman emeritus upon his retirement.

08:18 EST Verisk chairman, president, CEO Scott Stephenson to retire - Verisk announced that Scott Stephenson, Chairman, President and CEO of Verisk, will be retiring from the company following Verisk's 2022 Annual Shareholder Meeting. The Verisk Board of Directors has named Lee Shavel, currently CFO of Verisk and group president, to become CEO upon Stephenson's retirement. Mark Anquillare, currently COO of Verisk and group president, will become president of Verisk at that time. Stephenson joined Verisk in 2001 and since his appointment as COO in 2008, president in 2011 and CEO in 2013, the company has become more data analytic and software intensive, more customer-centric and global, and more sustainable and responsible. The naming of Shavel as the next CEO is the culmination of a thorough succession planning process undertaken by the Verisk Board, that included the evaluation of internal and external candidates. In connection with his retirement from the company, Stephenson will step down from the Verisk Board of Directors following the 2022 Annual Meeting. The roles of chair of the board of directors and CEO will be separated effective following the 2022 annual meeting. Shavel's replacement as CFO will be named at a later date.

08:13 EST Moderna expands mRNA pipeline with three new development programs - Moderna announced that it is expanding its mRNA pipeline with three new development programs. This announcement reflects the Company's commitment to expanding its portfolio building on Moderna's experience with Spikevax, its COVID-19 vaccine. The development programs announced today are mRNA vaccine candidates against herpes simplex virus, varicella-zoster virus to reduce the rate of shingles and a new checkpoint cancer vaccine. HSV and VZV are latent viruses that remain in the body for life after infection and can lead to life-long medical conditions. Moderna now has five vaccine candidates against latent viruses in development, including against cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr virus, Human immunodeficiency virus, HSV and VZV. Herpes simplex virus vaccine candidate: Moderna's herpes simplex virus vaccine candidate is a vaccine candidate against HSV-2 disease. Moderna expects that an HSV-2 vaccine could provide cross-protection against HSV-1. With mRNA-1608, the Company aims to induce strong antibody response with neutralizing and effector functionality combined with cell-mediated immunity. There is no vaccine approved against HSV. Herpes simplex viruses are categorized into two types: HSV-1 infects the mouth, face and genitals, and HSV-2 primarily infects the genitals. Both viruses establish lifelong latent infections within nearby sensory neurons from which they can reactivate and re-infect the skin. There is a significant burden of disease from HSV genital infections. Diagnosed, symptomatic genital herpes causes a reduction in quality of life, which antivirals only partially restore. In the U.S., approximately 18.6 million adults ages 18 to 49 years are living with HSV-2. Globally, approximately 5% of the population in the 18-to-49-year age range is HSV-2 seropositive. Moderna expects that an HSV vaccine could deliver similar efficacy as suppressive antiviral treatment and would likely improve compliance and quality of life. Varicella-zoster virus vaccine candidate: Moderna's varicella-zoster virus vaccine candidate is designed to express varicella-zoster virus glycoprotein E to reduce the rate of shingles. Shingles occurs in one of three adults in their lifetime and incidence dramatically increases at approximately 50 years of age. Declining immunity in older adults decreases immunity against VZV, allowing reactivation of the virus from latently infected neurons, causing painful and itchy lesions. Moderna has published preclinical data on an mRNA vaccine encoding the VZV gE antigen. VZV causes shingles. Serious herpes zoster complications include postherpetic neuralgia, bacterial coinfections, and cranial and peripheral palsies; 1-4% of HZ cases are hospitalized for complications. Severity of disease and likelihood of complications, including postherpetic neuralgia also increases with age. Immunocompromised patients, autoimmune disease patients using immunosuppressive therapies, HIV-infected patients, hematopoietic stem cell and organ transplant recipients have an increased risk of developing herpes zoster. The incidence of herpes zoster has been increasing throughout the world from 0.76 per 1000 person years from 1945 to 1949, to 7.2 per 1000 person years in 2016. Checkpoint cancer vaccine: Moderna's new checkpoint cancer vaccine candidate expresses Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase and programmed death-ligand 1 antigens. Moderna designed mRNA-4359 with the goal of stimulating effector T-cells that target and kill suppressive immune and tumor cells that express target antigens. Moderna is planning to explore initial indications for advanced or metastatic cutaneous melanoma and non-small cell lung carcinoma. Melanoma is the fifth most common cancer diagnosis in the U.S. It accounts for 5.3% of all new cancer diagnoses and 1.5% of all cancer-related deaths. Cutaneous melanoma is a cancer that starts in the melanocytes (pigment-producing cells) of the skin. If diagnosed at the local stage, the 5-year survival rate is approximately 95%. However, for regional or metastatic disease, 5-year survival rates decline to approximately 30 to 60%. Approximately 18,000 new patients are diagnosed with stage IIIB+ cutaneous melanoma in the U.S. Advanced melanoma, a rare and serious type of skin cancer, is responsible for most skin cancer-related deaths, despite representing only 1% of skin cancer cases. Current standard of care pembrolizumab, nivolumab or the combination of nivolumab + ipilimumab. NSCLC frequently goes undetected, remaining asymptomatic until it has progressed to later stages. Approximately, 115,000 people are diagnosed with metastatic NSCLC or progress to metastatic disease annually in the U.S. The current approach to treatment of metastatic NSCLC treatment is dependent on the presence of PD-L1 expression. If tumor PD-L1 expression is greater than 50% pembrolizumab or atezolizumab monotherapy are preferred, while a combination of chemotherapy and pembrolizumab is preferred for patients with PD-L1 expression less than 50%.

08:10 EST Creative Realities, Reflect Systems finalizes merger agreement - Creative Realities and Reflect Systems announced that the companies have finalized their merger, which was first disclosed in November 2021. The combined company now operates under the Creative Realities brand name and remains listed on Nasdaq as CREX. The official closure follows just weeks after the two digital signage powerhouses announced they won their first joint customer.

08:06 EST Arbor Realty raises quarterly dividend to 37c per share - The Company announced that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.37 per share of common stock for the quarter ended December 31, 2021, the Company's seventh consecutive quarterly increase, representing a 23% increase over that time span. The dividend is payable on March 18, 2022 to common stockholders of record on March 4, 2022. The ex-dividend date is March 3, 2022.

08:03 EST Atara Biotherapeutics reports MSK notification to FDA of SAE in ATA2271 trial - Atara Biotherapeutics reported Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center's, or MSK, notification to the FDA of a fatal serious adverse event, or SAE, associated with a patient treated in the ongoing Phase 1, MSK-conducted dose-escalation clinical study of autologous mesothelin CAR T, ATA2271. MSK has voluntarily paused enrollment of new patients in the study on a temporary basis while additional information regarding the case is gathered and reviewed. The FDA has notified MSK of its agreement with this approach. ATA2271 is a next-generation, autologous chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy targeting mesothelin currently under clinical investigation in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma. The single case involved a patient with a history of multiple malignancies and other comorbidities undergoing treatment for advanced recurrent mesothelioma. MSK is in the process of further evaluating the occurrence, including the extent of the relationship of the event to ATA2271. The median survival of treated patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma is 9-17 months even with successful completion of a combination of chemotherapy, aggressive surgical resection, and radiation therapy. The first six patients enrolled in the two lowest dose cohorts received either 1x106 cells/kg or 3x106 cells/kg intrapleural ATA2271. Within these two cohorts, no dose limiting toxicities have been reported to date. The patient event being reported relates to the first patient in a third, higher-dose cohort. The temporary pause in ATA2271 study enrollment does not impact the IND-enabling work currently underway to advance ATA3271, a separate, off-the-shelf, allogeneic CAR-T therapy targeting mesothelin using next-generation PD1DNR and 1XX CAR technologies for patients with advanced mesothelioma. ATA3271, ATA3219, tab-cel, and ATA188 all utilize Atara's allogeneic EBV T-cell platform, the safety and tolerability of which has been validated by clinical studies and experience in approximately 400 patients in various disease areas with no observed cytokine release syndrome to date.

07:58 EST Kaival Brands regains compliance with Nasdaq - Kaival Brands announced that it has received a letter from Nasdaq notifying the company that it has regained compliance with the minimum bid price requirement under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550.

07:54 EST Applied UV 'applauds' new policy guidance issued by CMS - The company said, "Applied UV applauds the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services guidance pertaining to Tools to Improve Facility Air Quality held on February 4, 2022 during a nursing home call with stakeholders. The CMS policy guidance would provide funding available for long-term care providers looking to make air quality upgrades to their facilities to reduce the spread of COVID 19. Providers will be able to apply for civil monetary penalty reinvestment funds up to $3,000 per facility (inclusive of shipping) for covered products and supplies to purchase portable fans, air room cleaners with high efficiency particulate air filters to increase or improve air quality." .

07:39 EST Eve & Co announces closing of shares for debt transaction - Eve & Co is pleased to announce it has closed its previously announced shares for debt transaction whereby it settled $657,000 in payables owed to certain directors, officers, employees, and debentureholders related to expenses, loans, and services rendered to the Company up to January 2022 in exchange for an aggregate of 5,189,607 common shares in the capital of the Company. The Company issued the Settlement Shares to settle the Payables in order to preserve cash for general working capital purposes. Pursuant to the Transaction, the Company has issued an aggregate of 908,677 Settlement Shares at a deemed issuance price of $0.12 per Settlement Share in full and final satisfaction of $109,041 of certain directors' fees and salaries and an aggregate of 4,280,929 Settlement Shares at a deemed issuance price of $0.128 per Settlement Share in full and final satisfaction of $547,959 owed to the holders of the Company's outstanding 10% unsecured convertible debentures that were issued on December 11, 2020. Insiders of the Company received 1,916,667 Settlement Shares in settlement of $242,500 of debt. Pursuant to Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions, the Transaction constituted a "related party transaction" as the Insiders are considered to be related parties to the Company. The Company relied on exemptions from the formal valuation and minority approval requirements of MI 61-101 as the fair market value of the securities to be distributed to, and the consideration received from, the Insiders will not exceed 25% of the Company's market capitalization. The settlement of the Payables has been approved by all of the independent directors of the Company and the TSX Venture Exchange. All securities issued pursuant to the Transaction will be subject to statutory and TSXV hold periods until June 18, 2022, being the date that is four months and one day from the date of issuance.

07:35 EST GT Biopharma appoints Manu Ohri as CFO - GT Biopharma announced the appointment of Manu Ohri, who joins the company as its CFO effective immediately. Ohri brings to GT Biopharma over 25 years of management, finance and public accounting experience in working with board of directors, capital markets, independent auditors and attorneys.

07:32 EST Arrowhead initiates AROC3-1001 study - Arrowhead announced that it has dosed the first subjects in AROC3-1001, a Phase 1/2 clinical study of ARO-C3, the company's investigational RNA interference, or RNAi, therapeutic designed to reduce production of complement component 3, or C3, as a potential therapy for various complement mediated diseases.

07:30 EST Deere sees FY22 Production and Precision Ag net sales up 25%-30% - Sees segment operating margin 21%-22%. Sees FY22 Small Ag and Turf net sales up about 15%, with operating margin 15.5%-16.5%. Sees Construction and Forestry net sales up 10%-15%, with operating margin 13.5%-14.5%. Comments taken from Q1 earnings conference call presentation slides.

07:14 EST Guardforce AI announces latest robotic deployments - Guardforce AI announced the deployment of more than 1,400 robots in Asia Pacific region. This includes Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong Macau and Malaysia. The Deployments cover multiple industries including, but not limited to, supermarkets, government facilities, hospitals, hotels, transportation stations, educational institutions, shopping malls, entertainment facilities and restaurants. Beginning in the fourth quarter of 2020, and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic situation, Guardforce AI began rolling out robotic solutions deployments in key markets including Thailand, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Malaysia. A key element of Guardforce AI's business strategy is to offer customers the opportunity to trial its robotic solutions, which in turn has allowed Guardforce AI to quickly establish a sizeable market share and gain a meaningful foothold in the growing robotics space, especially with key customers. The initial phase included the roll out of concierge robots at the entrances and lobbies of buildings and venues equipped with contactless temperature sensing capabilities and reception features on a free trial basis. Initial stages of trial customers converting to fee based monthly services and purchases have begun and is expected to gain momentum over the next 12 to 24 months. The trials have also helped Guardforce AI to gain invaluable feedback and intelligence on other features and applications required by the customers as the COVID-19 pandemic situation evolves. The next step will be to expand further to include other robotics solutions and applications, such as disinfection, delivery, security and cleaning. By integrating these deployed robots onto Guarforce AI's robotics management platform, the Company will progress towards building a truly intelligent network of robots that will have the ability to help customers reduce labor cost and improve operational efficiency.

07:11 EST Builders FirstSource board authorizes $1B stock repurchase plan - Builders FirstSource announced its Board has authorized the Company to repurchase $1B of its common shares. Under the completed share repurchase programs authorized by the Board of Directors in August and November of 2021, a total of 30.6M shares of common stock were repurchased at an aggregate cost of $2B or an average price of $65.43 per share. As of February 17, 2022, shares outstanding were approximately 176.8M shares.

06:58 EST Novartis' Sandoz launches generic lenalidomide in 19 countries across Europe - Sandoz, a Novartis division, announced the launch of generic oncology medicine lenalidomide, indicated for several haemato-oncology conditions as recommended by the latest European Society for Medical Oncology guidelines. The medicine will become available to patients in 19 countries across Europe. "We are proud to make life-enhancing cancer treatments more accessible by launching our affordable and effective Sandoz Lenalidomide. Sandoz is committed to developing and providing generic oncology therapies, to increase patient access to affordable, high-quality medicines. Today, we offer a broad portfolio of more than 50 oncology products3, ranging from biologics to chemotherapeutics, hormones and supportive care treatments, covering a wide range of cancer indications", said Rebecca Guntern, Head of Sandoz Europe.

06:53 EST Takeda Pharmaceutical announces interim analysis results from INSPIRE study - Takeda announced the first six-month interim analysis results from INSPIRE, in which clinical remission was observed in 65% of patients in both cohorts who were evaluated at 6 months. INSPIRE is a European, observational, multicenter, post-approval, open-enrollment study evaluating the real-world effectiveness and safety of Alofisel in patients with Crohn's disease and complex perianal fistulas. As of September 2021, 230 patients had enrolled in the ongoing study. The All Treated cohort consisted of all patients in the study who received Alofisel; the Treated Per Protocol cohort consisted of all patients in the study who received Alofisel according to protocol recommendation. 138 patients in the All Treated cohort and 120 patients in the Treated Per Protocol cohort were six-months post treatment and 66% for AT and 58% for PP had a six-month visit completed. Among them, 85% of the AT cohort and 100% of the PP cohort had clinical outcome data available at six-months. Clinical response was observed in 73% and 74% of patients in the AT and PP cohorts, respectively. Clinical remission was observed in 65% of patients in both cohorts. Changes in CD activity, assessed using the Harvey-Bradshaw Index, post-treatment were minimal.1 Of the 205 patients with complete treatment data, 20% had one or more adverse event and 9.3% had one or more serious adverse event. There were no reports of ectopic tissue formation and no deaths. ADMIRE-CD was a randomized, double-blind, controlled, Phase 3 trial investigating the efficacy and safety of Alofisel for the treatment of complex perianal fistulas in 212 adult patients with non-active/mildly active luminal CD.7 A significantly greater proportion of patients in the Alofisel group, compared to the control group, achieved the primary endpoint of combined remission at a 24 week follow-up, and this was maintained over 52 weeks.13 Alofisel treatment was well-tolerated over 52 weeks, with a similar safety profile in the Alofisel group compared to the control group

06:51 EST Deere sees FY22 net income $6.7B-$7.1B - "Looking ahead, we expect demand for farm and construction equipment to continue benefiting from strong fundamentals," May said. "At the same time, we are excited about the opportunities to create value for our customers and other stakeholders as outlined in our goals. Because of the hard work that has been done executing the Smart Industrial operating model, we are leveraging technology that delivers improved customer profitability, productivity, and sustainability."

06:42 EST AdvanSix targeting 'significant' earnings growth in 2022 - Outlook: Targeting significant earnings growth in 2022 supported by expected strong execution and robust ammonium sulfate fertilizer performance; Expect strong North America demand for nylon and chemical intermediates to continue; Successful integration of U.S. Amines expected to deliver year one earnings accretion; Continue to expect Capital Expenditures to be $95 to $105 million in 2022 reflecting scope of planned plant turnarounds and timing of project execution; Expect pre-tax income impact of planned plant turnarounds to be approximately $33 to $38 million in 2022.

06:37 EST Quarterhill announces ETC signs contract with Alameda County - Quarterhill announced that Electronic Transaction Consultants, or ETC, a Quarterhill company, has signed a contract with the Alameda County Transportation Commission to provide an interim electronic toll collection system and maintenance services on the Interstate 680 Express Lanes in California. The initial term of the contract is two years. The contract is subject to customary terms and conditions and valued at $4M for the implementation, with amendments for maintenance to follow. Over the short term of the integration contract, ETC will reuse existing infrastructure along with the integration of ETC's latest all-overhead lane solution to launch the express lanes into revenue service in 2022. This approach enables Alameda CTC to rapidly put a cost-effective interim solution in place and deliver the anticipated value of the I-680 Express Lanes to their customers while the toll agency finalizes procurement plans for the expansion of the roadway network and integration of a permanent tolling solution.

06:33 EST Lion Electric launches LionCapital Solutions - Lion Electric announced the launch of LionCapital Solutions, a new division dedicated to providing customers with flexible financing solutions specifically tailored to the medium and heavy-duty electric vehicle market.

06:27 EST ETC signs contract with Alameda County Transportation Commission - On February 15, 2022, Electronic Transaction Consultants signed a contract with the Alameda County Transportation Commission to provide an interim electronic toll collection system and maintenance services for Interstate 680 Express Lanes in California. The initial term of the contract is two years. The contract is subject to customary terms and conditions and valued at $4M for the implementation, with amendments for maintenance to follow.

06:03 EST BrightView acquires NatureScape, terms not disclosed - BrightView Holdings announced the acquisition of NatureScape LLC, a landscape maintenance and development company headquartered in Phoenix, Ariz. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. NatureScape is the premiere, full-service commercial landscape company serving clients across the Valley of the Sun. The company has 110 team members, including experts in grounds maintenance, irrigation management, landscape installation and arbor care. NatureScape clients include homeowners' associations, property managers and commercial sites.

06:02 EST Louisiana-Pacific increases quarterly dividend 22% to 22c per share - LP Building Solutions announced that its board of directors has declared an increased quarterly cash dividend to common shareholders of 22c per share, up 22% from its previous 18c per share quarterly dividend. The dividend will be payable March 14 to shareholders of record as of February 28.

05:09 EST Autoliv provides exterior airbag for Nuro autonomous vehicle - Autoliv and Nuro, an autonomous vehicle company, are collaborating to ensure a high safety standard for Nuro's new third-generation, production-grade autonomous delivery vehicle. The new model features an exterior airbag by Autoliv which covers the front of the vehicle when inflated to protect other road users. The third-generation vehicle, called Nuro, is expected to scale its services to millions of people.