Stockwinners Market Radar for August 14, 2017 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

18:27 EDT Trump: Merck a leader in higher drug prices, 'taking jobs out of the U.S.' - President Donald Trump tweeted, "@Merck Pharma is a leader in higher & higher drug prices while at the same time taking jobs out of the U.S. Bring jobs back & LOWER PRICES!" Reference Link

18:02 EDT Crossroads Systems files Chapter 11 case, prepackaged plan of reorganization - Crossroads Systems announced that it has filed a case under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code and a prepackaged Chapter 11 plan of reorganization that has been accepted by the holders of more than 2/3 of the Preferred Shares of CRDS. In connection with the filing, the company entered into restructuring support agreements with 210/CRDS Investment LLC and with certain holders of the company's Series F Preferred Stock. Subject to the terms and conditions of the Plan and the restructuring support agreement with 210, Dallas-based 210 will invest $4M cash in Crossroads Systems in exchange for shares of the reorganized company's common stock representing approximately 49.49% of the common stock of the reorganized company. In addition, 210 will provide up to $10M of financing for the company to use to implement its strategy of monetizing its intellectual property assets and pursuing investments in companies that generate profit and positive cash flows, thus creating long-term shareholder value. The Plan provides for the payment of all creditor claims in full, for holders of Preferred Shares to receive their pro rata share of $2,672,233.78 in cash plus 8% of the common stock of the reorganized company, and for holders of common stock to exchange their existing shares of common stock for an equivalent number of new shares of the common stock of the reorganized company, which shares would constitute approximately 42.51% of the outstanding share of the common stock of the reorganized company.

18:01 EDT Paulson & Co. increases stake in Valeant, exits Akorn, eBay - John Paulson's Paulson & Co. disclosed in an SEC filing its holdings as of June 30. Paulson's new buys during the second quarter included, by size of position, Vistra Energy Corp (VST), VWR Corp (VWR), Horizon Pharma (HZNP), Xcerra Corp (XCRA), and New Relic (NEWR). Paulson exits during the quarter included, by size of previous position, Akorn (AKRX), eBay (EBAY), Pfizer (PFE), Fidelity & Guaranty Life (FGL), and Etsy (ETSY). Paulson increased its stakes in Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX), T-Mobile US (TMUS), DISH Network (DISH), Monsanto (MON), and NXP Semiconductors (NXPI). Paulson reduced its stakes in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (TEVA), Shire (SHPG), Mylan (MYL), Allergan (AGN), and Oasis Petroleum (OAS).

17:41 EDT On The Fly: After Hours Movers - UP AFTER EARNINGS: Fate Therapeutics (FATE), up 16.2%... Extreme Networks (EXTR), up 10.1%... Westport Fuel Systems (WPRT), up 7.3%. ALSO HIGHER: Synchrony Financial (SYF), up 4.6% after Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) took a new stake in the company... Pandora (P), up 4.2% after it named Roger Lynch as its new chief executive officer. DOWN AFTER EARNINGS: Photronics (PLAB), down 16.2%... Hollysys (HOLI), down 7.9%... Reata Pharmaceuticals (RETA), down 1.6%. ALSO LOWER: Omeros (OMER), down 5.9% after it filed to sell 3M shares of common stock... Genpact (G), down 2% after it filed to sell 10M shares of common stock for holders.

17:33 EDT Nasdaq determines Crossroads Systems stock to be delisted - According to a regulatory filing, on August 14, 2017, Crossroads Systems received a letter from The NASDAQ Stock Market stating that in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rules 5101, 5110b and IM-5101-1, Nasdaq has determined that the company's common stock will be delisted from Nasdaq. The Notice further stated that unless the company requests an appeal of Nasdaq's determination, trading of the company's common stock will be suspended at the opening of business on August 23, 2017, and a Form 25-NSE will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which will remove the company's securities from listing and registration on Nasdaq. The company does not intend to request an appeal.

17:29 EDT Costco attributes ruling in Tiffany case to 'multiple errors' in trial procedure - Costco (COST) announced its response to the ruling in the case brought by Tiffany (TIF). Costco respectfully submits that the ruling is a product of multiple errors in pretrial, trial, and post-trial rulings and intends to appeal. As previously reported, the district court determined in 2015 that Costco had committed trademark counterfeiting when Costco displayed solitaire diamond rings in its membership warehouses next to signage that included the word "Tiffany" not combined with an immediately following modifier such as "setting," "set," or "style." Costco attempted to appeal this ruling prior to trial; Tiffany & Co. opposed the appeal, and the appellate court declined to exercise jurisdiction at that time. Thereafter, the district court held a jury trial and instructed the jury that the Court had already "found" that Costco's use of "Tiffany signage in the way I have described was willful and constituted counterfeiting of the Tiffany mark." Based on this instruction, as previously reported, in October 2016 the jury returned a verdict identifying amounts of profits earned on certain ring sales, statutory damages and punitive damages. The rings in question were not stamped or otherwise marked with the Tiffany & Co. name ; they were sold in plain beige and brown wooden boxes; they were accompanied by appraisal documents that did not mention Tiffany & Co., and with sales receipts that did not say Tiffany or Tiffany & Co. Notably, Tiffany & Co. did not claim in the lawsuit that it lost a single sale to Costco as a result of any sign. From a purchaser list of approximately 2,500, Tiffany identified fewer than 10 who said that they had misunderstood Costco's signage. This was not a case about counterfeiting in the common understanding of that word - Costco was not selling imitation Tiffany & Co. rings.

17:23 EDT Paulson & Co. reports new 4.94M share stake in Horizon Pharma

17:16 EDT Macquarie Infrastructure unit to acquire Orion Jet Center, terms not disclosed - Macquarie Infrastructure Corporation announced that its Atlantic Aviation subsidiary has entered into an agreement to purchase the assets of Orion Jet Center at Miami-Opa Locka Executive airport. The acquisition increases the Atlantic Aviation network of fixed base operations to 71 locations throughout the US. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Closing of the transaction is expected in the third quarter of 2017, subject to satisfaction of conditions including receipt of relevant government and regulatory approvals.

17:07 EDT IAMGold acquires 27.7M common shares of TomaGold Corporation - IAMGold announces that it has acquired 27,777,777 common share of TomaGold Corporation. IAMGOLD subscribed for 27,777,777 Common Shares of TomaGold from treasury, representing approximately 19.98% of the outstanding Common Shares of TomaGold. The Common Shares were purchased at a price of $0.09 per Common Share, for an aggregate purchase price of $2.5M. Prior to the Acquisition, IAMGOLD did not hold any Common Shares of TomaGold. IAMGOLD has not acquired the Common Shares with an intention to acquire control of TomaGold. IAMGOLD will monitor the business, prospects, financial condition and potential capital requirements of TomaGold. Depending on its evaluation of these and other factors, IAMGOLD may from time to time in the future increase or decrease its ownership, control or direction over Common Shares or other securities of TomaGold through market transactions, private agreements, subscriptions from treasury or otherwise.

16:59 EDT Eminence Capital reports 5.5% passive stake in New Relic

16:56 EDT Greenlight take new stake in HP Enterprise, exits stake in Time Warner - David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital disclosed in an SEC filing its holdings as of June 30. Greenlight's six new buys during the second quarter included, by size of position, HP Enterprise (HPE), TEGNA (TGNA), Adient (ADNT), Tempur Sealy (TPX), and Cars.com (CARS). Greenlight exited nine positions during the quarter, including by size of previous position, Time Warner (TWX), Syngenta (SYT), Cigna (CI), IAC/InterActiveCorp (IAC), and Alere (ALR). Greenlight increased its stake in five holdings, including by size of previous position, Perrigo (PRGO), Mylan (MYL), Dillard's (DDS), Micron (MU), and DSW (DSW). Greenlight reduced its stake in six holdings, including by size of previous position, Chemours (CC), PVH Corp (PVH), Fred's (FRED), Quorum (QHC), and Apple (AAPL). Greenlight's top holdings as of June 30, in order of size, were General Motors (GM), AerCap (AER), Apple, Mylan, and CONSOL Energy (CNX).

16:50 EDT Melvin Capital reports 5.6% passive stake in Carvana

16:49 EDT Gabelli reports 15.29% stake in Edgewater

16:39 EDT Berkshire Hathaway takes new stakes in Synchrony, STOR Capital - Berkshire Hathaway disclosed in an SEC filing its holdings as of June 30. Berkshire Hathaway's two new buys during the second quarter included, by size of position, Synchrony (SYF) and STORE Capital (STOR). Berkshire Hathaway exited one position during the quarter, GE (GE). Berkshire Hathaway increased its stake in five holdings, including by size of previous position, BNY Mellon (BK), General Motors (GM), and Apple (AAPL). Berkshire Hathaway reduced its stake in seven holdings, including by size of previous position, IBM (IBM), Wells Fargo (WFC), WABCO Holdings (WBC), Sirius XM (SIRI), and United Continental (UAL). Berkshire Hathaway's top holdings as of June 30, in order of size, were Kraft Heinz (KHC), Wells Fargo, Apple, Coca-Cola (KO), and American Express (AXP).

16:36 EDT Northrim BanCorp to sell Northrim Benefits Group to Acrisure - Northrim BanCorp Inc., the parent company of Northrim Bank announced that Northrim Benefits Group, NBG, sold substantially all of its assets to Michigan-based Acrisure. Acrisure, a national insurance brokerage company offering insurance and risk management services, is the 12th largest insurance agency in the United States with more than 120 affiliated agencies. NBG will be Acrisure's second affiliate agency in Alaska."We purchased our ownership in Northrim Benefits Group in 2005 to provide additional financial services to our growing customer base," said Joe Schierhorn, President and CEO of Northrim BanCorp. "Today, we believe there are benefits for Northrim Benefits Group to align with Acrisure, as the health insurance industry continues to evolve. We believe that our customers have benefited from Northrim's relationship with this complementary business services group, and NBG has been a solid contributor to revenues." Northrim is selling its interest in NBG's assets for $4.6 million, generating a net profit after tax of $2.7M, or 39c per share, in the third quarter of 2017. In 2016, NBG contributed $3.8M, or 3.8% of Northrim's total revenues. Current management and staff of NBG will remain in place following the transaction, which closed on August 14. "We are excited to affiliate with Acrisure to provide even more insurance products and services to our customers," said Joshua Weinstein, President of NBG.

16:30 EDT Photronics trading resumes

16:23 EDT Consolidated Tomoka agrees to amendment to Minto Communities sale - Consolidated-Tomoka Land announced that the Company and Minto Communities have agreed to an amendment to the contract for the sale of land to Minto Communities. The Amended Minto II Contract reduced the acres of land being sold to 1,614 acres for a reduced purchase price of $26.5M, which equates to a price per acre of approximately $16,400. The reduced acreage reflects the removal of certain acres the Company determined to retain to benefit certain other of its land parcels. The reduced price per acre reflects the impact of the resolution of the EPA matter regarding the wetlands impacts on the acreage covered by the original contract with Minto which, as a result, reduced the amount of useable acreage and the efficiency of the original design of Minto's development thereby lowering Minto's yield of buildable home sites and adversely impacting certain development costs associated with roadwork and similar design elements. Minto intends to utilize the Second Parcel for the second phase of their active adult community Latitude Margaritaville. The Amended Minto II Contract also accelerated the potential closing date to no later than December 14, 2018 based upon Minto obtaining the necessary development approvals and acknowledges that Minto's inspection period has concluded. Pursuant to the Amended Minto II Contract, Minto has committed to spend a minimum of $300,000 for the purpose of obtaining the aforementioned development approvals.

16:18 EDT DISH to shift Sling TV leadership into Erik Carlson's portfolio - DISH Network (DISH) announced that it will shift the leadership of its over-the-top service, Sling TV, into DISH President and Chief Operating Officer Erik Carlson's portfolio. The move comes with the news that outgoing Sling TV CEO, Roger Lynch, will join Pandora (P) as CEO. Management changes for Sling TV are effective Aug. 31. "Erik is positioned to fully support and grow our enterprise's portfolio, including our Sling TV asset, as we work to connect 100 percent of the country through satellite, OTT, wireless and even digital over-the-air offerings," said Charlie Ergen, DISH Chairman and CEO. "Our company has built incredible assets from satellite, broadband, and streaming technologies, to a fleet of in-home experts and software development. We will continue to leverage those assets to be tuned in to the needs of our customers."

16:12 EDT First Bancorp receives regulatory approval for acquisition of ASB Bancorp - First Bancorp (FBNC) reports that it has now received all required regulatory approvals to acquire ASB Bancorp (ASBB). The ASB Bancorp shareholder meeting to approve the merger transaction is scheduled for September 19, 2017, and shareholders have been mailed the related proxy statement/prospectus. The Company expects to complete the merger of ASB Bancorp into First Bancorp and Asheville Savings Bank, SSB into First Bank on October 1, 2017. Prior to the merger date, ASB Bancorp shareholders will be mailed an election form with instructions and a deadline for electing their desired mix of cash and stock according to the terms of the merger. Asheville Savings Bank, SSB, will continue to operate as Asheville Savings Bank after the merger until the data processing system conversion, which the Company currently expects will occur in March 2018.

16:08 EDT Endurance appoints Jeffrey Fox CEO - Endurance International Group Holdings announced that its board has appointed Jeffrey Fox to the role of president and CEO effective August 22. In addition to his role as president and CEO, Fox will also serve on Endurance's board. He succeeds Hari Ravichandran, the company's founder, who will resign effective August 22, as CEO and as a member of the board, in accordance with the CEO transition plan announced in April.

16:06 EDT Pandora names Roger Lynch CEO - Pandora announced that Roger Lynch will join the company as CEO and president, and a member of its board of directors, effective September 18, 2017. Naveen Chopra, who has served as Pandora's interim CEO since June 2017, will continue in his role as chief financial officer. In addition, Pandora announced it has also appointed Michael Lynton to its board of directors. Lynch has extensive experience leading, innovating and scaling consumer media and technology businesses globally, including having guided a number of companies through critical transformation periods. Through his media industry and subscription experience, Roger has frequently worked with large content providers to effect business models that embrace technological changes in distribution. As the founding CEO of Sling TV, Lynch led the creation, launch and growth of Sling TV to become the #1 Live OTT service in the U.S.

16:03 EDT Photronics announces CFO Sean Smith will retire - Photronics (PLAB ) announced that Sean Smith will retire as senior vice president and CFO of the company, a position he has held since 2002, effective September 4. Smith will remain with the company as principle accounting officer through September, and then as a consultant through early December, to ensure a smooth transition. The company also announced that the board of directors has named John P. Jordan as senior vice president and chief financial officer, effective September 5, 2017. Jordan has most recently been interim vice president, CFO, treasurer and controller of AstroNova (ALOT).

16:00 EDT Photronics trading halted, news dissemination

15:29 EDT Wexford Capital reports 8.02% passive stake in Tiptree Financial

15:16 EDT Tiger Global takes stake in JC Penney, increases Microsoft stake - Tiger Global disclosed in an SEC filing its holdings as of June 30. Tiger's five new buys during the second quarter included, by size of position, Netshoes (NETS), Altice (ATUS), JC Penney (JCP), Okta (OKTA), and Cloudera (CLDR). Tiger exited three positions during the quarter, including by size of previous position, Netease (NTES), Mercadolibre (MELI), and Elf Beauty (ELF). Tiger increased its stake in six holdings, including by size of previous position, Microsoft (MSFT), TransDigm (TDG), Apollo Global (APO), FleetCor (FLT), and Comcast (CMCSA). Tiger reduced its stake in seventeen holdings, including by size of previous position, Charter (CHTR), Fiat Chrysler (FCAU), Domino's (DPZ), Alphabet (GOOG), and Alphabet (GOOGL). Tiger's top holdings as of June 30, in order of size, were Priceline (PCLN), JD.com (JD), Amazon (AMZN), TransDigm, and Apollo Global.

14:46 EDT Herbalife, others fall with China cracking down on pyramid selling - Shares of Herbalife (HLF), Nu Skin Enterprises (NUS) and USANA Health Sciences (USNA) moved lower after China's State Administration for Industry & Commerce posted a statement on its website regarding pyramid selling. China is starting a three-month campaign to shut down organizations that use recruitment as a title to lure people into pyramid selling, the statement reads, according to Bloomberg. No companies were mentioned in the statement. Herbalife in afternoon trading is down 6%, or $4.18, to $61.65 while Nu Skin is down 9% to $55.12 and USANA is down 8% to $53.95. Reference Link

13:55 EDT Former Tesla exec Chris Lattner says to join Google Brain next week - Chris Lattner tweeted: "I'm super excited to join Google Brain (GOOG) next week: AI can't democratize itself (yet?) so I'll help make it more accessible to everyone!" The Fly notes that Lattner left his role as VP of Autopilot software at Tesla (TSLA) after six months in June, commenting "Turns out that Tesla isn't a good fit for me after all. I'm interested to hear about interesting roles for a seasoned engineering leader!" Reference Link

13:07 EDT Facebook Marketplace expanding to Europe - In a news release on Monday, Facebook said, "We're starting to roll out Marketplace to 17 countries across Europe including, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, giving more people a single destination on Facebook to discover, buy and sell goods in their local communities." Reference Link

12:58 EDT GE says Jeff Immelt to remain on Trump's manufacturing council - A statement from a GE spokesperson says: "GE has no tolerance for hate, bigotry or racism, and we strongly condemn the violent extremism in Charlottesville over the weekend. GE is a proudly inclusive company with employees who represent all religions, nationalities, sexual orientations and races. With more than 100,000 employees in the United States, it is important for GE to participate in the discussion on how to drive growth and productivity int he U.S., therefore Jeff Immelt will remain on the Presidential Committee on American Manufacturing while he is the chairman of GE." Reference Link

12:46 EDT Trump calls KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists 'criminals and thugs'

12:40 EDT Kodak cutting 32 jobs in Finger Lakes region, WARN notice shows - Reference Link

12:18 EDT Apple CEO says white supremacy, racism a 'moral issue' - Apple CEO Tim Cook just tweeted, "We've seen the terror of white supremacy & racist violence before. It's a moral issue - an affront to America. We must all stand against it."

11:34 EDT Amarin falls after announcing continuation of Vascepa trial - The shares of Amarin (AMRN) are falling after the company announced that the interim results of a study of its Vascepa drug were not sufficiently positive to trigger a halt of the study. Vascepa lowers the levels of triglycerides, a type of fat in the blood which is believed to lead to heart attacks. Clinical trials that have shown very successful results are sometimes halted to reduce expenses and enable more patients to receive the treatment being studied. Research firm Cantor Fitzgerald remained upbeat on Amarin following today's news. NEWS: An independent committee determined that the interim results of a study of Vascepa were not sufficiently positive to trigger a halt to the study, Amarin reported earlier today. The committee "has recommended that the trial continue as planned without modification," the company stated. The criteria for stopping the trial early "were intentionally set high" because stronger results" will be obtained if the trial is completed, Amarin stated. The final results of the trial are expected in the second or third quarter of 2018, it added. ANALYST REACTION: The current study of Vascepa could result in about 75M patients being eligible for the drug, up from about 4M now, wrote Cantor analyst Louise Chen. The study could also "create a multibillion dollar market opportunity" by establishing a direct cause/effect relationship "between triglyceride levels and cardiovascular risk," she stated. Chen kept a $10 price target and an Overweight rating on the stock. PRICE ACTION: In morning trading, Amarin fell 2.8% to $3.17.

11:22 EDT Under Armour: 'No place for racism or discrimination in this world' - Under Armour tweeted, "We are saddened by #Charlottesville. There is no place for racism or discrimination in this world. We choose love & unity. - CEO Kevin Plank." Reference Link

11:19 EDT Amazon Web Services makes AWS Glue available to all customers - Amazon Web Services has launched AWS Glue, a fully managed extract, transform, and load service that "makes it easy for customers to prepare and load their data into Amazon Simple Storage Service, Amazon Redshift, Amazon Relational Database Service, and databases running on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud for query and analysis. Customers can create and run an ETL job with a few clicks in the AWS Management Console."

11:02 EDT Funds advised by Apax to acquire ECi Software Solutions - Funds advised by Apax Partners announced that they have reached a definitive agreement to acquire ECi Software Solutions, a provider of enterprise resource planning software solutions to small- and medium-sized businesses across the distribution, field services, building and construction and manufacturing industries. ECi is currently owned by affiliates of The Carlyle Group and Level Equity. Carlyle will retain a minority ownership position in the combined company. The transactions are expected to close in the third quarter of 2017, subject to customary closing conditions.

11:00 EDT Lockheed Martin gets $161M US Army contract for ATACMS missiles - Lockheed Martin has received a $161M production contract for the Army Tactical Missile System, ATACMS, missile for the U.S. Army. The missiles will be produced at Lockheed Martin's Precision Fires Production Center of Excellence in Camden, Arkansas. The contract calls for the production of 150 ATACMS missiles as part of the ATACMS Service Life Extension Program. "The ATACMS Service Life Extension Program takes existing missiles and refurbishes them, resetting their shelf life," said Scott Greene, vice president of Precision Fires at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "ATACMS provides the combatant commanders with critical, deep-strike capability to service high-value targets in all weather conditions."As part of the U.S. Army's ATACMS Service Life Extension Program, the modernization process disassembles and demilitarizes ATACMS Block 1 and 1A warheads, replacing them with new unitary warheads. The process also resets the missile's 10+ year shelf life. ATACMS is the U.S. Army's only tactical long-range precision strike surface-to-surface weapon system. ATACMS missiles can be fired from the entire family of Multiple Launch Rocket System launchers.This is the first production contract for Modernized ATACMS missiles for the U.S. Army. Lockheed Martin has produced more than 3,800 ATACMS missiles. More than 600 ATACMS have been fired in combat, and the system has demonstrated extremely high rates of accuracy and reliability while in theater. Each ATACMS missile is packaged in a Guided Missile Launch Assembly pod, and is fired from the MLRS family of launchers.

10:39 EDT International Paper upgraded after containerboard price increases - DA Davidson upgraded packaging maker International Paper (IP) to Buy from Neutral, saying that the company is benefiting from successful containerboard price increases, strong box shipments and a rebound in its pulp business. PRICES, BOX SHIPMENTS: Two increases in containerboard prices were successfully implemented since International Paper reported its fourth quarter results, noted DA Davidson analyst Steven Chercover. Meanwhile, box shipments increased 3% in the first half of the year, he added. PULP BUSINESS, MIX: The earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of International Paper's pulp business should jump 42% in fiscal 2018 after fluff prices rose, the analyst stated. Additionally, fluff looks poised to make up a higher percentage of the company's revenue going forward, boosting the company's overall results, according to Chercover. OVERALL OUTLOOK: International Paper's overall comp sales should resume increasing this quarter and its profits should rise by 19% in Q3, which would be the first increase in its profits in six quarters, according to Chercover. Moreover, the stock's multiple should increase as investors become more confident in the company's containerboard business and it generates strong free cash flow, Chercover predicted. He kept a $62 price target on the stock. PRICE ACTION: In morning trading, International Paper rose 2.2% to $53.75. Other packaging makers also climbed, with KapStone Paper (KS) advancing 1.4% to $22, Packaging Corp of America (PKG) rising 1% to $108.60, and WestRock (WRK) adding 1.5% to $56.45.

10:29 EDT Cooperman's Omega buys MaxLinear, Ocwen and L Brands in Q2 - Leon Cooperman's Omega Advisors disclosed in an SEC filing its holdings as of June 30. Omega made 21 new buys during the second quarter, including, by order of size, MaxLinear (MXL), Ocwen Financial (OCN), Covanta (CVA), L Brands (LB) and Trinity Industries (TRN). Omega exited 24 positions during the quarter, including by size of previous position, Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), TRI Pointe (TPH), Williams Partners (WPZ), Humana (HUM) and Pandora Media (P). The fund increased its stake in 19 holdings, including by size, Microsoft (MSFT), Sinclair Broadcast (SBGI), Valvoline (VVV), Nabors Industries (NBR) and Zynga (ZNGA). Omega reduced its stake in 16 holdings, including by size, HRG Group (HRG), Altisource Portfolio Solutions (ASPS), Arris (ARRS) and Lowe's (LOW). Omega's top holdings as of June 30, in order of size, were Alphabet Class A (GOOGL), First Data (FDC), United Continental (UAL), AerCap (AER) and Dow Chemical (DOW).

10:27 EDT Analyst sees Disney loss having minimal impact on Netflix subscribers - Although Netflix (NFLX) shares slipped following Disney's (DIS) announcement that the company was ending its distribution agreement with the former, Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Olson told investors that he believes the loss will have a minimal impact on the streaming service subscribers. SURVEY SAYS: In a research note to investors this morning, Piper Jaffray's Olson says Disney ending its agreement for distribution of certain content is a negative headline, but it will have "minimal impact" on Netflix. This follows his firm survey of over 500 U.S. Netflix subscribers, asking what percent of their Netflix time is spent on Disney. The analyst pointed out that Piper found that "only" around 20% of subscribers spend greater than 10% of their Netflix time viewing Disney content. Further, he expects "almost none" of the remaining 80% of subscribers to cancel due to the loss of Disney. The 20% of heavier Disney viewers are unlikely to cancel unless Disney accounts for a larger portion, greater than 40%, of their Netflix viewing time, Olson contended. While Olson recognized the strength of Disney's content, particularly for younger children, the analyst noted that he believes Netflix can license similar genre content from other sources and/or use the cost savings for original programming. Netflix is likely already in the process of determining how to effectively reallocate funds previously earmarked for Disney, he said, adding that the company has nearly 18 months to plan for this change. The analyst reiterated an Overweight rating and $215 price target on Netflix's shares. ENDING AGREEMENT: Last week when Disney reported third quarter earnings, the company announced that it will launch its ESPN-branded multi-sport video streaming service in early 2018, followed by a new Disney-branded direct-to-consumer streaming service in 2019. Additionally, Disney said it will end its distribution agreement with Netflix for subscription streaming of new releases, beginning with the 2019 calendar year film slate. PRICE ACTION: In Monday morning trading, shares of Netflix have dipped 0.66% to $170.27, while Disney's stock is fractionally up to $102.20.

10:24 EDT Cooperman's Omega buys MaxLinear, Ocwen and L Brands in Q2 - Leon Cooperman's Omega Advisors disclosed in an SEC filing Friday after the close its holdings as of June 30. Omega made 21 new buys during the second quarter, including, by order of size, MaxLinear (MXL), Ocwen Financial (OCN), Covanta (CVA), L Brands (LB) and Trinity Industries (TRN). Omega exited 24 positions during the quarter, including by size of previous position, Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), TRI Pointe (TPH), Williams Partners (WPZ), Humana (HUM) and Pandora Media (P). The fund increased its stake in 19 holdings, including by size, Microsoft (MSFT), Sinclair Broadcast (SBGI), Valvoline (VVV), Nabors Industries (NBR) and Zynga (ZNGA). Omega reduced its stake in 16 holdings, including by size, HRG Group (HRG), Altisource Portfolio Solutions (ASPS), Arris (ARRS) and Lowe's (LOW). Omega's top holdings as of June 30, in order of size, were Alphabet Class A (GOOGL), First Data (FDC), United Continental (UAL), AerCap (AER) and Dow Chemical (DOW).

10:22 EDT Duke Energy Renewables to acquire 24.9MW solar project from Invenergy - Duke Energy Renewables is acquiring the 24.9-megawatt, MW, Shoreham Solar Commons project on Long Island from Invenergy.The project, currently under construction by Invenergy, is located in Brookhaven, New York, about 60 miles east of Manhattan. It is being built on the grounds of the former Tallgrass Golf Course and is expected to be complete in the second quarter of 2018. The Long Island Power Authority, LIPA, will purchase the power under a 20-year agreement. "We are excited to enter New York with a renewables project that offers many benefits to the state and local community," said Rob Caldwell, president, Duke Energy Renewables and Distributed Energy Technology. "The solar project will help meet the energy needs of LIPA's customers while delivering tremendous economic and environmental benefits."The project is expected to create more than 175 local jobs during construction and generate between $700,000 and $900,000 in annual tax revenue for the local community.Invenergy recently closed construction financing for the project with MUFG, the administrative agent and lead arranger. Duke Energy Renewables will close on the transaction post-construction, pending federal and local approvals.

10:09 EDT Sphere 3D advances after executing a private placement for $3M - Sphere 3D Corp announced earlier that it has has executed a private placement for gross proceeds of U.S. $3M.The placement consists of a total of 600,000 "Units," as further defined below, at a purchase price of U.S. $5.00 per Unit. Each Unit consists of one common share and one warrant to purchase one common share. The warrants are exercisable to purchase 600,000 common shares in the aggregate and have an exercise price of U.S. $5.25 per share, a 5-year term, and are exercisable in whole or in part at any time prior to expiration. MF Ventures, which beneficially owns, directly or indirectly, securities of the company carrying more than 10% of the voting rights attached to the outstanding voting securities of the company, participated in the private placements by acquiring 300,000 common shares and warrants to purchase 300,000 common shares. As a result, the participation of MF Ventures, constitutes a "related party transaction" within the meaning of Canadian Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions. Shares of Sphere 3D are up 6.4% to $4.61 in early trading.

10:02 EDT First Interstate announces merger of Bank of the Cascades into First Interstate - Less than three months after the completion of its acquisition of Cascade Bancorp, First Interstate BancSystem announced that it has consolidated its two subsidiary banks by merging Bank of the Cascades into First Interstate Bank. As a result of this merger, all former Bank of the Cascades locations are now operating under the First Interstate Bank name.

09:54 EDT Sysco sees inflation continuing for balance of CY18 - Sees inflation continuing for balance of CY18. Sees FY18 CapEx approximately 1.3%-1.4% of sales. Sysco says it will continue to grow the dividend and make opportunistic share repurchases and buybacks to offset dilution. Comments from slides that will be presented on the Q4 earnings conference call.

09:41 EDT Goldman Sachs CEO: 'Isolate those who try to separate us' - Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein tweeted: "Lincoln: 'A house divided against itself cannot stand.' Isolate those who try to separate us. No equivalence w/ those who bring us together." Reference Link

09:32 EDT Medtronic announces global randomized Resolute Onyx DES trial - Medtronic announced a global randomized clinical trial that will evaluate one-month dual antiplatelet therapy - the combination of aspirin and an anti-clotting medication - in patients implanted with the Resolute Onyx Drug-Eluting Stent during percutaneous coronary intervention. Designed to evaluate clinical DAPT outcomes between two DES for the first time ever, the RESOLUTE ONYX ONE-MONTH DAPT Study intends to help inform DAPT guidelines for newer-generation DES that currently favor bare-metal stents for patients with stable ischemic heart disease who might require a shorter dual antiplatelet regimen. The study further demonstrates the significant clinical investment from Medtronic to provide relevant DAPT evidence to physicians for both current and previous generation DES, including the Zotarolimus-eluting Endeavor Sprint Stent in Uncertain DES Candidates Study that showed significant safety benefits with a previous generation DES vs. BMS in patients who would typically not receive a DES, such as those at a high risk for bleeding.

09:20 EDT On The Fly: Pre-market Movers - UP AFTER EARNINGS: Azul (AZUL), up 2%... VMware (VMW), up 4.4% after reporting preliminary second quarter results. ALSO HIGHER: Merck (MRK), up marginally after Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Frazier announced that he is resigning from the President's American Manufacturing Council. LOWER: Sysco (SYY), down fractionally after reporting quarterly results.

09:15 EDT Target to acquire transportation technology company Grand Junction - Target announced it has agreed to acquire Grand Junction, a transportation technology company, to improve and expand Target's delivery capabilities. The acquisition will also accelerate Target's investments and ongoing efforts to transform its supply chain. San Francisco-based Grand Junction offers a software platform that's used by retailers, distributors and third-party logistics providers to manage local deliveries through a network of more than 700 carriers. Currently, Grand Junction is working with Target on its same-day delivery pilot at the Target store in New York's Tribeca neighborhood. Upon deal close, Grand Junction's employees will become Target team members.

09:09 EDT Regeneron to discontinue development of suptavumab - Regeneron Pharmaceuticals announced that a Phase 3 study evaluating suptavumab, an antibody to respiratory syncytial virus, did not meet its primary endpoint of preventing medically-attended RSV infections in infants. Suptavumab did show signs of efficacy in a subgroup of patients. Adverse events were generally balanced between suptavumab and placebo. Regeneron plans to discontinue further clinical development of this antibody. "We are disappointed in these results, as we had hoped suptavumab might offer a new option for the thousands of infants impacted by serious RSV infections every year," said George D. Yancopoulos, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Scientific Officer of Regeneron. "Regeneron has a robust pipeline across many serious diseases, and we look forward to important data readouts from other programs in the coming weeks and months."

09:05 EDT Ronin Trading, SW Investment respond to announcements by Peregrine - Ronin Trading and SW Investment Management, collectively the second largest stockholder of Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, with aggregate beneficial ownership of approximately 8.8% of the company's outstanding shares of common stock, issued the following statement with respect to Peregrine. "We find it outrageous that Peregrine's Board of Directors and management chose to fire roughly 20% of the Company's employees while doing nothing to address their own unjustifiable and egregious compensation. If the Company needs to reduce costs, the first place it should look is the preposterously high salaries of its own Board and management. We remind stockholders what Institutional Shareholder Services said in its 2016 proxy report on Peregrine: 'WITHHOLD votes are warranted for compensation committee members Carlton M. Johnson Jr., David H. Pohl, and Eric S. Swartz due to continued problematic pay practices and the board's failure to adequately respond to shareholder concerns.' On July 31, 2017, Peregrine's Board announced an intention to increase the size of the Board from four to up to seven members by adding up to three new directors with - unlike themselves - actual pharmaceutical and contract development and manufacturing experience. This was a laughable attempt to appear stockholder-friendly since it would brazenly further entrench the incumbents while allowing them to retain a majority of Board seats. Notably, the Company did not actually expand the size of the Board, presumably because the Board's announcement was purely reactive to our public criticisms and it had not successfully identified additional candidates to serve on its slate. It is no surprise to us that the Board appears to be having difficulty finding highly qualified, ethical people to serve as nominees alongside themselves, given their own questionable backgrounds and records of value destruction. Furthermore, based on the feedback we have received from many stockholders in recent weeks, we believe support for the Board at the 2017 Annual Meeting will be nearly nonexistent, thus making it even more difficult for the Board to find additional qualified nominees. In the event Peregrine proceeds with the expansion of the Board, we will timely nominate additional highly qualified director candidates to ensure that control of the Board does not remain with the incumbents or their hand-picked additions. We believe a similar problem exists with the Board's ability to identify the right candidate to serve as the President of Avid Bioservices. We doubt whether any qualified candidate would be interested in the position given the current leadership structure of the Company and lack of any strategic plan put forth by the Board. To the extent that a President of Avid is hired prior to the 2017 Annual Meeting, if elected, our director candidates intend to immediately evaluate the appropriateness of the hire. It is insulting to employees and stockholders alike that management and the Board were responsible for these unfortunate layoffs, but apparently unwilling to sacrifice anything personally. Recent actions by management and the Board further validate our belief that their only concern appears to be their own personal enrichment, which we are confident will soon (and to everyone's relief) be coming to an end. The facts remain clear, and given what we believe is the extraordinarily low likelihood of the incumbent independent Board members being reelected at the 2017 Annual Meeting, we call on Peregrine's independent directors, Carlton M. Johnson Jr., David H. Pohl and Eric S. Swartz, to resign their Board seats immediately. Peregrine can no longer afford to allow Peregrine's current leadership to needlessly destroy more value in a futile attempt to cling to their positions. We are confident that our director nominees are the right people to end Peregrine's culture of leadership unaccountability, and will be able to finally set Peregrine on a path towards value creation."

09:02 EDT Lionsgate, Redbox announce new day-and-date agreement - Redbox and Lionsgate have signed a new agreement making Lionsgate content available at Redbox kiosks the same day as retail sell-through dates. By the end of 2017, Redbox will have more than 41,500 kiosks nationwide, due to a robust national expansion of 1,500 net new kiosks this year, with even more planned in 2018.

09:01 EDT Amazon says AWS selected by Hulu as cloud provider - Amazon Web Services, an Amazon.com company (AMZN), announced that Hulu has selected AWS as its cloud provider, and leveraged AWS to launch its new, over-the-top live TV service. Hulu turned to AWS for a scalable, agile, and cost effective infrastructure to support the addition of more than 50 live channels for the Hulu with Live TV launch in May 2017. Hulu is a joint venture owned by 21st Century Fox (FOXA), Comcast (CMCSA), Disney (DIS) and Time Warner (TWX).

08:57 EDT Calumet Specialty Products to sell Superior refinery and related assets - Calumet Specialty Products announced that it has signed definitive agreements to sell the ownership of its Superior, Wisconsin refinery and various related assets to Husky Superior Refining Holding Corporation, a wholly owned unit of Husky Energy. Under the agreement, Husky has agreed to pay $435M in cash plus an additional payment for net working capital, inventories, and reimbursement of certain capital spending. Had the transaction closed on June 30, the additional payment would have been $61.5M. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

08:48 EDT Ackman's Pershing started buying ADP in Q2, exited Air Products - Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management disclosed in an SEC filing its holdings as of June 30. Pershing made one new buy during the quarter, 1.75M shares of ADP (ADP). The fund exited one stake, Air Products (APD). It increased its holding in one name, buying 1.14M shares of Howard Hughes (HHC), and lowered its stake in one name, Mondelez (MDLZ). Pershing's top holdings as of June 30, in order of size, were Restaurant Brands (QSR), Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), Mondelez, Howard Hughes and Platform Specialty Products (PAH).

08:46 EDT Charles Schwab reports July net new assets $15.8B - The Charles Schwab Corporation released its Monthly Activity Report. Company highlights for the month of July 2017 include: Net new assets brought to the company by new and existing clients in July 2017 totaled $15.8B. Total client assets were a record $3.1T as of month-end July, up 15% from July 2016 and up 2% compared to June 2017. New brokerage accounts totaled 107,000 in July, up 27% from July 2016, representing a record-tying eighth consecutive month of new accounts in excess of 100,000.

08:42 EDT Merck CEO Frazier resigns from President's American Manufacturing Council - Merck Chairman and CEO Kenneth Frazier announced on Twitter that he is resigning from the President's American Manufacturing Council. He said "Our country's strength stems from its diversity and the contributions made by men and women of different faiths, races, sexual orientations and political beliefs. America's leaders must honor our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy, which run counter to the American ideal that all people are created equal. As CEO of Merck and as a matter of personal conscience, I feel a responsibility to take a stand against intolerance and extremism." Reference Link

08:40 EDT Merck CEO Frazier resigns from President's American Manufacturing Council

08:34 EDT Immersion, Yomuneco sign licensing agreement for gaming, VR applications - Immersion Corporation announced it has signed an end-user license agreement with Tokyo-based Yomuneco, which is an equity-method company of gumi. The agreement enables Yomuneco to add tactile feedback to its gaming applications using Immersion's TouchSense Force solution for the Unreal Engine design tool. Yomuneco is now developing a new VR role-playing game which is scheduled to be released in 2018. With Immersion's TouchSense Force solution, Yomuneco can develop haptic effects for its games and gaming platforms to create rich, multi-dimensional user experiences.

08:32 EDT Global Medical REIT names Robert Kiernan CFO - Global Medical REIT (GMRE) announced that Robert Kiernan will join the company as its CFO and treasurer, effective August 23. Kiernan will oversee corporate finance, accounting, and capital and financing strategies for the company and will report to CEO David Young. Kiernan will succeed Donald McClure, who is pursuing other opportunities. Prior to joining the company, Kiernan served as the SVP, controller and chief accounting officer of FBR (FBRC) commencing in October 2007.

08:32 EDT Genie Energy acquires Mirabito Natural Gas for $3M plus working capital - Genie Energy announced that its Genie Retail Energy division has acquired Mirabito Natural Gas, a Ft. Lauderdale, Florida-based natural gas supplier, from Angus Energy for $3M plus Mirabito's working capital. Mirabito Gas serves commercial and governmental customers throughout Florida. Its customer base comprises approximately 10,000 residential customer equivalents.

08:30 EDT Digiliti Money trading resumes

08:27 EDT Crossroads Systems trading halted, news pending

08:22 EDT Fortress Biotech forms new subsidiary - Fortress Biotech announced the formation of a new subsidiary company, Aevitas Therapeutics, to develop novel gene therapy approaches for complement-mediated diseases. The proprietary technology, licensed from a leading university, uses adeno-associated virus, or AAV,-based gene therapy to restore lasting production of functional complement regulatory proteins, providing a potentially curative treatment.

08:14 EDT Abbott extends offer for Alere Series B Convertible Perpetual Preferred Stock - Abbott (ABT) announced that it is extending its previously announced tender offer to purchase for cash all outstanding shares of Series B Convertible Perpetual Preferred Stock of Alere (ALR) at a price of $402.00 per share of Preferred Stock, plus accrued but unpaid dividends to, but not including, the settlement date of the tender offer, net to the seller thereof in cash, without interest thereon and subject to any withholding of taxes required by applicable law. The Offer is being made pursuant to an Offer to Purchase, dated July 17, and in connection with Abbott's previously announced agreement to acquire Alere. The Merger is not conditioned upon, or otherwise subject to, the completion of the Offer. The Offer is being extended to allow additional time for the consummation of the Merger, which is a condition to the completion of the Offer. The Offer was previously scheduled to expire at 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2017 and will now expire at 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. If, at the Expiration Date, any of the conditions to the Offer have not been satisfied or waived, Abbott may elect to further extend the Offer for any length of time and in its sole discretion, but is under no obligation to do so.

08:10 EDT Biocept enters exclusive distribution agreement with VWR - Biocept announces that it has signed an exclusive global Distribution Agreement excluding China, for the company's proprietary blood collection tubes with VWR International, the leading global independent provider of product and service solutions to laboratory and production customers. Biocept's BCTs allow for the intact transport of liquid biopsy samples for research use only from regions around the world. Commercial launch is anticipated to begin in the second half of 2017.

08:07 EDT Inspired Entertainment adopts stockholder rights plan with a 20% threshold - Inspired Entertainment announced that on August 13 its Board of Directors unanimously adopted a stockholder rights plan with a 20% triggering threshold and declared a dividend distribution of one preferred share purchase right on each outstanding share of Inspired common stock. The rights plan is effective immediately and, if approved by stockholders at the Company's 2018 annual meeting, will expire on August 12, 2020. If stockholders do not approve the rights plan, it will expire on August 12, 2018. The rights plan was not adopted in response to any specific effort to acquire control of Inspired. The Board unanimously adopted the rights plan in response to the potential for a purchase or purchases of a substantial number of shares of Inspired common stock by any person or group that could gain a substantial, and potentially controlling, position in the Company through open-market purchases and/or private transactions without appropriately compensating all of the Company's stockholders for such control. In June 2017, contractual lock-up restrictions covering approximately 14.5 million of the approximately 22.4 million outstanding shares of Inspired common stock expired, and in July 2017, the Company registered approximately 16.7 million shares of Inspired common stock for resale by selling stockholders, including approximately 15.6 million shares of Inspired common stock beneficially owned by three stockholders. Although contractual lock-up restrictions covering approximately 2.2 million of such registered shares are in place through December 23, 2017, these restrictions expire if the last sale price of Inspired common stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing after May 22, 2017. The Board implemented the rights plan as a means to ensure that all of Inspired's stockholders are treated fairly. The rights plan is designed to limit the ability of any person or group to gain.

08:06 EDT Lockheed Martin named as prime contractor of USSOCOM program - Lockheed Martin has been named prime contractor of U.S. Special Operations Command's next-generation logistics and sustainment support program. The Special Operations Forces Global Logistics Support Services program is the competitive follow-on contract to the Special Operations Forces Contractor Logistics Support Services contract awarded in 2010 and managed by Lockheed Martin. SOF GLSS is USSOCOM's largest service contract vehicle, providing the full scope of logistics services required to support the U.S. Special Operations community. It is a 10-year Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract with an $8B ceiling. Under the SOF GLSS contract, U.S. Special Operations Forces will receive a wide variety of advanced logistics, maintenance and sustainment services across aviation, ground and maritime platforms. In addition, the Lockheed Martin SOF GLSS team will provide USSOCOM with total global logistics support services.

08:05 EDT B&G Foods names Bruce Wacha as EVP of Corporate Strategy & Business Development - B&G Foods (BGS) has appointed Bruce C. Wacha as EVP of Corporate Strategy and Business Development, a newly created position, effective August 21. In this role, Wacha will oversee the company's corporate strategy and business development, including mergers & acquisitions, capital markets transactions and investor relations and serve on the company's executive management team, reporting to President and CEO Robert C. Cantwell. Wacha joins B&G Foods from Amira Nature Foods (ANFI), where he spent three years as that company's CFO and executive director of the board of directors.

07:55 EDT Digiliti Money trading halted, news pending

07:45 EDT DSP Group announces new $10M stock repurchase program - DSP Group announced that in light of its strong cash position and its focus on shareholder value, the company's board has unanimously authorized the company to repurchase additional shares of the company's common stock in an aggregate amount of up to $10M.

07:41 EDT Neff trading resumes

07:32 EDT Neff board hasn't changed recommendation in support of H&E merger

07:31 EDT Lilis Energy, Lucid Energy Group enter agreement in Permian Basin - Lilis Energy announced it has entered into a long-term gas gathering, processing and purchase agreement with an affiliate of Lucid Energy Group to support Lilis's active drilling program in the Permian's Delaware Basin. Lucid will receive, gather and process Lilis's gas production from certain production areas located in Lea County, New Mexico and in Loving and Winkler counties, Texas. The agreement secures sufficient term and capacity for Lilis during its development and exploitation life cycle of the production areas committed to the new agreement.

07:29 EDT Camtek, Sun Chemical establish strategic cooperation - Camtek has established a strategic cooperation with Sun Chemical, a leading producer of printing inks, coatings and supplies, pigments, polymers, liquid compounds, solid compounds, and application materials. In the framework of this cooperation, Sun will develop liquid solder mask ink to be used in Camtek's inkjet system for PCB applications. The resulting ink may also target all other end user markets for PCB manufacturing, including the high-end automotive sector, with soldermask technology capable of meeting the most stringent OEM specifications, and the parties will share profits derived from the ink developed.

07:16 EDT CytoSorbents awarded $719,000 grant from U.S. Army - CytoSorbents announced that it has been awarded a grant from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command to develop new blood purification therapies to acutely stabilize victims of severe burn injury. This work aligns with the Combat Casualty Care Research Program burn injury task area of the Forward Surgical En Route and Critical Care research portfolio. This grant provides for a maximum funding of $719,000 over four years. The company will collaborate with leading burn researchers at the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research in San Antonio, Texas.

07:08 EDT CenterState Banks announces two acquisitions - CenterState Banks announced the concurrent signing of two separate definitive merger agreements: under one agreement, CenterState will acquire HCBF Holding Company, the parent company of Harbor Community Bank, Ft. Pierce Florida; and under the other agreement, CenterState will acquire Sunshine Bancorp, the parent company of Sunshine Bank, Plant City, Florida. Upon completion of each merger, the subsidiary bank of each of Harbor and Sunshine will merge into CenterState Bank. Upon completion of both mergers, CenterState will become the largest community banking company in the state of Florida by assets, market capitalization, deposit market share and branch footprint. Based on June 30, 2017 results, including the impact of purchase accounting, the combined company is expected to have pro forma approximately $10.1 billion in assets, $6.6 billion in loans and $8.1 billion in deposits, and would expand and strengthen CenterState's presence in key Florida markets. The two transactions combined are expected to result in mid-single-digit EPS accretion and minimal tangible book value dilution, expected to be earned back in less than three years on a fully phased in basis, including the impact of CenterState crossing $10 billion in assets. Subject to the terms of the Harbor merger agreement, Harbor shareholders will receive 0.675 of a share of CSFL common stock and $1.925 in cash consideration for each outstanding share of Harbor common stock. Based on CSFL's stock price of $23.93 as of August 11, 2017, this equates to a per share value of $18.08 and an aggregate deal value of $416.7 million. Upon completion of the Harbor merger, Mike Brown, Sr., Chairman and CEO of Harbor, will join the CenterState board of directors. Subject to the terms of the Sunshine merger agreement, Sunshine shareholders will receive 0.89 shares of CSFL common stock for each outstanding share of Sunshine. Based on CSFL's stock price of $23.93 as of August 11, 2017, this equates to a per share value of $21.30 and an aggregate deal value of $176.7 million. Each of the Harbor and Sunshine merger agreements has been unanimously approved by the CenterState board of directors. The Harbor board of directors has unanimously approved the Harbor merger agreement, and the Sunshine board of directors has unanimously approved the Sunshine merger agreement. Each of the transactions is expected to close in the first quarter of 2018 and is not conditioned on the other.

07:06 EDT Brown & Brown announces asset acquisition of Shenkel Insurance Agency - Brown & Brown and Steven Shenkel, sole principal of Shenkel Insurance Agency, announced that Brown & Brown of Massachusetts, LLC, a subsidiary of Brown & Brown, Inc., has acquired substantially all of the assets of Shenkel Insurance. Following the transaction, Shenkel Insurance will combine with Brown & Brown's profit center in Dedham, Massachusetts, which operates under the direction of Mike Ross.

07:04 EDT Ultralife awarded $4.7M communications system follow-on contract - Ultralife has been awarded a contract valued at approximately $4.7M to supply its Vehicle Installed Power Enhanced Rifleman Applique, or VIPER, to Thales Defense & Security. This contract follows VIPER awards received and shipped in 2015 and 2016 totaling $10.5M. Shipments are expected to commence in 2017 and be completed in the first half of 2018.

07:04 EDT CEL-SCI says FDA removes clinical hold on Phase 3 head and neck cancer trial - CEL-SCI announced it has received a letter from the U.S. FDA stating that the clinical hold that had been imposed on the company's Phase 3 cancer study with Multikine has been removed and that all clinical trial activities under this Investigational New Drug application may resume. Multikine is being studied as a potential first-line immunotherapy that is aimed at harnessing the patient's own immune system to produce an anti-tumor response. Nine hundred twenty-eight newly diagnosed head and neck cancer patients have been enrolled in this Phase 3 cancer study and all the patients who have completed treatment continue to be followed for protocol-specific outcomes in accordance with the Study Protocol. The study's primary endpoint is a 10% increase in overall survival for patients treated with the Multikine treatment regimen plus standard of care versus those who receive SOC only. The determination if the study's primary end point has been met will occur when there are a total of 298 deaths in those two groups. Current SOC for this indication is surgery, followed by radiation therapy alone or followed by concurrent radio-chemotherapy.

07:03 EDT Erin Energy announces spud of Oyo-9 well - Erin Energy announced it has commenced drilling of the Oyo-9 well. Oyo-9 is being drilled with the Pacific Bora sixth-generation drilling rig on the Oyo field offshore Nigeria. The well is expected to take approximately 62 days to drill and complete. The tie-in of the well to the FPSO for production commencement is expected in the later part of the fourth-quarter 2017. The well is expected to add an additional 6,000 to 7,000 barrels of oil per day to the field's current production.

07:01 EDT BioTime announces $2M grant for further development of OpRegen for Dry-AMD - BioTime, has been awarded a new grant for 2017 of up to 7.2 million Israeli New Shekels, or approximately $2M, from the Israel Innovation Authority. The grant provides funding for the continued development of OpRegen, and to date the IIA has provided annual grants totaling approximately $12M. OpRegen is currently in a Phase I/IIa dose-optimization clinical study, which in July 2017 received authorization from the Data Safety Monitoring Board to move forward with enrollment of cohort 3. In cohort 3, BioTime plans to treat patients at sites in Israel and the U.S. Data reported to date have shown continued engraftment through the one year follow-up with encouraging potential structural improvement. In addition, no serious adverse events have been reported, indicating a continued favorable safety profile. BioTime expects to share more data at the American Academy of Ophthalmology later this year.

06:58 EDT VF Corp. raises FY17 outlook

06:56 EDT VF Corp. to acquire Williamson-Dickie Mfg. Co for about $820M in cash

06:48 EDT Zynerba: results from Phase 2 STOP trial support continued development of ZYN002 - Zynerba Pharmaceuticals reported top line results from its Phase 2 STOP, or Synthetic Transdermal Cannabidiol for Treatment of Knee Pain due to Osteoarthritis, clinical trial evaluating ZYN002. The study did not meet its primary endpoint of reduction from baseline in the weekly mean of the 24-hour average worst pain score at week 12 for either dose. However, statistically significant results were achieved for a number of secondary endpoints. Importantly, the composite responder analysis for 250 mg daily of ZYN002 4.2% CBD gel achieved statistical significance. A trend toward statistical significance was observed in other secondary endpoints. "Many osteoarthritis patients using currently available medicines do not experience relief from pain and improved physical functioning, or cannot tolerate them due to side effects," said Daniel Clauw, M.D., Professor of Pain Management and Anesthesiology at the University of Michigan, and Director of the Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center. "The STOP trial results are encouraging and suggest that ZYN002 can play an important role in impacting the pain and impaired physical function associated with osteoarthritis, with a well-tolerated safety profile. I am particularly impressed with the composite analysis result which accounts for both pain and physical function. I believe that ZYN002 may provide a promising treatment option for OA, and I look forward to participating in future studies."

06:37 EDT Fluor announces agreement with Texas Central Rail Holdings - Fluor announced that an agreement was reached with Texas Central Rail Holdings to advance the preliminary development of the 240-mile high-speed passenger rail line connecting Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston. Fluor will support Texas Central during the preliminary development by refining the project's engineering, design-build cost estimate, schedule and construction planning, and potentially further phases of development. Under this agreement, after the development phase and financial close, Fluor and its partners would be the preferred design-builder of the project connecting North Texas and Houston.

06:34 EDT Ophthotech: Third Phase 3 trial of Fovista did not meet primary endpoint - Ophthotech announced that the pre-specified primary endpoint of mean change in visual acuity at 12 months was not achieved in its Phase 3 clinical trial investigating the superiority of Fovista anti-PDGF therapy in combination with Eylea or Avastin anti-VEGF therapy compared to Eylea or Avastin monotherapy for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration. The addition of 1.5mg of Fovista to an Eylea or Avastin regimen did not result in benefit as measured by the mean change in visual acuity at the 12-month time point.

06:27 EDT ADVA Optical Networking completes tender offer for acquisition of MRV Communications - ADVA Optical Networking announced that a majority of the shares of MRV Communications were validly tendered and the other conditions to the tender offer have been satisfied. American Stock Transfer & Trust Company LLC, the depositary for the tender offer, has indicated that as of midnight EDT, Friday, August 11, 2017, a total of 5,296,053 shares of MRV Communications, Inc.'s common stock, or approximately 79% of the total number of shares issued and outstanding, have been validly tendered into and not properly withdrawn from the tender offer. The depositary has indicated that no shares were tendered pursuant to the guaranteed delivery procedures set forth in the Offer to Purchase. The acquisition of MRV Communications, Inc. will be consummated by ADVA Optical Networking on Monday, August 14, 2017. ADVA Optical Networking will consummate the acquisition of the remaining MRV Communications, Inc. shares of common stock not acquired in the tender offer through a merger pursuant to Section 251(h) of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware. As a result of such merger, MRV Communications, Inc. will become an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of ADVA Optical Networking and MRV Communications shares will no longer be traded on the NASDAQ Stock Market.

06:10 EDT Andeavor to acquire Western Refining Logistics in $1.8B transaction - Andeavor (ANDV), Andeavor Logistics LP (ANDX) and Western Refining Logistics, LP (WNRL) announced the merger of Andeavor Logistics and Western Refining Logistics and the financial repositioning of Andeavor Logistics through a buy-in of Andeavor Logistics' incentive distribution rights. These transactions will generate approximately 93M newly issued ANDX common units to Andeavor, which will bring Andeavor's total ownership to approximately 127M units. Andeavor Logistics and WNRL jointly announced a definitive merger agreement whereby Andeavor Logistics will acquire WNRL in a unit-for-unit exchange at a blended exchange ratio of 0.4921, representing an equity value of $1.5B based on Andeavor Logistics closing unit price of $48.31 on August 11, 2017. This represents an enterprise value of $1.8 billion, including the assumption of approximately $310M of WNRL's net debt. The estimated 2018 EBITDA multiple is approximately 8.6x, excluding estimated 2018 GP/IDR distributions for WNRL of $22M. Andeavor and Andeavor Logistics also announced an agreement for Andeavor Logistics to issue, conditional upon the closing of the Merger, 78M ANDX common units to Andeavor in exchange for the cancellation of Andeavor Logistics' IDRs. The IDR Buy-In is expected to take place immediately after the Merger. These transactions have been approved by the boards of directors of all three companies as well as the conflicts committees of both MLPs. Upon closing, Greg Goff will continue to serve as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and Steven Sterin as President and Chief Financial Officer of the general partner of Andeavor Logistics. The Merger transaction and IDR Buy-In is expected to close in the fourth quarter 2017 and the Merger is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory and approval from holders of a majority of the WNRL units.

06:08 EDT Soligenix receives $2.5M in additional NIAID funding - Soligenix announced that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, or NIAID, part of the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, has exercised an option to fund good manufacturing practices, opr GMP, compliant RiVax bulk drug substance and finished drug product manufacturing, which is required for the conduct of future preclinical and clinical safety and efficacy studies. The overall objectives of the contract are to advance the development of Soligenix's thermostabilization technology, ThermoVax, in combination with the company's ricin toxin vaccine, RiVax, as a medical countermeasure to prevent the effects of ricin exposure. The exercised option for contract #HHSN272201400039C will provide Soligenix with approximately $2.5M in additional non-dilutive funding, bringing the total amount awarded to date under this contract to $21.2M. If all contract options are exercised, the total award of up to $24.7M will support the preclinical, manufacturing and clinical development activities necessary to advance heat stable RiVax with the FDA.

06:07 EDT Snap confirms acquisition of Zenly for $213.3M in cash - In a regulatory filing, Snap confirmed that in May, "We acquired Zenly SAS, a company that develops a location-based social media application that allows users to see where their friends are on a map. The purpose of the acquisition was to enhance the functionality of our platform. The total consideration paid was $213.3M in cash, of which $196.1M represents purchase consideration and includes $186.8M in cash paid to the sellers and $9.3M of liabilities due to the sellers. The remaining $17.2M of total consideration transferred represents compensation for future employment services. The allocation of purchase price is preliminary and is subject to additional information related to the liabilities that existed as of the acquisition date." Snap also confirmed that in July, it acquired an advertising measurement services company for $135.2M in cash. "The company was acquired to enhance advertising effectiveness. We are currently in the process of valuing the assets acquired and liabilities assumed in the transaction. Results of operations for the acquired company will be included in our consolidated financial statements from the date of acquisition." The Fly notes that Snap acquired Seattle-based Placed in July.

06:03 EDT Tesco to combine with Nabors Industries in stock-for-stock transaction - Tesco Corporation (TESO) announced that it has entered in to an Arrangement Agreement with Nabors Industries (NBR) to combine with Nabors in a stock-for-stock transaction. TESCO shareholders will be issued 0.68 common shares of Nabors for each outstanding share of common stock of TESCO. Upon consummation of this transaction, TESCO shareholders will own approximately 10% of the outstanding shares of Nabors. The transaction has been approved by the board of directors of both companies and is subject to approval by TESCO security holders and satisfaction of customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, including court approval required by Section 3(a)(10) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. This transaction values TESCO common stock at $4.62 per share based on Nabors closing share price of $6.80 on the New York Stock Exchange on August 11, 2017. This represents a premium of 19% to TESCO's closing price on the NASDAQ Stock Market on the same date, and represents a premium of 30% to TESCO's enterprise value based on TESCO's June 30, 2017 cash balance. Transaction expected to close in fourth quarter of 2017.

06:00 EDT Tesco to combine with Nabors Industries in stock-for-stock transaction

05:17 EDT Masimo announces DHA augmentation of current inventory of Masimo equipment - Masimo announced that the Dubai Health Authority, or DHA, the government organization that oversees the healthcare systems of Dubai, is augmenting its current inventory of Masimo equipment and technology with the implementation of Masimo Patient SafetyNet, a supplemental remote monitoring and clinician notification system, at two hospitals in Dubai.