Stockwinners Market Radar for May 04, 2018 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

17:09 EDT Canyon Capital Advisors raises stake in Navient to 9.6% from 7.8%

17:05 EDT Columbia Banking CAO Barry Ray to depart, Brock Lakely to succeed - Columbia Banking announced the promotion of Brock Lakely to senior VP, CAO of the company and its subsidiary Columbia Bank, effective June 1. As VP, director of accounting since August 2015, Lakely has held increasingly senior positions in the accounting department at Columbia since joining the Bank in September 2011. Lakely succeeds Barry Ray as CAO, following Ray's announced departure from the company. Prior to Columbia, he spent nearly five years as a senior accountant and senior financial reporting analyst for Russell Investments.

16:37 EDT Cincinnati Bell, Hawaiian Telcom merger receives Hawaii PUC approval - Cincinnati Bell (CBB) announced that it has received unanimous approval from the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission with respect to its pending acquisition of Honolulu-based Hawaiian Telcom (HCOM). In approving the merger, the Commission concludes that net benefits will result from the transaction. With approval from the Hawaii PUC, the transaction is expected to close following completion of the Federal Communications Commission's review and other remaining customary closing conditions.

16:33 EDT BWX Technologies backs FY18 adjusted tax rate 22%-25%

16:32 EDT Manpower increases dividend 8.6% to $1.01 per share - The board of Manpower has declared a semi-annual dividend of $1.01 per share, an 8.6% increase from the most recent dividend of 93c per share. The dividend is payable on June 15 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on June 1.

16:25 EDT Gilder, Gangon, Howe & Co. reports 17.14% passive stake in Goosehead Insurance

16:19 EDT Wells Fargo reaches $480M deal to resolve California class action - Wells Fargo announced that it has reached an agreement in principle to resolve a consolidated securities fraud class action in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California alleging certain misstatements and omissions in the company's disclosures related to sales practices matters. The company will pay $480 million under the agreement in principle, which is subject to confirmatory discovery by the plaintiff and final approval by the court. The amount was fully accrued as of March 31, 2018. Wells Fargo denies the claims and allegations in the action and entered into the agreement in principle to avoid the cost and disruption of further litigation.

16:14 EDT Legion Partners Asset Management reports 5.2% stake in Primo Water - The Reporting Persons purchased the shares based on the belief that the shares, when purchased, were undervalued and represented an attractive investment opportunity.

16:04 EDT Integrated Core Strategies reports 4.5% passive stake in Oasis Petroleum

15:16 EDT Exelon's ComEd Electric announces $26M rate decrease effective in June - The annual transmission rate update filed today by ComEd with the Illinois Commerce Commission calls for a decrease of $26M in rates that take effect in June. The decrease reflects savings passed on to customers through the lower corporate tax rate established by the Federal Tax Cut and Jobs Act that went into effect in January. It will result in a reduction of approximately 20 cents in monthly transmission costs for ComEd customers. In April, ComEd filed its annual formula rate update request for electricity delivery calling for a decrease of $23 million compared to approved rates in effect in January of this year. The request would result in a decrease of approximately 50 cents on the monthly bill beginning in January of next year.

14:53 EDT MMCAP International reports 6.2314% passive stake in Mattersight

13:30 EDT Switch signs 15 MW deal with international streaming media corporation - Switch announced that an international streaming media corporation has signed a 15 MW colocation deal. The streaming corporation plans to use Switch's North American PRIME data centers as a worldwide distribution hub for its services. The company plans to go live at Switch's facilities in Nevada in July of this year. The international streaming client will be able to take advantage of Nevada's data center tax abatements, Switch's 100% renewable energy, its substantial connectivity gateways, and access to international cable landing stations via the Switch CORE InterExchange. In addition to this streaming company, Switch added a new high security government client at its Core Campus in Las Vegas. At The Pyramid Campus in Grand Rapids, MI, Switch added a large electric utility company and a global consumer goods manufacturer, which filled the remaining available cabinets in the second sector of the Switch PYRAMID. Total contract value of these new sales exceeds $100M in new incremental revenue.

12:43 EDT FDA approves new uses for two Novartis drugs administered together - The FDA approved Novartis's Tafinlar and Mekinist, administered together, for the treatment of anaplastic thyroid cancer that cannot be removed by surgery or has spread to other parts of the body, and has a type of abnormal gene, BRAF V600E. Both Tafinlar and Mekinist are also approved for use, alone or in combination, to treat BRAF V600 mutation-positive metastatic melanoma.

11:32 EDT Box Office Battle: 'Infinity War' expected to dominate for second weekend - Last weekend, Disney's (DIS) "Avengers: Infinity War" opened to a record-setting $250M in North America and $380M overseas for a global total of $630M, the top worldwide debut of all time. The superhero spectacular, which is playing at 4,474 theaters, is expecting another big weekend, with Box Office Mojo forecasting a $116M second weekend. This should push the global box office take to $1B by the end of the weekend. Note that "Infinity War" has not yet released in China, where it will open on Friday, May 11. Opening this weekend, and expected to take second place, is Lionsgate (LGF.A, LGF.B) backed Pantelion Films' romantic comedy "Overboard," starring Eugenio Derbez, Anna Faris, and Eva Longoria, which is expected to gross $10M-$15M. Also opening this weekend is Comcast (CMCAS, CMCSK) subsidiary Universal's Focus Features' comedy "Tully," directed by Jason Reitman, written by Diablo Cody, and starring Charlize Theron, which is expected to gross between $2M-$4M. Other publicly traded companies in filmmaking include 21st Century Fox (FOX, FOXA), Sony (SNE), Time Warner (TWX), and Viacom (VIA, VIAB).

11:24 EDT GoPro CEO says company 'not overly promotional' in Q1 - Speaking on CNBC, GoPro CEO Nick Woodman said that his company's strong Q1 was driven by solid sell-through in all of the company's products, noting that he is "optimistic" heading into Q2. When asked about the lower prices of his products, Woodman said that GoPro was "not overly promotional" in Q1, and that the company actually ran fewer promotions in 1Q18 than in 1Q17.

11:02 EDT AMD trading higher as takeover rumors resurface - Shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) are rising in early trading after traders circulated chatter once again that the company could be a target to be acquired. At a minimum, volatility in the stock has been attributed to takeover chatter on two other occasions in the last six months, with The Fly having indicated that takeover rumors were swirling on March 7, 2018 and November 17, 2017 as well. Cryptocurrency revenues have been pointed to as reasons to be bullish on AMD and Nvidia (NVDA) and bitcoin rose roughly 4.7% this week to $9,682 in U.S. dollars, according to CoinDesk. In morning trading, AMD shares are up 2.7%, or 30c, to $11.22.

10:52 EDT Marriott raises quarterly cash dividend 24% to 41c per share - Marriott International announced that its board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of 41c per share of common stock, which represents a 24% increase over the previous quarterly dividend amount of 33c per share. The dividend is payable on June 29, 2018 to shareholders of record as of May 18, 2018.

10:32 EDT The Intersection: Crypto and Wall Street This Week - As bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies get increasing attention from investors, Wall Street and its traditional banks continue to adjust to the shift. Catch up on this week's top stories highlighting the intersection of these old guard and new school areas of finance with this recap compiled by The Fly: 1. GOLDMAN PREPARES BITCOIN TRADING OPERATION: Goldman Sachs (GS) is moving ahead with plans to set up what appears to be the first bitcoin trading operation at a Wall Street bank, The New York Times reported Wednesday. Goldman will start to use its own money to trade with clients in a variety of contracts linked to the price of bitcoin and will also create its own non-deliverable forward to offer to clients. The bank is not initially planning to buy and sell actual bitcoins,though "a team at the bank is looking at going in that direction if it can get regulatory approval and figure out how to deal with the additional risks associated with holding the virtual currency," according to the report. Rana Yared, a Goldman executive overseeing the formation of the operation, said the bank has decided that bitcoin is not a fraud and does not have the characteristics of a currency, but clients want to hold it as a valuable commodity. 2. TELEGRAM CALLS OFF COIN OFFERING: The Telegram messaging app is calling off a planned sale of cryptocurrency to the public after pulling in $1.7B by selling newly created cryptocurrency to under 200 private investors, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. Telegram plans to use the money it has raised for its next project, a digital payments and technology platform called Telegram Open Network, to build out its technology and further redevelop and maintain its main messenger service, which has about 200M users globally. The network "can become a Visa (V)/MasterCard (MA) alternative for a new decentralized economy," the company said. 3. COINBASE SUPPORTS BLOCK TRADES: Coinbase is now supporting block trades, which occur off an exchange's main order book to reduce market impact of big trades, Business Insider reported Tuesday. The exchange, which also preparing to open an office in Chicago, is looking to attract more institutional clients to its professional trading platform GDAX. The move comes after New York-based exchange Gemini, founded by the Winklevoss twins, began offering block trading last month. In addition, Recode reported that Coinbase had valued itself at roughly $8B, much higher than its last preferred valuation, when it made its bid to acquire Earn.Com. 4. SQUARE BOOKS BITCOIN PROFIT: Square (SQ) brought in a $200,000 profit via bitcoin in its first quarter after it began to allow Cash App customers to buy and sell the cryptocurrency back in January, Business Insider reported Thursday. The Cash App enabled trading of bitcoin without charging any fees and price fluctuations helped the company sell $34.1M worth of bitcoin at a cost of $33.9M. 5. RIOT PRODUCES 100 BITCOIN: On Friday, Riot Blockchain (RIOT) announced its unaudited cryptocurrency mining production yield for the month of April totaling approximately 100 Bitcoins and 61 BCash. With regards to Bitcoin this represents an approximate 45% increase from the company's yield for March. The company remains on track to have approximately 8,000 cryptocurrency ASIC miners deployed by the end of May, it said. 6. LONGFIN TO DELIST: Longfin (LFIN) announced Thursday that it intends to voluntarily delist its Class A Common Stock from Nasdaq, and to this effect the company has already sent in a formal notice to the Nasdaq stock market. 7. CRYPTO CHATTER: In a Saturday interview with Yahoo Finance, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B) CEO Warren Buffett said buying bitcoin is a "gamble", not an investment, because it lacks intrinsic value. On Monday, Citron Research tweeted, "$SQ Short term tgt $30 started as innovative pymt co. - now just another processor. 15x rev growing slower than $FB. Collection of yawn businesses. WallSt drunk on Bitcoin nonsense, SQ-Cash to BTC trading has been insignificant. Even w/ hyper growth still 40% too rich." In addition, economist Nouriel Roubini criticized bitcoin in a heated debate at the Milken Institute Global conference on Wednesday. "There is no decentralization, it's just bulls-t," he said, adding "This was a bubble ... the ones who arrived late to the party are the suckers." CRYPTO STOCK PLAYS: Cryptocurrency revenues have been pointed to as reasons to be bullish on Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Nvidia (NVDA) in select research. Overstock (OSTK), DPW Holdings (DPW), Kodak (KODK), Seven Stars Cloud Group (SSC), Riot Blockchain, Longfin, Pareteum (TEUM) and Social Reality (SRAX) are other stocks that have been touted, or promoted themselves, as a way to play the crypto theme PRICE ACTION: As of time of writing, bitcoin rose roughly 4.7% this week to $9,648 in U.S. dollars according to CoinDesk. WANT BITCOIN NEWS ALERTS?: To receive alerts on stories relating to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, Fly subscribers can enter "Bitcoin" into the "Add symbols" box of their portfolios.

10:27 EDT Eversource: Connecticut Water board should in engage on $63.50/share offer - Eversource Energy (ES) sent an open letter to shareholders of Connecticut Water Service (CTWS) reiterating why Eversource believes that the board of directors of Connecticut Water should engage with it regarding Eversource's superior proposal to acquire Connecticut Water for $63.50 in cash and/or Eversource shares. "We believe that our compelling proposal is in the best interest of Connecticut Water shareholders, customers, employees and the community," said Eversource Chairman, President and CEO Jim Judge. "Eversource has a demonstrated track record of customer service and investment in our communities, and of value creation for our shareholders. We strongly believe that a combination of Connecticut Water with New England-based Eversource will be ideal for all stakeholders." Eversource says, "Instead of focusing on maximizing shareholder value and delivering what is best for Connecticut communities, Connecticut Water is running a hostile "scorched earth" campaign to distract shareholders from a fundamental point: Eversource is offering a superior proposal for Connecticut Water shareholders than the board's conflicted transaction with San Jose Water. Eversource is committed to ensuring that Connecticut Water shareholders are properly informed of the facts so that they can maximize the value of their shares. Eversource urges Connecticut Water shareholders to insist that members of the Connecticut Water board fulfill their fiduciary duties and meet with Eversource to seriously discuss its superior proposal."

10:11 EDT Mercury Home Textile selects Manhattan Associates for omnichannel optimization - Mercury Home Textile has selected Manhattan Associates to optimize order fulfillment across its international, multi-channel retail operation and to serve as a foundation for its transition to an omnichannel business model with Manhattan's Warehouse Management Solution. With more than 2,600 franchised stores in China and hundreds of partner stores across Europe, the Middle East, North America and Southeast Asia, Mercury Home Textile's store network is complemented by a fast-expanding ecommerce operation which contributed almost half of the company's revenue in 2017. Manhattan's solutions will replace Mercury Home Textile's legacy supply chain technologies and will fully integrate with the company's other enterprise systems.

09:51 EDT Editas jumps after expanding oncology collaboration with Celgene - Editas Medicine (EDIT) in its earnings release last night announced an expanded oncology collaboration with Juno Therapeutics, a unit of Celgene (CELG). The expanded collaboration with Celgene will develop and commercialize chimeric antigen receptor and engineered T cell receptor medicines including Celgene's lead program for human papillomavirus-associated solid tumors, Editas said in a statement. As a result of the expansion and progress of the collaboration, Editas will receive an additional $10M in cash and will be eligible to receive a fourth independent milestone and royalty stream. Shares of Editas Medicine are up 10%, or $3.12, to $34.72 in early trading.

09:13 EDT Trump says NBC News 'wrong again,' 'as bad as Fake News CNN' - President Donald Trump tweeted: "NBC NEWS is wrong again! They cite "sources' which are constantly wrong. Problem is, like so many others, the sources probably don't exist, they are fabricated, fiction! NBC, my former home with the Apprentice, is now as bad as Fake News CNN. Sad!" NBC News is owned by NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast (CMCSA). CNN is owned by the Turner Broadcasting System, a division of Time Warner (TWX). Reference Link

09:12 EDT ClearOne awarded new U.S. patent for beamforming and acoustic echo cancellation - ClearOne has been awarded a new patent relating to Beamforming and Acoustic Echo Cancellation by the USPTO. This patent describes a method to first use a beamforming algorithm to generate several fixed beams, followed by performing acoustic echo cancellation on each beam, and then selecting one or more beams for transmission in response to a direction-of-arrival determination.

09:10 EDT Euroseas announces time charter contract for newbuilding Kamsarmax M/V Ekaterini - Euroseas announced that a subsidiary of the company has entered into a time charter contract for its newbuilding vessel, M/V Ekaterini, an 82,000 dwt, 2018 built Kamsarmax bulk carrier. Specifically, M/V Ekaterini, which is scheduled to be delivered to the company from the shipyard on May 7, has been chartered to a highly reputable European charterer for about two years at a gross daily rate of $13,000. The charter will commence upon delivery of the vessel and is expected to contribute approximately $9M of net revenues to the company during the contract period. Furthermore, the company announced that it has secured a bank loan of about $18.4M to finance the acquisition of the vessel. Proceeds from the loan will enhance the company's liquidity by about $2.2M after repayment of the last installment to the shipyard and all related expenses with the delivery of the vessel.

09:07 EDT Hemisphere Media to acquire 75% interest in Snap TV - Hemisphere announced that it reached a definitive agreement to acquire a 75% interest in Snap Global, LLC, a leading independent distributor of content to broadcast, pay TV and OTT platforms in Latin America. As part of the investment, the company has also signed a co-production joint venture with Mar Vista Entertainment, an established independent film and TV production company and minority owner of Snap TV, to co-produce new original movies and series. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Snap TV distributes third party content to major free and pay TV broadcasters and OTT platforms serving Latin America and other Spanish speaking markets. Snap TV has also co-produced successful series for NatGeo and History Channel in Latin America, and together with Mar Vista, has produced movies in Latin America. Snap TV will be based in Hemisphere's Miami headquarters.

09:02 EDT On The Fly: Pre-market Movers - HIGHER: Portola Pharmaceuticals (PTLA), up 30% after reporting that Andexxa was approved by the FDA. UP AFTER EARNINGS: Alibaba (BABA), up 1%... Celgene (CELG), up 2%... CBS (CBS), up 2.5%... Pandora (P), up 12%... Shake Shack (SHAK), up 9%... Weight Watchers (WTW), up 6%... Cheniere Energy (LNG), up 3%. DOWN AFTER EARNINGS: Fluor (FLR), down 17%... Arista Networks (ANET), down 10.6%... Web.com (WEB), down 9%. ALSO LOWER: Hawaiian Holdings (HA), down 4% after Buckingham downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy and cut its price target to $35 from $55 citing Southwest Air's (LUV) announcement yesterday... Sarepta (SRPT), down 1.5% after reporting quarterly results and announcing that the European CHMP's trend vote was negative for the Exondys 51 marketing authorization application.

08:35 EDT IEA announces wind energy award valued over $60M - Infrastructure & Energy Alternatives announced a new wind energy project award valued over $60M. The contract was secured by White Construction, Inc. a subsidiary company of IEA serving the energy and heavy civil market sectors. The contract award is for the construction of a wind energy facility located in the United States. The scope of work includes all public road maintenance and repairs, turbine access roads, wind turbine installation and MV collection system installation. The project commenced in April 2018 and completion is expected in the fourth quarter of 2018.

08:34 EDT Caterpillar: Finance Services Division VP Joe Creed named interim CFO - Effective immediately, the board of directors has appointed Finance Services Division Vice President Joe Creed as interim CFO, a role he will assume in addition to his vice president duties. Creed joined Caterpillar in 1997 and has held numerous positions of increasing responsibility within Corporate Accounting, the Track-Type Tractors Division and Large Power Systems Division, where he served as senior business resource manager. He then served as CFO for the Energy & Transportation segment prior to becoming FSD vice president in 2017. Creed is a certified public accountant and holds a bachelor's degree from Western Illinois University. Once Bonfield joins Caterpillar, Creed will continue serving in his capacity as FSD Vice President.

08:18 EDT The Safariland Group confirms Axon's acquisition of VIEVU - The Safariland Group, the parent company of VIEVU, announced that the company has entered into a definitive agreement with Axon Enterprise under which Axon will acquire VIEVU. As part of the agreement, Safariland and Axon entered into a 10-year agreement under which Safariland will become the preferred holster provider for Axon's TASER Conducted Electric Weapons. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Safariland, a leading global provider of a broad range of safety and survivability products designed for the public safety, military, professional and outdoor markets, acquired VIEVU in 2015.

08:09 EDT JA Solar to supply 8.1 MW of mono PERC modules to power plant in Brazil - JA Solar announced that JA Solar will supply 8.1 MW of its high-efficiency mono PERC modules to the first solar power plant utilizing PERC modules in Brazil. Located in Minas Gerais, this project marks the country's first ground-mounted utility-scale solar power plant to adopt PERC technology. The solar plant was acquired by Sindustrial, a leading construction and electrical panel manufacture company, and Solatio Energia, the largest solar project developer in Brazil. The solar power plant, which is situated in a semi-desert area, will be powered by JA Solar's high-efficiency mono PERC modules. These high-performance solar modules can ensure high power and stable output under extreme environmental conditions including high temperature and drought, optimizing profits generated from the solar plant for our customers. Separately, JA Solar's high-efficiency mono PERC modules are also well received by the distribution channels in Brazil. WEG, one of the leading Brazilian electric power companies, recently ordered 7.8 MW of JA Solar's mono PERC modules for distribution to maintain its competitive position in the marketplace.

08:07 EDT Elon Musk: RBC question about Model 3 demand 'absurd' - Elon Musk tweeted, "Reason RBC question about Model 3 demand is absurd is that Tesla has roughly half a million reservations, despite no advertising & no cars in showrooms. Even after reaching 5k/week production, it would take 2 years just to satisfy existing demand even if new sales dropped to 0." Reference Link

08:06 EDT Riot Blockchain produces approximately 100 Bitcoins, 61 BCash in April - Riot Blockchain announced its unaudited cryptocurrency mining production yield for the month of April 2018. The company produced approximately 100 Bitcoins and 61 BCash for the month. With regards to the Bitcoin yield, this represents an approximate 45% increase from the company's yield released for the month of March 2018. Riot utilized a daily average of approximately 4,065 cryptocurrency ASIC miners during April and ended the month with approximately 4,225 cryptocurrency ASIC miners deployed. The company remains on track to have approximately 8,000 cryptocurrency ASIC miners deployed by the end of May, utilizing approximately 12MW of energy capacity. As previously announced, the company intends to release the monthly unaudited yield from its mining operation through June 2018 and then re-evaluate how best to continue keeping its shareholders apprised.

08:03 EDT Alibaba: 'New Retail' to be more meaningful contributor to core commerce revenue - "New Retail revenue is primarily recorded on a gross basis but our core of Core Commerce revenue is recorded on a net basis. Increasing mix of New Retail revenue inside Core Commerce will structurally change the margin profile of the Core Commerce segment," Alibaba stated in earnings call slides.

08:02 EDT Caterpillar names Andrew Bonfield as new CFO, effective September 1 - Following an extensive global search, Caterpillar its board of directors has appointed Andrew Bonfield as CFO, effective September 1. Bonfield will succeed Brad Halverson, whose retirement became effective May 4. Bonfield brings more than three decades of financial expertise to the role, most recently serving as Group CFO and board member of National Grid plc, a British multinational electricity and gas utility company. Prior to Bonfield's eight years at National Grid, he was CFO at British confectionary company Cadbury plc

08:00 EDT Musk: Bernstein CapEx was 'boneheaded,' as question 'had already been answered' - Elon Musk tweeted, "The reason the Bernstein question about CapEx was boneheaded was that it had already been answered in the headline of the Q1 newsletter he received beforehand, along with details in the body of the letter." Reference Link

07:48 EDT Alibaba says 'confident' in reaching $1T GMV goal by FY20 - Alibaba executives are speaking on the company's Q4 earnings call.

07:39 EDT Dorian LPG to cooperate with Hyundai Motor on vessel engine upgrades - Dorian LPG (LPG) has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Hyundai (HYMTF) Global Service Co. to undertake research and preliminary engineering studies to upgrade the main engines of up to 10 of the company's very large gas carriers to dual fuel technology utilizing liquefied petroleum gas as fuel in anticipation of upcoming environmental regulations to reduce Sulphur emissions. As part of its recent new building program, Dorian LPG proactively included enhancements to its VLGC vessels design to allow for the option of using LPG as a marine fuel.

07:36 EDT Axon acquires Safariland Group's VIEVU Camera, enters strategic partnership - Axon has acquired VIEVU, the public safety camera provider and a subsidiary of The Safariland Group. Axon and Safariland have also entered into a long-term strategic partnership with Safariland becoming the preferred holster supplier for Axon's TASER Conducted Electric Weapon. VIEVU is a public safety camera and cloud-based evidence management system provider to hundreds of law enforcement agencies, which include the New York City Police Department, the Miami-Dade Police Department, the Phoenix Police Department, the Oakland Police Department and the Aurora, CO Police Department. The terms of the deal include cash, stock and stock earn out. The majority of VIEVU's employees are based in Seattle and are expected to be integrated into Axon's Seattle office.

07:33 EDT Cboe Global Markets reaffirms FY18 financial targets - The company updated or reaffirmed its financial guidance for the 2018 fiscal year as follows: Capital expenditures are now expected to be in the range of $45 to $50 million, a decrease from previous guidance of $50 to $55 million. This includes the company's ongoing investments in technology, including Cboe's migration to Bats technology. Reaffirmed that the effective tax rate on adjusted earnings for the full year is expected to be in the range of 26.5 to 28.5 percent. However, the company noted that it expects the tax rate to be slightly above the high end of the guidance range for the second quarter of 2018 and at the higher end, but within the guidance range, for the third and fourth quarters. Significant changes in trading volume, expenses, federal, state and local tax laws or rates and other items could materially impact this expectation. Reaffirmed that adjusted operating expenses are expected to be in a range of $420 to $428 million. The guidance excludes the amortization of acquired intangible assets of $157 million, which the company plans to include in its non-GAAP reconciliation. Reaffirmed that depreciation and amortization expense, which is included in adjusted operating expenses above, is expected to be in the range of $53 to $58 million, excluding the amortization of acquired intangible assets of $157 million.

07:28 EDT Alibaba: Deepening relationship with Ant to bring 'key strategic benefits' - Alibaba says, "During fiscal year 2018, we agreed to take a 33% equity stake in Ant Financial to strengthen our strategic relationship pursuant to a series of agreements reached with Ant Financial in 2014. We believe deepening our relationship through an equity stake in Ant Financial would bring key strategic benefits to us, including advancing our New Retail strategy with mobile payments, increasing user acquisition and retention through collaboration with the Alipay digital wallet, and enhancing the execution of our international expansion. In addition, the equity stake in Ant Financial enables Alibaba and our shareholders to participate in the future growth of the financial technology sector." The company also says, "We believe consumer spending on entertainment will continue to increase in China as the country's growing middle class increase their share of consumption of discretionary items beyond basic material needs. Through our investment in technology, content and talent during fiscal year 2018, we have built a solid foundation to expand into the digital consumption economy beyond our core commerce business. We are well-positioned to execute our strategy to grow the digital media and entertainment business as we leverage our customer base of 552 million annual active consumers and insights about their interests and preferences. The synergy between our commerce business and entertainment can deliver a superior user experience while increasing customer loyalty and subscription revenue, as well as return on investment for advertisers." Tmall continued to gain wallet share and expand our B2C market leadership, with physical goods GMV up 45% year-over-year in fiscal year 2018.

07:22 EDT Fastenal reports April net sales up 19.1% to $409.35M - Fastenal reports net sales grew 19.1% in April compared to last year to $409.35M. Daily sales of $19.49M were up 13.4%.

07:06 EDT TherapeuticsMD entered into definitive loan agreement with MidCap Financial - TherapeuticsMD announced last night that it entered into a definitive loan agreement with MidCap Financial, managed by Apollo Capital Management, for $200M in non-dilutive term loan financing. The term loan will be available to the company in three tranches following specific milestones through December 31, 2019: $75M will be available upon the approval of TX-004HR, $75M will be available upon the approval and launch of TX-001HR, and $50M will be available upon certain sales milestones in calendar year 2019, in each case subject to certain terms and conditions. The term loan will accrue interest at 1-month LIBOR plus 7.75%, subject to a LIBOR floor of 1.50%. Interest on amounts borrowed under the term loan will be payable monthly in arrears; principal on each tranche borrowed under the term loan will be payable in 36 equal monthly installments beginning May 1, 2020, subject to the company's ability to extend the interest-only period by an additional 12 months if the company generates certain revenues with respect to TX-004HR and TX-001HR. The maturity date is May 1, 2023

07:02 EDT Novolex confirms acquisition of The Waddington Group from Newell Brands - Novolex, a portfolio company of The Carlyle Group (CG) and an industry leader in packaging choice and sustainability, announced it will acquire The Waddington Group from Newell Brands (NWL). The transaction is expected to close in approximately 60 days.

06:49 EDT Vistra Energy sees FY19 adjusted EBITDA $3.2B-$3.5B - Sees FY19 adjusted free cash flow $2.05B-$2.35B. Vistra is initiating 2019 guidance reflecting the closing of the merger with Dynegy.

06:41 EDT Pearson: Negotiations on U.S. K-12 courseware business disposal progressing - Pearson says its U.S. K-12 courseware business remains classified as held-for-sale with negotiations on the disposal progressing.

06:38 EDT Newell Brands sees net sales approximately $9.5B in 2020 - The divestiture process is well underway and the company expects to complete all transactions by the end of 2019. In 2020, the Company expects net sales of approximately $9.5B and normalized operating margin greater than 15 percent. Longer term, the company expects to accelerate growth driven by superior brand building, e-commerce driven market share gains and international deployment, and expects normalized operating margins in the high teens and free cash flow productivity of greater than 80 percent. Approximately 50 percent of the company's new portfolio will be legacy Newell Rubbermaid businesses and approximately 50 percent legacy Jarden businesses. All after-tax proceeds from divestitures are expected to be allocated to share repurchase and debt repayment. Those proceeds, in combination with free cash flow after dividends, are expected to enable the company to repurchase more than 40 percent of outstanding shares by 2020, assuming the current share price, and deleverage the company to maintain an investment grade credit rating. The company reiterated its commitment to continue its dividend at current per share levels through 2019, growing thereafter within our target 30 to 35 percent payout ratio range.

06:34 EDT Newell Brands sees 1H18 core sales growth declining mid-single digits - The company expects to absorb a 7c-10c negative impact to normalized EPS within its full year normalized EPS guidance range related to the TRU liquidation, with the most significant negative impact in the second quarter. The company now expects first half core sales growth to decline low to mid-single digits percent relating to the negative impact of the TRU liquidation, the comparison against the prior year Elmer's Slime pipeline build and the company's drive to rapidly achieve revised retailer inventory targets established by new leadership and ownership in the office superstore and distributive trade channels. As a result, full year core sales are expected to be flat to down low-single digit percent. Core sales in 2018 is calculated on a constant currency basis in line with industry practice. Core sales guidance excludes the impact of foreign currency, acquisitions until their first anniversary and completed divestitures. Full year 2018 weighted average share count is projected at approximately 489M shares, assuming no share repurchase. The full year 2018 tax rate is projected at 20%-21%. Net sales guidance reflects new revenue recognition standards implemented January 1, 2018, resulting in a reduction in net sales of approximately $300M with no earnings impact.

06:17 EDT Newell Brands to sell The Waddington Group to Novolex for about $2.3B - Newell Brands (NWL) announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell The Waddington Group, its global consumer and commercial package manufacturing business, to Novolex Holdings, a leading provider of paper and plastic packaging products backed by The Carlyle Group (CG). The Waddington Group, based in Covington, KY, comprises a global brand portfolio including Eco-Products, the leader in the green packaging space; POLAR PAK containers, serving ware, drink-ware and cutlery; WNA upscale disposable plastic products; and other industry-leading brands. The sale is part of Newell Brands' previously announced Accelerated Transformation strategy, designed to create a simpler, faster, stronger consumer-focused portfolio of leading brands. Gross proceeds from the divestiture are expected to be approximately $2.3B, subject to customary working capital and transaction adjustments. Waddington's 2017 net sales were $907M. The company expects the transaction to result in after-tax proceeds of approximately $2.2N, which will be applied to deleveraging and share repurchase. The transaction is expected to close within approximately 60 days, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval. J.P. Morgan Securities acted as financial advisor to Newell Brands on the transaction.

06:08 EDT Fred's interim CEO says executing turnaround plan - Fred's Interim CEO, Joseph Anto stated "I'm excited to say we are now executing a turnaround plan to accomplish two main goals: eliminating our debt and generating significant positive EBITDA and free cash flow, on a run rate basis, by Q4 of FY 2018. Our plan is focused on five key areas: strategic transactions, optimizing our cost structure and capital allocation, talent acquisition, revenue and margin initiatives and assortment optimization. Some of the strategic transactions we are actively pursuing include a sale of our specialty pharmacy business and portions of our vast real estate portfolio. In addition, we are evaluating various options for our retail pharmacy portfolio. We've made significant progress on the expense side of our business, having identified $30-$40 million in operating cost reductions for FY 2018, and our work in this area is far from over. We are bringing new talent into every part of the organization, including store operations, supply chain, private brands, finance and real estate. Additionally, we have multiple initiatives focused on driving revenue and gross margin in the front store and we continue to actively manage and reduce our SKU count in order to optimize our assortment."

06:02 EDT Xerox: Board, management team to remain in place

05:54 EDT Honeywell appoints Olivier Rabiller to continue as Transportation Systems CEO - Honeywell announced that Olivier Rabiller has been appointed to continue to lead Transportation Systems as President and CEO after it spins into a standalone, publicly traded company between now and the end of the third quarter. Olivier has led Transportation Systems since July 2016, capping a series of increasingly large leadership roles he has held since joining Honeywell in 2002. On October 10, 2017, Honeywell announced its intention to separately spin off the Transportation Systems business, as well as its Honeywell Homes product portfolio and ADI global distribution business, into two standalone, publicly traded companies. The planned Transportation Systems spin is expected to be completed by the end of the third quarter of 2018. The planned Homes spin is expected to be completed by the end of 2018.

05:45 EDT Xerox settlement agreement with Carl Icahn, Darwin Deason has expired - Xerox announced that the settlement agreement it had reached with Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason on May 1, 2018 has expired in accordance with its terms. As previously stated, the agreement would have become effective upon execution of stipulations discontinuing the Deason litigation with respect to the Xerox defendants. In the absence of such stipulations, the agreement expired at 8:00 p.m. ET on May 3, 2018. As a result, the current Board of Directors and management team will remain in place. Xerox and its Board of Directors recognize the uncertainty caused by the developments of the past several days among the company's investors and other stakeholders. The Xerox Board and management team remain focused on driving continued improvement in financial and operational performance, and will consider all options to create value for the company and its shareholders.

05:12 EDT Sarepta receives negative trend vote on eteplirsen from Europe's CHMP - Sarepta Therapeutics announced last night in its earnings release that it received a negative trend vote following its Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use oral explanation. The company said it will request re-examination and a Scientific Advisory Group to be convened. Sarepta CEO Doug Ingram commented, "Unfortunately, in addition to our successes in the first quarter, we also have had a delay in our effort to bring eteplirsen to patients in Europe who could potentially benefit from it. I could not be prouder of our Sarepta team and the team of experts who spoke on behalf of eteplirsen at the CHMP oral explanation last week. The rigorous work that was done to prepare for the hearing only strengthened our resolve that eteplirsen should urgently be made available to those waiting in Europe. Unfortunately, the CHMP's trend vote was negative. Based on discussions with CHMP representatives, it is our understanding that the CHMP did not conclude that eteplirsen is ineffective for exon 51 amenable patients, but rather that Sarepta has not yet met the regulatory threshold for conditional approval, in part due to the use of external controls as comparators in the studies. Sarepta plans to file for re-examination and will request that a Scientific Advisory Group (SAG), which is made up of DMD and neuromuscular specialists, be convened to provide expert guidance and insight into, among other things, the validity of the external controls used and the importance of slowing pulmonary decline in patients with DMD."