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Jefferies analyst Brent Thill raised his price target on Match Group Inc. shares to $50 from $44 late Tuesday, writing that he believes new investors haven’t missed Match’s rally entirely, despite the stock’s 156% rise over the past 12 months. The S&P 500 is up 15% in that time. Thill wrote that Match Group shares still trade at a discount to shares of other subscription internet names, including Netflix Inc. , Zillow Group and Angi Homeservices Inc. , based on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda). “The argument can no longer be made that Match is a cheap asset, but we still believe that upside remains,” Thill wrote. He added that the company’s Tinder platform continues to perform well in App Store rankings and he thinks that a new paid Tinder feature due out later this year is potentially “a catalyst that can move the stock.”

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From:: Stock Market News

Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. shares rose 2.5% in premarket trade Wednesday after the company said that the first dose cohort of three patients in a phase 1/2 gene therapy study had “positive longer-term safety and efficacy” results. Moreover, after 24 weeks, the first patient dosed decided to discontinue all alternate medication three weeks ago and “continues to do well,” Ultragenyx Chief Executive Emil Kakkis said. While the first patient’s urea formation rate was increased “substantially” over 24 weeks, the second and third patients did not show a clinically meaningful change in rate of urea formation over 20 weeks and 12 weeks, Ultragenyx said. The gene therapy, DTX301, is being developed for ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency, a genetic disorder that can cause acute and chronic neurological deficits and other toxicities; an estimated 10,000 patients have OTC deficiency worldwide, according to Ultragenyx, and the only way to cure it right now is a liver transplant. The study will next enroll a second, higher-dose cohort of three patients. The company expects to enroll the first patient in March and data on the three patients is expected in the second half of this year. Ultragenyx shares have surged 14.1% over the last three months, compared with a 3.5% rise in the S&P 500 .

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From:: Stock Market News

Large-capitalization bank stocks were broadly lower in premarket trade Wednesday, as the resignation of Gary Cohn, who was the head of President Donald Trump’s National Economic Council, spooked investors. In premarket trade, shares of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. fell 1.4%; Cohn is a former Goldman executive. Elsewhere, shares of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. lost 0.8%, Bankd of America Copr. dropped 0.8%, Citigroup Inc. slid 0.8%, Wells Fargo & Co. gave up 1.0% and the SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF declined 0.8%. The broad-market selloff, with Dow industrials futures down 214 points, or 0.9%, has led to a decline in Treasury yields as investors moved into safe-haven Treasurys; lower Treasury yields can undercut banks’ profits as the spread the banks earn from the spread between longer-term assets, like loans, and short-term liabilities narrows.

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From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stocks look poised to fall on Wednesday following news late Tuesday that National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn ihas resigned from President Donald Trump’s administration in the coming weeks. Cohn, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive, was seen as a level head within the administration and one of the chief architects of Wall Street-friendly corporate tax cuts signed into law late last year. Speculation about Cohn exiting the White House following Trump’s reaction to violence at a white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in August similarly roiled markets. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down about 200 points, or 0.9%, at 24,628, while those for the S&P 500 were down 0.6% at 2,707. Cohn’s planned departure comes amid turmoil in the White House over Trump’s plan to implement tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, which Cohn has opposed, arguing that it could undercut the Trump’s economic achievements, according to reports. The loss of Cohn is viewed by some on Wall Street as a headwind to the president’s pro-business agenda and underlines ongoing turmoil in the White House, highlighted by a parade of departing officials.

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From:: Stock Market News

Shares of all 30 Dow Jones Industrial Average components fell in premarket trade Wednesday, led by selloffs in Caterpillar Inc.’s and Boeing Co.’s stocks, as the resignation of Gary Cohn cast a pall on the broader market. Dow futures slumped 268 points. Shares of Caterpillar shed 2.2%, and were on track to shave about 24 points off the Dow’s price, while Boeing’s stock lost 1.8% to put it on track to shave about 44 points off the Dow. The most-active stocks were Apple Inc. , which shed 0.9%, and Intel Corp.’s , which lost 1.1%. The best performer was Coca-Cola Co. shares , which were down just 0.6%.

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From:: Stock Market News

Esperion Therapeutics Inc. announced positive results Wednesday from a late-stage trial of a treatment for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, a condition involving a build-up of sticky cholesterol-rich plaque that can cause heart attack or stroke. Esperion said the phase 3 trial of bempedoic acid for patients with elevated low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) met its primary endpoint of LDL-C lowering. “Patients treated with bempedoic acid also achieved a significantly greater reduction of 33 percent in high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), an important marker of the underlying inflammation associated with cardiovascular disease, compared to the placebo group which had an increase of two percent (p

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From:: Stock Market News

Abercrombie & Fitch shares rose 6.8% in Wednesday premarket trading after the retailer reported fourth-quarter earnings and sales that beat expectations. Net income for the quarter was $74.2 million, or $1.05 per share, up from $48.8 million, or 71 cents per share, for the same period last year. Adjusted EPS was $1.38, beating the $1.10 FactSet consensus. Sales were $1.19 billion, up from $1.04 billion last year and ahead of the $1.16 billion FactSet consensus. Same-store sales grew 9%, with Hollister up 11% and the namesake brand up 5% for the quarter. The FactSet consensus was for 7.7% growth. Abercrombie & Fitch forecasts fiscal 2018 same-store sales and sales growth in the low-single digits. The FactSet consensus is for same-store sales growth of 1.8% and sales of $4.46 billion, up from $3.49 billion this year. Abercrombie & Fitch shares are up 82.2% for the last year while the S&P 500 index is up 15.2% for the period.

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From:: Stock Market News

Shares of Dollar Tree Inc. plunged 9.0% in premarket trade Wednesday, after the discount retailer reported fiscal fourth-quarter profit, revenue and same-store sales that missed expectations. Net income for the quarter to Feb. 3 more than tripled to $1.04 billion, or $4.37 a share, from $321.8 million, or $1.36 a share, in the same period a year ago, as the recent tax legislation included a $562 million non-cash benefit. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share came to $1.89, below the FactSet consensus of $1.90. Revenue rose 12.9% to $6.36 billion, just shy of the FactSet consensus of $6.40 billion. Same-store sales rose 2.4%, while adjusted same-store sales increased 2.5%, helped by increases in average ticket and transaction count, but that missed the FactSet consensus of a 2.9% rise. For the fiscal first quarter, Dollar Tree expects revenue of $5.53 billion to $5.63 billion, which surrounds the FactSet consensus of $5.60 billion, and projects same-store sales to increase in the low single-digit percentage range, compared with expectations of 2.7% growth. The stock has lost 2.8% over the past three months through Tuesday, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF has gained 4.0% and the S&P 500 has tacked on 3.5%.

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From:: Stock Market News

S&P Global said Wednesday it has entered a $1 billion accelerated share buyback with Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC. The deal is expected to be completed in the third quarter. The credit rating agency said it will use cash on hand to fund the deal. Shares were not yet active premarket, but have gained 46% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 15%.

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From:: Stock Market News

Fortive Corp. announced Wednesday a deal to combine four operating units from its automation and specialty platform with Altra Industrial Motion Corp. for total consideration of about $3 billion. The consideration includes $1.4 billion in cash and debt reduction for Fortive, and 35 million newly issued Altra shares valued at about $1.6 billion. Under terms of the deal, Fortive will create a subsidiary to hold the A&S platform and will distribute ownership of that subsidiary to Fortive shareholders, which will be followed by a merger of the subsidiary with a subsidiary of Alta. After the deal’s closing, which is expected by the end of 2018, Fortive will have the right to designate one member of Altra’s board of directors. Shares of both companies are inactive in premarket trade. Over the past three months, Fortive’s stock has gained 2.1%, Altra shares have shed 7.3% and the S&P 500 has gained 3.5%.

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From:: Stock Market News