Category: Stock Market News

Proteostasis Therapeutics Inc. shares rose 22% in premarket trade Thursday after the company reported a smaller-than-expected fourth-quarter loss and said its cystic fibrosis drug had been granted orphan drug designation by the Food and Drug Administration. Orphan drug designation allows for seven years of marketing exclusivity along with federal grants, tax credits and waived administrative filing fees; the drug, PTI-428, previously received a breakthrough therapy designation as well. Also late Wednesday, the company reported a fourth-quarter loss of $13.4 million, compared with the FactSet consensus of a loss of $16.3 million. Its cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments came to $74.5 million as of the end of 2017, which the company expects will fund its expenses into early 2019. Proteostasis shares have surged 31.4% over the last three months to $6.56, compared with a 2.8% rise in the S&P 500 .

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BlackBerry Ltd. said Thursday it has reached an agreement with chief executive and chairman John Chen to extend his contract through November 2023. Chen joined the company is November of 2013 and has led a turnaround that has seen the company shed its hardware business to expand into cybersecurity and software. There will be no change to the executive’s compensation, the company said. Shares were slightly higher premarket, and have gained 79% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 15%.

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TapImmune Inc. shares rose 17% in premarket trade Thursday after the company said its TPIV200 T-cell vaccine, which was tested in patients with ovarian and breast cancer, had positive safety results in a phase 1 trial. Though the trial was not designed to show how well the vaccine worked and enrolled only a small number of patients, the company said results suggested positive outcomes in future trials, citing an analysis done retrospectively that showed extended survival without cancer progression among patients who were vaccinated. All patients also remained alive at least two years after immunization, the company said. TapImmune has an ongoing phase 2 study of the vaccine enrolling patients at the same stage of disease; “should we see a similar result… we believe that TPIV200 has a viable pathway toward potential approval in this indication,” said Chief Executive Peter Hoang, adding that an interim analysis was expected by mid-2019. There are also currently no approved therapies in this area, Acting Chief Medical Officer Richard Kenney said. TapImmune shares have surged 10.3% over the last three months, compared with a 2.8% rise in the S&P 500 .

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Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is working on a plan to list its shares in China, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. The e-commerce giant is looking into ways its shares could be traded by investors on the mainland, the paper reported. A listing could come as soon as summer, if the country changes it securities laws, it said. Under current rules, Alibaba is forbidden from listing in china because of its dual-class structure. Shares were up 2.7% in premarket trade, and have gained 86% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 15%.

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Shares of biotech Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. soared 11% in premarket trade Thursday, after the company announced positive results in a trial of a treatment for Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH). The disease is a chronic, progressive, debilitating, and potentially life-threatening ultra-rare blood disorder, said the company. It can affect people of all races, backgrounds, and ages without warning, with an average age of onset in the early 30s. The Phase 3 trial compared the company’s ALXN1210 with Soliris, its existing treatment for PNH, and found it met its primary endpoint, demonstrating the same safety profile, said Alexion. It also showed non-inferiority on four key secondary endpoints. “We are very pleased with these positive data for ALXN1210 in the first and only head-to-head study versus Soliris, and the results reinforce our ambition to establish ALXN1210 as the new standard of care for patients with PNH,” Alexion head of research and development John Orloff said in a statement. The company is planning to make regulatory submissions in the U.S. EU and Japan in the second half, he said. Shares have gained 0.5% in the last 12 months through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 has gained 15%.

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Dollar General Corp. shares jumped 7.5% in Thursday premarket trading after the discount retailer reported fourth-quarter same-store sales that beat expectations and gave an upbeat earnings outlook. Net income for the quarter totaled $712.2 million, or $2.63 per share, up from $414.2 million, or $1.49 per share, for the same period last year. Adjusted EPS was $1.48. Revenue for the quarter was $6.13 billion, up from $6.01 billion year-over-year. And same-store sales rose 3.3%. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of $1.48, sales of $6.21 billion, and same-store sales growth of 2.5%. Dollar General opened 1,315 stores in 2017, a record, according to Chief Executive Todd Vasos, and plans to open 900 in 2018, along with 1,000 store remodels and 100 store relocations. On Tuesday, the company announced a 12% dividend increase to 29 cents per share, payable on or before April 24, 2018 to shareholders of record on April 10, 2018. Dollar General expects 9% sales increase for fiscal 2018, same-store sales growth in the mid-2% range and EPS of $5.95 to $6.15. Same-store sales FactSet consensus is for 2.5% growth and EPS of $5.63. Dollar General is down nearly 2% for the past three months, but up 22.5% for the last year. The S&P 500 index is up 15.3% for the past 12 months.

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President Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort asked a federal judge on Wednesday to dismiss some of the criminal charges he faces related to foreign lobbying work on behalf of Ukrainian interests, the Associated Press reported. In a series of motions, Manafort’s attorneys argued that special counsel Robert Mueller exceeded his authority to prosecute Manafort on criminal charges that date back more than a decade, and thus predate the 2016 election, the AP said. The arguments largely mimic a civil suit Manafort filed earlier this year. Manafort potentially faces several years in prison. He has pleaded not guilty. The Manafort team said the indictments are focused on foreign consulting work that ended in 2014 and on years-old bank accounts and tax filings that have no connection to either the Trump campaign or the Russian government, the AP said. Lawyers for the Justice Department, which represents Mueller’s office in the civil suit, have argued that Mueller is well within his authority.

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U.S. troops have been involved in more firefights in West Africa than previously revealed, including a December skirmish in Niger that left 11 militants dead, the New York Times reported late Wednesday. The incidents indicate that the ambush in western Niger that killed four Green Berets in October was not an isolated incident. In fact, there were at least 10 previously unreported firefights involving American soldiers in Niger and other areas of West Africa between 2015 and 2017, the Times said. One incident on Dec. 6 involved Greet Berets and Nigerien troops who came under enemy fire and killed almost a dozen militants believed to be affiliated with the Islamic State in West Africa, the Pentagon confirmed to the Times. No U.S. troops were killed or wounded in any of the incidents aside from the October ambush. The Pentagon did not say why the firefights were not disclosed. Niger is home to a large U.S. military drone base and little is known about shadowy missions there.

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Supervalu Inc. shares rose more than 8% in late trading Wednesday after the company said it was selling its Farm Fresh Food & Pharmacy stores to other grocery chains as it focuses on its wholesale business instead of retail chains amid an activist-investor fight. The company said that it had agreed to sell 21 of its 38 Farm Fresh locations for about $43 million to grocery chains Harris Teeter, The Kroger Co. and Food Lion. Supervalu said it is continuing to discuss transactions for the other stores and is talking to companies and certain Farm Fresh employees about purchasing them. “Over the past two years, we’ve been working diligently and rapidly to transform our business to become the wholesale supplier of choice for grocery retailers across the United States,” Chief Executive Mark Gross said in Wednesday afternoon’s announcement, noting the company’s previous sale of the Save-A-Lot chain of stores and acquisitions of wholesale businesses. Supervalu stock gained about 8.5% in late trading after the deal was announced.

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A top lawyer with the Trump Organization worked on the case to silence former adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, the Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday, citing arbitration documents. The lawyer, Jill A. Martin, was listed as counsel in documents from Essential Consultants LLC, the shell company established by Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen in an agreement to pay Daniels $130,000 in exchange for her silence regarding an alleged 2006 sexual encounter between her and Donald Trump. Cohen has claimed he paid Clifford on his own, without Trump’s involvement. The documents are the first clear link between Trump’s company and the nondisclosure agreement. Cohen and the White House have denied there was an affair. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is currently trying to have the NDA ruled invalid so she can speak freely about the affair.

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