Entera Bio sets IPO terms; to offer 5 million shares priced at $10 to $12 each

Entera Bio set terms for its planned initial public offering on Friday, saying in a regulatory filing it will offer 5 million shares priced at $10 to $12 each. The clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, which focuses on the development of orally delivered large molecule therapeutics for use in orphan indications and other areas with significant unmet medical needs, will raise $55 million at the midpoint of its price range. It has applied to list on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “ENTX”. Oppenheimer is sole underwriter on the deal, according to the company’s prospectus.

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From:: Stock Market News

Corona beer distributor Constellation Brands sales falls short of estimates

Constellation Brands Inc. said Friday it had net income of $491.1 million, or $2.44 a share, in its fiscal third quarter to Nov. 30, up from $405.9 million, or $1.98 a share, in the year-earlier period. On a comparable basis, the company had EPS of $2.00, beating the FactSet consensus of $1.89. The distributor of Corona beer and Robert Mondavi wine said sales fell to $1.799 billion from $1.811 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $1.867 billion. The company raised its 2018 EPS outlook to $8.50 to $8.60 and its comparable EPS outlook to $8.40 to $8.50. The FactSet consensus is for fiscal 2018 EPS of $8.43. The company said its board has approved a new $3 billion share buyback program. Shares fell 0.8% premarket, but have gained 54% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 20%.

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From:: Stock Market News

Canadian marijuana company Canopy Growth says will not operate in the U.S.

Canada’s Canopy Growth Corp. said Friday in response to news that the U.S. Justice Department is removing protections for states that have legalized marijuana that is will only conduct business in jurisdictions where it is federally legal. “We want to make our position as clear as possible: While Canopy does not support continued cannabis prohibition, it is management’s view that confusion surrounding federal cannabis laws in the United States presents advantages for Canopy Growth, not risks,” Chief Executive Bruce Linton said in a statement. “We are confident in our position because we have exclusively focused on ethical, responsible and legal cannabis opportunities across the globe and not in the United States.” Canada is set to fully legalize marijuana this summer, a move that has helped Canadian businesses develop and flourish, at a time when U.S. companies are hampered by the continued classification of marijuana as a Schedule I drug, putting it on a par with heroin and cocaine.

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From:: Stock Market News

Morgan Stanley expects to take a $1.25 billion hit from tax bill

Morgan Stanley said Friday it expects to take a $1.25 billion hit from the tax bill that President Donald Trump signed into law in December. The bank said in a regulatory filing that net income for the fourth quarter will include a tax provision of that amount, primarily stemming from the re-evaluation of certain net deferred tax assets using the lower tax rate. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said in late December that it estimates the new tax legislation could reduce its fourth quarter earnings by about $5 billion, mainly due to the newly enacted repatriation tax for cash and assets held overseas. Morgan Stanley shares were not yet active premarket, but have gained 23% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 20%.

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Cal-Maine shares slide almost 5% premarket after earnings fall short of estimates

Shares of egg producer Cal-Maine Foods Inc. slid almost 5% in premarket trade Friday, after the company missed earnings estimates for its fiscal second quarter. The company said it had a net loss of $26.1 million, or 54 cents a share, in the quarter, after a loss of $23 million, or 48 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. The number included a charge of $52.8 million, or $1.09 a share, related to antitrust claims made by several large direct action purchasers. Excluding that charge, the company had EPS of 55 cents, below the FactSet consensus of 68 cents. Sales rose 42% to $361.2 million, also below the FactSet consensus of $364 million. Chief Executive Dolph Baker said the company denies liability in the antitrust case but decided to settle to remove the overhang of uncertainty and risk. “While the charge related to this settlement affected our financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2018, we had a solid operating performance during the quarter,” he said, highlighting a strong egg market and improved pricing. Shares have fallen 0.2% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 20%.

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Travis Kalanick to sell 29% of his Uber stake, for $1.4 billion: report

Travis Kalanick, who co-founded Uber Technologies Inc. and was ousted as its chief executive last year, plans to sell about a third of his stake in the company, Bloomberg News reported Thursday night. The sale of 29% of his shares will earn him about $1.4 billion in a transaction with Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. . Last month, SoftBank won a bid to buy about 15% of Uber at a price roughly 30% discounted from its last valuation of $68 billion. The deal is expected to be finalized later this month. In 2016, Kalanick boasted that he had “never sold a single Uber share.” Kalanick was forced out of the company he helped build in June following a shareholder revolt after a series of scandals tainted the ride-sharing giant.

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Apple admits its devices are affected by Meltdown and Spectre chip bugs

Apple Inc. published information Thursday evening confirming that all devices running its mobile and personal-computer operating systems are affected by two massive vulnerabilities publicly disclosed Wednesday. “All Mac systems and iOS devices are affected, but there are no known exploits impacting customers at this time,” a post on Apple’s support forum said. Apple said that recent updates to its Mac, iOS and tvOS software would help to mitigate against Meltdown, and that it was working on an update to its Safari web browser that would help fight off Spectre. Intel Corp. admitted Wednesday that its chips, which are used in Mac computers, are affected by Meltdown; Spectre affects all modern CPUs, including mobile chips from Softbank Group Corp.’s ARM Holdings. Other software companies, like Microsoft Corp. are patching operating systems to ward off potential exploits that use the vulnerabilities as well.

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From:: Stock Market News

New CEO at Envoy Mortgage

The chief executive officer of Envoy Mortgage LTD is relinquishing his role, and an insider has been named to take his place.

The Houston-based company was originally founded as First Houston Mortgage in 1997. In 2008, it became Envoy Mortgage and brought on Patrick Walden as president and CEO.

Walden came from the now-defunct subprime lender Aegis Mortgage, where he spent 14 years. Under his leadership, originations at Envoy went from $0.7 billion to $4.0 billion.


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From:: Financing

Jimmy Iovine plots Apple exit: report

Longtime music executive Jimmy Iovine plans to leave Apple Inc. in August, according to Thursday reports. Iovine has been assisting with the launch and operation of streaming music service Apple Music since the iPhone maker acquired his previous company, headphones-maker Beats Electronics Inc. Billboard reported Thursday that Iovine will time his departure to the end of a vesting schedule for Apple shares put in place at the time of acquisition. Apple Music subscriptions were up 75% year over year in the most recently completed quarter, Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said in November, which has helped Apple’s software and services segment become its second biggest revenue generator behind iPhone sales. Apple shares closed Thursday with a 0.5% gain at $173.03, and have increased 49.4% in the past year, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average , which includes Apple as a component, has gained 26.9%.

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From:: Stock Market News

Weekly Mortgage Rates Retreat

Several macroeconomic factors have impacted, and will continue to impact, mortgage rates. Most recently, rates turned lower ahead of the jobs report.

Fixed interest rates on 30-year single-family loans averaged 3.95 percent in the week ended Jan. 4, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

Long-term mortgage rates retreated from 3.99 percent in the preceding seven-day period and 4.20 percent in the same seven days last year.


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From:: Financing