MongoDB declines after first earnings report post-IPO

MongoDB Inc. shares walked back some of Tuesday’s gains in the extended session after the database company’s first quarterly results and outlook as a public company topped Wall Street estimates. MongoDB shares declined 4.1% to $27.81 after hours, following an 8% run-up in the regular session. To date, shares have risen 21% above their IPO pricing of $24 in late October. The company reported a third-quarter loss of $24.2 million, or $1.39 a share, compared with a loss of $19.5 million, or $1.57 a share, in the year-ago period. The adjusted loss for the recent quarter was 44 cents a share. Revenue rose to $41.5 million from $26.3 million in the year-ago period. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated a loss of 49 cents a share on revenue of $37.2 million. For the fourth quarter, MongoDB estimates an adjusted loss of 43 cents to 42 cents a share on revenue of $42 million to $42.5 million. Analysts expect a loss of 44 cents a share on revenue of $41.3 million.

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SEC appoints new chairman, four board members to audit industry regulator

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced on Tuesday the appointment of William D. Duhnke III, an attorney and currently the staff director and general counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, as the new chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the independent audit industry regulator. The SEC also named four new board members: J. Robert Brown, a professor of law at the University of Denver, Kathleen M. Hamm, currently the global leader of securities and fintech solutions and senior strategic advisor on cyber solutions at Promontory Financial Group, James G. Kaiser, a partner and 38-year veteran of PricewaterhouseCoopers and Duane M. DesParte, a former audit partner at Deloitte & Touche and, prior to that, Arthur Andersen.

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Proteostasis Therapeutics shares down 8% after proposed share offering

Shares of Proteostasis Therapeutics Inc. fell more than 8% in the late session Tuesday after the company said it plans to sell 7 million shares of its common stock. Underwriters will have a 30-day option to buy up to 1.05 million additional shares, the company said. Proteostasis on Monday announced positive results on three trials of drugs aimed at cystic fibrosis treatments, lifting shares earlier Tuesday. Proteostasis’ shares ended the regular Tuesday session up 161%. The shares are down 50% this year, compared with gains of 19% for the S&P 500 index.

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Lawmakers settling on corporate rate of 21% in tax bill: report

House and Senate negotiators are settling on a corporate rate of 21% in a final tax bill, up from the 20% passed by each chamber, the Washington Post reports. The Post’s story also said congressional Republicans are in advanced talks to lower the top tax rate for individuals from 39.6% to 37% as they finalize a tax package. The House-Senate tax conference committee is scheduled to meet in open session on Wednesday to discuss a bill.

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SEC charges biopharmaceutical company with failing to disclose millions in executive perks

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Tennessee-based Provectus , a biopharmaceutical company, with allegedly failing to properly report millions of dollars in perks provided to its then-CEO and then-CFO as compensation. The company allegedly lacked sufficient controls surrounding the reporting and disclosure of travel and entertainment expenses submitted by its executives, including Provectus’ former CEO, Dr. H. Craig Dees, who obtained millions of dollars from the company using limited, fabricated, or non-existent expense documentation, according to the SEC. Provectus’ former CFO, Peter R. Culpepper, also allegedly obtained $199,194 in unauthorized and undisclosed perks and benefits. The SEC said Dees treated the company “as his personal piggy bank,” using falsified records to obtain $3.2 million in cash advances and reimbursements to allegedly pay for personal expenses such as cosmetic surgery for female friends, restaurant tips, and personal travel. The SEC settled with the company, which did not include any fines based on its proactive remediation and the cooperation of its new leadership. Provectus also fired the alleged wrongdoers. The company and Culpepper consented to separate orders, without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings. Culpepper agreed to pay $152,376 in disgorgement and interest, a civil penalty, and to be suspended from appearing and practicing before the SEC as an accountant for three years.

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EIA lifts WTI, Brent oil-price forecasts for 2017 and 2018

The U.S. Energy Information Administration on Tuesday raised its price forecasts on West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude oil for this year and next. In its monthly energy outlook report, the government agency forecast WTI prices at $50.56 a barrel for this year, up from $49.70 in the October forecast. For 2018, it forecast $52.77–up from $51.04 in the previous outlook. The EIA also upped its 2017 forecast on Brent crude to $53.88 from $53.01 and its 2018 outlook to $57.26 from $55.61. It modestly raised its 2018 output view to 10.02 million barrels a day from 9.95 million. That would be “the highest average annual production rate of crude oil in U.S. history,” said EIA Acting Administrator John Conti. January WTI crude continued to trade lower, down 1.5% at $57.12 a barrel. February Brent lost 1.7% at $63.59.

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MoviePass and Fandor team up with Costco with 1-year subscription to both services for $89.99

MoviePass, the film-theater subscription service owned by Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc. , and Fandor, a streaming service with a database of independent films, documentaries, international features and shorts, are teaming up with Costco Wholesale Corp. to offer a special one-year plan for $89.99 that will give subscribers access to Fandor’s library as well as to MoviePass’ cinema plan. The offer will be available online for just one week from Dec. 12 to Dec. 18, the companies said in a statement. “those who sign up for the one year subscriptions will receive digital codes providing instant access to Fandor’s library of over 5,000 films, as well as a year’s worth of the latest and greatest in-theater experiences through MoviePass,” the statement said. MoviePass has grown its subscriber base to more than 600,000 since launching a $9.95 a month plan in August. Helios and Matheson shares were trading up 17.5% Tuesday, while Costco shares were down 0.6%. The S&P 500 was up 0.3%.

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AMD, Nvidia stocks fall as analyst says AI will need different chips in 2018

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Nvidia Corp. fell 1.7% and 1.3%, respectively, in Tuesday morning trading, after analysts at Susquehanna suggested that application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) could become more important than graphics processing units (GPUs) for 2018. “Nvidia was in the right place at the right time,” wrote the analysts, led by Christoper Rolland, as its GPUs made for gaming purposes proved useful for complex artificial-intelligence tasks as well. “However, our discussions with numerous thought leaders in the industry suggest ASICs may replace much of today’s GPU infrastructure over time,” he added. Plus, GPUs could become less useful for the mining of cryptocurrencies in 2018, according to Rolland. AMD shares have fallen 12% so far in 2017, compared with an 80% gain for Nvidia shares. The S&P 500 is up 19% this year, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has gained 37%.

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Oasis Petroleum’s stock leads NYSE losers after share offering, analyst downgrade

Shares of Oasis Petroleum Inc. sank 11% on heavy volume Tuesday, after the oil and gas exploration and production company announced a public offering of common stock, and after a SunTrust Robinson Humphrey downgrade. The stock was the biggest decline on the NYSE, and volume of 43 million shares was about five times the full-day average, and enough to make the stock the most actively traded on major U.S. exchanges. The company said late Monday that it was selling 32 million shares of common stock to the public for gross proceeds of approximately $321.9 million, implying a per-share price of about $10.06. Separately, the company said late Monday it agreed to buy 20,300 acres in the Delaware Basin for $946 million, consisting of $483 million in cash and 46 million shares of common stock. SunTrust RH analyst Neal Dingmann downgraded Oasis to hold from buy, and slashed his stock price target to $11 from $14, citing the “hefty price” the company paid to enter the Delaware Basin. The stock has plunged 41% year to date, while the SPDR Energy Select Sector ETF has slipped 7.1% and the S&P 500 has climbed 19%.

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Imperva stock falls after JP Morgan downgrades to underweight

Shares of security-software firms Imperva Inc. , Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. , and Fortinet Inc. fell 3.5%, 0.3%, and 0.1%, respectively, in Tuesday morning trading, after analysts at JP Morgan downgraded the stocks. The analysts, led by Sterling Auty, now rate Imperva at underweight and both Check Point and Fortinet at neutral. Auty points to “sales execution issues” for Check Point and Imperva; he thinks it’s unlikely that Check Point will go back to “winning consistent market share” and worries about the web-application firewall aspect of Imperva’s business. Fortinet, meanwhile, has seen “turnover in the sales and marketing ranks” that has been weighing on results, Auty wrote. He noted that market-research firm Gartner now predicts core security spending to grow at a 6% annual clip through 2021, below a previous forecast for 6.5% growth. Imperva shares have risen 4.7% so far in 2017, compared with 40% and 25% rises for Fortinet and Check Point respectively. The S&P 500 is up 19% this year.

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