BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:
BCRX -
News) named Jon Stonehouse its chief executive. BioCryst, a Birmingham, Ala., drug development company, said Stonehouse succeeds Charles Bugg, the company's founder and CEO. Bugg will become nonexecutive chairman. Stonehouse had been senior vice president of corporate development at Merck KGaA.
Caremark Rx (NYSE:
CMX -
News) rejected an unsolicited merger proposal from Express Scripts (NASDAQ:
ESRX -
News) and affirmed its support for a deal with CVS (NYSE:
CVS -
News).
Compucredit Corp. (NASDAQ:
CCRT -
News) said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it now expects earnings for the fourth quarter to come about 20% below its previous projections.
Delta Apparel Inc. (AMEX:
DLA -
News) said it expects second-quarter sales of $72 million to $73 million, down from a previous estimate of $74 million to $78 million, and earnings of 5 cents to 7 cents a share, down from a prior projection of 14 cents to 18 cents a share. Delta Apparel also cut its forecast for the year's sales and earnings.
Dynavax Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:
DVAX -
News) shares fell after the Berkeley, Calif.-based biotech company said interim one-year data from its two-year ragweed allergy trial indicated that "no meaningful ragweed-specific allergic disease was observed in the study population," making it impossible for the company to measure the impact of its Tolamba treatment. "This result was unexpected, though these challenges are well known to occur in allergy drug development," said Dino Dina, president and chief executive, in a statement. "Due to the fact that no clinically significant disease was seen in the study population, it was impossible to measure the effect of our intervention."
Fastenal (NASDAQ:
FAST -
News) was downgraded to hold from buy at BB&T Capital Markets.
Garmin (NASDAQ:
GRMN -
News) was downgraded to neutral from buy at D.A. Davidson due to valuation concerns.
GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes (NYSE:
GOL -
News) said its passenger traffic rose 48% in December while its capacity rose 65% for the month, compared to the same period last year. That caused its load factor, or percentage of seats filled with paying passengers, to fall to 67.4% from 75.2%. The Brazilian low-cost airline also forecast a drop in fiscal year earnings to 3.15 to 3.30 reals a share, down from 3.40 to 3.65 reals a share.
Heartland Payment (NYSE:
HPY -
News) was downgraded to underweight from market weight at Thomas Weisel Partners.
Hertz (NYSE:
HTZ -
News) plans to cut roughly 200 jobs in the first of "a series of initiatives" to improve its competitiveness. The layoffs will come at headquarters in Park Ridge, N.J., a service center in Oklahoma City, and in U.S. field operations. The car-rental company expects to save as much as $15.8 million annually from the job cuts and expects restructuring charges of $3.3 million to $3.8 million in the first quarter.
MarineMax Inc. (NYSE:
HZO -
News) sees a first-quarter loss of 20 cents to 25 cents a share; the First Call-derived average forecast stands at a loss of 6 cents. The company also lowered its profit outlook for fiscal 2007.
Medecision (NASDAQ:
MEDE -
News) shares plunged after the Wayne, Pa.-based a provider of software and services to healthcare payers said late Friday it expects fourth-quarter revenue of $10.3 million to $10.6 million. MEDecision said it signed five contracts during the quarter, resulting in lower-than expected term license revenue of between $1.1 million and $1.3 million.
Methanex Corp. (NASDAQ:
MEOH -
News) was downgraded to sector underperformer from sector performer at CIBC World Markets.
Microsemi (NASDAQ:
MSCC -
News) was downgraded to equal weight from overweight at Lehman Bros. The firm cited a lack of catalysts for the stock.
Molex Inc. (NASDAQ:
MOLX -
News) lowered its second-quarter earnings and sales outlook citing lower-than-anticipated gross margins, which is due primarily to lower sales and higher price erosion in its mobile phone business. The Lisle, Ill. electronics components maker now expects to earnings of 34 to 37 cents a share vs. its previous forecast of 39 to 43 cents a share. Revenue is expected to be $830 million to $840 million, revised from a previous projection of $830 million to $850 million. The company also sees new orders slowing to $770 million to $780 million.
Myriad Genetics (NASDAQ:
MYGN -
News) said a clinical trial of MPC-7869, designed to evaluate its safety and potential efficacy in slowing the rate of progression of prostate cancer, didn't show statistical significance in either endpoint. The primary clinical endpoints of the trial were the time to systemic disease progression and the change in velocity of prostate specific antigen levels. The company said it does not intend to pursue further development of the compound in cancer. Myriad said it will continue to concentrate its efforts on the compound's activity in Alzheimer's disease.
Newmont Mining (NYSE:
NEM -
News) was downgraded to underweight from neutral weight at Prudential, which cited weak earnings power even at optimistic assumptions for metals prices. Analyst John Tumazos also lowered his stock price target to $40 from $50. "While heretofore we have 'disbelieved' how badly the company's costs deteriorated, and expected a future cost turnabout, we have given up hope in large part," Tumazos said in a research note to clients. "We expect a higher gold price outlook owing in part to higher gold mining costs and output erosion, but the profit margin at those higher prices is much lower than envisioned several years ago."
Northwest Airlines Corp. (Other OTC:
NWACQ.PK -
News) said traffic in December rose 1.1% to 6.38 billion revenue passenger miles. Load factor, or the percentage of the plane filled with passengers, increased by 0.7 percentage points to 80.7%. Capacity rose 0.1% to 7.9 billion available seat miles, the Eagan, Minn.-based carrier said.
Novastar Financial (NYSE:
NFI -
News) was downgraded to market perform from market outperform at JMP Securities.
Nu Horizons Electronics (NASDAQ:
NUHC -
News) said net income rose 59% to $2.4 million, or 13 cents a share, for its fiscal third quarter ended Nov. 30 with sales up 26% to $186 million. From the last quarter, however, sales fell at the electronic components distributor, due to a decline in the company's systems business related to a substantial customer-specific decrease, as well as to market weakness related to some end customer and manufacturing channel inventory builds.
Panacos Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:
PANC -
News) named Alan Dunton M.D. its new chief executive. Dunton has also been added to the company's board of directors. Dunton replaces Peyton Marshall, Panacos' chief financial officer, who had served as interim CEO since the sudden death of former Chief Executive Samuel "Skip" Ackerman last June.
P.F. Chang's China Bistro (NASDAQ:
PFCB -
News) was downgraded to underperform from peer perform at Bear Stearns.
Schnitzer Steel Industries (NASDAQ:
SCHN -
News) reported first-quarter earnings of $21 million, or 69 cents a share, down from a year-ago profit of $42 million, or $1.34 a share. The year-ago results included a gain of $34 million related to an asset disposition as well as a charge of $11 million from an investigation reserve. Excluding items, Portland, Ore.-based Schnitzer earned $19 million, or 61 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue rose in the latest three months to $510 million from $341 million in the same period a year earlier. The average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson First Call was for a profit of 99 cents a share in the November period on revenue of $511.9 million. The company said it saw lower volumes and higher costs per ton in the latest quarter due to the installation of mega-shredders at its metals recycling facilities in the Oakland and Boston areas. In addition, margins were hurt by higher raw material costs in the quarter, and its auto parts business saw lower vehicle purchases due to higher prices.
Targeted Genetics Corp. (NASDAQ:
TGEN -
News) agreed to sell 2.18 million shares to institutional investors at a price of $4 each. The transaction includes warrants to purchase up to 763,000 shares, exercisable at price of $5.41 per share. The Seattle-based biotechnology company expects net proceeds of $8.1 million from the transaction, which is expected to close Jan. 11. Targeted Genetics plans to use the funds for working capital and general corporate purposes.
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