6:56 am Rovi issues letter to shareholders; 'Engaged Capital's nominees are not right for Rovi or its stockholders', urges shareholders to vote for its Blue proxy card at the upcoming annual meeting (ROVI) :  

6:56 am Kulicke & Soffa misses by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q3 revs below consensus (KLIC) : Reports Q2 (Mar) earnings of $0.10 per share, $0.02 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.12; revenues rose 27.0% year/year to $145 mln vs the $142.5 mln consensus.

• Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $160-170 mln vs. $200.83 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
  

6:53 am Office Depot reports EPS in-line, misses on revs; reaffirms FY15 sales lower YoY (ODP) : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.13 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.13; revenues fell 11.0% year/year to $3.88 bln vs the $4.11 bln consensus. 

• Office Depot continues to expect total co sales in 2015 to be lower than 2014, primarily due to its decision to close certain stores, the negative impact of currency translation, business disruption from the announcement of the pending acquisition by Staples (SPLS), and continued challenging market conditions. 
• Office Depot continues to make significant progress on its merger integration with OfficeMax. By the end of 2016, the completion of the three-year integration period, the company continues to expect to achieve total annual run-rate merger synergy benefits of more than $750 million. The company began 2015 with over $500 million in run-rate merger synergy benefits.

6:52 am GlaxoSmithKline, Fondazione Telethon and Ospedale San Raffaele have submitted E.U. regulatory submission for gene therapy to treat rare disease ADA-SCID (GSK) : The submission is for a marketing application to the European Medicines Agency for a gene therapy to treat patients with a rare disease. Adenosine deaminase deficiency is an inherited disorder that causes severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome

6:50 am On the Wires (:WIRES) :

• Trimble (TRMB) announced that it is partnering with unmanned aircraft system manufacturer MULTIROTOR service-drone, GmbH. The collaboration is for an integration of offerings, that will allow Trimble to expand its existing UAS portfolio
• D.E Master Blenders and Mondelez International (MDLZ) announced that they have received conditional approval from the European Commission to combine their respective coffee businesses and create the pure-play coffee company - JACOBS DOUWE EGBERTS

6:42 am Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria announced the appointment of D. Carlos Torres Vila as President and COO (BBVA) : Co also announced an organizational restructuring. The new structure includes the following areas: 

• C&IB: Juan Asa continues as head of the wholesale banking area at BBVA. 
• The Business Development (:BD): a new area where the function will be responsible in each country for retail and commercial offerings and for the deployment of global developments. 
• New Digital Businesses: Teppo Paavola, reporting to the president & COO, continues as head of the area responsible for investing and launching new digital businesses, including BBVA Ventures
• Global Risk Management: Rafael Salinas, head of risk management at C&IB, takes over as head of Global Risk Management. 
• Strategy & M&A: Javier Rodrguez Soler, will be responsible for defining the digital transformation strategy, as well as carrying out the M&A operations and alliances of the Group.
  

6:35 am Harris beats by $0.08, reports revs in-line; reaffirms FY15 guidance (HRS) : Reports Q3 (Mar) earnings of $1.32 per share, $0.08 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.24; revenues fell 6.1% year/year to $1.19 bln vs the $1.19 bln consensus.

• Co reaffirms guidance for FY15, sees EPS of $5.00-5.10 vs. $5.03 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees revs declining about 4%, in-line with consensus.
  

6:34 am Summit Materials reports smaller than expected Q1 net loss (SUM) : Reports Q1 (Mar) GAAP loss of $0.38 per share, $0.47 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.85); revenues rose 28.4% year/year to $194 mln, may not compare to the $187.55 mln consensus. 

• Net revenue increased 28.8% to $175.1 mln, compared to $136.0 million in the prior year quarter. The increase in net revenue was primarily attributable to an increase in volumes in the aggregates, cement and ready-mixed concrete lines of business, largely in the West region. Net revenue grew organically by $6.7 million, or 4.9%, compared to the prior year quarter.
  

6:29 am Hill-Rom beats by $0.04, reports revs in-line; raises FY15 EPS guidance, slightly lowers rev range; guides Q3 below consensus (HRC) : Reports Q2 (Mar) earnings of $0.64 per share, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.60; revenues rose 14.3% year/year to $474.8 mln vs the $471.78 mln consensus.

• Co issues guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.58-0.61 vs. $0.63 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate, compared to $2.44 to $2.50 previously; expects reported revenue growth of 13-15%; consensus represents 16% revenue growth.
• Co issues guidance for FY15, sees EPS of $2.50-2.54 vs. $2.48 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Expects reported revenue growth of 10-11% compared to 11-12% previously; consensus represents 12% revenue growth. "Despite incremental currency headwinds, we are raising our full-year outlook, reflecting our improved operational execution."

6:29 am On the Wires (:WIRES) :

• Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited (YGE) announced that it reached more than 13 gigawatts of cumulative global solar panel deliveries by the end of the first quarter of 2015.
• Provectus Biopharmaceuticals (PVCT) announced that it has received notification of allowance from the European Patent Office for its patent application protecting the synthetic process used to produce the small molecule Rose Bengal, the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) in PV-10, the 'Company's lead oncology drug candidate. At the same time, the Japanese Patent Office has issued a patent for the same intellectual property.
• Patterson-UTI Energy (PTEN) reported that for the month of April 2015, the Company had an average of 131 drilling rigs operating in the United States and two rigs in Canada.
• Procera Networks, Inc. (PKT) announced that its Network Application Visibility Library has been selected by Savvius, to deliver real-time, application-aware network capture and analysis for the latest versions of its Omnipliance hardware and OmniPeek software solutions
• Radware (RDWR) announces that Limelight Networks (LLNW) is using Radware's Attack Mitigation System technology for its DDoS Attack Interceptor.
  
• Avianca Holdings (AVH) disclosed that on April 30, 2015 various of its subsidiaries entered into a Purchase Agreement with Airbus S.A.S (EADSY) to acquire 100 new A320neo family aircraft scheduled for delivery from 2018 through 2024. As part of the implementation of our fleet modernization plan, most of these A320neo aircraft are expected to replace aircraft currently in operation.
  

6:24 am RetailMeNot beats by $0.04, beats on revs; guides Q2 revs below consensus; reaffirms FY15 guidance (SALE) : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.20 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.16; revenues fell 1.5% year/year to $60.4 mln vs the $58.78 mln consensus.

• Adjusted EBITDA was $18.7 mln, down 13% and representing 31% of total net revenues vs. $14-16 mln guidance.

Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $55-58 mln vs. $58.63 mln Capital IQ Consensus; EBITDA $12-14 mln.

Co reaffirms guidance for FY15, sees FY15 revs of $275-285 mln vs. $282.30 mln Capital IQ Consensus; reaffirms EBITDA $92-100 mln.

6:22 am Gray Television beats by $0.05, beats on revs; guides Q2 revs in-line (GTN) : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.10 per share, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.05; revenues rose 46.0% year/year to $133.3 mln vs the $131.11 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $141-143 mln vs. $137.95 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

6:20 am NW Natural Gas misses by $0.14 (NWN) : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.37 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.14 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.51. 

• "While the first quarter write-down for environmental costs was disappointing, this major decision is behind us, and we now have approval to fully recover prudently incurred environmental costs in Oregon going forward," said Gregg Kantor, President and Chief Executive Officer. "During the quarter, another significant milestone was the acknowledgment of our IRP in both Oregon and Washington, which identifies a number of utility capital investments we will be pursuing over the next several years."
  

6:20 am MDC Holdings beats by $0.01, beats on revs (MDC) : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.17 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.16; revenues rose 18.6% year/year to $377.9 mln vs the $347.13 mln consensus. 

• Gross margin from home sales of 15.4% down from 18.5%. 
• Dollar value of net new orders of $666.5 million, up 43%. Unit net new orders of 1,593, up 29%. 
• Average monthly absorption rate increased 18%. 
• "During the first quarter, to start the spring selling season, we were pleased to see an overall improvement in homebuilding industry conditions across most of our markets. Our net new orders increased 29% year-over-year, driven by increases in both our absorption rate and active community count."
  

6:17 am Headwaters beats by $0.15, beats on revs; raises EBITDA guidance (HW) : Reports Q2 (Mar) earnings of $0.06 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.15 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.09); revenues rose 14.8% year/year to $179.7 mln vs the $174.12 mln consensus.

• Adj. EBITDA increased by $6.3 million to $24.1 million, or 35% over 2014. 

Raising FY 2015 Adjusted EBITDA Guidance to $155-$170 mln from $155-165 mln.

6:14 am Universal American Corp misses by $0.01, misses on revs; CFO Robert Waegelein to retire effective May 31st (UAM) : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.04 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.05; revenues fell 13.2% year/year to $444.8 mln vs the $464.81 mln consensus.

• "The most noteworthy achievement in our Medicare Advantage results is the reduction in our administrative expense ratio to 9.7% in the first quarter of 2015. Given the seasonality of expenses, we expect the full year expense ratio to be approximately 10.5%, consistent with the target we set going into 2015."
• The Company also announced that President & Chief Financial Officer Robert Waegelein will retire on May 31, 2015. Co announced that Adam Thackery, the Company's Senior Vice President, Financial Planning & Analysis since October 2008, will be promoted to Chief Financial Officer and David Monroe, the Company's Senior Vice President, Finance since 2007, will be promoted to Chief Accounting Officer effective May 31, 2015. 

6:13 am Towers Watson beats by $0.13, beats on revs; raises FY15 EPS above consensus, reaffirms FY15 revs guidance (TW) : Reports Q3 (Mar) earnings of $1.63 per share, $0.13 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.50; revenues rose 1.8% year/year to $921 mln vs the $901.82 mln consensus.

Co issues guidance for FY15, raises EPS to $6.03-6.10, excluding non-recurring items, from $5.90-6.00 vs. $5.96 Capital IQ Consensus; reaffirms FY15 revs of ~$3.6 bln vs. $3.62 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. 

"Healthcare and pension consulting as well as pension administration drove revenue growth in the Benefits segment. Talent and Rewards delivered its strongest quarter in almost four years due to the high level of global M&A activity, and Exchange Solutions continued to exceed expectations, as demand for retiree exchange and healthcare administration remained strong."

6:10 am Western Refining beats by $0.01, misses on revs (WNR) : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.18 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.17; revenues fell 37.8% year/year to $2.32 bln vs the $2.5 bln consensus. 

• Approved Q2 dividend of $0.34 per share, a 13% increase from Q1. 
• "Our refineries operated very well, margins were good, and expenses were in line with expectations. In our Retail business, we saw an increase in fuel volumes and merchandise sales."
  

6:04 am RCS Capital announces April 2015 wholesale distribution sales (RCAP) : The co announced that its wholesale broker-dealer subsidiaries, Realty Capital Securities, LLC, SC Distributors, LLC and The Hatteras Funds raised approximately $457 million of total equity capital in the month of April through 30 direct investment programs and registered investment companies. Sales of direct investment programs in April totaled nearly $430 million, which marks another significant month for the wholesale distribution segment and represents an 85% increase over November 2014 sales. Total equity capital raised of $457 million represents a 75% increase over November 2014 sales. The co also announced that Steven Neamtz has joined the company as National Sales Manager for Realty Capital Securities. 

6:02 am Nobilis Health to acquire Peak Surgeon Innovations for ~$1.5 mln (HLTH) : The co nnounced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Peak Surgeon Innovations, LLC, a provider of intraoperative neuromonitoring services for hospitals, surgery centers and other healthcare facilities. Nobilis will pay $700,000.00 in cash and $800,000.00 in Nobilis common stock, and the seller, Dr. Brian Hasse, will be entitled to receive an earn out based on the service line's EBITDA after 18 months of operations under Nobilis."We will likely recognize an impact on our cash flow over the next quarter, and as our procedure volume increases, ancillary revenues will materially impact our financials,"

6:01 am China Information Tech announces entrance into a strategic agreement with Shenzhen Capital Group, to explore investment opportunities in the cloud computing technology space (CNIT) :  

5:53 am S&P futures vs fair value: +0.20. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +0.10. :

5:53 am European Markets : FTSE...7023.37...+36.40...+0.50%.  DAX...11674.08...+54.20...+0.50%.

5:53 am Asian Markets : Nikkei...Holiday.........  Hang Seng...27755.54...-368.30...-1.30%.

5:23 am iGATE beats by $0.06; slight miss on revs (IGTE) : Reports Q1 EPS of $0.52 vs $0.46 Capital IQ cosensus; revs increased 6.6% YoY to $322.0 mln vs $325.3 mln consensus

• Gross margin was 35.1% 
• Compared to 37.5% in the first quarter of 2014 
• Compared to 34.8% in the fourth quarter of 2014
  

5:02 am On The Wires (:WIRES) :

• Workday (WDAY) announced that Hyperion Insurance Group Limited (Hyperion), a leading international insurance intermediary group, has selected Workday Human Capital Management to support the business at a time of significant growth. 
• Sonic Foundry (SOFO) announced Marshall B. Ketchum University in Fullerton, Calif. uses Mediasite for campus-wide lecture capture and video management. 
• NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NXPI) announced a partnership with Xiaomi, a global leader in wireless connectivity and security solutions. The agreement will see NXP provide its latest innovative low power wireless connectivity solution for the new Xiaomi Smart Home Suite. 
• Citi's (C) Issuer Services business, acting through Citibank N.A., has been appointed by Galapagos, a clinical stage biotech company focused on developing novel mode of action medicines, as the successor depositary bank for its Level 1 American Depositary Receipt programme.
  

4:08 am Volkswagen creates integrated commercial vehicles group (VLKAY) : Co announced it is creating the integrated commercial vehicles group and thus putting in place a structured framework for business with mid-sized and heavy trucks and buses. Truck & Bus GmbH is to become the new Volkswagen Group holding for the MAN und Scania commercial vehicle brands. This was decided yesterday (Monday) by the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG. To this end, the shares in Scania AB held by Volkswagen AG will be transferred to Truck & Bus GmbH. The wholly-owned Volkswagen subsidiary already holds 75.28 percent of the voting rights in MAN SE.

3:21 am Teekay LNG Partners contemplates Norwegian bond issuance (TGP) : Co announces that it intends to issue a minimum of NOK 700 million in new senior unsecured bonds in the Norwegian bond market that mature in May 2020 which, at current conversion rates, have an aggregate principal amount equivalent to approximately $90 million. The net proceeds from the bonds are expected to be used for general partnership purposes, including funding of newbuilding installments

3:18 am Allot Comms beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line (ALLT) : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.09 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.07; revenues rose 4.2% year/year to $29.5 mln vs the $29.79 mln consensus.

3:01 am Glencore Intl reports Q1 production (GLNCY) : Co reports own sourced copper production down 9% to 350,700 tonnes, reflecting grade reductions at Alumbrera and Antamina due to mine sequencing and a planned maintenance shutdown at Collahuasi.

• Own sourced zinc production up 16% to 356,200 tonnes, driven by the expansions at Lady Loretta (Mount Isa) and McArthur River. Some temporary plant downtime at McArthur River and lower grades at Kazzinc, Matagami and Rosh Pinah resulted, however, in an 8% decline on a quarterly sequential basis. 
• Own sourced nickel production was 23,800 tonnes, up 7% relating to the higher contribution from Koniambo. Production issues at Koniambo, however, resulted in sequential quarterly production being down 8%. 
• Attributable ferrochrome production up 15% to 385,000 tonnes, driven by the Lion 2 expansion project.
• Own sourced coal production was 35.6 million tonnes, 4% higher than the comparable period due to higher production from South Africa where two new projects were since commissioned. 
• Glencore oil entitlement production up 52% to 2.6 million barrels, reflecting the ramp-up at Badila and Mangara and the impact of higher ownership of the Chad assets following the Caracal acquisition in July 2014. 
• Overall Q1 2015 copper equivalent production was up 7% compared to Q1 2014 and sequentially in line with Q4 2014.
  

2:24 am Golar LNG: Ophir Energy plc appoints Golar as midstream partner for Fortuna FLNG project in Equatorial Guinea (GLNG) : Golar LNG announced that it has signed a binding Heads of Terms with Ophir Energy for the provision of the GoFLNG vessel Gimi.

• The Heads of Terms has been approved by Ophir's Equatorial Guinea, Block-R upstream partner GEPetrol, and will be formally ratified by GEPetrol next week. 
• The agreement will be structured as a 20-year tolling contract, commencing commercial operations in the first half of 2019. 
• Block R's 2.5 tcf of high purity 2P gas resources, situated in an area of benign sea states, are ideally suited for the application of Golar's GoFLNG technology.
  

1:45 am On The Wires (:WIRES) :

• Melco Crown Entertainment (MPEL) which is a developer and owner of casino gaming and entertainment resort facilities in Asia, today announced that its recently opened world-class integrated casino resort City of Dreams Manila has become the first property in Entertainment City to receive the regular gaming license from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation 
• Accenture (ACN) released a new version of its Air Cargo Suite software with advanced capabilities that can help air cargo carriers become more flexible, competitive and efficient through streamlined operations and data integration. 
• Travelport (TVPT) announced a multi-year contract renewal with HRG, the award winning global travel management company. The agreement extends Travelport and HRG's already long-standing partnership of over 40 years

1:17 am Nordstrom names Co-Presidents (JWN) : Co announced the appointment of Blake Nordstrom, Pete Nordstrom and Erik Nordstrom as co-presidents of Nordstrom. The three executives retain their current roles and responsibilities and will continue to serve on the Nordstrom Board of Directors where they are engaged in the long-range strategic plans for the company.

1:11 am SolarCity closes $500 mln aggregation facility (SCTY) : Co announced it has closed a $500 million financing aggregation facility with BofA Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank. The loan facility is expected to be the largest of its kind for distributed generation solar projects, and once deployed will finance more than 500 MW of solar power systems for homeowners, businesses and government organizations.

1:04 am Saneamento Basico announces extraordinary tariff increase (SBS) : Co informs its shareholders that the Sao Paulo State Sanitation and Energy Regulatory Agency (:ARSESP) published resolutions that authorizes an increase of 7.7875% in the current tariffs, consisting of the 2015 annual tariff adjustment of 7.1899%, based on the 8.1285% variation in the IPCA consumer price index between March 2014 and March 2015

12:52 am First Bancorp beats by $0.02 (FBP) : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.12 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.10.

• Adjusted net interest income, excluding the $2.5 million prepayment penalty income in the fourth quarter of 2014 and fair value adjustments on derivative instruments, decreased by $0.7 million mainly due to the adverse impact of two fewer days in the current quarter.
• The related net interest margin increased by 9 basis points in the first quarter of 2015 to 4.18% compared to 4.09% in the fourth quarter of 2014 reflecting, among other things, the increase in interest income related to loans acquired from Doral Bank and a reduction in the average cost of funding. 
• Provision for loan and lease losses for the quarter increased by $9.1 million to $33.0 million. The increase reflects, among other things, the migration of certain commercial loans to a worse loan classification, higher specific reserves on impaired commercial loans, a reduction in commercial and construction loan loss recoveries and an increase in the general reserve for residential mortgage loans. 
• Total capital, common equity Tier 1 capital, Tier 1 capital, and leverage ratios calculated under the transition provisions of Basel III rules of 19.19%, 16.15%, 16.15%, and 12.17%, respectively, as of March 31, 2015. Tangible common equity ratio of 12.33% as of March 31, 2015.
  

12:44 am Applied Genetic Technologies: Novel gene-based therapy for Achromatopsia demonstrates functional rescue of cone cells (AGTC) : Researchers from Michigan State University and the University of Pennsylvania presented new preclinical data today, evaluating the efficacy of an adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector gene therapy treatment for achromatopsia, a rare inherited retinal disease. The investigational gene therapy was developed by Applied Genetic Technologies (AGTC). 

• The abstract titled "Long-term Cone ERG Functional Rescue in CNGB3 Mutant Achromatopsia Dogs by AAV-hCNGB3 Vectors Containing the PR1.7 Promoter and Packaged in AAV5, AAV9 or Mutant AAV2 Capsids," describes a study to evaluate the efficacy of an experimental AAV vector expressing the human cyclic nucleotide gated channel beta 3 gene to restore function to cone cells (specialized cells primarily responsible for color vision) in the retinas of dogs affected by ACHM. 
• The study assessed the efficacy of AAV vectors expressing hCNGB3 or codon-optimized hCNGB3 cDNAs, driven by 1.7 kb or 2.1 kb versions of the human red cone opsin promoter and packed in AAV5, AAV9 or mutant AAV2 mutant capsids. 
• Results demonstrated that functional rescue of cone cells was observed in nearly 100 percent of eyes treated with AAV5-PR2.1-hCNGB3co, AAV5-PR2.1-hCNGB3, AAV9-PR1.7-hCNGB3co, AAV2tYF-PR1.7-hCNGB3co, and AAV5-PR1.7-hCNGB3co vector.