Headlines: Pharmacyclics rose $24.37, or 10.6%, to $254.76 after AbbVie said it would attain the corporation for about $21 billion. It’s AbbVie’s first attempt at a major deal since walking away from a $55 billion takeover of Shire last fall. AbbVie’s stock dropped down $1.82, or 3 percent, to $58.35.

The shares of Joy Global, a manufacturer of mining equipment, dropped down the most in the S&P 500. The stock slumped $2.66, or 6.3 percent, to $39.47 after the corporation said that the worldwide slump in commodity prices continues to hurt its business.

Insights about U.S. Stocks that are active during the current trade, are depicted underneath:

Pacific Ethanol Inc (NASDAQ:PEIX)’s shares picked up 27.44%, and is now trading at $11.89. The Stock is active as 4.85M shares changed hands versus its average volume of 948,930.00 shares.

Pacific Ethanol, Inc. (PEIX), the leading producer and marketer of low-carbon renewable fuels in the Western United States, stated its financial results for the three- and twelve-months ended December 31, 2014.

Financial Highlights:

Stated for the three months ending December 31, 2014:

• Net revenue of $12.2 million, or $0.50 per diluted share,
• Adjusted Net Earnings of $10.0 million, or $0.41 per share,
• Adjusted EBITDA of $16.3 million.

Stated for the year ending December 31, 2014:

• Net revenue of $20.0 million, or $0.88 per diluted share.
• Adjusted Net Earnings of $59.9 million, or $2.64 per share.
• Adjusted EBITDA of $95.0 million.

Financial Results for the Three Months Ended December 31, 2014:

Net sales were $256.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2014, contrast to $215.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2013. The rise in net sales was attributable to an raise in total gallons sold, slightly offset by a reduction in the Corporation’s average sales price per gallon.

Gross profit was $18.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2014, contrast to $21.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2013. The decline in gross profit was due to particularly strong production margins in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Selling, general and administrative expenses were $4.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2014, contrast to $4.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2013. The raise in SG&A expenses reflect an raise in professional fees related to the pending Aventine merger of about $1.0 million, partially offset by a reduction in year-end compensation expense of about $0.8 million.

Pacific Ethanol, Inc. (PEIX) is the leading producer and marketer of low-carbon renewable fuels in the Western United States. Pacific Ethanol also sells co-products, counting wet distillers grain, a nutritional animal feed. Serving integrated oil companies and gasoline marketers who blend ethanol into gasoline, Pacific Ethanol provides transportation, storage and delivery of ethanol through third-party service providers in the Western United States, primarily in California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Oregon, Colorado, Idaho and Washington.

ZIOPHARM Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:ZIOP), raised 2.92%, and is now trading at $13.73, hitting new 52-week high of $14.27. The Stock is active as 3.69M shares changed hands versus its average volume of 4.61M shares.

Formerly on February 26, declared financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2014, and offered an update on the corporation’s recent activities.

Recent and Forthcoming Corporate Highlights:

In January of 2015, ZIOPHARM and its partner, Intrexon Corporation, reached an exclusive license contract with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center for programs and associated technologies related to the development of non-viral adoptive cellular therapies, counting CAR T, TCR and NK cell-based therapies. When combined with Intrexon’s technology suite and ZIOPHARM’s further clinical validation of the RheoSwitch Therapeutic System(R), the resulting proprietary methods and technologies may assist realize the promise of genetically modified immune cells by tightly controlling expansion and activation in the body, thereby minimizing off-tissue effects and toxicity while maximizing therapeutic efficacy. As importantly, the use of a non-viral gene integration platform and cell technologies with both point of care and off the shelf applications advance the potential for addressing cancer’s global scale. Together, these programs and technologies are designed to bypass the cost, time and complexity of development associated with existing CAR T and other cell-based therapies, with applicability in both hematologic and solid tumor malignancies.

This partnership continues to expand the scope of ZIOPHARM’s synthetic immuno-oncology programs. In December 2014, ZIOPHARM and Intrexon declared the presentation of clinical and preclinical studies from these programs at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 2014 Immunology and Immunotherapy Meeting in Orlando, Florida. Presentations comprised of:

• Clinical results from the Ad-RTS-hIL-12 + veledimex studies in patients with advanced breast cancer and melanoma demonstrating local and systemic IL-12-mediated anti-cancer activity, in addition to safety through control of both immune- and IL-12-mediated toxicity with use of the RheoSwitch Therapeutic System(R) gene switch;
• Preclinical data supporting the potential for cytolytic activity against solid tumor targets with allogeneic, genetically-modified stem cells enabled for controlled release of cell-linking moieties (CLMs) within the tumor micro-environment; and
• Preclinical data describing the development of a novel, high-throughput screening technology for rapidly identifying bi-specific antibodies capable of inducing targeted immunologic activity through the activation of T-cells or other immune cells against tumors.

ZIOPHARM Oncology is a Boston, Massachusetts-based biotechnology corporation employing novel gene expression, control and cell technologies to deliver safer, more effective and scalable cell-based therapies for the treatment of cancer.

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN), declined -0.63%, and is now trading at $20.47. The Stock is active as 3.61M shares changed hands versus its average volume of 2.42M shares.

Formerly on February 25, Growth in cloud computing, network virtualization and openness have created a new web-scale dynamic that is significantly changing the evolution of today’s network architectures. To address this dynamic, Ciena® (CIEN) is introducing new capabilities that allow service providers, Internet content and cloud providers to deliver richer application experiences to their customers and connect massive amounts of users to content. These innovations embrace the web-scale IT philosophy, delivering raised bandwidth and improved economics through greater efficiency, network automation and agility, and comprise extending the reach and capacity of submarine networks, simplifying and cost reducing metro and regional networks, and speeding deployment of small cell backhaul to improve coverage in an increasingly mobile-first world.

Key Facts:

• According to the Gartner Research “Planned Technology Trend: Web-Scale Singularity Means Goodbye to Conventional IT Wisdom” report: “By 2017, web-scale IT will be an architectural approach found operating in 50 percent of global enterprises, up from less than 10 percent in 2013.”
• Ciena’s new WaveLogic 3 Extreme chipset provides maximum bandwidth at any distance for Ciena’s 6500 and 5430 converged packet optical platforms. It doubles capacity of metro and regional networks and combined with Flexible Grid technology has enabled up to 85% greater capacity in submarine networks. Already deployed by Verizon, Southern Cross, Japan-U.S. Cable Network and Trans Pacific Express, these enhancements are essential for meeting web-scale demands in metro, regional and trans-oceanic networks.

Ciena (CIEN) is the network specialist. We collaborate with customers worldwide to unlock the planned potential of their networks and fundamentally change the way they perform and compete. Ciena leverages its deep expertise in packet and optical networking and distributed software automation to deliver solutions in alignment with its OPn architecture for next-generation networks.

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc (NASDAQ:ASTI), enhanced 12.10%, and is now trading at $1.50. The Stock is active as 3.36M shares changed hands versus its average volume of 1.29M shares.

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (ASTI), a developer of state-of-the-art, flexible thin-film photovoltaic modules, integrated into the corporation’s EnerPlex™ series of consumer products, declared recently the immediate availability of the corporation’s Battery & Solar case for the iPhone 6, the EnerPlex Surfr™.

The Surfr Battery and Solar case for the iPhone 6 is the first Apple MFi (Made for iPhone) certified case to integrate both battery storage as well as solar charging capability into a sleek, thin and compact design. Enabling more than 10 hours of extra talk time in addition to doubled video and audio capacity, the Surfr keeps iPhone users powered up throughout their day without needing to be constantly on watch for an outlet.

Ascent Solar’s President and CEO, Victor Lee, said: “With over 100 million iPhone 6s already sold both domestically and internationally, the EnerPlex Surfr is primed to penetrate an extremely large group of consumers, many of whom have a desperate need for more battery life.”

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. is a developer of thin-film photovoltaic modules with substrate materials that are more flexible, versatile and rugged than traditional solar panels. Ascent Solar modules can be directly integrated into consumer products and off-grid applications, as well as aerospace and building integrated applications.