Wellcare Health Plans (WCG) shares are indicated sharply higher, as the company agrees to pay $35.2 million to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida and the Florida Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, according to an 8-K filing. Oppenheimer rates outperform.

JPMorgan is expecting Lehman Brothers Holdings (LEH) to post another quarterly loss for the third quarter, with write downs of about $4 billion. JPMorgan cuts estimates, keeps neutral.

Target (TGT) posts $0.82, vs. $0.80, second quarter EPS on 5.7% sales rise. Says EPS "modestly" exceeded the company's expectations. Street view was at $0.76. Same-store sales fell 0.4% and gross margins narrowed moderately, driven by faster sales growth in lower margin rate categories. The average receivables directly funded by TGT in second quarter declined 19.8%.

Saks (SKS) posts $0.23 second quarter loss, vs. $0.17 loss, on 4% lower same-store sales, 3.6% lower total sales, narrowed gross margin. Notes softening across nearly all geographies and merchandise categories. It believes fiscal year 2009 operating margin [excluding certain items] will decline from fiscal year 2008 levels. Sees flat to low-single digit comparable store sales decline for the second half of fiscal year 2009.

Federated Investors (FII) announces that the company's board of directors declared a special cash dividend of $2.76 per share, bringing total third quarter payments to $3.00 per share. In addition, the board of directors authorizes a new 5 million share repurchase program.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) says it has reached agreement with U.S. and EU regulatory authorities to proceed with REALIZE trial, a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial with hepatitis C virus [HCV] protease inhibitor telaprevir in combination therapy for patients with chronic HCV infection who failed to achieve a sustained viral response with prior therapy.

General Dynamics (GD) to acquire Jet Aviation for about $2.25 billion in cash. Says proposed acquisition would be immediately accretive to GD's EPS.

Medtonic (MDT) posts $0.72, vs. $0.62, first quarter non-GAAP EPS on 19% revenue rise. Says revenue in the CardioVascular, Neuromodulation, and Surgical Technologies product lines each grew more than 15%, while revenue outside the U.S. accounted for 39% of its revenue this quarter.

Nymex Holding (NMX) and CME Group (CME) announce that preliminary results indicate the shareholders of both companies have approved the proposed merger of the companies based on a review of the proxies voted at yesterday's special meetings by the parties' respective proxy solicitors. In addition, preliminary results also show that NYMEX Class A members have voted to approve the related proposals in a separate member vote.

Staples (SPLS) says challenging market conditions continued during second quarter, resulting in weaker than anticipated results in its pre-acquisition business [which excl. Corporate Express results]. Says sales increased approximately 3%, EPS decreased approximately 15% year-over-year. For its pre-acquisition business, expects low single-digit sales growth, flat EPS [excluding items] for fiscal year 2009.