David Phillips has more than 25 years' experience on Wall Street, first as a financial consultant and then as an equity analyst for several investment banking firms. He sifts through SEC filings for his blog The 10Q Detective, looking for financial statement soft spots, such as depreciation policies, warranty...
David Phillips is an intrepid sifter of SEC secrets. On his own blog, The 10Q Detective, he searches through SEC filings with fine-toothed comb, looking for juicy tidbits from inside the world's most interesting public companies. David has also been writing the Energy Industry blog for BNET since April. ...
Two auto suppliers are teaming up to design a new way to make vehicle doors. The move promises to change the way automakers assemble cars. The plan by plastics specialist Johnson Controls Inc. and metal components maker Oxford Automotive Inc. would c Two auto suppliers are...
Moving forward with its strategy of shedding non-core oil and gas assets, Linn Energy is re-deploying monies to less speculative fields with known reserves of natural gas [continued]. by David Phillips
As reported last week, British Petroleum is acquiring a fifty-percent stake in Tropical BioEnergia SA, a joint venture established by Brazilian companies Santelisa Vale, the second-largest sugar cane crusher in Brazil, and Maeda Group, one of the largest cotton producers in the world, which is constructing a 435 million liter-per-year...
The Company: Patriot Coal, the third largest producer of coal in the eastern United States. The Filing: Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on August 12, 2008. The Finding: Despite concerns in energy corners that slowing global economic growth could diminish demand -- and pricing --...
As pointed out by BNET auto industry analyst Jim Henry, U.S. auto sales for September fell 26.6% from the year-ago month, due to the credit crisis that's making it harder for some consumers to get auto loans and for automakers to finance their own operations. Operating results at Texas-based AmeriCredit...
Sears Holdings Corp. has reported that Chief Financial Officer J. Miles Reidy will step down later this year to "attend to a family issue." The resignation comes amid slumping sales at the struggling department-store retailer, which continues to deal with customer defections to discount rivals, resulting from outdated store designs...
Looking to divert attention away from their own incompetence, many investment bankers on Wall Street are calling for the elimination of mark-to-market accounting, a framework adopted by companies to make more transparent the current values of certain often illiquid financial instruments. In my opinion, a likely critic of fair value,...
The Company: Quest Resource Corp, a producer of natural gas. The Filing: Form 8-K filed with the SEC on August 25, 2008. The Finding: The Chairman and CEO of Quest Resource Corp, Jerry Cash, resigned Monday after the Oklahoma Department of Securities launched an investigation into...
Washington Federal Savings, with thrift operations in eight western states, disclosed last week that it would report the first quarterly loss in its history of approximately $39 million for the quarter ending September 30, as a result of its holdings in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Preferred Stock. A look...
The Company: Basic Energy, servicing every stage in the well lifecycle. The Filing: Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on August 2008. The Finding: On September 9, Ken Huseman, Chief Executive Officer of Basic Energy Services, said selected operating data for August 2008 -- utilization...
Few were surprised when FedEx Corp. reported decreased shipping volume for its overnight services in its first-quarter ending August 2008. FedEx spelled it out in its press releases and its 10-Q filing: a weak U.S. economy and persistently higher fuel prices had reduced demand for the overnight shipper's premium services....
Looking to divert attention away from their own incompetence, many investment bankers on Wall Street are calling for the elimination of mark-to-market accounting, a framework adopted by companies to make more transparent the current values of certain often illiquid financial instruments. In my opinion, a likely critic of fair value,...
The Company: Clean Energy Fuels, the largest provider of compressed and liquefied natural gas for alternative-fuel vehicles in North America. The Filing: DEF 14-A filed with the SEC on April 15, 2008. The Finding: It's an addiction that threatens our economy, our environment and our national...
At the Cisco Systems shareholder meeting to be held in November, a shareholder named John C. Harrington will introduce a proposal to establish a Board Committee on Human Rights at the company. The proposal says: Our company's products are key components of the "Great Firewall of China,"...
The Company: Transocean, the world's largest offshore drilling contractor. The Filing: Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on August 6, 2008. The Finding: Demand for offshore drilling units continues to be strong, particularly for floaters. In the second-quarter ended June 30, Transocean reported that average rates...
Stephen Sanger, the recently retired CEO of General Mills, ranked near the bottom of Forbes' 2007 CEO performance rankings (148 out of 189). And and his exit package, which I sifted through in the company's most recent proxy filing, suggests that General Mills has no intention of embracing the...
The Company: Petrohawk Energy, an oil and gas company with principal operations in Mid-Continental region. The Filing: Common Stock Prospectus filed with the SEC on August 11, 2008. The Finding: Petrohawk Energy Corporation said Wednesday it would reduce its 2009 capital budget by a third to...
The Company: Suntech Power, a Chinese solar energy company. The Filing: Form 6-K filed with the SEC on August 20, 2008. The Finding: Suntech Power said its gross margin rose to 24.1 percent in the second-quarter ended June 30, from 20.3 percent a year ago....
United Therapeutics Corp. derives almost all of its commercial sales from its top product Remodulin, a treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension. In 2009, however, the biotechnology company could be drifting into troubled waters. For the six-months ended June 30, Remodulin accounted for approximately 95 percent of the $130.6 million in...
David Phillips has more than 25 years' experience on Wall Street, first as a financial consultant and then as an equity analyst for several investment banking firms. He sifts through SEC filings for his blog The 10Q Detective, looking for financial statement soft spots, such as depreciation policies, warranty...
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