Are Hot Dogs From Kraft Foods and Sara Lee Choking Risk For Kids?

A new policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), published in the February 22 online issue of Pediatrics, takes a closer look at preventing choking among children. Their startling find is on average, a child will die every 5 days in the United States from choking on food. Fear-mongering for political ends, or plain truth in advertising?

The AAP is now calling on food manufacturers of hot dogs and other high-risk foods to affix “choking hazard” labels to packaging, and urging that companies redirect some research and development expenses toward the redesign of foods, such as drafting new shapes, sizes, and textures less to get wedged in a kid’s passage airway.

Some hot dog brands, such as Oscar Mayer (Kraft Foods) or Ball Park Franks from Sara Lee, already have warning labels about choking. Not enough is the apparent sentiment vocalized by the policy paper’s lead author Gary Smith.

It turns out, though, that the AAP took that data from a paper almost thirty years old! Read more at BNET Food > ….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

First Solar Turns To New World for Solar Growth

In 2009, First Solar (FSLR-$105.90) generated almost 65 percent of its $2.06 billion in sales from German photovoltaic (PV) projects, from roof-top panels to arrays of solar panels on farms, according to its annual regulatory filing. In 2010, the cadmium-telluride (CdTe) thin-film module manufacturer will still derive about 40 percent to 50 percent of module sales from German customers, despite best efforts to open windows to other sunshine markets. Most of its business from Germany will be front-loaded, CEO Robert Gillette said on the fourth-quarter ending 2009 earnings call, to beat the planned June 1 feed- in subsidy cuts.

Contrary to optimism expressed by First Solar management on its earnings call, installation volume capacities in other European markets, such as France (12 percent of its business) or Italy (6 percent of sales), were too small to absorb lost mega-watt sales from Germany.

“For the big players, there is no real way around Germany, to be honest,” SES Research analyst Karsten von Blumenthal told Reuters.

First Solar expects to ramp up aggregate manufacturing capacity to 34 production lines by 2012, with annual worldwide production capacity of approximately 1.8 gigawatts. Longer-term performance could be hampered by obstacles in other markets outside Europe.

Continue Reading > ….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

Avoiding Cannibals at Johnson & Johnson

As patients with auto-immune disorders cycle through anti-TNF therapies and the failure pools increase, there is ample room for Johnson & Johnson’s (JNJ-$63.45) Simponi and Stelara to grow prescription share in their respective markets without cannibalizing sales of the healthcare conglomerate’s flagship drug Remicade (infliximab) sales. As the two drugs expand their labeling to address unmet needs in other markets, their orbits will eventually collide with each other and with Remicade.

However, can Simponi (golimumab) and Stelara (ustekinumab) evolve as dominant therapies and steal share over time from Amgen’s Enbrel (etanercept) and Abbott’s Humira (adalimumab) instead? Read more > ….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

Petrohawk Energy Promises Free Cash Flow By 2012

Petrohawk Energy (HK-$22.16) is nursing a mighty hangover after awaking from a 2 ½-year buying binge — $5 billion spent on acquiring leasehold interests in unconventional pay zones, specifically the Haynesville Shale, Fayetteville Shale, and Eagle Ford Shale plays. Petrohawk is like the U.S. Treasury in some respects, having funded its expansive appetite with paper — common stock outstanding has almost doubled since 2006 to 300 million shares — and deficit spending: At September 30, long-term stood at approximately $2.4 billion, roughly 73 percent of stockholder equity. And, interest expense to service this debt totaled $174 million through September, up from $88.4 million in all of 2006, according to regulatory filings.

“Today we stand with an excellent liquidity position sufficient to execute our 2010 drilling program,” chairman and chief executive officer Floyd Wilson proclaimed to analysts on the February 1 operations call. Management also anticipates turning free cash flow positive (operating cash flow less capex) come 2012.

Wilson gave a similar speech in May 2006. Can he deliver this time around? Read More >….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

Revlimid Keeps Celgene Healthy

Celgene (CELG-$60.11) chief executive Sol Barer predicts Revlimid will win regulatory approval as front-line treatment for newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM) patients in both U.S. and European markets. However, to win broader labeling and expand its European footprint, Celgene’s best-selling product will need to show a six to eight month difference in progression-free survival to be considered significant, said oncologists surveyed by Pharmawire.

Wall Street analysts are falling all over each other to trumpet the growth prospects for the drug with approved maintenance dose settings. But what happens to Celgene if final results of the MM-015 trial fail to reveal significant differences between induction with its flagship drug Revlimid and without it? Continue Reading….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

Southwest Airlines "Cop Out" in Kevin Smith Feud

Before backpedaling in a tweeted apology, Southwest Airlines (LUV-$12.29) insisted in a public retort that airline employees removed movie director Kevin Smith from a flight last Saturday for violating the carrier’s “Customer of Size" policy, which calls for a large passenger to be bumped from a full flight if the customer cannot comfortably lower the armrest and infringes on a portion of another seat.

Will the film auteur settle for the airline’s mea culpa or prolong his manipulated cause célèbre another week, when his new film “Cop Out” is released? Read More at BNET Media….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

Petrohawk Energy's Gas Reserve Valuations in Dispute

Petrohawk Energy’s (HK-$22.78) experienced significant growth in production and reserves in 2009, chairman and chief executive officer Floyd Wilson said. Proved reserves (98% natural gas) grew 122 percent to 2.75trillion cubic feet equivalent (Tcfe), most of which was added through drill-bit activity in its Haynesville Shale. The company exited 2009 producing 600 Mmcfe per day, up from an approximate exit rate of 366 Mmcfe per day in 2008.

The volume of gas resources claimed by operators is not in dispute. Evidence presented at the 2009 meeting of the Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies (GCAGS) held in September 2009 suggests, however, that formation damage during fracture stimulation treatment, in effect, reduces reservoir performance and resultant valuations.

Continue Reading at BNET Energy….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

Will Petro-Canada Acquisition Sink Suncor Energy?

Suncor Energy (SU-$30.05) is a long way from achieving the significant synergies envisioned from its all-stock C$19.63 billion acquisition of Petro-Canada last August: Net debt increased to 4.8 times cash flow from operations at year-end 2009, from 1.8 times in 2008. Return on employed capital, excluding major projects in progress (such as its Firebag bitumen in-situ mining operations) plummeted to 2.6 percent, from 22.5 percent in the prior year.

Can Suncor control operating costs and get its debt paid down towards the $10 billion range by the end of 2010? Continue Reading ….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

Murphy Oil Spudding For Ethanol Prospects

Despite significantly weaker margins realized in 2009, Murphy Oil (MUR-$50.75) intends to add a combined 80 new gas stations to its network of Murphy USA sites, located at Wal-Mart supercenters, and its stand-alone Murphy express outlets. In 2009, the company added 26 new filling stations.

The integrated energy company derives about 69 percent of annual sales ($19 billion in 2009) from its U.S. refining and marketing operations.

Chief executive David Wood said on the recent fourth-quarter earnings call that the company was open to opportunities to expand its presence in the ethanol refining business, as the one plant Murphy Oil acquired last year only covers about a quarter of the volume needed in ethanol-blended gasoline that Murphy sells through its own retail network. Read More….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

McMoran Exploration: What's in Davy Jones' Locker?

Positive drilling results at its Davy Jones prospect could be a boom for McMoran Exploration (MMR-$16.80). The Gulf Coast energy company had proved oil and gas reserves at year-end 2009 totaling 271.9 Bcfe (billion cubic feet of natural gas equivalents), compared with 344.8 Bcfe in 2008. The reserve depletion primarily reflected delays in bringing shut-ins (as a result of the September 2008 hurricanes in the Gulf) back into production. Estimates of the size of the discovery range from 2 trillion to 6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, rivaling the largest gas finds ever made in the Gulf.

Nonetheless, it is worth reminding folks that assumptions to date have been based on sketchy data from well logs. In addition to appraising the actual hydrocarbons in place, the company still hasn’t defined the extent of the reservoir field or the recoverability of the reserves in the tapped reservoir — its flow rates.

Read More….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.