Investors often overlook SEC filings, and it is the job of the 10Q Detective to dig through businesses’ 8-K and 10-Q SEC filings, looking for financial statement ‘soft spots,'(depreciation policies, warranty reserves, and restructuring charges, etc.)that may materially impact Quality of Earnings.
Unilever (UL-$34.16) has remained reticent as senior management of wholly-owned Ben & Jerry’s announced “deep admiration” for those protesters involved with the “Occupy Wall Street” movement. Against a spreading backdrop of violence and teargas – from New York to Oakland – one wonders how much longer before the global consumer goods conglomerate tells its Vermont-based ice-cream subsidiary to mind to its own business.
Chesapeake Energy (CHK-$27.81) is accelerating drilling on liquids-rich plays in an effort to drive margin expansion and profitability, given near-month contract prices for natural gas languish below $4 per thousand cubic feet — lower than aggregate exploration and recovery costs (including G&A) in most regions. The natural gas provider has focused recent spud activity in the Utica Shale, mostly on leased acreage in eastern Ohio.
SunPower (SPWRA-$8.45) and First Solar (FSLR-$59.78) boast that recently approved utility-scale projects will nourish growth of manufacturing jobs in the United States, especially in the southwest. Both solar panel manufacturers are recipients of billions in federal loan guarantees.