Chipotle Sales Growth Ain't No Jive

Since opening its first restaurant in 1993, Chipotle (CMG-$214.00) has elevated a simple menu of burritos, tacos, and salads into meals that legions of loyal customers find zesty and more sophisticated in flavor.

By not straying from chairman and founder Steve Ells‘ original vision of making good, affordable Mexican food, Chipotle has emerged the market leader in the $4 billion Mexican-themed, fast-casual, dining segment, with 1,023 units opened in 33 states and Toronto, Canada (2) as of September 30.

Moving forward, can the national burrito chain continue its impressive store and sales-comp growth rates as competitors, such as Taco Bell, aggressively pursue discount pricing strategies to grab traffic gains at expense of the Denver-based Mexican food-operator? Read More at CBSi....

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.

Time for Nokia to Read Smartphone Marketing Manual?

According to Nokia’s (NOK-$9.86) internal estimates, overall industry cellphone volumes in third-quarter 2010 grew 14 percent year-on-year and eight percent sequentially to 364 million units. The company’s aggregate market share declined 400 basis points from last year to 30 percent, as aggressive price discounting from low-cost Asian competitors, and surging worldwide popularity for Apple (AAPL-$320.36) iPhones and smartphone devices equipped with Google’s (GOOG-$590.30) Android operating system continue to muscle in on the Finnish handset maker’s markets.

Will handsets equipped with Nokia’s Symbian operating system, such as the new N-8 smartphone, help to turn the tide?

Read More at CBSi ….

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.

Americans For Truth About Homosexualty: Don't Ask, Don't Tell For TSA Agents?

Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) founder and president Peter LaBarbera asks: “Isn’t it just as inappropriate for a ‘gay’ male TSA agent to pat down male travelers as it is for a normal, heterosexual male TSA agent to pat down female travelers?”

“The reality is, most traveling men would not want Barney Frank to pat them down at the airport security checkpoint,” says LaBarbera. “Neither would it be fair to assign Ellen DeGeneres to pat down female travelers.”

Rather than worry about sexual orientation, should “Americans for Truth” organization devote more of its attention to other lies being spun on Capitol Hill to American airline travelers? Read More at CBSi….

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 Looks to Secure Tellurium Supplies

The global leader in sales of thin-film solar panels, First Solar (FSLR-$133.05) had to delay panel shipments last quarter due to capacity constraints. Complicating production problems, the utility-scale PV market is anticipated to surge next year, growing five-times faster than the rest of the industry, according to a recent analysis from IMS Research. With a growing backlog — 2.2 GW in North America alone — this new demand supports management’s recent decision to nearly double production, from 1.4 GW to more than 2.7 GW come 2012.

In a related development, Apollo Solar Energy (ASOE-$3.70) will provide an estimated $110 million of 5N (”five-nines,” or 99.999%) ultra-high purity tellurium — feedstock for cadmium telluride (CdTe), the semiconducting compound coating First Solar’s thin-film PV panels.

Tellurium is a relatively rare element, with more than 90 percent of global production recovered as a byproduct of copper mining and processing. Will the contract with Apollo Solar address First Solar’s need to secure forward supplies of its core photovoltaic? Read more at CBS Interactive ….

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.

Is TSA Our New Big Brother?

Don’t wait for founder Julian Assange to publish confidential documents on Wikileaks.org for confirmation. But more and more people are becoming convinced that deployment of naked body scanners at our nation’s airports have nothing at all to do about protection from terrorists.

Is TSA the New Gestapo? Read More at BNET >>

MS Community Welcomes Ampyra -- Or Does It?

As of September 30, some 31,000 folks with multiple sclerosis (MS) in the U.S. have tried the oral MS drug Ampyra, representing almost eight percent of all MS patients in this country, according to drug maker Acorda Therapeutics (ACOR-$26.25). In addition, the rate of “first refill” was 67 percent, based on weighted prescription trends going back to March.

“This is a significant penetration only seven months after commercial availability,” said Lauren Sabella, vice-president of commercial operations.

Ampyra (dalfampridine) is the first oral treatment prescribed to improve walking in patients with MS.

Are neurologists and patients readily embracing Ampyra, as claimed by management claim? Read More at BNET….

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.

Bigger Problems For Solyndra Than Chinese Challengers

Just weeks after opening the first phase of a new fabrication plant, called Fab-2, Solyndra said it was shuttering an older and less-efficient facility, Fab-1. Mostly built with a $535 million loan-guarantee from the Department of Energy, the thin-film solar panel maker is counting on the new plant to help it to reduce fixed costs and improve operating margins.

Headquartered in Fremont, Calif., the privately-held company manufactures cylindrical modules, incorporating copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film technology, for the commercial rooftop market.

With average selling prices falling faster than it can cut expenses, Chief executive Brian Harrison said the company would adjust “plans to be more in line with where the market is and where business was at the moment.”

Read More at BNET….

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.

EnCana Gasing Up For Its Future With Haynesville Play

To date, EnCana Corp. (ECA-$29.52) has demonstrated success in offsetting the estimated 8 percent rise in oilfield services costs through operational efficiencies that have lowered year-on-year upstream spud and administrative costs by 17 percent (to $0.99 - $1.10 per Mcfe).

U.S. shale well-development and completion costs have fallen anywhere from 15 percent to 40 percent, depending on location. For example, in the Haynesville Shale play, well cost expenses dropped from $15.6 million in 2008 to $8.0 - $9.0 million per well during third-quarter 2010!

Could steep depletion rates typical of recent Haynesville wells topple the Canadian-based natural gas producer’s plans to grow its net recoverable gas reserves?

Read More at BNET


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.

Next -Generation 737 Grounded From Boeing 787 Turmoils

Mounting development costs at Boeing (BA-$70.48) for its oft-delayed wide-body 787 passenger jet threaten not only profitability but distract and delay needed R&D for either enhancements to — or replacement of — its best-selling, single-aisle B737. Asset growth will require more than the $10 billion in liquidity on the balance sheet. Ergo, expect 737 development to be financed not from earnings but from illusionary inventory build (”deferred production costs”) and borrowings (more debt).

Read More at BNET ….

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.

Expect More 787 Dreamliner Delays From Boeing

The Boeing Company ($70.38) is telling suppliers to halt deliveries of sections for its 787 Dreamliner for two weeks because of delays at the company that makes a key part for the tail of the plane. Management insists this latest delay won’t change first launch come February 2011. Do not believe it.

The cumulative financial effect of six prior delays, pre-production cost over runs, technical fixes, and penalties to airlines and suppliers – could the Dreamliner jet could turn to a nightmare for Boeing?

Read More at BNET….

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 Still Dominates U.S. Utility-Scale Space

A key provision of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA 2009), which subsidized up to 30 percent of construction costs for PV plants (through Investment Tax and Production Credits), will no longer be available for pipeline projects that don’t start construction by year-end 2010. Consequently, First Solar’s (FSLR-$145.29) Topaz and Desert Sunlight won’t be eligible for these tax incentives, as both initiatives are still hung up in Dante-like circles of regulatory hell.

First Solar spokesperson Alan Bernheimer confirmed in an e-mail response “groundbreaking isn’t likely for either Sunlight or Topaz before 2010 year-end.” However, Bernheimer insisted both irradiation projects may still qualify for Treasury grants (instead of ITC) — if “certain expenditures are made before the year-end deadline.”

Absent stimulus extensions, First Solar will likely need to scale-back its solar park construction schedule, likely leading to inventory write-downs next year as module selling prices continue to decline. Still the Tempe-based PV module maker remains well-positioned to capitalize on an eventual grow out for domestic utility-scale developers. >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.

How Sunny First Solar's Future in China?

First Solar’s (FSLR-$143.55) CEO Rob Gillette told investors on the quarterly earnings call the thin-film, PV module maker expected to begin construction of an oft-delayed 2-gigawatt solar generation facility in Inner Mongolia, China early next year.

The project is to be built in multiple phases, with one GW of power to come online by 2014, and the second GW scheduled for completion by 2019, according to the “Cooperation Framework Agreement” signed last November.

Doing business in China would require “sharing of technology” with its local partner(s), according to regulatory filings. Instead, should Gillette and his staff scrub the entire mission? 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.

Message to President Obama on September 11: "Never Forget" - Voters Won't

Obama told a White House news conference yesterday: "If you could build a church on a site, you could build a synagogue on a site, you could build a Hindu temple on a site, then you should be able to build a mosque on a site."

The U.S. president’s support for a controversial plan to build a mosque and Islamic center just blocks from Ground Zero – contrary to the almost 70 percent of Americans who oppose construction – is trumpeted as a defense of religious freedom. Talk about a political “tin ear.”

"Sean, it's me. I just wanted to let you know I love you and I am stuck in this building in New York. A plane hit, or a bomb went off - We don't know. But there's a lot of smoke and I just wanted you to know I love you." Melissa Harrington Hughes, 31, trapped on the 101st floor of the World Trade Center, Tower One, after the first plane hit.

Flight 93 flight attendant Ceecee Lyles, 33 years old, in an answering-machine message to her husband: "Please tell my children that I love them very much. I'm sorry, baby. I wish I could see your face again."

Why is it that the trade of lying seems to come more naturally to politicians? Shame on you, Mr. President!

LDK Solar Swimming Against Downstream Profit Currents

LDK Solar (LDK-$7.87) said module shipments more than doubled in second-quarter 2010 to 74 megawatts. However, chief financial officer Jack Lai has yet to deliver on his promise that moving downstream into module production would position the company to improve profitability across the solar supply chain.

Although average selling prices for modules increased 3 cents sequentially to $1.77 per watt, selling margins fell 70 basis points quarter-to-quarter to 7.6 percent, mostly due to increases in non-production costs.

With other Chinese-based competitors aggressively ramping up production capacity, control over pricing will likely become more demand-dependent -- and short-lived. Ergo, successfully executing on the profitability objective could prove even more elusive.

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.

Can Obama Keep Union Support for GM Until Feds Bail Out?

Is General Motors on the recovery road? In July 2009, the “new GM” emerged from bankruptcy after a short 39 days. One-year later, it’s reporting impressive profits of $2.2 billion for first-half 2010….

Although collective bargaining agreements with the International Union and UAW don’t expire until September 2011, continued job cuts and replacement of union with nonunion labor could force union leadership to threaten walkouts at GM — even though the UAW had previously agreed in principal not to authorize any strike prior to 2015.

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.

Will Obama Catch a Cold if GM IPO Sneezes?

Retail buyers participating in General Motors’ public offering should be aware that there exists a strong likelihood that their ownership stake could be subject to immediate dilution, depending on how the share price trades in the secondary market: upon the exercise of warrants held by current stakeholders, at strike prices ranging from $30 to $126.92 per share, up to 106 million additional shares could hit the outstanding stock float, according to GM’s preliminary prospectus.

Buried deep in the more than 700 pages of the automaker's ’s prospectus was a warning, too:

the bankruptcy court could issue more than $37 billion in third-party claims pending – probably in the form of stock and warrants (for additional stock payable in the future at a pre-set price). In other words, buyers of the common stock in the initial offering would face even more dilution.

Are officials in the Obama administration pushing to unload some of its 60.8% share in the "new GM" to show taxpayers before the November mid-term elections that the $50 billion of their monies invested in the venerable automaker (to stave of liquidation) was a wise decision from the “anointed” one? 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.

BP Looks To Sink Transocean in Fed Hearings

Transocean (RIG-$51.62), the world’s largest offshore drilling contractor, warned in its earnings filing that British Petroleum (BP-$36.34) had reservations and would likely seek to avoid its contractual responsibilities, including protection from financial penalties and liabilities resulting from the Macondo well disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP’s conviction that it doesn’t have to honor terms of the Deepwater Horizon drilling contract is motivated by the least noble of all great actions — greed:

Prior to the capping of the well on July 15, a federal task force estimated up to 173 million gallons escaped from the damaged well into Gulf waters, less captured or contained crude. Under the Clean Water Act, BP could be fined $4.5 billion, or as much as $17.6 billion (if found guilty of committing gross negligence).

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.

Byetta Safety Data To Benefit Challengers Januvia and Victoza

Looking to rebuild physician confidence in Byetta injection, Amylin (AMLN-$19.69) and Lilly (LLY-$35.70) directed much of their lecture and lobbying time at the 2010 ADA conference addressing safety and tolerability issues that have dogged their type-2 diabetes treatment since soon after its June 2005 launch.

Presentations at the Orlando meeting showed Byetta-treated patients were at no higher risk for renal or pancreatic problems than existing treatments — including, Merck’s oral Januvia and Novo Nordisk’s in-kind Victoza injection therapy. Ergo, with no new sense of urgency for Byetta use – all Amylin and Lilly accomplished was to provide additional motivation for physicians to prescribe challengers Januvia and Victoza….

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.

Byetta Losing Out To Novo's Victoza

Clinical data supporting the ability of type-2 diabetes drug Byetta to address the unmet need of glucose control with potential weight loss quickly became a winning narrative for Amylin Pharmaceutical (AMLN-$$20.08) and its marketing partner Eli Lilly (LLY-$37.77). The GLP-1 agonist became the fourth most-prescribed branded product for type 2-diabetes — after Actos, Avandia and Lantus — within 18 months of its June 2005 launch.

Prescription momentum swung away from the injection med after reports began to surface of a link between Byetta use and altered kidney function. Throw in concerns of pancreatic inflammation - U.S. sales for the GLP-1 agonist peaked in 2008 at $678.5 million.

The number of patients treated worldwide with Byetta dropped from 470,000 in 2007 to 440,000 in 2009, according to data obtained by Wolters Kluwer.

Launched in early 2010, Novo Nordisk’s (NVO-$90.37) GLP-1 agonist Victoza, has already passed Byetta in new patient starts …. Why? 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.

Food and Water Watch Looking to Shutter BP's Atlantis Field in Gulf

Food & Water Watch has accused BP (BP-$40.00) and its minority partner, Melbourne-based BHP Billiton (44% working interest), of operating the Atlantis platform in the Gulf of Mexico without proper documentation required by law – and necessary for safe operation (including maintenance).

In addition, the group claims that the Interior Department and Secretary Ken Salazar have done almost nothing to “protect the Gulf from another potential calamity,” and it’s urged members of Congress to either legislate — or formally request President Obama to issue an executive order — shuttering BP Atlantis until legally required safety documentation is presented for public review.

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.