Cancer Not Biggest Problem for Takeda's Actos

More evidence suggests a disproportionately greater risk of bladder cancer from Takeda Pharmaceuticals’ Actos than with other oral diabetic medications.

Litigation from affected diabetics is to be expected, although a direct link between Actos use and bladder cancer hasn’t been definitively established. Consequently, the company has little to fear monetarily. Management does, however, need to worry about another ticking clock: Aug. 17, 2012, is when Watson Pharmaceuticals (WPI), Mylan (MYL) and Ranbaxy Labs (RBXLF) will launch the first wave of generic competitors to branded Actos in the U.S.

Read More: 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.

Can Skecher Shape-up Toning Shoe Sales?

To Skecher USA’s (SKX-$20.50) credit, the shoe manufacturer recognized the willingness of American consumers (mostly women) to purchase footwear products developed to (allegedly) firm-up lower body muscles — and seized first-mover advantage in that niche. However, recent quarterly results suggest that the days of explosive sales and easy profits for its Shape-up product line are over.

Continue Reading 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.

No Growth Meltdown at Uranium Miner Cameco

PR problems from the Japanese disaster, nuclear plant phase-out programs in several European countries, and failure of global economic accords to qualify nuclear power for greenhouse gas emission credits — notwithstanding these challenges, long-term fundamentals remain positive for Canadian uranium producer Cameco (CCJ-$30.00).

Investor fears that the more than 100 new nuclear-power stations (net) — planned or now being built worldwide (out to 2020) — would be dumped (killing future demand for uranium fuel) is highly unlikely. With emerging economies running energy deficits, nuclear remains part of any growth equation that looks to diversify away from carbon-based options.

Continue Reading 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.

InterMune's Esbriet: Hype or Miracle Drug?

InterMune’s (ITMN -$44.00) internal forecasts for its new pulmonary fibrosis drug appear even more bullish than Wall Street, with management pegging the market opportunity for Esbriet in the top 10 EU countries as high as $3 billion.

Both internal and Wall Street sales projections could prove too optimistic, however, considering the global idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis market was valued at $88 million in 2009 (nominal sales don’t recognize off-label RX use, but do underscore a market underserved due to a lack of approved products). Nonetheless, even with new growth drivers, such as Esbriet and other novel treatments in development, from LPA1 receptor antagonists to protein inhibitors, the combined U.S. and EU market for IPF is expected to climb no higher than about $462 million by 2017, according to industry analyst BioPortfolio.

As in Greek mythology, where Icarus ignored the warning of his father Daedalus, this unbridled optimism surrounding Esbriet runs significant risk of flying too close to the sun. Is hype outdistancing hope?

Continue Reading 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 GE Tokyo's new Godzilla?

Fear-mongering is spreading like the bubonic plague through the financial markets — quicker than the tsunami that hit Japan last Friday. Breathe slowly: General Electric ($18.95) hasn’t been bitten by any radioactive fleas!

Most of the financial exposure at Fukushima rests with GE’s joint-venture partner, Hitachi (HIT). The Japanese electronics giant owns 80 percent of the joint venture in Japan, while GE has a majority stake only in the U.S. nuclear market (60%) and certain other overseas markets, according to regulatory filings.

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.

Can Eni SpA Grow Production Without Libya?

Libya is Eni SpA’s (E-$49.22) largest source of oil and gas, accounting for approximately 244,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day. With Qaddafi loyalists battling anti-government forces town-to-town, most of Libya’s aggregate production of 1.6 million barrels a day has been shut-in, according to Bloomberg and other news sources. Estimates are that about 50 percent of Eni’s Libyan production has been curtailed, too.

From Ecuador and Ghana, to China and Indonesia — the Italian energy conglomerate has its fingerprints on a balanced mix of potentially lucrative discoveries across the globe. By leveraging organic growth in the Americas, Western Africa and Central Asia, Eni expects to deliver more than 2.5 percent compounded average growth in production through 2014 — under a Brent scenario at $70 per barrel.

Continue Reading 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.

McMoran ExplorationDoubles Down in Gulf Waters

McMoran Exploration’s (MMR-$17.58) drilling strategy is focused on extracting reserves thought to exist below the “salt weld” — specifically, hydrocarbon-bearing sands in the “deep gas plays” (depths of 15,000 to 25,000 feet) and “ultra-deep gas plays” below 25,000 feet.

Management believes its successful strike at Flatrock — discovered in mid-2007 and brought online the following year — demonstrates the validity of its “deep gas” model.

Drilling almost four miles down, producing wells pumped out, on average, 272 MMcfe/d gross in the fourth quarter of 2009 ( 25 percent working interest). But by December 2010, production from prolific Flatrock gas field operations had fallen to 165 MMcfe/d (31MMcfe/d net to McMoran), due to persistent wellbore and remedial work-over issues.

In a recent interview with Oil & Gas Financial Journal, John Schiller, CEO of minority partner XX I (EXXI-$32.25), downplayed technological complexities involved in spudding sights like Blackbeard or Davy Jones, preferring to focus on reservoir potentials, improvements in seismic imaging and assessment tools, and past successes, such as Flatrock. He admitted, nonetheless, that ultra-deep drilling wasn’t for the “faint-hearted” and was capital-intensive.

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.

Food Costs Go "BOO!" to Chipotle

Despite evidence presented to the contrary, Chipotle’s (CMG-$223.67) CFO Jack Hartung told analysts on the third-quarter 2010 earnings call that the company is planning operations this year with “overall food-cost inflation in the low-to- mid-single digit range.” Additionally, the company planned to be patient with pricing strategy, and would monitor competitor traffic patterns in response to their menu price hikes.

Hartung remained resolute in his belief that Chipotle had more “pricing power” than some of its competitors; all stores are company-owned, and it could more readily absorb higher food costs than franchise-operated chains (which pay royalties to the parent companies).

“Wait-and-See”? Yes – or No? 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.

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.