Wall St. has abandoned MSO shares because consumers have abandoned the firm’s products. Shares trade just over $3, down from more than $18 five years ago. That gives the company a market capitalization of only $207 million. Another sign of investor disinterest is that the stock trades, on average, less that 150,000 shares a day.

Investors lack interest for one simple reason: MSO has lost money four calendar years in a row. Revenue in 2007 was $328 million. Last year, that number fell to $221 million. First-quarter figures continued the trend. Revenue fell to $49.8 million from $52.7 million in the same period a year ago. The company had a net loss of $3.6 million.

MSO has attempted to build its some of its business on a series of partnerships with retailers and other companies that sell goods to consumers. The most recent misstep in this direction was a deal with JCPenney (NYSE: JCP) made in January. JCPenney invested $16.6 million in MSO and set a housewares partnership between the two companies. Macy’s (NYSE: M) challenged the deal because it claims to have an exclusive relationship with Martha Stewart Living. The fight has become less important that the original decision. Macy’s is healthy. JCPenney is a wreck that lost 20% of its sales last quarter. Under new CEO Ron Johnson, JCPenney will be lucky to remain a viable competitor in its range of the department store industry.

It is impossible to say with any conviction what happened to Martha Stewart Omnimedia. Its founder was once an important consumer brand on her own. That period is now nearly five years gone.

Douglas A. McIntyre

The financial damage is massive and the question boils down to how far the contagion can spread throughout Europe (and elsewhere).  Austerity measures throughout Europe are now backfiring.  France put in Hollande as a move back to the left as Sarkozy’s austerity measures were just going to be too great for the population to want.  Inflation before cutbacks!  Live well today, let the kids figure it out when hey get older!  Hell, even The Netherlands could not agree on a budget and they have their act together financially just about as well as any of the top nations.  Angela Merkel’s party suffered a regional election loss in recent weeks as well.

Greece will not likely be the only casualty here.  Portugal, Spain, and Ireland are all at risk.  Sinn Fein has been making policy statements about austerity and the Euro inclusion and went as far as issuing a video to call for a NO vote in the Austerity Treaty referendum.  Spain has a serious capital shortfall in its banks if the reports over the size of the property value losses versus face value of loans is even only one-third true.  Portugal is just totally irrelevant to Europe, but it is upside down and at risk.  And Italy is just simply “too big to bail” with its debt and spending issues that lie ahead.

The fallout is running top to bottom… safe havens to PIIGS… We are seeing all the new 52-week lows come into play in some positions while many others are still above those recent lows.

iShares MSCI Germany Index (AMEX: EWG) is down 2.2% at $19.87 against a 52-week low $16.96; iShares MSCI France Index (AMEX: EWQ) is down 2.4% at $18.61 against a 52-week low of $17.88. The there is “the Euro currency ETF” via the CurrencyShares Euro Trust (AMEX: FXE) with a drop of 0.9% at $125.03 (new 52-week low) as the Euro is at the lowest point since July 2010.  iShares MSCI Italy Index (AMEX: EWI) is down 3.8% at $10.26 and only one-penny above the $10.25 52-week low.

Ireland… The Bank of Ireland (NYSE: IRE) is down 2% at $4.90 against a 52-week low of $3.99. The New Ireland Fund, Inc. (NYSE: IRL) is down 1.1% at $7.79 against a 52-week low of $6.49.

Greece… National Bank of Greece SA (NYSE: NBG) is flat at $1.52 against a 52-week low of $1.45; Global X FTSE Greece 20 ETF (AMEX: GREK) is down 3.5% at $9.99 at a new 52-week low (prior $10.25 low). The election in mid-June will likely be the key determining factor here.  If not, the situation is still not over and Greece is going to be an ongoing flight risk.

Spain… iShares MSCI Spain Index (AMEX: EWP) is down 3.3% at $22.81 and under the prior 52-week low of $22.87.  Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE: STD) is down 3.5% at $5.58 against a 52-week low of $5.52 and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (NYSE: BBVA) is down 4% at $6.02 against a 52-week low of $5.96.

Vanguard MSCI Europe ETF (AMEX: VGK) tracks the  MSCI Europe Index, which is made up of approximately 460 common stocks of companies located in 16 European countries-mostly companies in the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, and Germany.  It is down 2.6% at $39.85 against a 52-week low of $38.40.  The SPDR EURO STOXX 50 (AMEX: FEZ) tracks the STOXX Europe 50 Index and it is down 2.9% at $26.93 against a 52-week low of $26.10.

This is sort of funny on the surface if you don’t think about the financial and human tragedy that is unfolding.  It is not exactly as though the global economy rose this much when they launched the Euro.  Little reward, massive pain!

Sadly, Europe is starting to feel like Latin America of the 1980s and early 1990s all over again.

JON C. OGG

A class-action suit on behalf of shareholders was filed in Manhattan this morning, the financial industry’s own watchdog, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is launching an investigation into the way banks communicated a cut in FB’s estimates, and shares in Morgan Stanely (NYSE: MS), FB’s lead underwriter, are down more than -2%. And short-sellers are chasing shares today too, as we noted earlier this morning. All before lunch.

Facebook is responding by testing a new design for its Timeline feature. Lawsuits and falling share prices are somebody else’s problems. At Facebook, there’s no time for such trivial matters.

Facebook has traded about 38 million shares this morning and shortly before noon the price is up 1.8% at $31.60.

Paul Ausick

At a time when Treasury yields have been nonexistent, MLP investors have been able to get high payouts that are viewed as quasi-dividends, due to some payouts representing income and some representing return of capital. The question to ask now is whether the risk-reward is there for new investors at the current prices. The unit prices of many key MLPs have been hit hard along with stocks in the past few weeks, and we wanted to take a risk-reward look for summer 2012. This sector could get a recovery, or it could face additional pressure like we saw in 2011.

If investors have been involved in the MLP sector since before, during or right after the great panic selling of 2008 and 2009, they are up huge if they held on. In many cases they have doubled their money or more. And as far as they are concerned they have been getting 5% to 8% in payouts each year (again, some income and some return of capital). The problem is that the prices here have become choppy and the MLP structures often have had secondary offerings on top of secondary offerings. Those secondary offerings have provided growth and acquisition capital, but some investors have started to worry that these secondary offerings may be the biggest contribution to the never-ending payout increases that have been seen in this sector.

MLPs in the energy space often attract the same sort of investors who would buy utility shares and preferred shares of banks, but they also overlap with REIT investors who look for above-market yields. This sector has enjoyed large price gains in the unit (share) prices, and investors are looking for any safe investments that have high payouts, compared to the world of no-returns in CDs and Treasuries. A wave of secondary offerings from many MLPs came before and during the recent market sell-off.

24/7 Wall St. has evaluated some of the top MLP investments to see how much implied upside remains in this sector. We have taken price performance as far as the sell-off from recent highs, as well as issues like the payout ratios (implied yield-equivalent) and the consensus price targets from Thomson Reuters. We have evaluated the following MLPs: Enterprise Products Partners LP (NYSE: EPD), Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (NYSE: KMP), Plains All American Pipeline LP (NYSE: PAA), ONEOK Partners LP (NYSE: OKS), Energy Transfer Partners LP (NYSE: ETP) and Enbridge Energy Partners LP (NYSE: EEP). These MLPs mentioned and covered here are some of the ones we track and keep on our watch list in the sector. These have market caps above $8 billion, they have a history of increased payouts each quarter, for the most part, and generally speaking these MLPs are all believed to have good management teams.

Investors have made a bundle here in this sector. MLPs are not really all that correlated to the price of oil because these are the partnerships (general and limited) for pipelines, terminals, and other facilities involved in the oil and gas sector in America. MLPs must derive 90% of their income from real estate, natural resources and commodities. The issuing of K-1 statements can make the structure more complicated, but the payouts often make that worth it for many investors seeking higher streams of cash flow.

We also have evaluated some of the key ETFs and closed-end funds in this sector. Be advise that just the three vehicles we have tracked in funds and ETFs have a combined market value of more than $11 billion.

CalSTRS will vote its more than five million investor shares against the entire board’s reelection at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. annual meeting. We encourage our fellow shareholders to do the same.

Walmart has not been very good to CalSTRS, and many other investors, as least as far as returns go. Its share price has been nearly flat over the past decade. But, like other holders of shares in the world’s largest retailer, it has ignored the rule that people, including executives, are innocent until proven guilty. The fund writes in a letter about its plans:

Based on these allegations, which indicate a breakdown of corporate governance and lack of oversight that should have averted this situation, CalSTRS does not have confidence that the current board has the independence and leadership needed to address these difficult issues.

A number of charges have arisen against Walmart over bribery activity at its Mexico operations. There are also allegations that past and current management knew about them and covered them up. Federal investigations, and a probe by Walmart’s board, have only just begun. It may be months before these conclude. In the meantime, no one in management or on the board has been pushed out, which is as it should be.

If the CalSTRS approach set a standard by which to measure boards and management, all of the leaders of Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) and JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) would be gone by now. The same holds true for dozens of companies that have been through recent ethical scandals. Some board members and executives has been forced out at companies where there were breaches of reasonable standards. This includes Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ: GMCR). There have been no widespread suggestions that the entire boards and top managements of these corporations resign or be turned out by shareholders. Not everyone on the boards of these two public corporations was part of the wrongdoings. By forcing the resignations of those who had violated fair codes of conduct, these board members actually have proved their worthiness as fiduciaries.

The CalSTRS pressure to unseat the entire Walmart board is too radical. The directors who should reasonably judge the chairman and two CEOs ought to be left to do their jobs.

Douglas A. McIntyre

At issue may be a stock market stabilization, or perhaps it is a stabilization aimed solely at the commodities and those companies which profit from either the rise of commodity prices or the rise of the demand for those commodities. It was just yesterday evening that Dennis Gartman of the Gartman Letter was talking up gold miners as his method of choice to play the current bounce in gold.

To show just how much implied upside there is we found some large cap gold stocks that have upside of about 100% and many of the big players have implied upside of well over 50%.  The key ETFs for these miners show just how widespread the damage was during the last sell-off.  The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (AMEX: GDX) trades at $43.35 against a 52-week trading range of $39.08 to $66.98 and that is down about 35% as a group from the highs.  The Global X Silver Miners ETF (AMEX: SIL) trades at $18.00 against a 52-week range of $16.54 to $29.05 and that is down almost 38% from its high in the last year.

We included the implied dividend yields but due to foreign issues and ADRs causing currency translations and due to some payouts not being quarter like U.S. companies do, we would urge you to only consider the dividend as a footnote and something you should be verifying on your own.  Besides that, who buys gold (and silver) miners because of their dividend yields only?

We have evaluated the following large-cap gold stocks: Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE: ABX); Goldcorp Inc. (NYSE: GG); Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM); AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (NYSE: AU); Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE: KGC); Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. (NYSE: AEM); Gold Fields Ltd. (NYSE: GFI); Yamana Gold, Inc. (NYSE: AUY); IAMGOLD Corp. (NYSE: IAG); Harmony Gold Mining Co. Ltd. (NYSE: HMY); Eldorado Gold Corp. (NYSE: EGO); and Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ: RGLD). We have covered also two of the larger silver players of Silver Wheaton Corp. (NYSE: SLW) and Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ: PAAS).

Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE: ABX) traded at $37.60 and has a market value of $37.6 billion.  The consensus target price from Thomson Reuters is $59.10 and the 52-week range is $34.82 to $55.95.  Barrick has a dividend yield of 2.2%. The implied upside to the consensus target: 57% but we would note that the target is above the 52-week high.

Goldcorp Inc. (NYSE: GG) traded at $34.90 with a market value of $28.2 billion.  The consensus target price from Thomson Reuters is $60.42 and the 52-week trading range is $32.16 to $56.31.  Goldcorp’s most recent yield was listed as 1.6%. The implied upside to the consensus target is 73% but we would note that the consensus target is still above the 52-week high.

Earlier last week S&P issued a similar downgrade on Chesapeake’s credit. In its report, Fitch said:

The downgrade reflects the company’s aggressive spending amid a period of expected weak natural gas price realizations and concerns relating to constrained liquidity longer term given the planned spending.

Fitch’s concerns are focused on the Chesapeake’s liquidity, which the ratings firm points out depends on Chesapeake’s ability to shed assets. S&P took a somewhat broader view, citing “revelations that underscore shortcomings in Chesapeake’s corporate governance practices, [and] covenant concerns” as well. However one looks at it, Chesapeake’s salad days are behind it.

The report from Fitch Ratings is available here.

Chesapeake’s closed up 6% on Friday, at $14.36 in a 52-week range of $13.32-$35.75.

Paul Ausick

But a CEO wedding announcement on the following day? The answer that new shareholders should be concerned with is simple: “You knew you had a founding CEO who was able to do whatever he wants, even though he is now playing with your money. Now you know he WILL do whatever he wants whenever he wants.”

Magically announcing a wedding at what was supposed to be a graduation party is one thing. But within a day of an IPO of this magnitude? Shareholders now have every reason to be concerned. Oh, and by the way, if you do not like it your only way to make a statement is to sell your shares. You have no vote in the company at all because Zuckerberg has well over 50% of the share votes either under ownership or under control.

It is hard to imagine that Zuck would go take a three-week honeymoon, but he could do that at some point and the poor Facebook shareholders would just have to sit there and take it. Again, your only vote as a shareholder is to sell your shares. Even then, do you think a guy now worth $20 billion or so really cares?

We warned you that there were 18 big risks in chasing Facebook ahead of the IPO, and all of these risks are still present. We never thought that there were two more: 19) CEO decides to distract himself with his own marriage status as just a small deal, and 20) CEO could go take a long vacation/honeymoon immediately.

Who knows what Zuckerberg’s living situation will be now and who knows if he and his now-wife will decide to go take a great vacation and honeymoon. I would if I was in his shoes, at some point, but not the weekend after an IPO. Shareholders should care what this means, but they better remember over and over that they were warned about the corporate governance here as a controlled entity (over and over, and over).

As of 6:50 PM EST on Sunday night there have been “853,293 people like this” on Zuckerberg’s Facebook status page. If any of those people are shareholders liking this, well let’s just say that they have a conflict of interest over “liking” their own money.

Barron’s wrote about the new downside risks about Facebook shares falling if underwriters choose not to support the IPO like they did on Friday at the $38.00 share price. That was without considering the CEO would sneak out and get married the same weekend.

JON C. OGG

Ackman had pushed for replacing Green with Hunter Harrison, former CEO of Canadian National Railway Co. (NYSE: CNI), but following the coup Ackman now said not to expect a coronation, “We’re going to do a proper job, we’re going to meet all the candidates and do it the right way.”

Canadian Pacific’s problems, at least according to Ackman, are due to high operating costs and he wants to reduce those costs. Ackman’s stated goal is to lower CP’s operating ratio — that is cost as a percentage of revenue — from around 80% to 66%. That would match the operating ratio at Canadian National, Harrison’s former company. Most of the credit for CN’s success, however, is attributed to Harrison’s predecessor.

CP’s main problem is that it operates mainly in western Canada in a nasty climate with difficult topography. The company hauls mainly commodity minerals and is captive to swings in the market for those minerals. Lowering costs won’t be easy once the workforce is trimmed.

CP’s ability to compete with the likes of Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE: UNP), CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX), Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF), owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A), and Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE: NSC) is dubious, given that CP is much smaller than any of these and that the only likely merger possibility is Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU). A potential merger between Canadian National and BNSF was squashed by regulators in 1999, so a tie-up with one of the larger railroads is unlikely.

What is likely is that Ackman has shaken up sleepy Canadian companies and shareholders. This was Canada’s first big, public battle over corporate direction and many observers believe that it’s just the beginning.

Who could be next? A good bet might by phone maker Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) whose recent struggles are well documented.

CP did not get much of a share price boost yesterday, closing at $75.07 in a 52-week range of $44.74-$79.91. The stock is inactive in pre-market trading this morning.

Paul Ausick

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) has been a total disaster, but short covering and bottom-fishing traders are snapping up shares.  After an all-time low of $13.75 this week, shares recovered to $14.92 on Thursday on the most active volume in two weeks (over 10 million shares).  Shares are indicated above $15.00 for Friday but we will see if this can hold. SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWR) recovered more than 10% on Thursday after a recent low of $4.94 with a close of $5.59 on over 4 million shares (most since Feb 17 at 7.3 million shares).

One potential problem to consider is that the tariffs could inadvertently impact some of the U.S. producers of solar panels as well.  The issue is that many components involved in making these PV panels also come from China.

Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP) is a loser in this tariff effort.  Shares were at $2.60 just last Friday and the ADRs closed down at $2.13 on Thursday.  Shares are indicated higher on Friday but we will have to see how it pans out.  Trina Solar Limited (NYSE: TSL) is another loser with its ADR closing at $6.08 Thursday after having been at $7.50 just last Friday.

LDK Solar Co., Ltd. (NYSE: LDK) closed lower on Thursday at $2.91, but this is actually in-line with prices just last Friday and its 52-week range is $2.54 to $7.90.

GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: GTAT) is often lost in the shuffle as it is on the technology side of the solar PV process.  It is also in LED technology.  Shares closed down at $4.49 on Thursday against a 52-week low of $4.24.  The 12 million shares traded on Thursday was the highest trading volume seen since last August.

If you really want to know what the trend is on a global-solar basis, just follow the Guggenheim Solar (AMEX: TAN).  This ETF closed down yet again at $18.35 on Thursday after closing at $19.21 the prior day and against a $20.61 close last Friday.

Unfortunately, the solar sector has its share of woes and pain.  Austerity, expiration of tax credits, a lack of cost-effectiveness, and other issues are going to be present for the time being whether tariffs exist or not.

JON C. OGG