Chesapeake isn’t alone in doing these joint venture deals. SandRidge Energy Inc. (NYSE: SD) and Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. (NASDAQ: CRZO) have also recently sold stakes in shale gas plays.

In the latest deal, Total paid Chesapeake about $610 million in cash and will spend an additional $1.42 billion on drilling and completion costs anticipated through the end of 2014.

In the press announcement, Chesapeake’s CEO enumerated the company’s joint ventures and their value:

This Utica transaction is our seventh significant JV and in these seven JVs, Chesapeake has sold approximately 1.5 million net acres for total leasehold consideration of $14.8 billion while retaining 3.6 million net acres as of the JV date with an indicated value by the JV partners of $45.7 billion.

The Utica shale play, like the Eagle Ford play in south Texas, is liquids rich and far more valuable due to the high price companies can get for both the natural gas liquids and the oil that can be extracted using hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

But production companies may have hit a snag in Ohio. On Saturday, a 4.0-magnitude earthquake hit the Youngstown, Ohio, area and led to the state’s closure of all 177 waste water injection wells. There is some concern that the practice of injecting the recovered fracking fluids back into the ground is causing some of the quakes that have occurred in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, and Texas.

The injection wells in Ohio are about 9,000 feet below the surface, making any risk to drinking water extremely small. A recent US EPA report on groundwater contamination from fracking in Pavillion, Wyoming, studing wells less than 300 feet below the surface.

Chesapeake’s latest joint venture, combined with the sale of its pipeline assets in the Marcellus shale announced last week, puts about $3.2 billion onto the company’s books. Chesapeake intends to garner about $7 billion in 2012 by selling assets, holding an IPO for its own oil field services company, and creating joint ventures. The company also plans to increase production by 30%. The goal is to reduce its outstanding debt by 25%.

Chesapeak’s shares are up nearly 3.5% in pre-market trading this morning, at $23.05 in a 52-week range of $22.00-$35.95.

Paul Ausick

The most noticeable data point is how far off these stocks are from their 52-week highs. The U.S.-based stocks are off nearly 60%, while the China-based companies are down a minimum of 75%. Trina and LDK have been hit with accounting questions, as have many other Chinese firms, and that has carried over to the other Chinese solar makers as well. That is likely the cause of the 15% differential in current distance from the 52-week high.

Applied Materials has a median target price of $12.50 from 17 brokers. Shortly before noon today, shares are trading at $11.96, for an implied gain of $0.54, or 4.5%. Applied’s forward P/E is 12.46 and the company pays a dividend yield of 2.7%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $9.70 to $16.93, and at today’s price that is about 23% above its 52-week low, posted earlier this morning, and 29% below the 52-week high. Applied’s dividend yield has dropped from nearly 3% six weeks ago, its price target has fallen from $13.88, and it has posted a new 52-week low. At our last look, this was the one company that looked like it might be a value play, but that view is getting weaker by the day. Applied is the only company in this group that pays a dividend.

First Solar has a median target price of $108.50 from 34 brokers. Shortly before noon, shares are trading today at $60.22, for an implied gain of $48.28, or 80%. First Solar’s forward P/E is 5.97 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $50.87 to $175.45, and at today’s price that is about 18% above its 52-week low and 66% below the 52-week high. First Solar is the largest of the solar panel makers measured by market cap. The company’s low-cost leadership has been challenged by the constantly falling prices of crystalline solar manufacturers, particularly the Chinese. Once a growth stock, First Solar shares have performed miserably so far this year.

MEMC Electronic Materials has a median target price of $9.00 from 20 brokers. Shortly before noon today, shares are trading at $6.19, for an implied gain of $2.81, or 45%. MEMC’s forward P/E is 5.84 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $4.58 to $15.04, and at today’s price that is about 35% above its 52-week low and 59% below the 52-week high. MEMC has been able to hold the line somewhat on solar wafers in the face of increasing competition from Chinese makers. The company, like First Solar and SunPower, also owns a solar project development company, SunEdison, and if there is any growth in the solar sector, it is in financing and installing rooftop systems. The project groups of these three companies are geared toward industrial-scale projects, though, so they will have to change direction or they will not see much benefit from rooftop installation growth.

GT Advanced Technologies has a median target price of $15.00 from 25 brokers. Shortly before noon, shares are trading today at $7.34, for an implied gain of $7.66, or 104%. GT’s forward P/E is 3.94 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $6.40 to $17.50, and at today’s price that is about 15% above its 52-week low and 58% below the 52-week high. Formerly known as GT Solar, this company had a breakout first half of 2011 as the expansion of China’s manufacturing capacity created high demand for GT’s specialized manufacturing equipment. Now that capacity exceeds demand, new orders have slowed and prospects for growth are dimming.

SunPower has a median target price of $13.00 from 13 brokers. Shortly before noon today, shares are trading at $9.67, for an implied gain of $3.33, or 34%. SunPower’s forward P/E is 9.28 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $6.60 to $23.36, and at today’s price that is about 47% above its 52-week low and 59% below the 52-week high. SunPower’s shares jumped to 52-week highs on the offer by French energy giant Total SA (NYSE: TOT) to acquire 60% of SunPower’s stock. Shares have tumbled since then, and it is not unthinkable that Total overpaid for the company. SunPower is not a low-cost provider of solar panels, and that could limit the company’s growth going forward.

Suntech Power has a median target price of $4.00 from 30 brokers. Shortly before noon today, shares are trading at $2.37, for an implied gain of $1.63, or 69%. Suntech’s forward P/E is 34.29 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $1.70 to $10.83, and at today’s price that is about 39% above its 52-week low and 78% below the 52-week high. Suntech now makes more solar modules than any other company in the world. That would be great, if the company could sell the modules at a price that offers it a profit. A recent trade case against Chinese solar makers could push these stocks down even more.

Trina Solar has a median target price of $15.00 from 26 brokers. Shortly before noon, shares are trading today at $7.70, for an implied gain of $7.30, or 95%. Trina’s forward P/E is 6.26 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $5.28 to $31.08, and at today’s price that is about 46% above its 52-week low and 75% below the 52-week high. Like Suntech, Trina is a low-cost, high-volume maker of solar panels and it faces all the same problems.

LDK Solar has a median target price of $5.80 from 14 brokers. Shortly before noon today, shares are trading at $3.27, for an implied gain of $2.53, or 77%. LDK’s forward P/E is 10.64 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock ’s 52-week trading range is $2.55 to $15.10, and at today’s price that is about 28% above its 52-week low and 78% below the 52-week high.  LDK’s implied growth of 77% is pure fiction, at least through the end of 2013.

JA Solar has a median target price of $3.00 from 14 brokers. Shortly before noon today, shares are trading at $2.30, for an implied gain of $0.70, or 30%. JA Solar’s forward P/E is 5.43 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $1.46 to $9.77, and at today’s price that is about 58% above its 52-week low and 76% below the 52-week high. JA Solar shares are the furthest above their 52-week low of any of the stocks in the group. That might be good news if the forward P/E were greater than 5.43. Like the other Chinese makers, this stock is very weak and could be the first of all these stocks to bust the buck on the way down.

Paul Ausick

San Jose-based SunPower, which is majority-owned by French oil and gas major Total (NYSE: TOT), received a $1.24 billion guarantee for its California Valley Solar Ranch project. This 250 megawatt facility, which is being built in San Luis Obispo County, is expected to harness enough PV energy to power more than 64,000 homes and cut carbon emissions of some 425,000 metric tons into the atmosphere annually. Additionally, officials in both the administrations of President Barack Obama and California Governor Jerry Brown boast the federal incentives will help to fund employment of some 350 jobs during build-out — from architects and electricians to delivery drivers and pipefitters.

“None Love the Bearer of Bad News”

The ancient Greek playwright Sophocles (496 BC – 406 BC) reminds us that no one likes to hear the bad news. Well, too bad: When construction winds down in the next 18 to 24 months, permanent jobs created at Solar Valley are expected to number fifteen — at best!

Backers of the PV-scale utility counter that $315 million will be injected into the local economy through direct and indirect impacts over the life of the project, from an influx of spending dollars (worker wages) to resultant savings from smaller fossil fuel imprints.

“Since light travels faster than sound, isn’t that why some people appear bright until you hear them speak?”  (Steven Wright, comedian)

SunPower management and Governor Brown have boasted, too, that the project will nourish growth of  additional manufacturing jobs in the state, as solar panels for the Solar Valley facility will be supplied by the company’s new 75-megawatt (MW) plant located in Milpitas, a suburb of San Jose. Not to be repetitive, but, duh, think again.

The Milpitas plant was built in partnership with Flextronics (NASDAQ: FLEX), a Singapore-based electronics subcontractor used by U.S. semiconductor companies to assemble chips more cheaply offshore. The taste of irony is that in addition to partnering with a company that steals U.S. manufacturing jobs, SunPower used DOE funding “to develop both a more efficient panel and lower-cost process for producing the panel,” according to Julie Blunden, SunPower Executive Vice President of Corporate Communications and Public Policy. Though the facility has some 100 employees, doing mundane tasks like soldering the strings of solar cells together or quality-control inspections, the bulk of the PV module process is highly automated.

Meeting Demand Close to Home — in Mexico

It is likely, too, that this additional DOE “seed money” will have unintended consequences, in particular, job destruction: Silicon Valley, as admitted by Blunden, is a relatively high-cost labor center. Module prices are anticipated to fall even further next year, as Chinese solar module makers — reputed to be running at less than 50% capacity due to weak demand in Europe — flood global markets with even cheaper products across the PV supply chain. Facing such fierce competition and continued module oversupply, the 10Q Detective suspects SunPower will not be doing much more hiring in the U.S. — of humans, that is.

Memo to Secretary Chu and Governor Brown: the billion given to SunPower will help grow employment, just not in the U.S. Collapsing margins have forced SunPower to ship hoped-for manufacturing jobs outside our borders. In addition to ramping up component manufacturing in Malaysia, the company announced last month that it is constructing a manufacturing plant in Mexicali, Mexico, to assemble the solar panels to be installed at the Valley Solar power station!

First Solar Received Federal Guarantees of $3.07 Billion

In the past three months, Tempe, Arizona-based First Solar has received federal loan guarantees totaling more than $3.0 billion for two solar farms in California (230-MW Antelope Valley Solar Ranch 1 project and 550-MW Desert Sunlight plant) and a 290-MW PV power plant in Yuma County, Arizona (Agua Caliente Solar). The global leader in PV module shipments is expected to use the stimulus funding to hire more than 1,300 construction workers needed to install its Cadmium Telluride (Cd-Te) thin-film panels.

Similar to SunPower, however, permanent jobs created will pale in comparison to dollars spent on the projects — just 40 to 50 operations jobs! Additionally, despite best intentions, most of the jobs necessary to assemble components and modules required for these projects will likely go to workers in countries located outside the U.S., in particular Malaysia:

• First Solar has 24 production lines in Malaysia, compared to just 4 at its Ohio plant.
• The four plants located in Kulim, Malaysia, employ some 3,400 and have nameplate capacity of 1.4-GW, or about 68% of annual production; the Perrysburg, Ohio, factory employs about 500 and produces about 248-MW annually, or about 11% of total annual output of 2.2 gigawatts.

First Solar Plans $300-Million Factory

Those bullish on solar will argue with my math and point to First Solar’s construction of a $300 million factory in Mesa, Ariz., as proof of the worthiness and economic value behind the DOE’s investments. First Solar promises to hire 600 at first — with expectations to bring on as many as 4,800 workers as it ramps up capacity to meet demand for its thin-film PV panels in solar farms across the southwestern U.S.

Unfortunately, falling profits will likely force First Solar to back away from its ambitious plan to expand U.S. manufacturing capacity: Second-quarter gross margin fell to 36.6%, from 45.8% in the prior quarter, as average selling prices plummeted by 13%.

“Hell Is Paved with Good Intentions, Not Bad Ones.”

As judiciously noted by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950), politicians’ inventive scheming to grow “green” jobs in the U.S. by rushing through DOE-backed solar loans could ultimately prove disastrous for U.S. taxpayers. Ignorance of industry dynamics has already been demonstrated by those in charge of the cash register: $528 million lost in the growing Solyndra bankruptcy scandal!

To paraphrase the late satirist Will Rogers: “The woods are full of people who learned to write but evidently can’t read. If they could read their stuff, they’d stop writing.” Sadly, the corridors of power in Washington DC appear to be crowded with those that can neither write nor read. Expect more millions to be lost in the sake of “jobs creation.”

David Phillips

TransCanada stands to lose the most if the project is denied. The entire Keystone pipeline system is nearly fully contracted for a total of 900,000 barrels/day for an average term of 18 years. That is a big loss if the pipeline isn’t built. The largest producer in the oil sands is Syncrude, a joint venture that includes Imperial Oil Resources (wholly owned by Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM)), Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE: SU), and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (NYSE: SNP) — Sinopec — among others. Other producers include ConocoPhillips Corp. (NYSE: COP), Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX), Murphy Oil Corp. (NYSE: MUR), Total SA (NYSE: TOT), Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS-A), BP plc. (NYSE: BP), and Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DVN).

These companies won’t lose everything because the bitumen from the oil sands will go somewhere, somehow. Unless, of course, the Canadian government decides to shut down every project in Alberta, and that simply will not happen. One of the big problems facing the producers now is that they’re crude is landlocked and sells at a substantial discount to WTI. For the week ending September 23rd, Heavy Hardesty grade crude sold for $78.28/barrel, while WTI sold for $80.29 and Brent sold for $109.17. Getting crude from Alberta to a coast, any coast, is critical for producers.

If the Keystone XL pipeline is killed, an expansion to an existing pipeline system to the US/Canadian west coast could take up some of the slack. Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (NYSE: KMP) is investigating an expansion to its Trans Mountain system and Enbridge Inc. (NYSE: ENB) has already begun the permitting process for a similar pipeline to the west.

Another interesting development are proposals from both of Canada’s major railroads to construct a pipeline-by-rail from Alberta to west coast. And while nothing officially like a pipeline-by-rail has been proposed for the run to the US Gulf Coast, rail traffic has already increased substantially from North Dakota south to Cushing and, eventually producers hope, to the Gulf.

In July weekly US rail carloads of petroleum and petroleum products hit a four-year high, and the August total of about 7,400 carloads is even higher. A rail tanker holds about 1,500 barrels, so every day about 1.6 million barrels of petroleum is moving around on the US rail network. Add to that another half a million barrels a day from the oil sands and that puts about another 2,500 tanker cars on the rails every day.

There were 750 reported rail accidents involving hazardous materials in 2010. The odds of a significant oil spill rise if we add more oil transport by rail.

The same is true if the Canadian crude is moved by truck. Truck transportation by surface road is even more expensive and prone to accidents. There were nearly 12,000 road accidents involving hazardous materials in 2010. Besides being much more expensive, more tanker trucks carrying up to 300 barrels of oil each raises again the odds on an environmentally significant spill.

So while pipeline spills are a concern, rail and truck accidents are far more common. The Keystone XL pipeline should be held to a very high safety standard, but it is probably the safest way to move the most Canadian crude.

The argument that Canada should stop development and extraction in the oil sands may make more environmental sense, but until a large-scale alternative transportation fuel is available at a reasonable price, oil sands development will very likely continue. And moving that oil by pipeline is really the only sensible option.

Paul Ausick

Or maybe Solyndra, the solar PV firm that recently filed for bankruptcy protection after taking a $535 million loan from US taxpayers. Solyndra’s bankruptcy has generated calls from some federal legislators and solar industry critics to end federal guarantees and loans to alternative energy projects. The fallout hits not only First Solar, but SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWRA), Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL), JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO), LDK Solar Co. Inc. (NYSE: LDK), and other solar industry companies competing for solar farm projects in the US.

First Solar says it is in “advanced talks regarding the sale and financing of the project with potential buyers utilizing a different transaction structure that does not require a DOE loan guarantee.” The leading candidate to buy Topaz is rumored to be Enbridge Inc. (NYSE: ENB). Enbridge’s access to low cost capital could in fact make such a sale possible.

According to a report from TheStreet.com, First Solar estimated earlier this year that it could lose as much as $0.625/watt in a sale of the Topaz project if the federal loan guarantee was lost.  That would hit EPS to the tune of $4-$4.50 over the next two years. But a buyer like Enbridge, with a low cost of capital, would likely only cost First Solar a few cents of loss per watt and an essentially insignificant amount of lost earnings.

But, wait, there’s more. The story at the TheStreet.com details contacts between First Solar and various brokerage firms that might have violated the SEC’s Regulation FD that prohibits officers or directors of a company from selectively disclosing information that may be material to the company’s business. If the company did selectively release material information, that could jeopardize the other two solar farm projects for which First Solar still expects to receive loan guarantees, Antelope Valley Solar Ranch and Desert Sunlight.

Losing or significantly delaying those guarantees would be substantially reduce First Solar’s earnings outlook for the next couple of years. Unless the company can find a buyer like Enbridge, with access to low-cost capital, it would have to try to borrow the necessary funds itself at a much higher cost. That in turn would reduce the amount the company would realize in an eventual sale of either of the two projects for which it still hopes to get federal guarantees.

The overall softness in the solar PV market has crushed solar industry stocks since late April. First Solar shares are down nearly -50% since then and SunPower shares are down more than -25%, even after getting a huge boost from the purchase of a controlling stake in the company by Total SA (NYSE: TOT). Trina, JA Solar, and LDK are all down more than -70% since April, both due to oversupply of solar panels and accounting concerns that have hit Chinese companies hard.

Today doesn’t look like a recovery day for First Solar either. The stock is trading down another -1%, at $66.07, below the new 52-week low set yesterday of $66.19. The stock’s 52-week high is $175.45.

Paul Ausick

Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Dollar General Corporation (NYSE: DG) Started as Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Gentiva Health Services Inc. (NASDAQ: GTIV) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Humana, Inc. (NYSE: HUM) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Jefferies Group Inc. (NYSE: JEF) Cut to Neutral at Ticonderoga.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) Reiterated Buy with $32 target at BofA/ML; maintained Buy with $38 target at Canaccord Genuity.
Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: OREX) Raised to Outperform at Leerink Swann; Maintained Neutral but target raised to $4 from $2 at BofA/ML.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: HOT) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Total SA (NYSE: TOT) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
VeriSign Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Yandex N. V. (NASDAQ: YNDX) Started as Buy at Jefferies.

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There was no good news for Chinese solar makers either, even given news earlier in the week of the government’s adoption of a higher feed-in tariff for solar generation. JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO), JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE: JKS), LDK Solar Co., Ltd. (NYSE: LDK), Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL), Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP), and Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: YGE) all finished lower yesterday and are all anywhere between -16% and -33% lower for the past month.

The major issues in the solar PV market were identified at least a year ago, but the reality is perhaps worse than anticipated. Massive expansion in production capacity coupled with reduced incentives in Europe have driven margins into the cellar. First Solar reported EPS of $0.70, considerably below EPS expectations of $0.92, and revenue totaled $533 million, well below estimates of $582 million.

And among US solar PV providers, First Solar is perhaps the best. SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWRA) is trading about-20% below its price of one year ago, even following a massive investment by Total SA (NYSE: TOT). Other US solar PV makers, Evergreen Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: ESLR), Energy Conversion Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: ENER) and Ascent Solar Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTI), are all trading below $1/share and are no more than marginal players any longer.

GT Solar, and to some degree MEMC, have the advantage of not producing solar modules and panels. GT Solar’s share price has risen around 50% in the past year on the strength of orders for its solar PV manufacturing equipment. That won’t last forever, but it looks good now. MEMC is holding its own on wafer production and sales, but the glut of solar panels will chip away at this stock over the next few months.

The solar sector has gone from being a growth area to something less than even a value play. The enormous increase in manufacturing capacity that is taking place this year will take several years to stabilize with demand, which is driven more by government policy and incentives than anything else.

Some of the weaker US and Chinese players are destined either to be acquired or to just fade away. In the US, First Solar and SunPower look to be the only long-term survivors. In China, it’s anyone’s guess because so much depends on influence and connections with the government and with government-controlled banks. The recent accounting issues with Chinese solar companies will continue to be a weight unless and until the government brings accounting practices more in line with more widely accepted standards.

First Solar shares are down about -2.5% in the first hour of trading this morning, to $105.26, after setting a new 52-week low earlier, and the shares now trade in a 52-week range of $103.82-$175.45. If First Solar can avoid falling below $100/share today, that will be a victory. The Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSE: TAN) is down about -1.75%, at $5.65, after posting a new 52-week low earlier this morning of $5.60.

Among the Chinese companies, JA Solar has put up a new 52-week low of $4.05 this morning, before recovering slightly to $4.09, down about -3.5%, with a new range of $4.05-$10.24. JinkoSolar is off more than -10%, to $17.75, in a 52-week range of $17.30-$41.75. LDK Solar is essentially flat, at $6.00, in a 52-week range of $5.69-$15.10.

MEMC is also down more than -3%, having posted a new 52-week low of $5.82, against a 52-week high of $15.04. Only GT Solar is showing some positive news, up more than 2%, at $12.07, in a 52-week range of $6.65-$17.50.

Paul Ausick

We’ve run a screen for high-yielding stocks in the various industries in the sector and then checked to see how far the stock is trading below its 52-week high. From these results we’ll highlight six stocks: Total SA (NYSE: TOT), Whiting USA Trust  (NYSE: WHX), Penn West Petroleum Ltd. (NYSE: PWE), Global Partners LP (NYSE: GLP), Ferrellgas Partners LP (NYSE: FGP), and Exterran Partners, L.P. (NASDAQ: EXLP). All except Total and Penn West are REITs or limited partnerships, which typically produce larger payouts because the companies themselves pay no taxes. That’s up to the limited partners.

Total is one of the half-dozen largest integrated oil companies in the world. Based in France, the firm’s market cap is around $127 billion. It’s P/E ratio for the trailing twelve months is 7.24 and its price/book ratio is a low 1.37. The company pays a dividend of $2.73, for a forward yield of 4.9%. No other major integrated oil firm is even close. Shares are trading about -14% below 52-week highs.

Whiting USA Trust I is a REIT that operates as a subsidiary of Whiting Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: WLL), and owns interests in WLL’s operations in the Midwest, the Rocky Mountains, and Texas. The trust is categorized as a drilling company with a market cap of $229 million. It’s trailing P/E is 6.21 and its price/book ratio is 4.0. The current dividend is $2.91, for a forward yield 16.70%. This is the highest yield rate among oil & gas companies traded on a major exchange. The trust’s shares are currently trading about -32% below their 52-week high.

Penn West is Canadian-based E&P company with a market cap of more than $10 billion. It operates primarily in western Canada. The company’s trailing P/E is 22.88, but its forward P/E drops to 13.02 and its price/book ratio is a very low 1.09. The company pays a dividend of $1.10 and its forward yield is nice 4.8%. Shares are trading about -23% below the 52-week high.

Global Partners is a midstream company that supplies unbranded gasoline and other petroleum products to wholesale and commercial distributors. The company’s market cap is about $467 million and its trailing P/E is 22.73. The price/book ratio is 1.35 and the company currently pays a dividend of $2.00 with a forward yield of 8.10%. Shares are currently trading nearly -28% below 52-week highs.

Ferrellgas is one of the US’s largest propane distributors and is categorized as a refining & market company. The company’s market cap is around $1.5 billion and its trailing P/E is not meaningful because the company has posted losses for the past several quarters. It’s forward P/E is a robust 24.57, and its price/book ratio is 6.63. As strange as it may seem, the company pays a dividend of $2 and its forward yield is 9%. Ferrellgas is trading about -31% below its 52-week high.

Exterran Partners is a field services company that operates only in the United States. The company’s market cap is about $752 million and, like Ferrellgas, it has no trailing P/E. It’s forward P/E is 39.0 and its price/book ratio is 2.22. Exterran pays a dividend of $1.90 and its forward yield is 7.5%. The company’s shares are trading about -25% below 52-week highs.

Paul Ausick

Despite SunPower’s best efforts to make the announcement sound like a mixed report, the details are all negative. The company expects revenue of $590-$595 million, compared with an earlier outlook of $550-$600 million. Analysts were expecting $572 million, so that might in fact be a tiny bit of good news.

The bad new is that gross margins will be much lower. Previously the company had forecast non-GAAP margins of 15%-17%. It has lowered that to 12%-13%. On a non-GAAP basis, EPS, previously forecast at -$0.05-$0.10, is now expected to come in at a loss of around -$0.19. On a GAAP basis, margins are expected to be 3%-4% and the loss per share is expected to be about -$1.50.

SunPower is blaming market conditions in Germany and Italy, historically the two largest buyers of solar PV panels, which have reduced subsidies and throttled new installations. The company reports earnings officially on August 9th.

Before the offer from Total, SunPower shares had been trading around $16. The $23.25/share offer price sent the stock up more than 40%. And the price has remained elevated, closing yesterday at $20.88. SunPower may have seen the last of a $20+ share price for a while.

The company’s problem has been that it is a higher-cost producer due to its more efficient solar panels. The question has always been whether or not the company could make the pricing adjustment that was needed once Germany and Italy pulled back on solar subsidies. The verdict is now in.

The damage is spreading too. First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) which reports earnings later today has this morning been downgraded from ‘buy’ to ‘hold’ by one analyst firm. Although the downgrade is due to many factors, the primary problem is margins.

First Solar’s gross margins were above 50% in the first quarter, but net margins of about 20% were lower than the semiconductor industry average. First Solar’s thin-film process is the solar PV industry’s low-cost leader, but the silicon-based makers like Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP) are catching up. Suntech and other Chinese solar makers are expanding their manufacturing capacities even as prices and margins fall, banking on establishing a market share lead that will carry them through the current period of lowered subsidies.

SunPower has been unable to keep up the constant pace of lower pricing, and nothing in last night’s announcement indicates that the company has a plan for increasing its competitiveness. SunPower’s shares closed at $20.88 yesterday, in a 52-week range of $9.61-$23.36. The shares are off about -4%, at $20.05, following after-hours trading last night.

First Solar could be coasting along on is cost leadership, but that won’t carry it much further. The company needs to figure out a way to curry favor with investors, and because of its very low long-term debt, may decide to borrow some money to fund a share repurchase. A dividend is also possible, but unlikely.

First Solar did get some encouragement yesterday when Auriga initiated coverage on the company with a ‘buy’ rating and a price target of $157/share. First Solar’s shares closed at $124.12 yesterday, in a range of $111.40-$175.45.

Paul Ausick

This is the largest deal in the oil sands since last year’s acquisition by China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (NYSE: SNP), or Sinopec, of the oil sands assets of ConocoPhillips Corp. (NYSE: COP) for $4.65 billion. Cnooc expects the deal to close by the end of this year, assuming regulatory approvals and an acceptance by two-thirds of Opti’s creditors. So far about 55% of noteholders have approved the deal.

And why not? Opti’s shares are trading for $0.12 on the Toronto exchange and its market cap is about $32.4 million. Cnooc is paying $34 million to shareholders, a premium of just 5.5%. Considering that Opti’s shares have lost 93% of their value in the past 12 months and that the company had filed for bankruptcy just a week ago, the company’s shareholders are probably glad to get anything at all.

Cnooc already owns a nearly 17% stake in oil sands developer MEG Energy Ltd. which it bought more than six years ago. When completed, this project could produce up to 500,000 barrels/day of crude.

Sinopec owns the 9% stake in the Syncrude project that it bought from Conoco, as well as a 50% stake in the stalled Northern Lights project that it shares with Total SA. Another big Chinese oil company, PetroChina Co. Ltd. (NYSE: PTR), owns a 60% stake in two properties held by Athabasca Oil Sands Corp.

China’s large oil companies have invested heavily in projects based in Africa, South America, and North America, including two deals between Cnooc and Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) which give Cnooc a stake in two large shale gas projects in the US.

There are sure to be more such deals as the global supply of oil slides and the costs of developing difficult and expensive projects such as those in the Canadian oil sands get even more expensive. China’s investments in these projects represent both a hedge against falling supply and a hedge against a weak dollar.

Paul Ausick