Out Fox The $treet

Summary Operational improvements aren't hitting the bottom line. Analysts appear more negative despite the stock jump. Westport remains a technology leader in natural gas engines, but shareholders may not profit. It's really shocking to see Westport Innovations ( WPRT ) surge 24% on the day following earnings to only find out that analysts have actually cut estimates for the current and next fiscal years. Sure, the stock was beaten down so some bounce back is possible based solely on first-quarter results being better than feared, but the trend isn't so encouraging. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

For investors that only read the earnings headlines, a ton of additional information can usually be gleaned from the related conference calls. For those interested in the development of the natural gas transportation fuel market, Clean Energy Fuels ( NASDAQ: CLNE     ) happens to be one of the better providers of useful numbers. The leader in providing both CNG and LNG transportation fueling solutions in North America typically loads up the earnings call with numerous useful numbers. The numbers range from the development of the Cummins ( NYSE: CMI     ) – Westport ( NASDAQ: WPRT     ) engines to margins per gallon to trucking fleets transitioning to natural gas for fuel. Read the full article here . Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

After another quarterly report, Westport Innovations ( WPRT ) had mixed results with good news for longs and bad news for shorts. Any investor checking back into the story after an absence should realize that since the last earnings release, the much-anticipated Cummins ( CMI ) - Westport , or CWI, joint venture's 400HP 12-liter engine hit production and the company completed a secondary offering to raise cash. The combination of news items sets the company up for positive results in the future. Unfortunately, the leader of natural gas engines didn't provide details on the earnings report that helped the stock, though it shouldn't be hurt that bad either. The lack of details regarding CWI growth and the continued focus on new development projects again left the investment community with concerns about profitability. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No position mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

On Tuesday, Piper Jaffray made the Clean Energy Fuels ( CLNE ) stock its top sell through 2014 based on several reasons that don't add up. The firm also lowered the target price to $4.50 from $9.50. Considering the stock was trading around $13, the research report naturally caused the stock to absolutely plunge the following day. The company is a leading provider of natural gas fuel for transportation in North America. It builds and operates compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueling stations. Note that the company's description absolutely lists CNG as a fuel it sells. This fact will come into play as we deconstruct the analyst call. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Very few scenarios occur where a stock drops due to an event that's a major positive for new investors. A secondary stock offering can be harmful to existing shareholders, but new investors get the advantage of a stronger balance sheet or a major insider reducing a position possibly overhanging the stock. In the case of Westport Innovations ( WPRT ), the company is busy developing technology to take advantage of the switch to engines that can use the suddenly abundant and cheap natural gas supplies. In fact, a joint venture with Cummins ( CMI ) recently released the much hyped 12L engine needed for regional-haul trucks that don't daily return to the base of operations. As recently detailed in Westport: Joint Ventures Hide Major Catalysts , the release of this engine is one of several major catalysts that should propel the stock higher with one major catch at that point. That catch just happened to be the cash burn questions that he company solves in this offe...

Lost in the shuffle over the last couple of months have been the recent industry developments that could finally make Clean Energy Fuels ( NASDAQ: CLNE     ) a major winner. Due to cheap and abundant supplies of domestic natural gas, Clean Energy embarked on a dramatic plan to build America's Natural Gas Highway. The plan was to develop a network of liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueling stations in order to encourage trucking companies to purchase LNG regional haul trucks. Read the full article here . Disclosure: Long CLNE. Please review the disclaimer page for more details.

Small Cap Insight In the past, Clean Energy Fuels ( CLNE ) was a stock to be bearish on as the company developed America s Natural Gas Highway while the trucks needed to fill up at those fueling stations weren't in production yet. Conversely, the company wasn't able to open numerous LNG fueling stations and the quarterly numbers for the firm were not overly impressive. The concept was something that investors could get behind, but investing is about finding ones that make financial sense and this was one didn't at the start. The company is the leading provider of natural gas fuel for transportation in North America. It builds and operates compressed natural gas (CNG) and LNG fueling stations Read the full article on Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Small Cap Insight After disappointing revenue guidance for the remaining of 2013, Westport Innovations ( WPRT ) slumped 11% to start August. This placed the stock back at a level originally reached in late 2011 on the back of the hype of natural gas as a transportation fuel for the trucking industry. With low domestic natural gas prices and plenty of supplies, the maker of engines that use natural gas stands at the intersection of huge potential and dwindling stock support. The confusing part about the Westport situation is that the vast majority of the promising future of the company is tied up in two major joint ventures (JVs). These businesses are booming with promising developments, yet the ownership percentage prevents the loading of the revenue into the financials. The rareness of this situation appeared to even have the analysts confused on the earnings call . The typical question focused on the honestly unimportant revenue of the 100% owned business units. Re...

After the close on Wednesday, Clean Energy Fuels Corp. ( CLNE ) reported a surprising profit for Q113 that sent the stock soaring in after hours trading. By the time the market opened on Thursday, the stock opened down and eventually lost 4.3% for the day. As investors quickly found out from reading the details, the profits only occurred due to the collection of $20.8 million of VTEC revenues for all of 2012 that the company didn't exclude from the non-GAAP numbers. Per the company, it is the largest provider of natural gas fuel for transportation in North America and a global leader in the expanding natural gas vehicle fueling market. Unfortunately though, that market isn't building out nearly fast enough to make this company profitable. The margins remain razor thin as Clean Energy is forced to pass along all the costs savings of using natural gas to the customers. The profits and positive EBITDA though alluded to by the company all through the report didn...

The promise of a national natural gas highway continues to be a larger than expected money-losing ordeal for Clean Energy Fuels Corp. ( CLNE ) . As predicted prior to the earnings report, the losses will continue to flow and investors should be concerned (see Coming Soon: More Losses At Clean Energy Fuels ). The company reported Q412 earnings that slightly missed analyst expectations and provided general commentary that doesn't change the profit picture much for the next few years. Per the company, it is the largest provider of natural gas fuel for transportation in North America and a global leader in the expanding natural gas vehicle fueling market. The good news is that the Cummins ( CMI ) - Westport Innovations ( WPRT ) engine needed for highway use by the long haul trucking industry appears on track for Q4 production. The bad news is that Clean Energy built 70 stations in 2012 on expectations of production by this summer. Read the full article at Seeking Alp...

The promise of a national natural gas highway continues to be a money-losing ordeal for Clean Energy Fuels Corp. ( CLNE ). The company reports Q4 2012 earnings on February 28th and analysts have become increasingly bearish over the last few weeks. A big concern with the stock remains that the company has been unable to establish a large market while the natural gas fuel is extremely cheap. Per the company, it is the largest provider of natural gas fuel for transportation in North America and a global leader in the expanding natural gas vehicle fueling market. A key component to the Q4 earnings report will be an update on the natural gas highway and the natural gas engines being built to support the use of the highway by long-haul trucking industry. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

After the market close on Thursday, Amgen, Inc. (AMGN) announced an additional $2B stock buyback plan. The company executed a very successful buyback over the last year, so this additional plan is noteworthy, especially considering several companies have announced buybacks this week that aren't interesting or material. The company is a leading independent biotechnology medicines company that previously had a $10B buyback plan that has at least partially helped the stock to all time highs. This plan adds $2B to around $500M left on the previous plan. This leaves Amgen with $2.5B that it forecasts will be spent by early 2014. Also, the company significantly increased the dividend to $0.47 for Q113. This increases the dividend yield to 2.1%. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No position mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

After the market close on Wednesday, Cerner Corporation (CERN) announced a $170M stock buyback. The stock was up slightly in after-hours based on the news, but shareholders should absolutely ignore this supposedly good news. A leading supplier of healthcare information technology had a buyback plan since 2008 that has had little use or impact. More importantly, the company announced that the plan would only encapsulate 2.1M shares, or 1.2% of the company's shares outstanding. Why does the company even bother at that level? On top of that, why does the CEO claim that the buyback program is a good use of funds with the stock trading at 28x forward earnings? The stock trades above the expected growth rates suggesting limited value. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

After the market close on Tuesday, Cummins Inc. (CMI) announced an additional $1B stock buyback. The stock was up roughly 1% in after-hours based on the news, but shareholders should ignore this supposedly good news. The manufacturer of diesel engines has historically bought its own stock over the last 5 plus years so investors should not be surprised by such a move. The company continues to make strong profits so the lack of an additional buyback program would be more abnormal. More importantly, the company approved the buyback program as the last $1B approval in February 2011 comes to a close. Effectively the company has taken nearly 2 years to complete a buyback that amounts to 5% of the outstanding shares or market value. Over 2 years, the buyback will only amount to roughly 2.5% of the outstanding shares each year. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Westport Innovations, Inc. (WPRT) remains a leading way to invest in the transition to natural gas as a transportation fuel. As previously noted, the market is no longer impressed with the growth rate of this once market darling. The company expects to benefit greatly from the building of the natural gas highway by Clean Energy Fuels (CLNE) and a new engine from the Cummins Inc. (CMI) joint venture, though in both situations the catalyst remains months away. The company is a global supplier of proprietary solutions that allow engines to operate on clean-burning fuels such as compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied natural gas (LNG), hydrogen, and renewable natural gas (RNG) fuels. Prior to the recent quarterly report, Westport dropped revenue expectations for 2012 from greater than 50% growth to a still strong 30% growth rate. These reduced numbers, while remaining strong, unfortunately point to higher than expected losses into 2013. All signs point to a strong future as US and Chin...

Navistar (NAV) makes commercial trucks, buses, step-vans, diesel engines and chassis for motor homes. Otherwise, the company focuses on the large motor vehicle sector. This stock provides one of the most compelling valuations in the market today, if the company can hit financial goals. That remains a big 'IF' for this company considering the recent disaster of a Q1'12 reported just last week. Hence the question on whether the stock is cheap enough to buy considering the constant inability to hit targets. The last 4 quarters have seen 3 profits misses all by at least $.15. These misses have caused 2013 earnings estimates to plunge from $8.13 only 90 days ago to $6.52 now. The most pessimistic analyst is already down at $5 showing a growing distrust with the ability to hit targets. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details.