This Week in Solar

We’re still a few weeks away from investors getting a peek into fourth-quarter earnings in the solar industry and what management has to say about 2017. In the meantime, we’re seeing interesting trends in some of the industry’s most important markets and from its most visible companies.

The soup business has grown cold. Inside Campbell’s plan to turn up the heat.

In the research and development kitchen at Campbell Soup, chef Todd Lyons spent much of the past 18 months fine-tuning a batch of new recipes. Would shoppers go for chicken noodle soup with kale added as a healthful twist? Would a cauliflower soup seasoned with dill land in their shopping carts? Lyons was creating the culinary prototypes for two of three new lines that the packaged-food empire has rolled out on supermarket shelves in recent months.

3 Reasons Phillips 66’s Earnings Were Such a Disappointment

Not only did those problems grow worse during the fourth quarter, but a range of items across several of the company’s other business segments caused its earnings to deteriorate even further. As a result, the company did not even come close to meeting expectations when it reported fourth-quarter results on Friday morning, as adjusted earnings were just $0.16 per share, which was $0.24 less than analysts’ expectations.

Marketers express hope for a more pro-business FCC under Ajit Pai

Marketers are welcoming the appointment of new Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai, who took over from Tom Wheeler last week. The Association of National Advertisers and the American Association of Advertising Agencies expressed hope that Pai will overturn many of the sweeping privacy rules that were enacted by the agency under his predecessor Tom Wheeler, which limited data gathering, use and sharing by internet service providers like Verizon and Comcast.

Five Creative Ways These Freelancers Landed Gig Work

According to a recent study by Upwork and the Freelancers Union , the most common places for freelancers to pick up work are friends and family , professional contacts , and online job platforms like Upwork, Freelancer.com, Guru, and even Craigslist. “I landed a gig by creating and placing a makeshift placard saying ‘freelance writer’ in front of my computer while working at Starbucks.”

Will ConocoPhillips Raise Its Dividend in 2017?

Early last year, ConocoPhillips slashed its dividend, doing an about-face after having reassured investors that it remained committed to sustaining its payout. Now that crude oil has rebounded, some hope that ConocoPhillips will be able to return to its upward trajectory with its quarterly dividends.

How Big Is the Opportunity for Celgene’s Otezla Overseas?

Since winning approval for use in psoriasis in September 2014, Otezla has steadily been chipping away at U.S. market share in the indication, turning into a billion-dollar blockbuster in the process. Otezla’s sales continued climbing throughout 2016, and with launches planned in new international markets soon, sales could head even higher.

How Big Is the Opportunity for Celgene’s Otezla Overseas?

Since winning approval for use in psoriasis in September 2014, Otezla has steadily been chipping away at U.S. market share in the indication, turning into a billion-dollar blockbuster in the process. Otezla’s sales continued climbing throughout 2016, and with launches planned in new international markets soon, sales could head even higher.

Trump’s pick for labor secretary may have saved a fast-food…

“I gave more than 20 years of my life to CKE, and Mr. Puzder took a company that I loved and turned it into a business that makes money by stealing from its workers,” Laura McDonald, a former Carl’s Jr. general manager, said in a recent forum hosted by Senate Democrats. In June 2000, Andy Puzder was named president and CEO of CKE Restaurants, running Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. restaurant chains.

What Happened in the Stock Market Today

Financial stocks remained popular on a day that saw a new administration take over the executive branch, and that kept the Financial Sector Select SPDR ETF among the most heavily traded exchange-traded funds. Meanwhile, gold price volatility swung in the positive direction for owners of the Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bull 3X ETF Procter & Gamble shares gained 3% following the release of surprisingly strong quarterly earnings results.

American Express Profit Falls 8.2% as Expenses Top Estimates

American Express Co., the largest U.S. credit-card issuer by purchases, said fourth-quarter profit fell 8.2 percent as expenses exceeded analysts’ estimates and the firm set aside more money to cover bad loans. Net income dropped to $825 million, or 88 cents a share, from $899 million, or 89 cents, a year earlier, the New York-based company said Thursday in a statement.

Is Your Broker a Trusted Adviser or Just Another Salesperson? Finance Industry Wants it Both Ways

In a report Tuesday, two consumer groups said the same financial companies portraying themselves as trusted advisers to customers are arguing in court papers that they’re nothing more than salespeople. Want to drive your brokerage or insurance firm nuts? Send a letter telling them to put the stuff they say in their marketing and advertising in writing to you — or risk losing your business.

Why Vera Bradley, Inc. Stock Fell 25.9% in 2016

Vera Bradley’s stock had a great start in 2016, climbing more than 30% to a fresh 52-week high by the beginning of April, as analysts applauded the fashion accessory company’s compelling product line and its improving profitability as 2015 came to a close. But the good times didn’t last long.

Insulin Drug Offers Hope for MannKind

The launch of Afrezza was a series of botches and errors that would have been at home in an episode of Fawlty Towers . Afrezza is contra-indicated for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease , not surprising since it is absorbed into deep lung tissue.

Why This CEO Lets Other Execs Do His Job For A Day

A fresh perspective can be a valuable tool for taking a business to the next level, and one New Hampshire business leader has an unusual way of finding it. In 2012, Travis York, CEO of the marketing agency GYK Antler , created an “exec exchange” program that involved swapping jobs with an executive in another industry for a day.

Insider Q&A: De Beers CEO talks diamonds, millennials

Instead of romantic proposals and engagement rings, the commercials trying to sell a new generation on diamonds show young couples rolling around on a bed, arguing in a car and even questioning whether they’ll ever marry. The ads are one way the diamond industry is trying to reach millennials, the under-35-year-olds who may be more focused on paying off student loan debt than buying diamonds and getting hitched.

US Trade Associations and ISPs Petition FCC to Reconsider New Privacy Rules

On January 3, several US trade associations and internet service providers submitted petitions requesting that the Federal Communications Commission reconsider its broadband privacy rules mandating consumer opt-in before using data for marketing purposes. Among those groups submitting petitions are the United States Telecom Association, NCTA – Internet and Television Association, Competitive Carriers Association, Association of National Advertisers, American Association of Advertising Agencies, American Advertising Federation, Data & Marketing Association, Interactive Advertising Bureau, and Network Advertising Initiative.