Lumen's stock has slumped more than 20% since reporting earnings on February 9, pushing its dividend yield north of 10%.Formerly known as CenturyLink, the telecom provider issued disappointing 2022 guidance, which caused some investors to worry about Lumen's plan to ramp spending on fiber delivered to consumers and small businesses. Management's big bet on fiber internet service is intended to return the company to sales growth within several years. But the infrastructure required to reach millions of additional households requires substantial investment.  The current deployment plan calls for $1 billion of spending on fiber in 2022 alone, an amount equal to about 10% of Lumen's market cap. Fiber investment is set to increase in 2023, too. Based on Lumen's latest [...]

When the pandemic struck in the spring of 2020, and much of the developed world began sheltering in place, demand for fuel quickly evaporated, leading to tumbling oil prices that turned negative for the first time in history.This sudden and drastic hit to the energy market was short-lived following a quick economic rebound. After being the worst-performing sector in 2020, energy proved the market leader last year.However, while the energy market at large had a banner year in 2021, energy's middlemen, the midstream service providers like Enterprise Products Partners, largely failed to keep pace with the sector.For Enterprise, this underperformance partially resulted from structuring the business so that around 90% of earnings come from fee-based contracts with low volumetric risk. [...]

3M on Monday provided 2022 financial guidance and a strategic update on its sprawling businesses. The industrial conglomerate's presentation contained few surprises or shifts in strategy. But management did not offer many updates on the biggest issue looming over 3M: legal liabilities tied to the firm's legacy PFAS chemicals and military earplugs. 3M manufactured PFAS from the 1950s through the early 2000s to help make a wide variety of consumer and industrial products, including firefighting foams, nonstick coatings, fast food wrappers, and water resistant clothing. These toxic "forever chemicals" have come under significant scrutiny due to environmental and consumer health concerns. 3M faces a growing number of lawsuits across the country accusing the company's PFAS manufacturing sites of polluting water supplies.

Clorox shares were hammered Friday, down nearly 15%, following an earnings report that fell short of analyst expectations.In 2020, the maker of disinfecting wipes and bleach was an early pandemic darling whose stock price soared as demand for sanitization products exceeded supply.Management had predicted this pandemic-induced spike in demand would persist as part of the "new normal," but sales ultimately dropped 8% last quarter. However, when comparing recent sales data to 2019, Clorox's revenues are actually up a solid 19%, suggesting the long-term trajectory of the business remains healthy.