Day: September 6, 2020

What happens when a small business owner gets COVID-19

By Jacki Roig 1 month ago



Joe Field of Flying Colors Comics & Other Cool Stuff in Concord contracted COVID-19, forcing him to temporarily close his business. Photo: Courtesy Of Flying Colors Comics

Photo: Courtesy Of Flying Colors Comics


Joe Field of Flying Colors Comics & Other Cool Stuff in Concord contracted COVID-19, forcing him to temporarily close his business.


Business at the Flying Colors comic shop in Concord had returned to something that resembled normal. The 32-year-old business weathered months of closure and curbside pickup, only to finally reopen with a limited capacity of ten customers at a time and a lot of disinfectant. Some regulars still stayed at home, but the diehard comic fans upped their purchases out of support (and maybe boredom).


This week marked the release of “Batman: Three Jokers #1,” one of the year’s biggest releases. Hundreds of copies arrived at the store, ready for eagerly awaiting fans.

Then owner “Flying Joe” Field came down with a fever and tested positive for coronavirus.

“This thing just

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American Water Works’ Q2 2020 Results Demonstrate It Has A Strong Business Model Part 2 (NYSE:AWK)

By Jacki Roig 1 month ago

American Water Works Company, Inc (AWK) has been my favorite company to analyze. It is one of the few companies that I have covered that I feel is ran by disciplined and focused executives. Besides this, the company’s guidance usually is correct, and the profit margins are pretty stable. I will present my revenue estimates from my last AWK article and my updated DDM Valuation in this article.

Important Information And Key Assumptions From Original Article

In part one of this series, I mentioned how I was shocked that AWK lost $21 million (after-tax loss of $15 mn or $ 0.09 in EPS) due to the adverse effects of the coronavirus. I expected that the company would lose a couple of million because of the increase in delinquent accounts. Yet, I didn’t take into account that commercial/industrial loss in revenue would outweigh the growth in residential revenue.

Figure 1 –

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Drones help insurance companies check damage in Cedar Rapids

By Jacki Roig 1 month ago

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Insurance adjusters who descended on Cedar Rapids after the Aug. 10 derecho storm are using drones to check roofs and asking homeowners with less severe damage to take their own photos.

Some of this is due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has reduced the number of experienced adjusters willing to travel. But the changes also help speed up claims and get repairs done sooner, company representatives said.


“Drones or aerial imaging helps them estimate the claims,” said Scott Hauptman, vice president for claims for Grange Insurance, of Columbus, Ohio, which is working with Integrity Insurance, of Appleton, Wis., to handle at least 500 storm-related claims in Cedar Rapids. “It’s as efficient as possible and helps them (adjusters) safeguard their health.”



Cedar Rapids officials told The Gazette on Wednesday that 140 buildings are too damaged to be occupied. Several hundred more have non-structural or cosmetic damage.

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Ditching tax on tech firms will mean less money for key workers, says Labour

By Jacki Roig 1 month ago



Anneliese Dodds smiling for the camera: Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA

© Provided by The Guardian
Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA

Labour has told Rishi Sunak that if the UK Treasury scraps a tax on technology companies such as Facebook, Google and Amazon it would mean losing out on enough money to pay for tens of thousands of key workers in Britain.

The shadow chancellor, Anneliese Dodds, said there were serious questions about a potential multibillion-pound black hole in the Treasury’s finances that needed urgent clarification.

Her intervention comes after a report suggested ministers were preparing to ditch Britain’s digital services tax – a levy of 2% on the revenues tech companies derive from UK users – because it could jeopardise a post-Brexit trade deal with the US.

In a letter to the chancellor, Dodds said the future of £465m in revenue from the digital services tax had been thrown up into the air, warning this was equivalent to the cost of employing

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