Quality Gets Swept Away

Strike 1: Hurricane Charley is threatening the Tampa Bay area.

Strike 2: Wall Street has already cornered, spanked, and taken the stock of Tampa-based bulk transportation company Quality Distribution (Nasdaq: QLTY  ) down 45% to $5.70 -- a new 52-week low.

Strike 3: It's Friday the 13th.

Wow, talk about a bad aura.

Today's public paddling is the result of a press release that had the following:

Strike 1: The second-quarter net loss grew from $0.02 last year to $0.42 a share this year.

Strike 2: There is a $7 million charge for "adverse development of insurance claims."

Strike 3: There is also a $4.1 million charge to remediate "contaminated soils." After the shareholders see the drop in the stock price, that's not all that may be soiled.

Quality Distribution has even more bad news:

Strike 1: There was $800,000 in legal fees "relating to previously disclosed irregularities at Power Purchasing, Inc., a non-core insurance subsidiary." What a combination: Contaminated soils and now irregularities. Doesn't Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG  ) have a pill for that? Wouldn't it be nice if non-core applied only to apples?

Strike 2: The company's juice business is still losing money.

Strike 3: All Quality Distribution's bad news led to four research firms issuing downgrades.

Well, we are 0 for 3. Ready for 0 for 4?

Strike 1: The company is selling and outsourcing its insurance business and is going to record a small profit for this quarter.

Strike 2: Quality Distribution is also selling the juice business. There is good news: No loss is anticipated from the sale.

Strike 3: "Unfortunately, the charges we incurred in the second quarter overshadowed an otherwise strong operating performance." Let me see whether I understand this. If you swing real hard and look real good, but you strike out, the strikeout overshadows an excellent swing?

Quality Distribution is the largest bulk transportation company in North America. It is a "core carrier" for the Fortune 500 companies engaged in chemical processing. Clients include Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW  ) , Procter & Gamble, DuPont (NYSE: DD  ) , and PPG Industries (NYSE: PPG  ) .

Debt-heavy Quality Distribution was projected to earn $1.19 in 2005. But with so much bad news swilling, let some time (and Hurricane Charley) pass -- then do your own due diligence.

Tampa-based Fool contributor W.D. Crotty does not own stock in any of the companies mentioned and is hunkered down for Hurricane Charley.