The Trial Balance is CFO.com’s weekly preview of stories, stats and events to help you prepare.
Part 1 — The former president and chief operating officer of PetIQ and his friend face more charges from the SEC.
After pleading guilty to securities fraud in November, the former president and chief operating officer of pet health company PetIQ now faces another insider trading charge.
The Securities and Exchange Commission last week announced that it has charged Michael Smith with insider trading ahead of PetIQ’s acquisition by a private equity firm in 2024. Smith in November 2025 pleaded guilty to securities fraud in a separate case brought by the Department of Justice.
The SEC is also charging Smith’s friend, Douglas Dalton, for insider trading. Per the SEC’s complaint, Smith “traded on the basis of material, non-public information he learned” through discussions with PetIQ’s board and management. PetIQ, which was formerly publicly traded, had announced plans to be acquired by private equity firm Bansk Group in August 2024. The deal officially closed in October of the same year.
“By trading on the confidential and nonpublic information that Smith received through his employment about the upcoming acquisition of PetIQ, Smith breached his duty to PetIQ and its shareholders and Defendants gained an unfair advantage over other investors in the public markets,” the SEC’s complaint stated. “As a result of their insider trading, Smith earned approximately $145,772 in illegal trading profits in his ex-wife’s accounts, and Dalton gained approximately $101,670 in illegal trading profits.”
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho, the SEC’s complaint charges both Smith and Dalton with violating antifraud provisions of securities law. The regulator said it’s seeking “permanent injunctions, disgorgement with prejudgment interest, civil penalties and a bar that would prevent Smith from serving as an officer or director of a public company.”
Smith is awaiting sentencing for his guilty plea in the DOJ’s parallel case. According to the DOJ, Smith could get up to 20 years in prison. Dalton, meanwhile, also pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud on March 31 in a separate case brought by the DOJ, Idaho’s U.S. Attorney announced last week.
In a March 31 news release, the SEC said that its own investigation into Smith and Dalton is still ongoing.
Part 2 — This week
Here’s a list of important market events slated for the week ahead.
Monday, April 6 — None scheduled.
Tuesday, April 7
- Durable-goods orders, Feb.
- Consumer credit, Feb.
Wednesday, April 8
Thursday, April 9
- Initial jobless claims
- Personal income, Feb.
- Personal spending, Feb.
- PCE index, Feb.
- Core PCE index, Feb.
- GDP, Q4 second revision
- Wholesale inventories, Feb.
Friday, April 10
- Consumer price index, March
- Core CPI, March
- Factory orders, Feb.
- University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment, April preliminary
Part 3 — Quote of the week
“If you take a look at our last 20 years of growth in terms of sales, you see just two blips, and these were in 2009 and in 2020. Unless we see a real financial crisis, the underlying asset remains strong. This gives us optimism, at least in the medium to long term.”
Paolo Poma
CFO, Lamborghini
In a recent interview with CFO.com, Lamborghini’s finance chief, Paolo Poma, shared how the luxury car maker’s finance team plans for macroeconomic volatility while continuing to invest in future products. He explains how, while you can’t plan for the unexpected, you can handle it with “maximum flexibility, making scenarios and hoping for stabilization.”
