1.   In Florida, a utility meter checker noticed a back door open.

2.   Minutes later, Waisman cased a brick-faced, overgrown Cape Cod with a front yard paved for extra parking space and four visible utility meters.

3.   The big drop came when traders mistakenly thought an influential technology analyst had panned the Spokane, Washington-based maker of instruments for reading utility meters.

4.   With time, the alleys have become increasingly refined, their utility meters and trash containers hidden behind screened enclosures.