NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Petroleo Brasileiro Petrobras SA (PBR.A) shares are were falling before turning positive in trading today, up 0.59% to $5.13, following reports that a former company executive was arrested for the second time this morning as part of an ongoing investigation into corruption at the state owned oil company.

Former director of engineering and services at Petrobras, Renato Duque, was arrested by police this morning in Rio and charged with involvement in money laundering, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Duque was originally arrested in November before being released without charge a few days later as part of the country's investigation into political kickbacks stemming from contracts between the state-owned Petrobras and some of the country's leading construction companies.

Duque left Petrobras in 2012 and is one of two former executives as the only people from the company so far to have charges filed against them.

In addition to the investigation, TheStreet's Jim Cramer, Portfolio Manager of the Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio, believes that the company's $170 billion in debt may spell doom for the company's prospects, according to a March 13 Real Money Pro blog.

"If you are worried about Brazilian oil giant Petrobras and its $170 billion in debt, I have this to say: You are right to be worried," said Cramer.

"This is my biggest fear," he added, "I think there are bond houses in this country sitting with this stuff and hoping oil goes up, because they look every day at PBR's stock and shudder and sputter and think, 'Our goose is cooked if this thing doesn't start going up.'"

"I wish I had an answer. I believe that debt is worth something, but given the corruption scandal and investigation, and the cloudy financials, who the heck can tell," said Cramer.

TheStreet Ratings team rates PETROBRAS-PETROLEO BRASILIER as a Hold with a ratings score of C-. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate PETROBRAS-PETROLEO BRASILIER (PBR.A) a HOLD. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed - some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and attractive valuation levels. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including disappointing return on equity, weak operating cash flow and poor profit margins."

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

• The revenue growth came in higher than the industry average of 19.6%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 3.8%. This growth in revenue does not appear to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, displayed by a decline in earnings per share.
• The debt-to-equity ratio is somewhat low, currently at 0.84, and is less than that of the industry average, implying that there has been a relatively successful effort in the management of debt levels. Along with the favorable debt-to-equity ratio, the company maintains an adequate quick ratio of 1.30, which illustrates the ability to avoid short-term cash problems.
• PETROBRAS-PETROLEO BRASILIER's earnings per share declined by 21.7% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. Stable earnings per share over the past year indicate the company has sound management over its earnings and share float. However, the consensus estimates suggest that there will be an upward trend in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, PETROBRAS-PETROLEO BRASILIER's EPS of $1.70 remained unchanged from the prior years' EPS of $1.70. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($2.61 versus $1.70).
• Net operating cash flow has decreased to $6,413.00 million or 18.05% when compared to the same quarter last year. In conjunction, when comparing current results to the industry average, PETROBRAS-PETROLEO BRASILIER has marginally lower results.
• The company's current return on equity has slightly decreased from the same quarter one year prior. This implies a minor weakness in the organization. In comparison to the other companies in the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels industry and the overall market, PETROBRAS-PETROLEO BRASILIER's return on equity is significantly below that of the industry average and is below that of the S&P 500.
• You can view the full analysis from the report here: PBR.A Ratings Report