Laravel Raw Query Not Returning a Result - php

Question

Hard-coded query
$stock = DB::select("SELECT * FROM reports_finra WHERE symbol = ? ", array('CWCO')); // works and returns valid result set
Array (
[0] => Array ( [query] => SELECT * FROM symbols [bindings] => Array ( ) [time] => 37.4 )
[1] => Array ( [query] => SELECT * FROM reports_finra WHERE symbol = ? [bindings] => Array ( [0] => CWCO ) [time] => 27.07 )
)
# result set when var_dump($stock) ( [1]'s query )
array(11) {
[0]=> object(stdClass)#5939 (7) { ["date"]=> int(20140116) ["symbol"]=> string(4) "CWCO" ["id"]=> int(1498) }
[1]=> object(stdClass)#5940 (7) { ["date"]=> int(20140117) ["symbol"]=> string(4) "CWCO" ["id"]=> int(8515) }
[2]=> object(stdClass)#5941 (7) { ["date"]=> int(20140121) ["symbol"]=> string(4) "CWCO" ["id"]=> int(15526) }
...
}
Dynamically binded variable being passed to query
$symbol = $symbol->symbol;
echo $symbol;
echo '<br />';
$stock = DB::select("SELECT * FROM reports_finra WHERE symbol = ? ", array($symbol));
$query = DB::getQueryLog();
print_r($query);
echo '<br />';
var_dump($stock); exit;
Results
CWCO // the result from echoing $symbol
Array ( // getQueryLog()
[0] => Array ( [query] => SELECT * FROM symbols [bindings] => Array ( ) [time] => 36.06 )
[1] => Array ( [query] => SELECT * FROM reports_finra WHERE symbol = ? [bindings] => Array ( [0] => CWCO ) [time] => 27.55 ) )
array(0) { } // var_dump($stock);
As you can see, when I pass the value of symbol into the query as a hard-coded value, I get the desired result set. However, when I pass the value in dynamically, the query returns an empty result set.
I have been going back and forth with this for quite a while now and am out of ideas on how to further troubleshoot this. Even more perplexing is the fact that these exact queries work in my dev environment but not when I pushed to prod.
Through troubleshooting, prior to realizing that when I pass in the raw, hard-coded value, that I was getting a valid result set, I ensured that there were only minor PHP / MySQL version differences between dev and prod ENVs. I triple checked that the user had the proper DB permissions. And, I tailed out my log files. None of these actually help shed any light onto what is actually going wrong here though.
As I just recently started to get back into development and have only been playing with L4 for a week or two, I'm hoping someone with more experience will see what it is that is causing this (I have an odd feeling that it is going to be an ID10T error..).
I look forward to any advice and insight you may have to offer.
-- Edit --
As the query is returning an (empty) result back (and not throwing an error), the query appears to be "working" as far as MySQL is concerned. However, it is not returning the result set for whatever reason. I am not sure if this has to do with PDO, Eloquent, or something else entirely. It's a basic SELECT * query on a non-related table; it shouldn't be this much hassle.
And, I'm quite perplexed why the other select statements work without an issue, but this one is not. Granted, I am querying a table that is not related to the model (there is no DB/L4 relationships defined; this is a once-off Select statement in order to do some essential math).
Unfortunately, I can't proceed until I get this worked out...

Answer 1

I stated in the question that I thought this might be an ID10T error, and it was.
After doing a var_dump($symbols) on it again, and paying a little closer attention, I realized that there was a trailing space behind each of the $symbols which didn't match anything in the table. Aha! So, the query was executing successfully and returning the correct results all along; go figure. ;)
Interesting thing to note, I should have done a trim on the $symbols before inserting them into the DB table using Laravel's http://laravel.com/docs/eloquent#accessors-and-mutators as pointed out by the awesome AndreasLutro in #laravel.