Republic Services Is a Great Company
November 27, 2020
Image Shown: Shares of Republic Services Inc have been on an upward march over the past six months as investors warmed back up to the waste management company. We appreciate the company’s stable cash flow profile and high quality earnings, and we continue to include shares of RSG at a modest weighting in our Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio. By Callum Turcan The waste management company Republic Services Inc (RSG) has proven to be incredibly resilient during the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic. We are big fans of its stable cash flow profile and high quality earnings. According to Republic Services’ 2019 Annual Report the firm “is the second largest provider of non-hazardous solid waste collection, transfer, disposal, recycling, and environmental services
Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week November 27
November 27, 2020
Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending November 27. The dividend reports of covered firms on this list will be updated shortly with the new information. To access our dividend reports use the ‘Symbol’ search box in our website header. Firms Raising Their Dividends This Week Alamos Gold Inc. (AGI): now $0.02 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.015. Becton, Dickinson (BDX): now $0.83 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.79. Bentley Systems (BSY): now $0.03 per share quarterly dividend. Brigham Minerals (MNRL): now $0.24 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.14. Cullen/Frost Bankers (CFR): now $0.72 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.71. Eaton Vance (EV): now $4.25 per share special dividend, was $0.375. First
Dick’s Sporting Goods’ 2%+ Dividend Yield Is Solid
November 25, 2020
Dick’s Sporting Goods put up impressive third-quarter results that showed strong sales performance across both e-commerce and brick-and-mortar. E-commerce/digital/online sales continue to soar across the broader retail arena. Dick’s Sporting Goods’ gross and merchandising margins were healthy during its third quarter, and its inventory is clean as the sporting goods retailer heads into the all-important holiday season. We’re big fans of Dick’s Sporting Goods’ tremendous free cash flow generation and its balance sheet health. For dividend growth investors, Dick’s Sporting Goods offers a compelling combination of a 2%+ dividend yield and an impressive 3.2 Dividend Cushion ratio at the time of this writing. By Brian Nelson, CFA On November 24, Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS) reported fantastic third-quarter results that showed
Sonos Showing Signs of Life
November 24, 2020
Image Shown: Shares of Sonos Inc are showing signs of life in 2020 after its poor showing in the quarters that followed its initial public offering back in August 2018. By Callum Turcan Shares of the audio streaming services and wireless home audio products company Sonos Inc (SONO) are starting to show signs of life after their poor showing in the quarters that followed its initial public offering back in August 2018. More recently, shares of SONO have started to surge higher after the firm reported fourth quarter and full year earnings for fiscal 2020 (period ended October 3, 2020) on November 18. The company smashed past consensus top- and bottom-line estimates, though most importantly, Sonos provided very promising guidance
Target Reaches All-Time Highs
November 21, 2020
Image Shown: Shares of Target Corporation are now trading near their all-time highs as of this writing. By Callum Turcan Shares of Target Corporation (TGT) recently reached an all-time high after the company reported third quarter earnings for fiscal 2020 (period ended October 31, 2020) on November 18 that smashed past consensus estimates on both the top- and bottom-lines. The top end of our fair value estimate range sits at $182 per share, and as of this writing, shares of TGT are trading near $172, indicating Target appears fairly valued at this time. Shares of TGT yield a decent ~1.6% as of this writing, and we give Target a “GOOD” Dividend Safety rating given its impressive cash flow profile. Operational
Nvidia Is a Great Company but Its Shares Appear to be Generously Valued
November 20, 2020
Image Source: Nvidia Corporation – October 2020 IR Presentation By Callum Turcan On November 18, Nvidia Corporation (NVDA) reported third quarter earnings for fiscal 2021 (period ended October 25, 2020) that beat both consensus top- and bottom-line estimates. The company’s GAAP revenues jumped higher by 57% year-over-year last fiscal quarter, aided by growth at its ‘Data Center’ (sales were up 190% year-over-year) and ‘Gaming’ (sales were up 37% year-over-year) business operating segments, which combined represented ~88% of its revenues last fiscal quarter. Nvidia’s ‘Professional Visualization’ and ‘Automotive’ business operating segments both posted year-over-year declines in sales. The ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic has accelerated recent trends in the digital world, such as the pivot towards offsite cloud-computing solutions to meet IT
Home Depot and Lowe’s Post Tremendous Comparable Store Sales Growth
November 20, 2020
Image Source: Home Depot Inc – Third Quarter of Fiscal 2020 IR Earnings Infographic By Callum Turcan Executive Summary: Home Depot and Lowe’s Companies have experienced incredibly strong comparable store sales growth during the initial phases of the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic. Past digital investments enabled both companies to better meet surging demand during these turbulent times, and demand growth is coming from both professional (i.e. contractors, home builders) and non-professional (i.e. more affluent households in the suburbs) consumers. The biggest thing holding both companies back is their large net debt loads and sizable operating lease liabilities, in our view, though please note that their cash flow profiles are stellar. It appears the North American home improvement and construction business
Normalizing our Fair Value Estimates for the Money Center Banks
November 19, 2020
Image Source: Mike Cohen By Brian Nelson, CFA In March, during the depths of the COVID-19 meltdown, we trimmed our fair value estimates for many financials and money center banks. The reasoning was rather straightforward. Our base-case projections for the group were lowered as a result of our expectations of a global economic recession. We factored in higher credit losses due to our anticipation of slowing economic activity that would be triggered by consumers staying at home to avoid COVID-19. We also considered the impact of net interest margin (“NIM”) compression that would result from expectations of a sustained ominous inverted yield curve, and in light of heightened uncertainty regarding the fatality rate of the virus itself (at the time),
Boeing’s Financials Are Absolutely Frightening
November 19, 2020
By Brian Nelson, CFA On November 18, 2020, Boeing (BA) announced that the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) withdrew its order that had grounded its 737-8s and 737-9s (737 MAX) that had been involved in two terrible accidents during the past few years, a Lion Air flight that killed 189 people and an Ethiopian Airlines jet crash that claimed the lives of 157 more. We’ll never forget these tragedies and the impact on the families and the aviation industry, more generally. In January 2017, we had added Boeing to the Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio, but we had removed it March 16, 2018, prior to the unfortunate and high-profile accidents that occurred several months after. During the short time it
Kohl’s Dead Cat Bounce May Still Have Legs
November 18, 2020
Image: Kohl’s is breaking out of a month-long base on better-than-expected financial health and expectations that it will reinstate its dividend next year. By Brian Nelson, CFA The list of defunct department stores in the United States is a long one. The proliferation of e-commerce accelerated by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic may have all but sealed the fate of many big box department stores that had already been struggling for years. Consumers want quality, price and convenience, and getting what they need with the click of a button on the Internet means those with sprawling real estate stores need to excel at digital initiatives, omnichannel strategies, and rightsizing their footprints–or they’ll perish like so many have before them.