Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending August 31
August 31, 2018
Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending August 31. 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 Avnet (AVT): now $0.20 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.19. Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS): now CAD 0.85 per share quarterly dividend, was CAD 0.82. Cadence Bancorporation (CADE): now $0.15 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.125. Canadian Western Bank (CBWBF): now $0.26 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.25. Capital Southwest (CSWC): now $0.34 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.29. Cimarex Energy (XEC): now $0.18 per share
Intel Unveils Plans to Take on Heightened Competition
August 29, 2018
Image source: Intel analyst presentation Shares of simulated newsletter portfolios idea Intel have faced material selling pressure in mid-2018 as a result of a number of reports of increased competition from rivals, namely AMD. We’re not worried and still like the company’s valuation profile. By Kris Rosemann Chip-making giant Intel’s (INTC) delays in its 10-nanometer chip program have the market concerned over its position relative to rivals such as Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), which is planning to launch its 7-nanometer chops in early 2019. Intel’s 10-nanometer are now not expected to be launched until late 2019 and likely won’t ship in material volume until 2020. Though the actual speed difference and overall performance between the two chips remain up for
The Days of the MLP Model Are Numbered
August 24, 2018
By Brian Nelson, CFA On August 24, Enbridge (ENB) announced that it would enter into a definitive agreement under which the entity would buy Spectra Energy Partners (SEP) at an exchange ratio of 1.111 common shares of Enbridge for each common unit of SEP, a near-10% increase from the exchange ratio announced a few months ago. As we have outlined in the past, most recently with respect to the following discussion on the Energy Transfer Equity (ETE) and Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) tie up, “ETE-ETP Rollup and Implied Distribution Cut,” consolidations are slowly eliminating the MLP model via simplification efforts and many combinations are coming with implied distribution/dividend cuts, something that couldn’t have been imagined in years prior. The story
Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending August 24
August 24, 2018
Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending August 24. 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 Altria (MO): now $0.80 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.70. American Financial Group (AFG): now $1.60 per share quarterly dividend, was $1.40. BancFirst (BANF): now $0.30 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.21. C&F Financial (CFFI): now $0.36 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.34. Canadian Imperial Bank (CM): now CAD 1.36 per share quarterly dividend, was CAD 1.33. Capital City Bank (CCBG): now $0.09 per share quarterly
In the News: Pot, Pop, and Pricing Wars
August 23, 2018
By Kris Rosemann The Growing Pot Market As the number of states legalizing recreational marijuana continues to grow, investor interest in the space continues to rise and the public stigma around the substance continues to fall. According to a recent RBC note, roughly 83% of Americans believe marijuana should be legal in some capacity, suggesting further decriminalization and/or outright legalization is likely to take place in coming years, a notion supported by Canada’s recent nationwide legalization. RBC also estimates that legal marijuana sales in the US will grow at a 17% compound annual growth rate over the next decade to approximately $47 billion in legal annual sales. Current recreational sales of marijuana in the US, both legal and illegal, are
Honeywell Remains a Top Industrial Idea
August 23, 2018
Image Source: Honeywell It has been a long time since we explained to readers what we look at in stocks, and it’s probably a good time for a quick refresher. At Valuentum, we think a comprehensive analysis of a firm’s discounted cash flow valuation, relative valuation versus industry peers, as well as an assessment of technical and momentum indicators is the best way to identify the most attractive stocks at the best time to consider buying. We think stocks that are cheap (undervalued) and just starting to go up (momentum) are some of the best ones to evaluate for addition to the simulated newsletter portfolios. These stocks have both strong valuation and pricing support. Said differently, both the market likes
Pfizer: Lots of Moving Parts in a Generally-Inspiring Second Quarter
August 23, 2018
Image Source: Pfizer We came away generally impressed with the progress at Pfizer during the second quarter as the company begins to replace its current patent protected line-up with next-generation treatments. Pfizer continues to gain political favor with its decision to forgo price hikes on its product line-up while announcing a re-organization of the business structure. By Alexander J. Poulos Key Takeaways There has been lots of political intrigue as Pfizer seeks to gain favor with the White House via rolling back its annual drug price hikes. The company announced plans to split into three companies, which we view as the first step towards a complete split of the company. In the second-quarter earnings report, released July 31, Pfizer raised
EOG Resources “Firing On All Cylinders”
August 22, 2018
Image Source: Valuentum. In the above image, we show how we derive our $104 fair value estimate for EOG Resources. For those that know us, you know that we like to look at stocks as though they are pieces of a business. As with the investing greats Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett, we think each share of stock has something called intrinsic value. What we do each and every day is to strive to calculate what we think is an appropriate estimate of a company’s intrinsic value because we want to have a reasonable basis to derive what an investor might be willing to pay for shares. We’ve had a lot success with intrinsic-value investing during the past several years,
General Electric: The Quintessential Falling Knife
August 22, 2018
Image Source: Valuentum The story of General Electric (GE) is a great one to illustrate how we think about equities. After being a long-time bull on the company, we had removed General Electric from the simulated newsletter portfolios while it was trading a few dollars shy of $30, but that is not the point of this piece. What we want to illustrate is how hazardous catching falling knives can be (see the three stages above). Many an investor believes that stocks are less expensive just because they have fallen in price. This is simply not the case. The relative expensive or cheap nature of a stock is based on a comparison between its price and value. A stock’s price can fall,
