What Is Fat Pitch Investing?
September 19, 2014
“I call investing the greatest business in the world … because you never have to swing. You stand at the plate, the pitcher throws you General Motors at 47! U.S. Steel at 39! and nobody calls a strike on you. There’s no penalty except opportunity lost. All day you wait for the pitch you like; then when the fielders are asleep, you step up and hit it.” —Warren Buffett, Interview in Forbes magazine (1 November 1974) “The stock market is a no-called-strike game. You don’t have to swing at everything — you can wait for your pitch. The problem when you’re a money manager is that your fans keep yelling, ‘Swing, you bum!’” –Warren Buffett, 1999 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting,
The Largest IPO in History Is a Bargain
September 19, 2014
Please select the image below to download our initiation report on Alibaba (BABA).
Potash Market: The Best Is Behind It
September 18, 2014
It’s always sad when good things come to an end. In this case, it appears to be the global potash cartel…permanently. According to reports from the Wall Street Journal this week, the CEO of “Russian potash giant Uralkali JSC has no plans to restore a sales partnership with Belarus.” It appears that the prospects for reconciliation of the Belarusian Potash Company (BPC) have passed, and the global pricing cartel in the fertilizer ingredient is now a thing of the past. There are no plans for further talks at this time. Canpotex, which is comprised of Potash Corp (POT), the Mosaic Co (MOS), and Agrium (AGU), and the BPC collectively controlled about 70% of global potash exports. With the breakup of
Valuentum Update: Four Important Topics
September 17, 2014
“You all are truly the best. I really mean that. You should know that I read every email I receive, and I truly value our relationship with each and every one of you!” – President Brian Nelson, CFA It is with great pleasure that I am writing this note to you. In it, I’d like to cover four topics. First, we continue to grow and grow and grow! We reached another new milestone this quarter with respect to subscriber count. Both the Valuentum Best Ideas portfolio and Valuentum Dividend Growth portfolio are performing well, and the Valuentum Buying Index continues to identify outperformers, the most recent example was the flawless execution of previously 10-rated Baidu (BIDU). For those following the
Financial Analysis 501: How to Identify Managed Earnings
September 17, 2014
A version of this article appeared on our website October, 23, 2013. This article is for educational purposes only and may not reflect our updated opinion on any companies mentioned. Please access the updated research for any firm of interest. Update (9/17/2014): On July 23, 2014, “Morningstar reported adjusted operating income of $36.2 million in the second quarter of 2014, a decrease of 16.9% compared with the second quarter of 2013. Adjusted operating income declined mainly because of higher compensation expense from additional headcount, reflecting new hires as well as acquisitions. Adjusted operating income is also a non-GAAP measure.” We think the analysis below helped identify the inflection point in operating performance. Part of the reason why I have picked Morningstar (MORN)
Microsoft Just Hiked Its Dividend 11%!
September 17, 2014
After the market closed Tuesday, the top holding in the Dividend Growth portfolio Microsoft (MSFT) raised its dividend 11%, to $0.31 per share on a quarterly basis. Though we try to be as modest as possible, we think it’s not an exaggeration to say that ‘we hit the ball out of the park’ with the call on Microsoft — not only in making the controversial decision to add it to the Dividend Growth portfolio (when the consensus was convinced it was ‘dead money’) but also in retaining the stock as the portfolio’s largest weighting for the past several months. Microsoft was added to the Dividend Growth portfolio at $25.96 per share at the beginning of 2012, and shares closed yesterday
Best Ideas Newsletter Excerpt: A+ for Altria and Apple
September 15, 2014
By Brian Nelson, CFA Just as I’m writing the intro to this edition of the September edition of the Best Ideas portfolio, the good news keeps coming. If you’ve read anything about our top holdings, you’d be hard-pressed to miss a discussion on Altria (MO) and our thesis that goes into the tobacco firm’s 27% economic stake in fast-growing global brewer SABMiller (SBMRY) as support for not only its dividend growth but also its valuation. The news wires are buzzing that SABMiller approached Heineken (HEINY) for a tie-up, and that Heineken rejected its offer. However, there are now talks that Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) is looking to put together a bid for SABMiller, and shares of the latter are soaring on
Valuentum’s September Edition of the Best Ideas Newsletter!
September 15, 2014
Please download the September edition of the Best Ideas Newsletter .
Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending September 12
September 14, 2014
Below we provide a list of firms that raised/lowered their dividends during the week ending September 12. 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 Armanino Foods (AMNF): now $0.018 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.016. Associated Estates Realty (AEC): $0.20 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.19. Brady (BRC): now $0.20 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.195. Frisch’s Restaurants (FRS): now $0.20 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.18. International Paper (IP): now $0.40 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.35. Philip Morris (PM): now $1.00 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.94. Realty Income
Beware of Groupthink: American Capital, Annaly and now Seadrill
September 14, 2014
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” – Mark Twain The investment research publishing business is a brutal one, and we know you know it. The very best of calls are the ones that go against the crowd and provide such a unique and fresh insight that readers have a difficult time grasping such a variant viewpoint. Once the call is published, the peanut gallery goes to work…and boy do they go to work. Biased and mostly uninformed commenters with stakes in the game do everything they can to try to discredit the author, from personal insults on the message boards to focusing on a minute part of the research
