Markets Up Big; Upside Volatility

Image shown: The S&P 500 ETF (SPY) since August 2017. The index has broken through support and is now bouncing back to resistance. By Brian Nelson, CFA Good morning everyone, Are you watching these markets? This is incredible. The Dow finished down 660 points yesterday (briefly dropping 700 points), and today, the Dow is currently trading up 600 points at the time of this writing. Granted, there was Apple’s (AAPL) poor first-quarter 2019 guidance yesterday and the strong jobs report today, but this volatility is not “normal,” no matter what others are saying. A couple announcements up front. For those that already ordered our book Value Trap, I will send you the pdf download to your email address just to make sure … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending January 4

Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending January 4. 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 Bank OZK (OZK): now $0.22 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.21. Brandywine Realty Trust (BDN): now $0.19 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.18. Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY): now $0.41 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.40. Owens Corning (OC): now $0.22 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.21. Preferred Bank (PFBC): now $0.30 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.25. Templeton Emerging Markets Income Fund (TEI): now $0.0655 per share … Read more

Fully-Invested? Why? Thoughts on Microsoft and Eli Lilly, and Celgene

Our methodology is really easy to understand once you get to know the things we’re looking at. There’s also some subjectivity in how we implement our thoughts in the simulated newsletter portfolios, and please stop calling what we do advice. We’re not an advisor. We’re not a broker. We’re a financial publisher. While we’re at it, let’s talk a bit about Microsoft, Eli Lilly, and Celgene through the lens of our methodology. By Kris Rosemann and Brian Nelson, CFA I know many of you have been following our simulated newsletter portfolios very closely. Since inception in 2011, the simulated Best Ideas Newsletter has averaged roughly a 25% cash position. We wrote up an extensive summary of the simulated Best Ideas … Read more

Brace for More Volatility

Image shown: The S&P 500 ETF (SPY) since August of last year. The markets have broken through key support levels, and now support has become resistance. Volatility remains heightened since the low-vol ETN blew up in February. This article is the introduction to both the Dividend Growth Newsletter and High Yield Dividend Newsletter, both of which will be released today due to the holiday January 1. By Brian Nelson, CFA Markets are facing big pressure on the trading session January 3. There’s more to the story than rising interest rates. There’s more to the story than the US-China trade war. There’s more to the story than concerns about the political environment. Price-agnostic (indexing and quant) trading, as I outline in … Read more

Here It Comes… Apple’s Shot Across the Bow

Image Source: Tinh tế Photo Apple surprised the market by issuing first-quarter 2019 guidance below expectations. The company pointed to weakness in China as the main culprit. We continue to expect heightened levels of volatility, and investors in key American icons that might be impacted by consumer backlash in China should be on high alert. No changes to the simulated newsletter portfolios as a result of the news. By Brian Nelson, CFA We had yet another volatile day to kick off the new year. The Dow opened with a near 400-point slide and then jumped considerably mid-session only to barely finish higher. You have to read Value Trap. You’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. In case you missed the announcement, … Read more

Valuentum Stock Screeners

This article was sent to members via email December 29. That email can be accessed at the link that follows this article. By Brian Nelson, CFA Hi everyone, I wanted to provide an update with respect to Valuentum’s stock screeners. We believe our stock screeners are among the most robust when it comes to providing forward-looking data, or data that is important with respect to the investment decision-making process. We publish screens in each of the monthly newsletters, but we also provide a basic weekly screener for download on the left column of the website, “Download Weekly Stock Screener (xls) — login required.”   We also have other products. The more robust DataScreener, for example, is part of the quarterly Financial … Read more

The Price-versus-Estimated Fair Value Perspective; Upcoming Publishing Schedule

This article was sent to members via email December 28. You can access that email at the link that follows this article. By Brian Nelson, CFA Hi everyone, I hope each and everyone of you is having a wonderful holiday season! Boy was this week an exciting one. Yours truly has been warning about excess volatility for many months, and the month of December showed just how damaging price-agnostic trading (indexing, quant) can be to the marketplace. According to MarketWatch, Monday amounted to the worst trading session for a Christmas Eve ever. Wednesday was the biggest one-day point rise in the Dow ever, and Thursday had the biggest intraday swing for the Dow since 2011. According to SentimenTrader, there has only been … Read more

Whoa Nelly!

This article was sent to members via email December 27. That email can be accessed via the link that follows this article. By Brian Nelson, CFA Hi everyone, With just an hour or two left in the trading session December 27, the Dow was down some 600 points. Incredibly, it ended up rallying into the close to finish up 260 points. Though there have been a few big intra-day reversals like this one in the past, there wasn’t much news at all today. The market simply rallied 850+ points off the bottom, and that was that. What’s more, this followed a 1,000+ point surge the day prior. If you recall, yesterday, we moved the cash positions in the simulated Best … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending December 28

Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending December 28. 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 Ares Commercial Real Estate (ACRE): now $0.31 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.29. Axis Capital Holdings (AXS): now $0.40 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.39. CoreSite Realty (COR): now $1.10 per share quarterly dividend, was $1.03. Edison (EIX): now $0.6125 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.605. FMC (FMC): now $0.40 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.165. Firms Lowering Their Dividends This Week Pacific Coast Oil Trust … Read more

This Market Will Eat You Up

This article was sent to members via email December 26. That email can be accessed at the link that follows this article. By Brian Nelson, CFA Hi everyone, As you can probably tell, I’ve finally put my book behind me. It’s called Value Trap: Theory of Universal Valuation. In it, I explain my story. I think after reading the text you’ll have a better understanding about why we champion the good calls we make and don’t let others tell our story. In this marketplace, there will be no shortage of people telling us that we’re wrong. They’ll be no shortage of people not giving us credit for our work. They’ll even be no shortage of people that will still say we’re … Read more