Brian Nelson

Merger Mania: AT&T Ties the Knot with DirecTV; Pfizer Ups Offer for AstraZeneca; Siemens Complicates Matters for GE

by

Over the weekend, AT&T (T) and DirecTV (DTV) entered into a definitive agreement  in which AT&T will acquire DirecTV in a cash-and-stock transaction for $95 per share on the basis of AT&T’s Friday closing price. In light of this announcement, we plan to remove DirecTV from the Best Ideas portfolio early next week, recording a significant gain from the $55 per share cost basis in the portfolio. We trust you are very happy with this news. Though some investors will choose to hang onto shares in the event that AT&T’s equity increases before DirecTV is de-listed from the exchange (thereby driving DirecTV’s shares higher), we’re comfortable taking the hefty per-share profit on the pay-TV provider very soon and not waiting … Read more

Dividend Increases for the Week Ending May 16

by

Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending May 16. 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 ACE Limited (ACE): now $0.65 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.63. Albany International (AIN): now $0.16 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.15. American Express (AXP): now $0.26 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.23. Anadarko Petroleum (APC): now $0.27 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.18. Arctic Cat (ACAT): now $0.125 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.10. Clorox (CLX): now $0.74 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.71. Gentex … Read more

Valuentum’s May Edition of Its Best Ideas Newsletter

by

Apple and DirecTV Lead the Charge, by Brian Nelson, CFA The Best Ideas portfolio (see page 8) had another strong month. For starters, portfolio holding Apple shot up significantly thanks to the announcement that it will deliver a large amount of cash to shareholders via buybacks, up its dividend, and split its stock to gain better appeal within the retail investor crowd. For us, the biggest news at Apple is yet to come (see page 4). The iPhone maker will be pulling forward the launch of the iPhone 6 to August, one month earlier than expected. Though Apple has had successful product launches in the past, we think this one will be its most successful iteration. With a larger screen the … Read more

Cisco’s Fiscal Third-Quarter Results Better-Than-Feared

by

“One major criticism that we always hear about value investing is ‘what’s your risk management, how do you know when you’re wrong’? Well, a great value investor gives himself a margin of safety, in other words you don’t have to know how much a fat person weighs to realize they’re overweight. Like John Keynes said ‘It is better to be roughly right than precisely wrong.’ If you come to a conclusion that a $100 stock is trading at $65, even if you’re overestimating the stock’s value by 25%, at $81.25 there is still plenty of room for the stock to appreciate to $100.” — The Irrelevant Investor The discounted cash-flow (DCF) process is one of the most informative paths to … Read more

ALERT: AT&T Reportedly Planning to Offer Fair Value to Buy DirecTV; We Think a Higher Offer Is in the Cards

by

On Monday, Bloomberg reported that AT&T (T) is in advanced talks to acquire all of the outstanding shares of DirecTV (DTV) for as much as ~$100 each, almost precisely at our $99 per share cash-flow-derived fair value estimate of DirecTV’s equity. We had previously outlined the strong case for a suitor to offer a price north of $99 per share for the pay-TV provider, and we believe that a higher offer price may be required to seal this deal for a couple reasons. First, the reported offer price, as is, represents essentially the fair value of DirecTV on a standalone basis, excluding any synergies and cost-savings that would accrue to the combined entity. DirecTV shareholders are entitled to a portion … Read more

MoneyShow Slide Deck: The Valuentum Dividend Cushion

by

Tuesday, May 13, 2014, 4:00 pm – 4:30 pm The Ultimate Dividend Growth Investing Tool    Valuentum’s President of Equity Research Brian Nelson, CFA, walks through the benefits of intelligent dividend growth investing and the importance of not only focusing on the payout ratio but also future cash flows when assessing the safety and potential growth of a firm’s dividend. In this must-attend… Please select the image below or click to view the presentation. Join Brian Nelson, CFA, at The MoneyShow Las Vegas, May 12-15, 2014. Brian will share his investing strategies with you face to face in two presentations: The Ultimate Dividend Growth Investing Tool and 3 Top Stock Ideas for Your Radar. If you are interested in meeting … Read more

Dividend Increases for the Week Ending May 9

by

Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending May 9. 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 AAON (AAON): now $0.13 per share semi-annual dividend, was $0.10. Ametek (AME): now $0.09 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.06. Argo Group (AGII): now $0.18 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.15. Arsenal Energy (AEYIF): now $0.065 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.06. Assurant (AIZ): now $0.27 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.25. Autoliv (ALV): now $0.54 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.52. Baker Hughes (BHI): now … Read more

Meet Members of the Valuentum Team at the World MoneyShow in Las Vegas – Register Free

by

Las Vegas | May 12 – 15, 2014 • Caesars Palace Join Brian Nelson, CFA, at The MoneyShow Las Vegas, May 12-15, 2014. Brian will share his investing strategies with you face to face in two presentations: The Ultimate Dividend Growth Investing Tool and 3 Top Stock Ideas for Your Radar. If you are interested in meeting Brian and other members of the Valuentum Team in person, please click here to register. View exhibitor list >>> Tuesday, May 13, 2014, 4:00 pm – 4:30 pm The Ultimate Dividend Growth Investing Tool    Valuentum’s President of Equity Research Brian Nelson, CFA, walks through the benefits of intelligent dividend growth investing and the importance of not only focusing on the payout ratio but also … Read more

ALERT: Apple Pulls Forward iPhone 6 Launch!

by

On the same day Apple (AAPL) announced the purchase of Beats Electronics for $3.2 billion, Reuters reported that a Taiwanese media source stated that Apple will release the next iteration of the iPhone in August, one month earlier than expectations. The $3.2 billion purchase price of headphone maker and music-streaming service Beats is economically-neutral from our standpoint, and in the context of its massive share repurchase program and the firm’s $500 billion market capitalization, the net impact of the transaction is effectively immaterial. In any case, the deal will bolster Apple’s music offering in the face of growing competition from Pandora (P), Spotify, Rhapsody, and Google’s (GOOG) YouTube, and give it a platform to drive a streaming and subscription-based business … Read more

Ford Announces $1.8 Billion Share Buyback; Reports Strong April Sales Growth in China

by

We believe investors have a tremendous opportunity to be holders of Ford’s (F) equity. We can do a deep dive into the reasons why in this article, but we encourage members to peruse our website, especially Ford’s landing page to examine our investment thesis on the automaker. On Ford’s landing page, members can view the company’s 16-page equity report and its dividend report, as well as a list of the recent Valuentum commentary on the company and the firm’s corporate press releases. Our website may be slightly different than others’ in that we house pdf reports of firms on their respective landing pages — in addition to providing articles and press releases and other content. We can’t possibly put all … Read more