Brian Nelson

ESG Newsletter Portfolio Idea Albemarle Beats Consensus Estimates and Raises Guidance

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Image Shown: Albemarle Corporation’s lithium operations are benefiting from the favorable supply-demand dynamic and strong pricing of late, which is supporting its company-wide financial performance and outlook in a big way. Image Source: Albemarle Corporation – First Quarter of 2022 IR Earnings Presentation By Callum Turcan On May 4, Albemarle Corporation (ALB) reported first quarter 2022 earnings that beat both consensus top- and bottom-line estimates. Due primarily to the outperformance of its ‘Lithium’ business reporting segment, Albemarle boosted its full-year guidance for 2022 in a big way during its latest earnings update. Shares of ALB skyrocketed after the news broke, and we continue to be big fans of the company. We include Albemarle as an idea in the ESG Newsletter … Read more

Interview with SDM Investments’ Kevin Truitt — ESG in a Few Words: “Good Ethics, Honesty, Respect, and Dignity”

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Image: SDM Investments’ Kevin Truitt (left) and Valuentum’s Brian Nelson (right) pause for a picture at the Chicago Chapter of the American Association of Individual Investors (December 2016). Brian Nelson, CFA: We’d like to introduce Kevin Truitt, manager in charge of the equity investments at SDM Investments, an investment management firm based in Merrillville, Indiana.  Kevin and I have been friends for more than a decade now, and he’s even written an article about combining value and momentum investing in the AAII Journal a number of years ago, “Investing’s Odd Couple: Value and Momentum.”  Kevin, thanks for sharing your knowledge, wisdom, and experience with us. With that said, let’s get right into the questions. Can you provide some background about … Read more

Apple Reports Record Services Revenue in Calendar First Quarter 2022, We Still Love Shares!

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Image Shown: Apple Inc put up another strong earnings report for the quarter ended March 2022. We continue to like Apple as an idea in our newsletter portfolios. By Callum Turcan On April 28, Apple Inc (AAPL) reported earnings for its second quarter of fiscal 2022 (period ended March 26, 2022) that beat both consensus top- and bottom-line estimates by a wide margin. Apple also increased its dividend by 5% on a sequential basis and authorized an additional $90.0 billion in share repurchases in conjunction with its latest earnings update. We are big fans of Apple and include shares of AAPL as an idea in both our Best Ideas Newsletter and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolios. Shares of AAPL yield ~0.5% … Read more

Shares of Best Idea Meta Platforms Leap Higher After Stellar Earnings Report!

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Image Shown: Shares of best idea Meta Platforms Inc surged higher by ~18% in afterhours trading on April 27 after its first quarter 2022 earnings report indicated that investor fears over its core business were overblown as its daily active user base posted solid growth in March 2022. By Callum Turcan The company behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, Meta Platforms Inc (FB) reported first quarter 2022 earnings on April 27 that missed consensus top-line estimates but smashed past consensus bottom-line estimates. Shares of FB surged higher in the wake of its latest earnings report as the company’s family daily active people (‘DAP’) stood at 2.87 billion in March 2022, up 6% year-over-year, while its Facebook daily active users (‘DAU’) stood … Read more

Best Idea Alphabet Continues To Grow at a Robust Pace

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Image Shown: Best idea Alphabet Inc continued to grow its revenues by a nice double-digit clip last quarter. Image Source: Alphabet Inc – First Quarter of 2022 Earnings Press Release By Callum Turcan On April 26, Alphabet Inc (GOOG) (GOOGL) reported first quarter 2022 earnings that missed top-line estimates but beat bottom-line estimates. The company remains a free cash flow powerhouse with a fortress-like balance sheet and an incredibly promising growth outlook. Its core digital advertising business, its high-growth Google Cloud unit, and its longer term bets such as the self-driving company Waymo underpin our expectations that Alphabet will continue to grow its revenues at a nice premium to global GDP growth over the decades to come. We include shares … Read more

Public Storage Getting Ready To Report First Quarter 2022 Earnings

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Image Shown: Public Storage, a longtime idea in our High Yield Dividend Newsletter portfolio, has seen its share price skyrocket over the past year with room for additional upside, in our view. By Callum Turcan After the market close on May 3, the self-storage real estate investment trust (‘REIT’) Public Storage (PSA) intends to report its first-quarter earnings for 2022, which will be followed up by an earnings conference call a day later. Shares of PSA have been a long-time idea in the High Yield Dividend Newsletter portfolio, and we continue to be enormous fans of the name. The high end of our fair value estimate range sits at $445 per share of Public Storage, indicating that shares of PSA have … Read more

Dividend Growth Idea Lockheed Martin Doing Its Best to Arm Western Allies

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Image Shown: Dividend growth idea Lockheed Martin Corporation is very shareholder friendly. The defense contractor is doing its best to arm Ukraine and other Western allies during these difficult times. Image Source: Lockheed Martin Corporation – First Quarter of Fiscal 2022 IR Earnings Presentation By Callum Turcan The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and simmering geopolitical tensions in East Asia between Western aligned nations and China over Taiwan and other issues have created a backdrop that is conducive to significant increases in national defense spending. Though we hope peace prevails soon, the realities on the ground in Ukraine and elsewhere call for North Atlantic Treaty Organization (‘NATO’) member nations and other Western aligned nations to ramp up their … Read more

High-Yielding Philip Morris Adeptly Navigating Exogenous Shocks

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Image Shown: In the face of major exogenous shocks, Philip Morris International Inc was still able to put up solid operational and financial performance in the first quarter of 2022. Image Source: Philip Morris International Inc – First Quarter of 2022 IR Earnings Presentation By Callum Turcan There are a lot of reasons to like Philip Morris International Inc (PM) as a high-yielding income growth opportunity. Its portfolio includes numerous top selling cigarette brands including Marlboro, L&M, Chesterfield, Parliament, and others. After splitting with Altria Group Inc (MO) back in 2008, Philip Morris has the right to sell these cigarette brands in international markets while Altria Group has the right to sell these branded tobacco products in the US market. … Read more

ESG Newsletter Portfolio Idea ASML Holding May Further Boost Longer Term Guidance

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Image Shown: How ASML Holding Inc’s photolithography systems are used to produce semiconductor components, including the most cutting edge “chips” along with more mature semiconductor components. Image Source: ASML Holding Inc – Fiscal 2021 Annual Report By Callum Turcan The maker of advanced photolithography systems that are used to produce the most cutting edge semiconductor components or “chips” is the Dutch firm ASML Holding NV (ASML). It has a virtual monopoly at the high-end of this market due to its technological prowess in this space and focus on R&D. The firm also produces photolithography systems to make more mature chips and offers services that are primarily geared towards its installed systems base. ASML Holding reported first quarter earnings for fiscal … Read more

Dividend Growth Idea UnitedHealth Group Boosts Guidance

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Image Shown: Dividend growth idea UnitedHealth Group Inc has seen its share price surge higher over the past year. By Callum Turcan One of our favorite dividend growth ideas is UnitedHealth Group Inc (UNH). The company runs an expansive portfolio of domestic health care operations including large health insurance businesses, pharmacy benefits managers (‘PBMs’) and specialty pharmacy businesses, outpatient surgical centers, in-home health care service providers, analytical services, and services geared towards administrative activities, among many other operations involving health care. Its four business reporting segments are Optum Health (national health care delivery platform), Optum Insight (services, analytics, and platforms aimed at generating insights and efficiencies while improving patient outcomes), Optum Rx (portfolio of pharmacy care services), and UnitedHealthcare (portfolio … Read more