Member Articles

UnitedHealth Group Raises Guidance After Stellar Earnings Report

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Image Shown: We added UnitedHealth Group Inc to the Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio back on November 27, 2020. Since then, shares of UNH have surged higher, though we are primarily interested in the company’s immense dividend growth potential. By Callum Turcan On April 15, health insurance and health care solutions provider UnitedHealth Group Inc (UNH) reported first quarter 2021 earnings that beat both consensus top- and bottom-line estimates. In conjunction with the earnings update, management raised the company’s full-year adjusted (non-GAAP) EPS forecast for 2021 up to $18.10 – $18.60 versus $17.75 – $18.25 previously. At the midpoint of guidance, the company’s new forecast represents ~9% growth over its 2020 adjusted EPS of $16.88. UnitedHealth Group maintained its expectations for … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week April 16

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending April 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 Agree Realty (ADC): now $0.217 per share monthly dividend, was $0.207. Aon (AON): now $0.51 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.46. AptarGroup (ATR): now $0.38 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.36. Artesian Resources (ARTNA): now $0.261 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.257. Banco Santander-Chile (BSAC): now $0.9285 per share annual dividend, was $0.4651. Cadence Bancorporation (CADE): now $1.25 per share special dividend, was $0.15. Costco (COST): … Read more

MPT Is Dead, Long Live Active Stock Management!

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By Valuentum Analysts Valuentum’s President of Investment Research Brian Nelson, CFA, explains the importance of active stock management for long-term investors. Active stock selection is achievable for individual investors, necessary for advisors to differentiate their practice and achieve client goals in a low-yield environment, and indispensable for pensions and large institutions that have indefinite lives. MPT is dead, long live active stock management!  Stocks for the long run. —– Valuentum members have access to our 16-page stock reports, Valuentum Buying Index ratings, Dividend Cushion ratios, fair value estimates and ranges, dividend reports and more. Not a member? Subscribe today. The first 14 days are free. Brian Nelson owns shares in SPY, SCHG, QQQ, DIA, VOT, and IWM. Brian Nelson’s household owns … Read more

SPACs Are Good for Markets, Not SPAC-tacular for Investors

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Image: Performance of the Defiance NextGen SPAC IPO ETF (SPAK), where “a 60% weighting is applied to IPO companies derived from SPACs and 40% is allocated to common stock of newly listed Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (“SPACs”), ex-warrants” has been roughly flat since inception in October 2020.   By Brian Nelson, CFA What a time to be an investor…ehem, speculator! Cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and now the boom in Special Purchase Acquisition Companies, more commonly known as SPACs. First, the good: We like that SPACs will create more publicly listed companies to improve investor choice because the number of publicly traded companies has been dangerously shrinking in recent years…but that’s really all we like about them. A SPAC is just … Read more

How Many Stocks to Achieve Diversification?

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Image: GameStop’s shares are falling like a rock after hitting euphoric levels in the mid-$400s earlier this year. Our fair value estimate stands below $10 per share. By Brian Nelson, CFA GameStop (GME) will be trading in the double digits soon enough, in our opinion. The stock’s rise caught Wall Street by surprise, putting hedge fund Melvin Capital’s back against the wall. Earlier this year, the Reddit/Robinhood (r/WallStreetBets) community aggressively bought the quant factor “short interest as a percentage of float” to drive shares of GameStop, AMC Entertainment (AMC) and others like it into a relentless short squeeze. According to reports, Melvin Capital generated a 49% first-quarter loss, which for any institution should be an unfathomable possibility in a market … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week April 9

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending April 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 American Tower (AMT): now $1.24 per share quarterly dividend, was $1.21. Caledonia Mining (CMCL): now $0.12 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.11. Constellation Brands (STZ): now $0.76 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.75. Constellation Brands (STZ.B): now $0.69 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.68. Eagle Point Income Company (EIC): now $0.085 per share monthly dividend, was $0.08. Ellington Financial (EFC): now $0.14 per share monthly dividend, … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week April 2

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending April 2. 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 $0.28 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.2775. Camden National (CAC): now $0.36 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.33. China Gold International Resources (JINFF): now $0.12 per share special dividend. China Petroleum & Chemical (SNP): now RMB 0.13 per share final dividend, was RMB 0.07. Dollarama (DLMAF): now CAD 0.0503 per share quarterly dividend, was CAD 0.0470. Eagle Bancorp (EGBN): now $0.25 per … Read more

Why You Need to Hire an Active Stock Manager and Ditch Modern Portfolio Theory

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Image: Why You Need to Hire an Active Stock Manager and Ditch Modern Portfolio Theory. An Approximate Hypothetical representation of an active manager that charges a 2% active management fee that mirrors the S&P 500 benchmark versus an advisor that charges a 1% advisor fee that applies a 60/40 stock/bond rebalancing from 1990-2021. Approximate Hypothetical returns are based on the following extrapolation: “Since inception in November 9, 1992, returns after taxes on distributions and sales of fund shares for the [Vanguard Balanced Index Fund Investor Shares] VBINX came in at 6.5% through June 30, 2020, while the same measure since inception in January 22, 1993, for the S&P 500, as measured by the S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), came in … Read more

Nothing May Derail the U.S. Economy In the Long Run

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Image Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. U.S. gross domestic product is back on the upswing, and we fully expect the U.S. economy to recover, and then continue its expansion in coming years. U.S. GDP, January 1947 through October 2020. Warren Buffett may have said it best in Berkshire Hathaway’s 2020 Annual Report: “Never bet against America.” By Brian Nelson, CFA The long-term U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) chart provides a good lesson in perspective. For one, look at how resilient the U.S. economy has been during the post-World War II era. Remember our “Stay Optimistic. Stay Bullish. I Am” article we wrote in mid-May 2020 and then republished again in early June 2020? The S&P 500 was trading below 2,900 … Read more