Member Articles

ALERT: Markets Now Fairly Valued

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Hi everyone: — Long-term investing is a great proposition. You have an incredible advantage over most professional investors that have to deliver on a quarterly or annual basis. The reason is due to something called time horizon arbitrage.  — For example, where most professionals are focused on near-term economic data or near-term earnings, you can focus on how the broader earnings trajectory might look like in 2022 and beyond. I think we’d both agree that the economic data or earnings performance for the remainder of 2020 won’t matter much when we turn the calendar to 2021 in just a few months–and in 2021, the market will be looking at 2022 numbers.  — Markets will always be forward-looking, and stocks are long-duration … Read more

Experience and Judgment

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Hi everyone: — I think you and I would both agree that there’s far too much noise out there. For every investor that believes one thing, another investor might believe the complete opposite. From those pushing market-tracking index funds to those seeking to outperform the market, there’s no shortage of paths for an investor to pursue either. There are day-trading aficionados with huge followings on social media and factor-based investing gurus highlighting “science” as the secret to stock market outperformance–and just about everything in between. — A number of years ago while I was looking to hire someone on our sales staff at Valuentum, the view came up that research was a commodity. It was weird because, in my view, … Read more

Valuentum Website Overview

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Overview of the key features of valuentum.com/ (03:55). Valuentum (val∙u∙n∙tum) [val-yoo-en-tuh-m] Securities Inc. is an independent investment research publisher, offering premium equity reports, dividend reports, and ETF reports, as well as commentary across all sectors/companies, a Best Ideas Newsletter (spanning market caps, asset classes), a Dividend Growth Newsletter, modeling tools/products, and more. Independence and integrity remain our core, and we strive to be a champion of the investor. Valuentum is based in the Chicagoland area. Valuentum is not a money manager, broker, or financial advisor. Valuentum is a publisher of financial information. The Benefits of Premium Membership >> Subscribe Now!

Berkshire Hathaway Is Finally Putting Its Enormous Cash Pile to Use

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Image Shown: Shares of Berkshire Hathaway Inc Class B are recovering from the steep pandemic-induced fall as the company has started to put its enormous cash-pile to work. By Callum Turcan On August 31, Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRK.A) (BRK.B) announced it had  “acquired slightly more than 5% of the outstanding shares in five of the leading Japanese trading companies” and that the firm considered these to be “passive stakes.” Those positions were acquired over approximately the past year through purchases made on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Here are the five companies in alphabetical order (by ticker): Itochu Corporation (ITOCF), Marubeni Corporation (MARUF), Mitsui & Co. Ltd. (MITSF), Mitsubishi Corporation (MSBHF), and Sumitomo Corporation (SSUMY). Berkshire As of June 30, 2020, … Read more

Alibaba Mirrors the Performance of Its Western Peers

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Image Shown: Alibaba Group Holding Limited posted strong results for the fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2020, mirroring the performance of its large-cap tech peers based in Western countries (particularly the US). Image Source: Alibaba Group Holding Limited – June Quarter 2020 Earnings Presentation By Callum Turcan At a time when US-China geopolitical tensions are rising and the Trump Administration is pushing the Chinese tech firm ByteDance to divest (at least) the US-based operations of TikTok, many Chinese tech firms are still thriving. The ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic has fundamentally altered daily life for most households around the world. Social distancing practices have aggressively driven up e-commerce demand along with demand for cloud computing offerings (as more employees work from … Read more

TikTok Up for Grabs

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Image Shown: ByteDance may be forced to sell the US operations of TikTok, and there are plenty of potential suitors out there with deep pockets. By Callum Turcan On August 27, Walmart Inc (WMT) announced it was in discussions with Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) about acquiring the US operations of popular short-video-oriented social firm TikTok from Beijing-based ByteDance. Given that Microsoft noted back on August 2 it was continuing discussions concerning a potential deal for TikTok’s US, Australian, New Zealand and Canadian operations, it is likely Walmart would be interested in acquiring an economic interest in those assets as well. Here is what Walmart had to say in its brief statement (emphasis added): The way TikTok has integrated e-commerce and advertising … Read more

Dollar General Posts Another Stellar Earnings Report

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Image Shown: Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio holding Dollar General Corporation has seen its stock price climb significantly higher year-to-date, as of this writing on August 27. By Callum Turcan On August 27, Dollar General Corporation (DG) reported second quarter fiscal 2020 earnings (period ended July 31, 2020) that beat both consensus top- and bottom-line estimates. The retailer’s same-store sales increased by 18.8% year-over-year aided by a series of initiatives that we have covered in the past including DG Pickup (Dollar General had stepped up its digital investments in recent years, with DG Pickup offering customers a way to order via mobile device and pickup those goods in-store), DG Fresh (Dollar General is adding more consumer staples offerings to its stores, … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week August 28

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending August 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 Athene Holding Pfd C (ATH.PC): now $0.4826 per share quarterly dividend. Eastgroup Properties (EGP): now $0.79 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.75. FFW Corporation (FFWC): now $0.25 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.23. First Midwest Bancorp DP SH C (FMBIO): now $0.4375 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.277. Fresnius Medical Care AG Common Stock (FMS): now $0.491 per share annual dividend, was $0.45. Highway Holdings (HIHO): … Read more

Hats Off to Powell and Mnuchin!

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Hi everyone: — I hope you’re doing great today. It’s probably time we move past the long email chain format. During the COVID-19 crisis, I thought it would be a good idea to provide all of our latest correspondence in a stream, so you could conveniently monitor our every move (and always have previous correspondence handy). To some, it was confusing, to others absolutely necessary, but to us it was pivotal in gaining your trust.  —- We’re going to move beyond the stream format with today’s email. However, in case you missed our prior correspondence, it can be accessed here. The archives of the Best Ideas Newsletter can be accessed here, and the archives of the Dividend Growth Newsletter can be accessed here. Our … Read more

Earnings Brief: NTAP, URBN, HPE, SJM, MDT

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Image Source: Valuentum By Brian Nelson, CFA Pantry stuffing was prevalent during the second quarter, and mall-based retail is holding up better than some had expected. Cloud-based services companies continue to experience breakneck growth, and medical procedure volumes are picking up as we learn more and more about COVID-19. NetApp, Inc. NetApp (NTAP) is another one for your radar. According to the firm’s recent 10-K Filing, NetApp is a leader in hybrid cloud data services. The company helps its “customers ensure their data and applications are in the right place at the right time with the right characteristics and capabilities to enable new insights and accelerate innovation.” The cloud space continues to be in favor by investors. NetApp reported its … Read more