Member Articles

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending May 29

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending May 29. 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 China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (SNP): now $2.69 per share semi-annual dividend, was $1.7080. China Telecom Corporation Limited (CHA): now $1.451 per share annual dividend, was $1.435. China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited (CHU): now $0.188 per share annual dividend, was $0.18. Eagle Financial Bancorp, Inc. (EFBI): now $0.05 per share dividend. Hamilton Lane (HLNE): now $0.3125 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.2750. Ocean Bio-Chem, Inc. (OBCI): … Read more

CubeSmart’s Financial Flexibility Will Come In Handy

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Image Source: CubeSmart – March 2020 Investor Presentation By Callum Turcan On May 7, High Yield Dividend Newsletter portfolio holding CubeSmart (CUBE)–5.0% yield–reported first-quarter 2020 earnings. The company pulled its full-year guidance for 2020 given the uncertainties caused by the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic. We appreciate that the self-storage real estate investment trust (‘REIT’) remained comfortably free cash flow positive last quarter, which is one of the reasons why we like CubeSmart as a high yielding play in the REIT world. Quarterly Update As you can see in the upcoming graphic down below, one of the biggest operating expenses CubeSmart (and the self-storage REIT space at-large) faces is property taxes. Rising property values in major metropolitan areas in particular pushes … Read more

Earnings Roundup: Week Ended May 24, 2020

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Image Shown: In this article we cover a variety of companies that reported earnings in May 2020. By Callum Turcan As we get deeper into 2020, more companies have reported earnings that covered how they performed during the early days of the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic on both a financial and operational basis. In alphabetical order by ticker: DE, LOW, NVDA, TGT Deere & Company On May 22, Deere & Company (DE) reported second quarter earnings for fiscal 2020 (period ended May 3, 2020) that saw the net sales at its equipment division fall by almost 20% year-over-year while revenues at its financial services division fell by almost 2% year-over-year. The company expects its worldwide ‘agriculture and turf equipment’ sales … Read more

Facebook Augments Its Impressive Growth Trajectory

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Image Shown: Shares of Facebook Inc have outperformed the S&P 500 index year-to-date, as of this writing on May 21, by a wide margin. By Callum Turcan Facebook Inc (FB) is a top-weighted holding in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and shares have surged upwards of late, sparked in part by its strong first-quarter 2020 performance, relatively speaking, given the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic. Members interested in reading our thoughts on Facebook’s latest earnings report are encouraged to check out this article here. As of this writing on May 21, shares of FB are up ~14% year-to-date while the S&P 500 (SPY) is down ~8% during the same period (this is before taking dividend considerations into account; however, that doesn’t … Read more

Earnings Roundup: EXPE and LB

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Image Shown: Covering recent earnings reports from Expedia Group Inc and L Brands Inc. By Callum Turcan In this earnings roundup note, we cover travel company EXPE and specialty retailer LB to get an idea of how various industries are performing during the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic. Expedia Group On May 20, Expedia Group Inc (EXPE) reported first-quarter 2020 earnings that beat consensus top-line estimates and missed consensus bottom-line estimates. Expedia’s GAAP revenues fell 15% year-over-year and management communicated in the earnings press release that the pain proceeded to get worse through April, noting that “the percentage of cancellation inquiries for air travel managed without an agent increased from approximately 65% in February to over 95% in April” which indicates … Read more

Southern Copper’s Payout Is Not That Healthy

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Image Shown: An overview of Southern Copper’s core operations in Mexico and Peru. Image Source: Southern Copper Corporation – May 2019 IR Presentation By Callum Turcan Copper (symbol Cu, atomic number 29) is an essential building block of modern civilization as it is used as a conductor for heat and electricity. Electrical components, utility-scale electrical transmission systems, residential and commercial heating appliances, electric vehicles, and much more all rely on copper products (electromagnets, heat exchangers, heat sinks, integrated circuits, printed circuits, copper wiring, and copper fittings are all examples of products that contain copper). The largest consumer of copper is China, accounting for roughly half of global demand making the Middle Kingdom an essential part of the copper supply chain. … Read more

Covering the US-China “Technological Arms Race”

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Image Shown: The future of geopolitical tensions will likely boil down to what some see as a “technological arms race” between the US and China. Image Source: Nvidia Corporation (NVDA) – May 2020 Presentation By Callum Turcan Given the rise of US-China geopolitical tensions, we wanted to cover the changing state of the semiconductor industry and the rare earth minerals landscape. Recent announcements from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSM) or ‘TSMC’ caught our eye. For some background, in the world of semiconductors, there are what is referred to as fabrication facilities and foundries. The former is used to make chips for internal purposes while the latter contracts out its production capacity to third parties to make chips for external purposes. … Read more

ALERT: Important Recap of Valuentum’s Research and Market Events

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ALERT: Important Recap of Valuentum’s Research and Market Events: Unequivocally Bullish, S&P Target Range Was Withdrawn Last Month, Continued Focus on Individual Stock Selection with “Moaty” Operations, Huge Net Cash Positions, Strong Expected Future Free Cash Flows, Established Recurring Business Models, and Otherwise Attractive Economic Castles. Big Cap Tech and Large Cap “Growth” Remain Our Favorite Allocations. — Image: Breaking out to new highs, Facebook (FB) is a top weighting in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio (which includes our favorite capital appreciation ideas in a portfolio setting). The social media giant is surging on news of a new Shops feature, something we’ve been expecting and raving about with respect to its potential for years–as we maintain our view that, anti-trust considerations aside, Facebook … Read more

Retail Roundup: Home Depot and Walmart Report Earnings

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Image Source: Home Depot Inc – June 2019 IR Presentation By Callum Turcan In this article we cover two major retailers that reported strong comparable store sales growth in the face of the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic. E-commerce offerings and past digital investments have been key to supporting sales growth at major retail firms, and those that haven’t made these investments are in a far worse position than HD and WMT. Home Depot On May 19, Home Depot Inc (HD) reported first-quarter earnings for fiscal 2020 (period ended May 3, 2020) that beat consensus top-line estimates and missed consensus bottom-line estimates. Comparable store sales were up 6.4% year-over-year, including up 7.5% at its US stores. Home Depot announced $850 million … Read more

Video: A Call for More Policy Action in a Post COVID-19 World

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Image: There may no longer be any basis for believing in efficient markets. Investors were bidding up the price of the wrong company because of confusion over its ticker symbol. This is just one example of how markets are inefficient.  Bailouts coupled with Fed and Treasury stimulus from COVID-19 will have profound implications on investment behavior, with expectations for indexing and quantitative strategies to continue to proliferate. New rules may be required to ensure that investors’ interests are truly being put first. President of Valuentum Brian Nelson presents a call to action. To watch the video >> Tickerized for the following: AMTD, BLK, DNB, FDS, IBKR, LPLA, MCO, MORN, NTRS, RJF, SCHW, SPGI, TRI, TROW, VALU –— Valuentum members have … Read more