Valuentum Exclusive Analysis for the Discerning Investor

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Jun 5, 2020

Dow Jones Surges Past 27,000; Bull Market Continues!
"What a bull market off the lows we are having. I don't think we're finished, as I have pounded the table time and time and time again about how bullish I am. In the words of Frank Sinatra, "The Best Is Yet to Come," and I truly believe that. Yesterday, I explained to readers why we're seeing this huge rally, "Stay Optimistic. Stay Bullish. I Am." If you understand the duration and composition of equity value (page 74-83 in Value Trap), you can start focusing on what drives share prices and returns. How else could a market rally this much with 13% unemployment, right? How wonderful it would be if everyone understood the duration of stock value composition! What would happen to ambiguous, backward-looking factor investing? Finance could then start talking about things that make sense again." -- Brian Nelson, CFA

Jun 1, 2020

June Dividend Growth Newsletter & Intrinsic Value Investing
"But how, you will ask, does one decide what [stocks are] "attractive"? Most analysts feel they must choose between two approaches customarily thought to be in opposition: "value" and "growth,"...We view that as fuzzy thinking...Growth is always a component of value [and] the very term "value investing" is redundant." -- Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway annual report, 1992

May 20, 2020

ALERT: Important Recap of Valuentum's Research and Market Events
Image: Breaking out to new highs, Facebook 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 is poised to become the "new Internet." The high end of our fair value estimate range for Facebook is nearly $290, and we would not be surprised if the company eventually reaches those levels. Note: PayPal, another big weighting in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio, has been a huge winner of late, too. The value of our research remains heavily tilted toward proficiency in enterprise valuation and technical/momentum indicators, portfolio construction, idea generation, individual stock selection, and assessing dividend health and resilience, among other things. 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.

May 8, 2020

Disney’s Financials Will Eventually Rebound
Image Source: Marc Levin. On May 5, The Walt Disney Company reported second quarter earnings for fiscal 2020 (period ended March 28, 2020) that beat consensus top-line estimates but missed consensus bottom-line estimates. The firm’s financial and operational performance has taken a hit from the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic; however, in our view the firm will bounce back once considerably a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available (which isn’t a certainty, but a lot of companies are actively pushing forward with human clinical trials as we speak including this firm). We continue to like Disney with a modest weighting in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio.

May 8, 2020

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending May 8
Let's take a look at companies that raised/lowered their dividend this week.

Apr 29, 2020

ALERT: Going to “Fully Invested” -- The Fed and Treasury Have Your Back
Image Source: BEA. Real GDP fell at an annual pace of 4.8% in the first quarter of 2020, according to the "advance" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. We’re taking the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio to “fully invested,” scaling up our existing positions to reflect that status. We plan to consider put options to hedge against downside risk, if or when the time comes. Moral hazard continues to run rampant, and the Fed and Treasury may have no choice but to continue artificially propping up this market, even buying stocks through certain vehicles, if necessary. Having warned members about the impending “Great Crash of 2020” and identifying savvy opportunities near the bottom, we are now withdrawing our S&P 500 target range as we move now to focus more on individual ideas through this turbulence. We expect to continue to identify opportunities for relative outperformance. 2019 was one of the best years in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio yet. In the Exclusive, we just registered our 25th consecutive monthly short idea in a row that has worked out. The markets may go much lower from here before we go higher again, but the Fed and Treasury won’t let this market go down in the longer run, in our view--even as we navigate a Depression-type economic environment in the near term. Stay the course.

Apr 25, 2020

Emergency Update on COVID-19
President of Investment Research at Valuentum, Brian Nelson provides an emergency update on COVID-19. He talks about how policymakers have dropped the ball thus far, and why investors should not let their guards down, despite what has been a nice bounce from the March 23 bottom.

Apr 22, 2020

What To Do Now?
Let's get President of Investment Research Brian Nelson's thoughts...

Apr 22, 2020

AT&T Has the Potential Resilience to Ride Out the Storm With Its Dividend Intact
Image Source: Image Source: AT&T Inc – First Quarter 2020 Earnings IR Presentation. High Yield Dividend Newsletter portfolio holding AT&T reported first-quarter 2020 earnings on April 22 that missed consensus top- and bottom-line estimates; however, management noted right off the bat that the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic shaved $0.05 in EPS off of AT&T’s performance. The cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament and ongoing losses of its premium TV subscribers (a product of structural declines at DirecTV) weighed on AT&T’s results last quarter. Shares of T yield ~7.1% as of this writing. AT&T continued to generate meaningful free cash flows, keeping various headwinds in mind, as $8.9 billion in net operating cash flows fully covered $5.0 billion in capital expenditures (defined as ‘purchase of property and equipment’ plus ‘interest during construction’), allowing for $3.9 billion in free cash flow which fully covered $3.7 billion in dividend payouts last quarter.

Apr 19, 2020

ICYMI -- Video: Will Hasty Policy Facilitate the Next Leg Down, or Do We Have It Coming Anyway?
President of Investment Research and award-winning author of Value Trap: Theory of Universal Valuation Brian Nelson explains how US policymakers are stuck between a rock and a hard place, and how the market may be factoring in too high of a probability of a return to normalcy before 2021. This and more in the latest video report.