Valuentum Exclusive Analysis for the Discerning Investor

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Nov 17, 2023

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week of November 17
Let's take a look at firms raising/lowering their dividends this week.

Oct 31, 2023

Public Storage Raises Core FFO Guidance for 2023
Image Source: Public Storage. Among the REIT sub-sectors, we continue to favor the self-storage space mostly because its traditional free cash flow dynamics are much more attractive. Self-storage REITs are generally recession-resistant, too, offer high operating margins, and generally lower maintenance capital requirements. Public Storage is our favorite self-storage REIT and yields ~5% at the time of this writing. Shares of PSA have soured with the broader equity REIT sell-off this year and have declined nearly 13% year-to-date in 2023. Though we expect a challenging market environment for equity REITs, we view Public Storage as the best long-term play in self-storage.

Sep 20, 2023

ICYMI: Questions for Valuentum’s Brian Nelson
Valuentum's President Brian Nelson, CFA, answers your questions.

Aug 25, 2023

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week of August 25
Let's take a look at firms raising/lowering their dividends this week.

Aug 17, 2023

3 High Dividend Yielders for Consideration
Image: Entities with large net cash positions and substantial free cash flow generation have outperformed not only the broader stock market, but also key high yield areas, including REITs, mortgage REITs and master limited partnerships during the past 10 years. Source: The respective ETF sponsors. The skills to successfully invest for long-term capital gains or long-term dividend growth are much different than those required for generating high yield dividend income. Income investing is a much different proposition. However, the skills do center on a similar equity evaluation process, but one that requires an acknowledgement and heightened awareness of considerably greater downside risks. Income investing, or high yield dividend income investing, should at times be considered among the riskiest forms of investing, as many high dividend-yielding securities tend to trade closer to the characteristics of junk-rated bonds than they do most net cash rich and free cash flow generating powerhouses that we like so much in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio.

Aug 2, 2023

ICYMI: Let’s Play Devil’s Advocate: What’s the Bear Case for Realty Income?
Image Source: Realty Income. It’s helpful to challenge one’s thesis on a favorite idea every now and then, and we’ve done just that with Realty Income in this article. We see three areas of weakness at Realty Income that could challenge our bullish take on the name: 1) its retail exposure, 2) its financial leverage and arguably unwarranted investment-grade credit rating, and 3) the current rising interest rate environment. Perhaps the most compelling component of the bear case on Realty Income is its massive net debt position and present value of future dividend liabilities that dwarf its annual operating cash flow. The REIT business model isn’t as attractive as many make it out to be.

Jul 24, 2023

Public Storage Picks Up Simply Self Storage; M&A Remains Hot in Self Storage
Image Source: Public Storage. On July 24, Public Storage announced that it had agreed to acquire Simply Self Storage from Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT) for $2.2 billion. The news follows the Public Storage-Life Storage takeout saga that ended with Life Storage running to Extra Space Storage for a deal. A PSA-LSI deal had made a lot of sense, and we’re not sure why LSI wanted nothing to do with PSA, but it may have had to do with a poor cultural fit. LSI apparently said it wasn’t for sale right before it tied the knot with EXR--moves that just didn’t seem to add up, in our view. In any case, we’re glad PSA walked away from a possible “winner’s curse” had it pursued LSI, and we’re largely indifferent to the smaller transaction regarding Simply Self Storage.

Jun 1, 2023

ICYMI: The Impact Rising Interest Rates Have on Equity REITs
Image: REITs have not performed as well as one might have thought. The Vanguard REIT ETF has underperformed the broader market considerably since 2015, while dividends per share have not grown much, if at all, since 2005. Source: Vanguard. The question on most everyone's minds: How will equity real estate investment trusts (REITs) fare in the current rising interest-rate environment? The topic has long been debated and studied, and there are myriad opinions on the subject. From where we stand, however, there are a two main moving parts consisting of fundamental and investment dynamics that investors should be aware of. Let's have a look.

Apr 21, 2023

Extra Space Storage Pursues the Winner’s Curse; LSI Shareholders Should Take the Money and Run
Image Source: Extra Space Storage. It would seem that Life Storage wants nothing to do with Public Storage, first refusing to negotiate with Public Storage regarding its proposal to merge, then rolling out a revised severance package for its CEO, CFO and COO on March 17, and now most recently announcing that it would tie the knot with Extra Space Storage on April 3.

Feb 17, 2023

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week of February 17
Let's take a look at firms raising/lowering their dividends this week.