Valuentum Exclusive Analysis for the Discerning Investor

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Apr 17, 2020

JB Hunt Scales Back
Image Source: JB Hunt Transportation Services Inc – First Quarter 2020 Earnings IR Presentation. JB Hunt Transportation offers trucking freight and other logistics services to customers in North America, including intermodal services (which is the firm’s largest business segment by revenue). On April 14, the company reported first-quarter 2020 results, which showed its top-line beat consensus expectations while its bottom-line missed consensus expectations. Part of the reason why JB Hunt missed bottom-line expectations was due to incentive pay increases related to the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic and the need to compensate frontline workers for the risks they are taking (and we appreciate all the work frontline workers are doing during these challenging times). Shares of JBHT yield ~1.1% as of this writing.

Jan 31, 2020

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending January 31
Let's take a look at companies that raised/lowered their dividend this week.

Dec 18, 2019

FedEx’s Earnings Miss
Image Source: FedEx Corporation – 2019 Annual Stockholders Meeting September 2019 IR Presentation. In the days leading up to FedEx Corp latest earnings report where the firm missed by a mile, news broke that Amazon is now blocking third-party sellers that use its marketplace platform from using the FedEx Ground delivery service (which handles North American volumes) to ship to Prime customers. This comes on the heels of FedEx and Amazon ending two significant shipping contracts earlier this year, including the arrangement where FedEx Ground would handle some of Amazon’s packages, a deal that expired at the end of August. Please note that FedEx Ground is a small-package delivery service that caters to America and Canada, and that other FedEx options for certain packages bought through or sold by Amazon are still available. We are still staying away from FedEx as its ability to generate free cash flows remains pressured by its need to invest heavily in the business to keep up with the likes of Amazon and others. FedEx’s dividend payout could be at risk should exogenous shocks (i.e. a breakdown in the partial US-China trade war truce) continue weakening its financial performance.

Feb 2, 2018

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending February 2
Let's take a look at companies that raised/lowered their dividend this week.

Oct 25, 2017

Analysis of Marcus Corp (MCS) and Schneider National Trucking (SNDR)
Image Source: Dan. Marcus Corp has done well in establishing itself as a meaningful regional player in the movie theater market, and its ability to outperform the industry in terms of box office results and profitability in its movie theater operations--thanks in part to its solid portfolio of owned real estate--is impressive. However, inconsistent free cash flow generation and a notable debt load give us some reason for pause, as does its weak Dividend Cushion ratio, and we see little valuation opportunity present in shares at this time. Schneider National Trucking operates a broad portfolio of freight transportation and logistics solutions that appear to be positioned well for profitable growth thanks to a diversified customer base, the proliferation of e-commerce, and potential margin-expanding initiatives. We generally prefer the business models of more asset-light peers, however, as the company’s free cash flow generation suffers due to the capital intensity of maintaining of a fleet of owned transportation equipment. We’re expecting ongoing expansion in its cash flow generating capacity, as a result of ongoing cash flow from operations expansion and lower capital spending in the near term, but shares of Schneider are trading firmly in the upper half of our fair value estimate range at the moment.