Valuentum Exclusive Analysis for the Discerning Investor

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Oct 4, 2019

Economic Commentary: Apple $225+, Brokers Tumble, Auto Sales Look Tired
Image: Shares of TD Ameritrade Holdings have been punished as online trading commissions go to zero. "Though all signs point to increased volatility, we maintain our view that we’re well-positioned in the newsletter portfolios, and the ideas highlighted in the Exclusive publication consider the backdrop economic conditions we closely monitor." -- Brian Nelson, CFA

Sep 23, 2019

Empirical Support for Porter’s “Gospel,” Plus Comments on the “Head Fake” Rotation
“Let’s be very clear: There is strong empirical quantitative evidence that the price-to-fair value equation (“factor”) is predictive of returns, which is what matters for value investors, and in Morningstar’s case, the moat assessment is just part of that overarching conclusion (fair value estimate). Researchers continue to attack the moat “factor” on grounds that don’t make any sense, in my view, and are cherry-picking parameters to assess value investing.” – Brian Nelson, CFA

Sep 16, 2019

Saudi Arabia Attacked, Oil Prices Shoot Higher
Disaster struck this weekend when several drones took out the Abqaiq oil processing facility and the massive onshore Khurais oil field in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, with WTI and Brent both surging on the news once trading resumed at the start of the week. We will be monitoring this situation very closely going forward. The pace at which Saudi Arabia can bring capacity back online will have an outsize impact on global oil markets going forward, as the world no longer has any spare capacity to turn to during times like these (when supply is severely curtailed). Geopolitical tensions are clearly growing and that could spill over into a war directly between Saudi Arabia and Iran, but for now there’s no signs of troops mobilizing for such an endeavor.

Sep 16, 2019

Economic Roundtable: Quant Quake, “Quac-cidental Correlation,” and Economic Moats
Image Source: Anders Sandberg. Last week, the markets may have revealed that internals aren’t all that healthy. Major equity markets experienced a “rotation” that reminded many investors of the “quant quake” from August 2007. As Valuentum’s Brian Nelson wrote in Value Trap, “just a few bad days in the market caused a rapid unwinding of many quant long-short strategies (back then). Goldman’s chief financial officer said at the time that the firm was witnessing ‘25-standard deviation moves, several days in a row.’” On the surface, markets last week seemed relatively calm, but as the episode in 2007 revealed the activity last week may just be the calm before the storm. Many are pointing to overcrowded trades in betting against certain factors, while others are saying that many were forced to deleverage. We’re not so sure, and we think it may be the opposite: after years of suffering from lagging “value” returns, we think several quant shops stepped in to take on leverage, betting on a return to “value.” Let's talk about last week's quant quake, spurious correlations (the “guac-cidental correlation, in fact), economic moats and much more.

Sep 11, 2019

Economic Roundtable: “Value” Versus “Growth” Rotation
“This kind of trading activity could be setting the stage for a big quant fund blow up, if the kind of leverage it takes to move the markets to this magnitude was applied. All it may take is for the B/M “value” factor to continue to suffer in the coming 12-18 months--it’s possible we could see a few quant firms go belly up. My guess is that market participants are paying very close attention to this activity, and if they “smell blood,” things could get ugly.” – Brian Nelson, CFA

Sep 5, 2019

Valuentum’s Economic Roundtable: Trade War, Factors and Beyond
The markets rallied hard September 5 on relief that the US and China will go back to the negotiations table next month. This back-and-forth news cycle is enough to give any investor whiplash. Let’s catch up with the Valuentum Team on the latest developments, not only with the trade war but also with respect to factor investing, possible bubbles and beyond.

Sep 4, 2019

The "Hierarchy" of Valuentum Idea Generation
Image: The Valuentum Buying Index rating scale.Let's talk about this hierarchy of idea generation in this note.

Aug 28, 2019

BP Says Goodbye to Alaska After 60 Years
Image Source: BP IR Presentation. We are supportive of BP’s decision to divest its Alaskan operations as the company has been successfully bringing upstream projects online on-time and on-budget all over the globe over the past few years, driving its net oil & gas production levels higher (upstream output was up 4% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2019). BP’s operational execution of late has been nothing less than stellar and the energy giant is included in our simulated High Yield Dividend Newsletter portfolio. Shares of BP yield 6.7% as of this writing.

Aug 13, 2019

Thought Piece: The Hidden Advantage
Image Source: Kamilla Oliveira. As activist investing proliferates, investors are becoming more and more familiar with celebrity investing gurus such as Carl Icahn and David Einhorn. Let’s examine how these investing giants have carved out a unique structural advantage over mom-and-pop investors. This article was originally published in June 2014.

Aug 6, 2019

Oil Major Second-Quarter 2019 Earnings Roundup
Image Source: Exxon Mobil Corporation -- IR Presentation. Let’s look at the Oil Majors that have recently reported earnings. Global raw energy resource prices have plunged lower as concerns over the US-China trade war and the possibility a global synchronized slowdown in economic growth are beginning to emerge. We will be monitoring the situation closely going forward.