Valuentum Exclusive Analysis for the Discerning Investor

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Jan 8, 2020

Update: US and Iran Now De-escalating Tensions
On January 7, Iran retaliated against the US for the killing of Iranian major general Qasem Soleimani (leader of a group that the US has deemed a terror threat under the Trump administration) less than a week earlier by firing missiles from Iranian soil at bases in Iraq that contain US, Iraqi, and coalition troops. The Iranian government aggressively publicized the attack by providing Iranian media outlets with footage of missiles leaving Iran that were targeted towards Iraq. Fortunately, no US, Iraqi, or coalition casualties were reported. We are very thankful that nobody was hurt as a result of the Iranian missile strike.

Jan 7, 2020

Middle East Tensions on the Rise
Early Friday (Arabian Standard Time) on January 3 (the strike was carried out late Thursday evening Eastern Standard Time), under the orders of President Trump, the US took out major general Qasem Soleimani who was the leader of Iran’s Quds military group within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (‘IRGC’). Please note the US designated the IRGC as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in April 2019, and that the justification for the strike was due to there being an immediate threat to US lives (namely soldiers and contractors stationed in the Middle East), according to the Pentagon. It’s important to note that the strike occurred on Iraqi soil. The Quds force is known to be Iran’s extraterritorial military outfit, an elite group thought to be deeply involved in ongoing wars in Syria (undergoing a civil war), Yemen (undergoing a civil war), and Iraq (ostensibly fighting the remnants of the ISIS terror group). Qasem Soleimani was in Iraq when the US took him out with an airstrike, along with others such as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who was the deputy chief of the Popular Mobilization Units (‘PMF’) which is an umbrella group for various militias active in Iraq that have extensive ties with Iran. Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was thought to be an adviser of Qasem Soleimani.

Mar 18, 2019

Why We're Staying Away from KLX Energy Services for Now
Image Source: KLX Energy ServicesKLX Energy Services posted tremendous top and bottom-line growth during fiscal 2018 and great margin expansion. That being said, KLX Energy Services was still free cash flow negative, and it carries a material net debt load. While an interesting company and one we will keep on our radar going forward, KLXE is a risky investment in a tough market that even the bigwigs are having trouble navigating. The risks are too great for us.

Aug 28, 2018

ETF Analysis: Energy
Energy sector ETFs offer a diversified way to capture the potential for higher crude oil prices without being exposed to the capital budget decisions of any one operator.

Aug 14, 2018

The Inflating Index Fund Bubble
Image Source: Mac.Else von Berlin. The investment industry is changing fast, and we’re happy to be an instrument for change. We’ve been clamoring to make index funds free for a long time, and we’re glad to see it finally happen. Let’s cover the implications of indiscriminate buying regardless of price with the observation that the number of publicly-traded companies is vastly shrinking. How long will the inflating index fund bubble last?

May 30, 2018

Study: Valuentum's Best Ideas Newsletter Portfolio
"Though we largely achieved the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio’s goals in advancing the newsletter portfolio each publication year (ends December 15) and achieving relative outperformance and risk-adjusted superiority to the benchmark, we may have done even better had our equity allocation been full during the measurement period." -- Brian Nelson, CFA

Mar 12, 2018

The "Luck" and "Randomness" of Index Funds
If the year-to-year performance of active funds relative to index funds can be considered “random,” so then is the year-to-year performance of index funds relative to active funds, regardless of fees and expenses. Image shown: page 1 of 14.

Dec 19, 2017

Video: Quants! You're NOT Measuring VALUE and Nelson's Theory of Universal Value
President of Investment Research Brian Nelson defines the concept of universal value and shows how quantitative statistical methods are inextricably linked to those of fundamental, financial, business-model related analysis. Value does not exist in respective process vacuums! Value is universal. Find out why. Running time: ~10 minutes.

Dec 11, 2017

Video: Nelson's Active Management Theorem, Poker and "High Society," Inertia and the Value-Growth Conundrum
President of Investment Research Brian Nelson details his simple new theorem of the stock market that may change everything you believe. Nelson explains using poker as an example, and he goes on to caution about the concept of inertia, and how investing has somehow transformed into a "game" -- if investors truly believe there are 'value' and 'growth' stocks. A must-watch intrigue. Running time: ~11 minutes.

Dec 2, 2017

Nobel Prize-Winning Economist Robert Shiller On Indexing
Video: Robert Shiller on what worries him about passive investing -- from CNBC.