Valuentum Exclusive Analysis for the Discerning Investor

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Oct 22, 2020

News Brief: Stay at Home Stocks, REITs, Housing, Oracle, and AT&T
Image: Number of COVID-19 cases reported weekly by WHO Region, and global deaths, 30 December 2019 through 18 October 2020. Source: WHO. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage on, though the healthcare community has become more adept at reducing the incidence of death given the many treatments now available to battle the disease. We continue to stay the course with the newsletter portfolios. Many of our favorites include Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Alphabet, and PayPal, among other moaty, net-cash-rich, free-cash-flow generating powerhouses tied to secular growth trends. Our focus remains on the long haul. The business models of many stay-at-home stocks are solid as they continue to reap the rewards of the accelerated trends of home office use and e-commerce proliferation. Housing-related names are also benefiting as consumers adjust their lifestyles to accommodate a post-COVID-19 world. Many pockets of the economy still remain ill, and the slow fading of the attractiveness of commercial / office / apartment space may rear its ugly head as this new decade continues. As was the case with the department stores, they may hang around for years (decades) with myriad fits and starts, but it will be an uphill battle for REITs operating in these areas. We see little reason to bottom fish in airlines, cruise lines, or fickle mall-based retail, for example, but there may be select opportunities in the restaurant arena with Chipotle and Domino’s. The financials and energy sectors are two areas we continue to avoid, more generally, and they have continued to underperform.

Sep 18, 2020

Outperformance of Valuentum's COVID-19 Ideas
Image: Valuentum's COVID-19 ideas. Hypothetical returns are calculated on a price basis. To my amazement, the equal-weighted hypothetical returns of our top 10 COVID-19 ideas not only exceeded the market return over the simulated measurement period by a huge margin, but because of the impeccable timing of their release, they also did better than the returns of a backfilled index from the start of the year that--get this--was filled with stocks that in April were already "outperforming the S&P 500 since the start of 2020." I sincerely hope this provides some perspective of just how awesome our research and idea generation has been this year. If I had a mic, I would drop it!

Sep 3, 2020

3 Lessons in Portfolio Management Over 10 Years
Image Source: http://www.epictop10.com/. "When I left as director in the equity and credit department at Morningstar in 2011, I thought I knew a whole heck of a lot about investing. I felt like I was one in the top 5-10 in the world as it relates to the category of practical knowledge of enterprise valuation (maybe include Koller at McKinsey, Mauboussin at Counterpoint, and Damadoran at Stern on this list). After all, I oversaw the valuation infrastructure of a department that used the process extensively, and the firm was among just a few that used enterprise valuation systematically. Then, at Valuentum, our small team would go on to build/update 20,000+ more enterprise valuation models. There can always be someone else out there, of course, but I don't think anybody has worked within the DCF model as much as I have across so many different companies. That said, through the past near-10 years managing Valuentum's simulated newsletter portfolios, I've also learned a number of things to become an even better portfolio manager." -- Brian Nelson, CFA

Sep 1, 2020

Valuentum Website Overview
Overview of the key features of www.valuentum.com (03:55). Valuentum (val∙u∙n∙tum) [val-yoo-en-tuh-m] Securities Inc. is an independent investment research publisher, offering premium equity reports, dividend reports, and ETF reports, as well as commentary across all sectors/companies, a Best Ideas Newsletter (spanning market caps, asset classes), a Dividend Growth Newsletter, modeling tools/products, and more. Independence and integrity remain our core, and we strive to be a champion of the investor. Valuentum is based in the Chicagoland area. Valuentum is not a money manager, broker, or financial advisor. Valuentum is a publisher of financial information.

Aug 26, 2020

Papa John’s Posts Stellar Comparable Store Sales Growth
Image Shown: Shares of Papa John’s International Inc have surged upwards year-to date as of this writing. One company that has proven to be very resilient during the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic is Papa John’s International. We significantly raised our fair value estimate for shares of PZZA back in June 2020. As of this writing, Papa John’s is trading right at the top of our fair value estimate range which sits at $99 per share of PZZA. The company has an asset-light business model and a quality cash flow profile, a product of its focus on franchise operations, though Papa John’s does own some of its store locations. As of December 29, 2019, Papa John’s had 5,395 restaurant locations worldwide operating in 49 countries and territories. Out of those locations, ~89% were franchised and the rest were either owned by the company or by a joint-venture the company had an economic stake in. Papa John’s success largely stems from past major investments in its digital presence and a heavy focus on home delivery and carryout offerings. With the pandemic forcing households to stay in and many restaurants to close, Papa John’s rose to the occasion to meet rising consumer demand.

Aug 23, 2020

Latest Stock Report Updates
Valuentum members have access to our 16-page stock reports, Valuentum Buying Index ratings, Dividend Cushion ratios, fair value estimates and ranges, dividend reports and more. Not a member? Subscribe today. The first 14 days are free.

Jul 30, 2020

McDonald’s Improving But Serious Hurdles Remain
Image Shown: Shares of McDonald’s Corporation are richly valued as of this writing, especially when considering the headwinds facing its business in the near-term and its hefty net debt load. On July 28, McDonald’s Corp reported second quarter 2020 earnings that beat consensus top-line estimates but fell short of consensus bottom-line estimates. As expected, the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic took a large bite out of its performance last quarter with global comparable sales down 23.9% versus the same period a year-ago. McDonald’s reported that its global comparable store sales trajectory improved throughout the second quarter as the decline shrank from -39.0% (negative 39.0%) in April 2020 to -12.3% (negative 12.3%) by June 2020. Shares of MCD sold off modestly during normal trading hours on July 28, and we caution that McDonald’s still appears to be generously valued as of this writing.

Jul 24, 2020

Earnings Brief: PEP, CMG, WHR, TSLA, TWTR, KMB
Image Source: Tesla has turned the corner regarding GAAP profitability, and the firm is now generating positive free cash flow, as it sits on billions of cash on the balance sheet. Q2 2020 Update. Second-quarter earnings season is coming in largely as expected. Many of the firms are reporting improving demand through the course of the quarter, and entities that were facing hardship are making the necessary adjustments to improve performance. Pandemic-driven demand has been evident across the consumer staples space, and innovative entities have not stopped innovating as a result of COVID-19. We maintain our view that the world is fighting back against COVID-19, and we expect fundamental performance to continue to improve across myriad sectors as well as a greater “return to normalcy in 2021,” which is but six months away. Accommodative Fed/Treasury policy coupled with substantial increases in money supply may keep this market moving ever-higher in the meantime.

Jul 22, 2020

Second Quarter Earnings Roundup
The figure above shows the performance of the simulated Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio from inception May 17, 2011, through December 15, 2017, relative to its declared benchmark, the S&P 500 (SPY), on an apples-to-apples basis, with dividends collected but not reinvested for both the newsletter portfolio and the SPY, as reported in the monthly newsletter. The simulated Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio outperformed the S&P 500, including reinvested dividends in the benchmark, since inception (May 17, 2011) and since the inaugural release of the newsletter (July 13, 2011) through the end of the measurement period (December 15, 2017). The results are hypothetical and do not represent returns that an investor actually earned. Past results are not indicative of future performance.

Jun 26, 2020

Darden Restaurants Adapts to Survive
Image Source: Darden Restaurants Inc – Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2020 IR Earnings Presentation. On June 25, the owner of the Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, and Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen restaurant chain brands Darden Restaurants reported fourth quarter fiscal 2020 earnings (period ended May 31, 2020) that matched consensus top-lines estimates and beat consensus bottom-line estimates. Please note the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 included an extra week versus the same period the previous fiscal year. Darden Restaurants saw its GAAP revenues drop by 43% year-over-year which led to the firm generating a large GAAP net loss of $0.5 billion last fiscal quarter as the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) took its toll on the company’s operations.