Valuentum Exclusive Analysis for the Discerning Investor

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Nov 15, 2021

Hut 8 Mining Is an Interesting Play on Cryptocurrencies
Image Source: Hut 8 Mining Corporation – November 2021 IR Presentation. Executive Summary: We are intrigued by Hut 8 Mining’s business model. By growing its bitcoin balance over time and covering its operating expenses by lending out its bitcoin hoard, generating so-called fiat yield, Hut 8 Mining is effectively a bet that a combination of growth in the price of bitcoin and growth in its bitcoin hoard will provide a major boost to its net asset value (‘NAV’) over time. Should the price of bitcoin tank, however, that would weigh negatively on its business, though things would likely not be as bad as it first appears given that Hut 8 Mining is set up to make money in almost every bitcoin pricing environment. As long as there is investor demand out there to borrow its bitcoins, and that broad interest in cryptocurrencies holds up well going forward, Hut 8 Mining should be able to continue growing its revenue as it grows the amount of bitcoin it can lend out on average per quarter. Obviously, of course, the firm would do better if the price of bitcoin stays the same (currently at roughly USD$64,700 for one bitcoin as of this writing) or increases. From our perspective, Hut 8 Mining is better positioned to capitalize on the cryptocurrency craze, in our view, than many of the other firms out there that are mining and continuously selling off their bitcoin holdings or actively buying bitcoin on the open market seeking to flip those alternative digital assets for a profit down the road (the “greater fool theory” in action). We are keeping an eye on Hut 8 Mining, though in this particular case, we must caution that the intrinsic value of alternative digital currencies like bitcoin is zero. The value is entirely in the eyes of the beholder.

Nov 12, 2021

Hard Work and the Trust That Binds
Image: Terry Johnson. It’s easy to forget how much we’ve been through the past two years. Often, we forget how helpful the warning that markets were going to crash was the weekend before they did on February 22, 2020, “Is a Stock Market Crash Coming? – Coronavirus Update and P/E Ratios,” how we thought dollar-cost-averaging made sense at the bottom in March 2020, and how we went “all-in” in April 29, 2020, “ALERT: Going to “Fully Invested” – The Fed and Treasury Have Your Back,” when we saw the writing was on the wall for this blow off top. If nothing else, these three moves alone during the past couple years have paid for a lifetime of subscriptions.

Nov 3, 2021

Large Cap Growth Has More Room To Run
“The stylistic area of large cap growth has been one of our favorite areas because of the strong net cash rich, free cash flow generating, secular growth powerhouses that make up much of the space. The image is a rundown of the key Valuentum statistics for the top 15 holdings of the Schwab U.S. Large Cap Growth ETF (SCHG). We believe where large cap growth goes, so does the broader market, considering the hefty weightings of some of these stocks in other broad-based indices. Based on the high end of our fair value estimate range for this group of bellwethers, the broader U.S. markets still have room to run, to the tune of 7%+, despite the many highs already reached during 2021. Though traditional valuation multiples may seem stretched by most measures, many market bellwethers have huge net cash positions and tremendous free cash flow growth potential. We expect the equity markets to continue to be led by large cap growth.” – Brian Nelson, CFA

Nov 1, 2021

FinTech Stocks Still Attractive, Market Overreacting to Visa’s Cross-Border Travel Outlook
Image: Visa continues to rake in the free cash flow. Though its outlook is clouded somewhat by recovering cross-border travel transaction volumes, we still like its asset-light, free-cash-flow rich business model. Cryptocurrency trading is all the rage these days, but when it comes down to it, the average consumer isn’t using crypto to pay for everyday goods and services. We believe fintech is a great way to play the firm foundations of asset-light, free-cash-flow generating entities that are exposed to crypto adoption but not pure plays to crypto’s success, which is far from guaranteed. Cloudy outlooks from Visa and Mastercard regarding cross-border travel activity have many fintech investors somewhat cautious heading into 2022, but we couldn’t be bigger fans of the group. Visa and PayPal remain two of our favorite fintech ideas.

Oct 29, 2021

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week October 29
Let's take a look at companies that raised/lowered their dividend this week.

Oct 26, 2021

I Don’t Know How Lucky I Am, Do You?
Image: The category of large cap growth (SCHG) has outperformed a 60/40 stock/bond rebalanced portfolio (VBIAX) by ~310 percentage points the past 10 years. Image Source: Morningstar."Sometimes, I get beat up over a stock idea not outperforming or the simulated newsletter portfolios hitting a rough patch, and it’s hard to stomach. Sometimes, I sit in frustration because I know how others are “playing the game,” and how lucky I am to be a stock picker. Quite simply, if you’ve been picking stocks the past 10 years and didn’t fall into the quant value trap of small cap value, it’s very likely you’ve hit the ball out of the park relative to what you might have ended up with had you gone with a sophisticated asset allocation model with management fees. I hope you can see how lucky you are, too. Thank you so much for being here. Stocks for the long haul!" -- Valuentum's President, Brian Nelson, CFA

Oct 1, 2021

Best Idea Visa on the Rebound, Generating Gobs of Free Cash Flow
Image Shown: Visa Inc is a stellar free cash flow generator and is included as an idea in our Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio. Image Source: Visa Inc – Third Quarter of Fiscal 2021 IR Earnings Presentation. We are huge fans of the payment processing and payment solutions space. This industry is supported by secular growth tailwinds due to the global shift away from cash-to-card and card-not-present (e.g. online purchases) purchase options, and the ongoing proliferation of e-commerce. Furthermore, companies in this space benefit immensely from the network effect, which creates an economic moat for their business. These companies are incredibly lucrative with relatively high operating margins and impressive free cash flow generating abilities, aided by their relatively modest capital expenditure requirements to maintain a certain level of revenues. We include payment networks giant Visa as a “top-weighted” idea in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and view its capital appreciation upside quite favorably, with the top end of our fair value estimate range sitting at $304 per share of Visa.

Sep 13, 2021

The Investment Case for More Gender Diversity
Image: The Impact Shares' YWCA Women’s Empowerment ETF (WOMN) has trounced the S&P 500 since inception, while the SPDR SSGA Gender Diversity Index ETF (SHE) has bested the quantitatively-hailed small cap value ETF over the same time period. There has been a plethora of research over the years regarding the value of diversity on teams, in corporate boardrooms, and across asset management. One of the forms of diversity is gender diversity. It has been documented that diverse teams create more innovative ideas and creativity, which can serve as quite an advantage in industries where margins are slim, or there are few barriers to entry. While a 2019 study summarized in the Harvard Business Review indicated that the value of gender diversity is highly context-dependent and tends to have the greatest benefit where it is already valued, the corporate environment, and arguably the stock market, itself, are a few of those areas where value has been demonstrated.

Sep 3, 2021

Best Idea PayPal Is a Tremendous Enterprise with Ample Capital Appreciation Upside
Image Source: PayPal Holdings Inc – 2021 Investor Day Presentation. PayPal is a stellar enterprise with rock-solid financials. The company is incredibly free cash flow positive and carries a pristine balance sheet while also sporting tremendous pricing power. We continue to be enormous fans of the fintech giant and expect to hear more great things from the company going forward. PayPal’s growth outlook is incredibly bright, and we forecast the company’s free cash flows will swell higher over the years and decades to come. Management noted during the firm’s 2021 Investor Day event that the goal is to allocate 30%-40% of PayPal’s future free cash flows towards share repurchases over the medium-term. We view PayPal’s capital appreciation upside quite favorably and continue to like the company as an idea in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio with a sizable 'weighting' in the portfolio.

Jul 26, 2021

Chinese Stocks Getting Hammered
Image shown: A confluence of factors are driving Chinese stocks lower, not the least of which is heightened regulatory concerns.Investing is really simple. You don’t need to find terribly underfollowed ideas to do well, just mispriced ones. For example, Alphabet is up over 80% the past 52 weeks, and the company has been a top weighting in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio for some time. Facebook has also been an outperformer. There’s no need to make things complicated. Focus on undervalued stocks on a DCF basis that have strong market support through relative strength or a solid technical breakout--and stay away from those net-debt heavy, low valuation multiple value traps!