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Can Vertex Pharmaceuticals Dominate the Race to Treat Cystic Fibrosis?

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Tickerized for holdings in the XLV and IBB. Cystic Fibrosis is a rare disease that afflicts an estimated seventy-five thousand patients worldwide. Vertex Pharmaceuticals is the first to market with a combination treatment to treat a portion of the overall patient population. Will Vertex win the race to bring forth a triple therapy to treat the vast majority of those afflicted? By Alexander J. Poulos Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a recessive genetic disorder. The patient that is afflicted will carry two copies of the cystic fibrosis conductance regulator protein (CFTR) gene. The CFTR gene allows the body to produce the CFTR protein, whose function is to remove chloride from the cells. Patients that have CF will suffer from a “thickening” … Read more

Pharma, Biotech and How to Consider Investing In It

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The Valuentum analyst team digs deep into recent trends in big pharma and biotech from the lofty pricing of drugs to political and competitive pressures to ETF considerations and beyond. ~10 mins. If you cannot view the podcast below, please view the transcript below or select the link here. Tickerized for holdings in the XLV and IBB. Brian Nelson, CFA Gilead’s (GILD) hepatitis C regimen, almost a hundred thousand dollars. Vertex’s (VRTX) cystic fibrosis drug — hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. Have the drug companies lost their mind? This is Brian Nelson from Valuentum Securities, and today joining me is Mr. Kris Rosemann and Mr. Chris Araos — and we are going to talk everything healthcare, biotech… Mr. … Read more

Industrials Empty Tool Box Amid Tough Operating Environment

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By Kris Rosemann How far we have come from the financial abyss! The US economy is now more than seven years removed from the credit crisis that sent shockwaves through the global financial system in the latter years of the past decade. In the fourth quarter of 2008, for example, real GDP in the US tumbled more than 8%, a figure not witnessed since the double-dip recession of the 1980s, and perhaps not surpassed since the time of the Great Depression. During the Financial Crisis of 2008-2009, many industrial entities, particularly those with finance subsidiaries faced dwindling credit health, and several including General Electric (GE) and Harley-Davidson (HOG) cut their dividends to shareholders. Others such as General Motors (GM) even … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending November 20

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised/lowered their dividends during the week ending November 20. The dividend reports of covered firms on this list will be updated shortly with the new information. To access our dividend reports use the ‘Symbol’ search box in our website header. Firms Raising Their Dividends This Week Acme United (ACU): now $0.10 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.09. Agilent (A): now $0.115 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.10. American Equity (AEL): now $0.22 per share annual dividend, was $0.20. American National Bankshares (AMNB): now $0.24 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.23. Bob Evans Farms (BOBE): now $0.34 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.31. Brown-Forman (BF.A): now $0.34 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.315. … Read more

Valuentum Economic Castleâ„¢ Rating Update

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Read: Keeping the Horse Before the Cart: Valuentum’s Economic Castle™ Rating The Economic Castle Focuses on the Magnitude of Economic Value Creation The Valuentum Economic Castle™ rating is an enhancement of the competitive advantage framework (commonly known as economic moat analysis) that has become widespread and ubiquitous within the investing world. Whereas an economic moat framework evaluates a firm on the basis of the sustainability and durability of its competitive advantages, Valuentum’s Economic Castle™ rating evaluates a firm on the basis of the firm’s future economic profit spread (return on invested capital less its weighted average cost of capital). The companies with the strongest Valuentum Economic Castle™ ratings are poised to generate the most economic value for shareholders in the … Read more

Keeping Some Dry Powder

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A young cowboy named Billy Joe grew restless on the farm A boy filled with wonderlust who really meant no harm He changed his clothes and shined his boots And combed his dark hair down And his mother cried as he walked out Don’t take your guns to town son Leave your guns at home Bill Don’t take your guns to town — Johnny Cash “Don’t Take Your Guns to Town” << What does it mean to have “dry powder”? Valuentum pursues a standard quarterly report update cycle, and our latest update of companies in the Electrical Equipment industry was quite informative. This group includes many companies that operate within the heart of the industrial economy but fall short of … Read more

The Best Years Are Ahead

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By Brian Nelson, CFA — The wind is at our backs. — The Federal Reserve, Treasury, and regulatory bodies of the U.S. may have no choice but to keep U.S. markets moving higher. The likelihood of the S&P 500 reaching 2,000 ever again seems remote, and I would not be surprised to see 5,000 on the S&P 500 before we see 2,500-3,000, if the latter may be in the cards. The S&P 500 is trading at ~4,100 at the time of this writing. — The high end of our fair value range on the S&P 500 remains just shy of 4,000, but I foresee a massive shift in long-term capital out of traditional bonds into equities this decade (and markets … Read more

Nelson: The 16 Most Important Steps To Understand The Stock Market

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A previous version of this article appeared on our website July 21, 2013. Refreshed and updated throughout, as of July 2018. By Brian Nelson, CFA After earning my MBA at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and training stock and credit analysts from large organizations over the past decade or so, I have heard just about every question (though I admit I am still surprised by many things and remain a very humble student of the markets). I’ve also spent years perfecting the discounted cash flow process for large research organizations such as Morningstar and studied under one of the most famed aggressive growth investors of all time, Richard Driehaus. My knowledge runs the gamut from value through … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week of November 18

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending November 18. The dividend reports of covered firms on this list will be updated shortly with the new information. To access our dividend reports use the ‘Symbol’ search box in our website header. Firms Raising Their Dividends This Week                AECOM Technology (ACM): now $0.18 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.15. Agilent Technologies (A): now $0.225 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.210. Alvopetro Energy (ALVOF): now $0.12 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.08. American National Bankshares (AMNB): now $0.30 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.28. Bank7 (BSVN): now $0.16 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.12. BankFirst Capital (BFCC): now $0.85 per share dividend, was $0.68. … Read more

There Is Milk At The Store

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This article first appeared in the September edition of the High Yield Dividend Newsletter. For more information about this publication, please see here. “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” — Winston Churchill By Brian Nelson, CFA Very few of us could have imagined that we’d witness the bull market that began on that fateful day in March 2009 that might very well mark a generational low. In 2009, major investment banks around the globe were struggling to survive, and the fallout in the mortgage markets left the banks holding paper that nobody wanted to own, let alone buy. The global financial system … Read more