The Merits of Concentrated Portfolios

My dear friends: — Many thanks for your continued interest in our work.  — Though uncertainty in the efficacy of any vaccine for coronavirus disease (“COVID-19”) remains, the New York Times reported today that the CDC “has notified public health officials in all 50 states and five large cities to prepare to distribute a coronavirus vaccine to health care workers and other high-risk groups as soon as late October or early November,” just weeks from now.  — While expected by the optimists, we continue to view this as good news. The sheer amount of resources, both public and private, seeking a vaccine for COVID-19 leads me to believe we’ll have one sooner than later, in time to set the economy up for a stronger-than-expected … Read more

Valuentum Website Overview

Overview of the key features of 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. The Benefits of Premium Membership >> Subscribe Now!

TikTok Up for Grabs

Image Shown: ByteDance may be forced to sell the US operations of TikTok, and there are plenty of potential suitors out there with deep pockets. By Callum Turcan On August 27, Walmart Inc (WMT) announced it was in discussions with Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) about acquiring the US operations of popular short-video-oriented social firm TikTok from Beijing-based ByteDance. Given that Microsoft noted back on August 2 it was continuing discussions concerning a potential deal for TikTok’s US, Australian, New Zealand and Canadian operations, it is likely Walmart would be interested in acquiring an economic interest in those assets as well. Here is what Walmart had to say in its brief statement (emphasis added): The way TikTok has integrated e-commerce and advertising … Read more

Latest Stock Report Updates

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Just How Good Have We Been?

Image: We have been absolutely pounding the table on big cap tech and large cap growth for many months now. It has been one of the rare buckets to have done well this year. By well, we mean superb. Source: Zerohedge — Hi everyone:—Brian here. Just how good have we been for members? — After capping off one of the best years in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio in 2019, we highlighted broad market put option ideas in late February and early March–right before the COVID-19 crash that shocked the markets.  — Then, just about right near the bottom, we highlighted 17 of 20 outperforming ideas–strong net-cash-rich, free-cash-flow generating powerhouses with strong secular growth tailwinds. We then went all-in in the newsletter … Read more

August Best Ideas Newsletter!

Image: The Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio. We migrated to weighting ranges at the beginning of 2018. The image above is as of the close April 15. — Hi everyone: — Trust you are well.  — Portfolio concentration among strong-performing equities has been the key to outperformance. Since the last update, we’ve witnessed some big moves from our top-weighted entities: Berkshire Hathaway (+10.7%), Facebook (+8.7%), and PayPal (+11.2%). These three entities comprise roughly 34% of the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio at the high end of the weighting ranges, more than offsetting the weaker performance from lower-weighted Cisco and Intel during the month. We continue to focus on over-weighting our “best of the best” ideas within a portfolio setting, and we’re hoping to … Read more

Apple Surges Higher Ahead of Stock Split

Image Shown: Shares of Apple Inc have staged an impressive rally since bouncing off their March 2020 lows, with AAPL up ~46% year-to-date as of this writing on August 3. We added shares of Apple back to the Best Ideas Newsletter and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolios on June 12, 2020. Later on this August, Apple intends on completing a four-for-one stock split. By Callum Turcan We added Apple Inc (AAPL) back to both the Best Ideas Newsletter and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolios on June 12, 2020 (link here). Companies that are supported by secular growth tailwinds and pristine balance sheets, such as Apple, are well-positioned to deal with the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic. Shares of AAPL have surged significantly higher … Read more

Our Judgment for the Long Haul

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. Valuentum … Read more

AT&T Remains Free Cash Flow King, Though Deleveraging Efforts Are Getting Tougher

Image Shown: AT&T Inc continued to be a free cash flow cow last quarter, though the ongoing pandemic created headwinds for its various businesses. Image Source: AT&T Inc – Second Quarter of 2020 IR Earnings Presentation By Callum Turcan The ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic has created some very serious headwinds for AT&T Inc (T), but that did not stop the telecommunications and entertainment giant from being incredibly free cash flow positive last quarter. On July 23, AT&T reported its second quarter 2020 earnings report and we remain confident in the firm’s ability to keep making good on its dividend obligations going forward. Shares of T yield ~7.1% as of this writing, and we include shares of AT&T in our High … Read more

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. Valuentum … Read more