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A Tale of Two Package Delivery Companies

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Image Shown: Shares of both FedEx Corporation (FDX) (indicated by the orange line above) and United Parcel Service Inc (UPS) (indicated by the blue line above) have come under a tremendous amount of pressure over the past year as the industry navigates the fallout from the US-China trade war. Both companies are investing heavily to improve their offerings to stay ahead of the game as large tech companies increasingly encroach on the shipping industry’s traditional turf. The S&P 500 index is indicted by the purple line above. By Callum Turcan The past year has not been kind to the air freight and logistics industry. The price of shares of FedEx Corp (FDX) have fallen by more than a third during … Read more

The Valuentum Team Talks Powell Speech and Threat of Global Recession

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Last week, China issued retaliatory tariffs on US goods, and Trump responded in kind, escalating trade tensions. Caught in the middle of this US-China trade war is the Fed, however. Let’s sit down with the Valuentum team and kick things off with our thoughts on Fed Chairman Powell’s speech, Challenges for Monetary Policy issued August 23 in Jackson Hole, WY. Our latest Economic Roundtable can be accessed here. Matthew Warren: Powell is certainly leaving the door open for cuts if needed. To me, it’s largely pushing on a string. I don’t think cost of capital is the problem. Capital is already cheap. Mortgages aren’t even following the 10-year (TLT, TBT) down fully. Banks (XLF) won’t take credit card rates down … Read more

Target Stuns, Shares Jump Higher

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Image Shown: Shares of Target Corporation (TGT) leapt higher on August 21 on the back of its strong performance during the second quarter of FY2019. In particular, the retailer’s comparable same store sales growth was quite impressive given the hard comparison period, with e-commerce and same-day fulfillment leading the way. By Callum Turcan On August 21, Target Corp (TGT) reported very strong second quarter FY2019 earnings (three months ended August 3) that sent shares up ~20% on the trading session. For starters, comparable store sales growth clocked in at 3.4% year-over-year and was up 9.9% on a two-year basis (adding comp growth from the second quarter of 2018 and 2019 together). That indicates this was much more than just a … Read more

No Recession At Walmart; Estee Lauder Not Cheap

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Image Source: Mike Mozart Walmart’s results were quite reassuring regarding the health of the economy. There are also pockets of significant strength, with prestige beauty being catapulted by a “selfie generation.”  By Brian Nelson, CFA No Recession At Walmart Following what can best be described as “carnage” across the retail sector when Macy’s reported August 14, Walmart (WMT) eased some of the concerns in the retail sector when the bellwether reported August 15. Although Amazon (AMZN) seems to get most of the attention when it comes to assessing the health of the consumer, Walmart remains twice as large, as measured by revenue. Walmart generated ~$514 billion in revenue during its last fiscal year, while Amazon hauled in ~$233 billion. If the … Read more

In the News: Amazon, GE, Kraft-Heinz, Disney, CVS Health, Gilead

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We’re reiterating the large range of fair value outcomes for Amazon. We’re staying far away from General Electric and Kraft-Heinz. Netflix may have its back against the ropes with Disney Plus. CVS Health and Gilead were two setbacks in the newsletter portfolios in the past, but we kept losses to a minimum and new ideas more than offset the weakness. The Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio continues to do very well. By Brian Nelson, CFA Amazon (AMZN) Image Shown: Amazon has a large range of fair value outcomes, and shares are trading roughly in line with our fair value estimate. The e-commerce powerhouse’s shares have come in aggressively since it reported second-quarter results July 25. We get a lot of questions … Read more

Dollar General Continues to Lead

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Image Source: Dollar General Corporation – IR 2016 Presentation By Callum Turcan Dollar General Corporation (DG) is one of the holdings in the simulated Best Ideas Newsletter, and shares yield 1% as of this writing. The company had ~15,500 stores situated across 44 states as of March 1, 2019, making Dollar General the largest discount retailer by store count. Its business model is built around selling low-cost items that e-commerce firms couldn’t economically ship without being part of a much larger order. Around three-quarters of Dollar General’s stores are located in towns with populations of 20,000 or less, giving it another edge on its competitors like Amazon Inc (AMZN) due to the logistical problems that arise when selling very small … Read more

Markets Swooning, Expect Extreme Volatility, Finger on Put-Option Trigger

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Image shown: We notified members December 26 that we had  moved  the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio to a “fully invested” position, from a 30% and 20% cash “weighting” at the high end of the range, respectively.  — No change to simulated newsletter portfolios…at this time.  — Hi everyone, — Hope you’re navigating these tumultuous markets well.   — If you recall, during the holiday season last year, we had moved the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio to “fully invested.” See image above (point of the arrow). Because many members were traveling and out of the office, not all were able to read the notification until a week or two after. They were … Read more

Facebook Was Textbook, Intel Still About Fairly Valued After Weakness

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Image: Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio holding Facebook’s (FB) stock has advanced 56% since it bottomed in December. This is yet another textbook execution of the Valuentum Buying Index, a strong breakout of the downtrend on a significantly undervalued stock. See also the example with Apple (AAPL) on page 241 in Value Trap: Theory of Universal Valuation. — In alphabetical order by ticker symbol: ABBV, AMZN, AAL, BMY, CHDN, CL, DHR, DLR, F, HON, INTC, SBUX — AbbVie (ABBV): The branded pharmaceutical business that was spun off from Abbott (ABT) continues to tread water, with shares in a steady downtrend since peaking at the beginning of 2018. We’re not interested in this company given the concentration risk of blockbuster drug Humira, and we generally … Read more

PepsiCo Fights off Forex Headwinds as it Gets Ready to Take on Amazon

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Image Source: PepsiCo Inc – IR Presentation By Callum Turcan While foreign currency headwinds are proving quite troublesome, PepsiCo continues to post strong organic growth that helped drive its outperformance during the first quarter of 2019. That strong performance will be needed as Amazon gets ready to enter the energy beverage arena. PepsiCo Inc’s (PEP) shares shot up to record highs on April 17 after posting first quarter results that clearly impressed the market. With shares now trading around $127 as of this writing, the beverage and snack giant yields 2.9% with decent dividend coverage going forward. The company beat consensus top and bottom-line estimates while reaffirming 2019E guidance, which signals to the market that management is confident in PepsiCo’s … Read more

Disney Pushes Deeper into the Streaming Market While Cooling Off on Future Star Wars Movie Releases

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Entertainment giant Disney has been milking the Star Wars franchise for all its worth since acquiring Lucasfilms back in 2012. Now fans are starting to shun the franchise’s blockbuster movie releases and that has management considering how to properly leverage this top tier asset going forward. By Callum Turcan Walt Disney (DIS) has long been a giant in the entertainment industry, a position further cemented by its $71.3 billion purchase of 21st Century Fox which only just closed in March. As of this writing, Disney yields 1.3% and has a great track record when it comes to dividend growth. Even better, we are very optimistic on Disney’s ability to keep growing its quarterly payout over the coming years as the firm … Read more