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ATTN: Advisors and Planners — Disruption Is Looming

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“With the commoditization of investment advice and intense competition from robos and other more cost-efficient solutions, growth-minded advisors want to create bespoke experiences for clients.” — WealthManagement.com By Brian Nelson, CFA Hi Valuentum members, colleagues and friends, Valuentum has a large subscriber base and is one of the most successful paid subscription financial information websites launched this decade. Over the past eight years or so, individuals, financial advisors and money managers from all over the world have subscribed to our services. We pride ourselves on independence and transparency, and we’re a champion of the investor. Today, I’d like to talk directly to our financial advisor, financial planner, and professional money-manager members. You probably already heard the news yesterday: Charles Schwab, which handles … Read more

How To Think About Our Methodology In Action

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Image shown: Chipotle (CMG) has been one of our best calls so far in 2019. No changes to simulated newsletter portfolios. Tickers mentioned: AAPL, AMZN, BRK.B, CMG, CVS, FB, GE, JPM, KMI, PYPL, V, XLNX.  Let’s talk about the newsletter portfolios, some areas where we’ve made mistakes, and how some members use our services. By Brian Nelson, CFA I love it when I get questions because it shows the engagement of our members. I appreciate that very much. Though there are other considerations, of course, the Valuentum methodology is really quite simple: dividend growth considerations aside, we like undervalued ideas that are going up, and we generally won’t remove ideas that are overvalued until their technical/momentum indicators turn over. Here’s more about our … Read more

DG Newsletter Alert, Markets on a Roll! New Highs Coming?

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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. It doesn’t look like the timing could have been much better.  Changes to Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio Removing Novartis (NVS) -3.5%-5.5% Adding Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLV) +3.5%-5.5% By Brian Nelson, CFA The back half of 2018 was among the most exciting in Valuentum’s history. For one, we might have made one of our best “market-direction” calls since inception in practically calling the near-term bottom December 26. In hindsight, it’s clear the market had overreacted, but at the time, going to “fully … Read more

Boeing Had Been Overpriced, Breakup Facebook, Amazon, and Alphabet?

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Let’s cover some of the recent developments related to Boeing and ongoing political posturing as it relates to large tech companies. Don’t forget about the 40/40 goal, and be sure to check out the tremendous success rates of the Exclusive publication! By Brian Nelson, CFA The interest in the Exclusive publication has never been greater, and frankly, I couldn’t be happier — and I only have you to thank. But what is the Exclusive and how does it differ from the High Yield Dividend Newsletter? Well, the Exclusive is our premiere newsletter, where we highlight an income idea, a capital appreciation idea and a short idea for consideration each month in thesis form. Many individuals, financial advisors, and institutions use … Read more

Valuentum’s Stock and Data Screens and Screeners

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Let’s go over where to find Valuentum’s stock and data screens and screeners. We believe our stock screeners are among the most robust when it comes to providing forward-looking data, and our data comes straight from our enterprise discounted cash flow models that we use to derive a company’s fair value estimate. By The Valuentum Team In late 2017, we made the decision to transition to providing an updated Excel download each week to members in order to allow them to facilitate any combination of screening criteria they want with respect to our vast amounts of data, whether it be the Valuentum Buying Index, the Dividend Cushion ratio or other. What we’ve found out the past 15 months or so … Read more

News Roundup: Tesla’s Musk, Department Stores, Summit Midstream, Cracker Barrel, Home Depot, GE and More

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No changes to simulated newsletter portfolios By Brian Nelson, CFA There’s never a dull moment in the Tesla (TSLA) story. Just when we thought things were getting back to “normal,” Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk has been hit with a contempt charge for a tweet that allegedly violated his prior deal with the SEC. We don’t think the tweet was a big deal, by itself, and it may have included content from a prior conference call, but given Musk’s prior behavior, including being outspoken about not having any respect for the SEC, he doesn’t have much wiggle room with the authorities. From our perspective, Musk is in now in some serious hot water. We’ve always viewed Tesla as “uninvestable,” not necessarily … Read more

Kraft-Heinz Blows Up, More Updates!

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Image shown: The rating history of Kraft-Heinz (KHC). Valuentum members were warned in advance of this pricey equity in 2016/2017, and the VBI rating never advanced past 5 since then after registering a 1, the worst rating, on two separate occasions. Dear members, I wanted to first of all welcome our new members. There have been a lot of new ones during the past few weeks. Thank you. The buzz might be coming from the new book launch, Value Trap. If you haven’t read the book yet, please do so here. Members can get the pdf digital download today at 25% off. For new members, reading this book is simply par for the course to get a feel for how we look at … Read more

In the News: Potential US-EU Tariffs, Kraft Heinz, and Stamps.com

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Let’s take a look at some of the top stories surrounding the markets, including the potential for escalating US-EU trade tensions, Kraft-Heinz’s not so shocking dividend cut, and Stamps.com’s free fall. By Kris Rosemann While equities continue to display optimism over US-China trade talks, concerns surrounding potential tariffs on autos from the European Union are mounting. Retaliatory measures on ~$22.7 billion of US products from the EU are reportedly already being prepared, and companies such as Caterpillar (CAT) and Xerox (XRX) are among those expected to be targeted by the retaliation. Europe is currently facing potentially slowing economic growth, and weakness in industrial production in the region has not gone unnoticed, “In The News: European Growth Concerns…” Shares of Kraft … Read more

Walmart’s US Comps Impress; Robust E-Commerce Growth Continues

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Image Source: Mike Mozart Walmart’s US operations turned in its best two-year comp sales stack in nine years, and e-commerce sales continue to advance at an impressive double-digit rate. Solid top-line growth is expected to continue in fiscal 2020. By Kris Rosemann Retail giant Walmart (WMT) finished fiscal 2019 (ended January 2019) on a strong note thanks to a solid economic environment and progress on its growth-accelerating initiatives in its fiscal fourth quarter, results released February 19. Total revenue advanced 1.9% as reported and 3.1% in constant currency on a year-over-year basis. Walmart US comp sales grew 4.2% from the year-ago period, driven by a 0.9% rise in comp traffic and 3.3% growth in comp ticket, and US e-commerce sales … Read more

Video Game Industry Adapting to Consumers and Technology

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Image Source: steamXO Adapting to consumer consumption trends is a necessity for video game makers, and rapidly improving technology standards are impacting the industry as producers work to deliver high-quality entertainment effectively. Long-term demand trends are generally bright, but continual innovation and adaptation will be necessary. By Kris Rosemann Key Takeaways Video game companies compete with all forms of entertainment for discretionary spending, and competition has never been greater. Business models aimed at driving recurring revenue have disappointed with respect to their ability to reduce lumpy financial performance. Evolving delivery methods cannot reduce the hit-based nature of the industry. We’re not interested in adding exposure to the space, but operators within it do have some attractive qualities, not the least … Read more