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Berkshire Reports 2019 Earnings

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By Callum Turcan Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRK.A) (BRK.B) reported fourth quarter and full-year results on Saturday February 22, and we appreciate the firm’s performance across most of its business lines, keeping in mind that losses at its insurance-underwriting business during the fourth quarter weakened its company-wide performance. That being said, the insurance business can be volatile at times, which is why we appreciate Berkshire’s large railroad, utility, consumer goods, and other business segments. On the topic of Berkshire’s insurance-related exposure to the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic (which has since spread from China (FXI, MCHI, KWEB) to the rest of the world, shutting down economies in South Korea (EWY), Italy (EWI), and elsewhere), insurance firms fundamentally altered the structure of their policies after the … Read more

ALERT: Adding Market Crash ‘Protection,’ Removing MSFT, BKNG

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Image source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  ALERT: Adding Market Crash ‘Protection,’ Removing MSFT, BKNG — Changes to newsletter portfolios — We’re adding out-of-the-money put options to both the Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio and Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio. — We’re removing Microsoft from the Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio. — We’re removing Booking Holdings from the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio. — By Brian Nelson, CFA — We’re making some moves in the newsletter portfolios today.  — The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA) is currently indicated down 900+ points in pre-market trading during the session Monday, February 24. We laid out a thesis where the US markets could experience a “crash,” and we encourage you to read that take here, “Is a … Read more

Is a Stock Market Crash Coming? — Coronavirus Update and P/E Ratios

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Image Source: World Health Organization, Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Situation Report — 32 We don’t think this is the environment to put new capital to work, and we remain highly cautious of what COVID-19 means for global economic growth not just in the first quarter of 2020 but for the rest of this year (maybe longer). Right now, the US markets are not really factoring in anything related to COVID-19, and perhaps may be adjusting to China’s stimulus in artificially propping up the markets as if the outbreak is somehow a “positive thing.” With the S&P 500 trading at 19.0 forward earnings estimates–estimates that are likely too high given the evidence we are seeing with respect to a slowdown due … Read more

Visa Reports Earnings and Mildly Adjusts Guidance

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Image Shown: Shares of top weighted holding in our Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio Visa Inc continues to outperform the S&P 500. By Callum Turcan On January 30, Visa Inc (V) reported earnings for the first quarter of its fiscal 2020 (period ended December 31, 2019). While shares sold off on the news, V has since recovered some lost ground and it’s important to keep in mind Visa is up ~42% over the past year as of this writing while the S&P 500 (SPY) was up just ~19% during this period. We continue to like Visa as a top weighted holding in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and given the combination of the firm’s strong long-term technical and fundamental performance (on … Read more

Resetting Your Mental Model

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Image Source: affen ajlfe A version of this article was originally published on our website October 6, 2013. Having the right mental model and using the right information can be the reason why you win or lose in investing. “What is the definition of timeliness? Many believe it is getting information to investors as quickly as possible after an event, or updating something every single day or week for immaterial information. I believe in a different definition of timeliness. I believe timeliness is using all information available in a mosaic approach to accurately predict the event before it even happens. Take Kinder Morgan as the latest example. We were the only ones predicting what was going to happen before it did. To investors, … Read more

Valuentum Exclusive Success Rates Trump Even the Best Quant Hedge Funds

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Image: President of Investment Research Brian Nelson, CFA By Brian Nelson, CFA A new book, “The Man Who Solved the Market,” hit bookshelves last year, and thus far it has been a hit. The text goes into the story of quant hedge fund Renaissance Technologies and its hedge fund, the Medallion Fund, which has put up mammoth returns since inception. Though the book focuses more on the life and times of founder Jim Simons and dedicated only a page or two to the fall of Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM), another quant fund that went belly-up during the late 1990s, it was nonetheless a thoroughly interesting and enjoyable read. But why I am bringing up one of the most successful quant … Read more

Wells Fargo’s 4%+ Dividend Yield Offers Support to Shares

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Image Source: Mike Mozart By Matthew Warren On October 15, Wells Fargo (WFC) reported third-quarter results that showed revenue up 0.3% to $22.01 billion, which beat consensus estimates by $690 million. Earnings came up short with non-GAAP EPS of $1.07 missing by $0.11 and GAAP EPS of $0.92 missing by $0.31. The adjusted figure excludes a $1.6 billion (0.35/share) discrete litigation accrual (related to previously disclosed retail sales practices matters) and a $1.1 billion (0.20/share) gain from its previously-announced sale of its Institutional Retirement and Trust Business. Net interest margin compressed from 2.94% in last year’s quarter to 2.66% in this year’s quarter, due to the lower interest rate environment and assets repricing lower more quickly than deposits. Deposits grew only … Read more

ICYMI: Interview with Valuentum’s President Brian M. Nelson, CFA

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Catch up with Valuentum’s President Brian M. Nelson, CFA in a recent interview with dividend growth investor Arne Magnus Lorentzen Ulland of the blog stockles. By Brian Nelson, CFA Recently, I was interviewed by Arne Magnus Lorentzen Ulland of the blog stockles. Arne is a dividend growth investor like many of you, and I sincerely hope you enjoy the interview he put together. I’m very grateful for his interest. His questions were fantastic. We discuss why and how I incorporate independence and integrity into the service at Valuentum. We go into detail regarding why Valuentum views stocks the way it does, and how Valuentum combines enterprise valuation and the information contained in prices in its stock-selection process. I discuss the pitfalls … Read more

Join the Conversation on the Market Plunge

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The Valuentum team shares its thoughts on the recent surge in volatility and collapse in interest rates amid a trade and currency war between two of the largest economies in the world, the US and China. No changes to the newsletter portfolios at this time. During the past few days, the US (SPY, DIA) and China (FXI, MCHI) have escalated a trade war, turning it into a currency war, the latter allowing its yuan to drop to lower levels against the U.S. dollar. The US has now labeled China a “currency manipulator,” and China has responded by suspending U.S. agricultural purchases. China is one of the largest buyers of U.S. agricultural goods. The Valuentum team builds on its previous conversation … Read more

In the News: Second-Quarter Earnings Season Marches On

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We like what we saw out of a few industrial names, including Honeywell, Danaher and Dover. We thought Taiwan Semi’s report was okay, and Philip Morris continues to navigate declining cigarette volumes. We include our thoughts on some of the mid-size banks. By Brian Nelson, CFA For those just catching up, please have a read of our introductory second-quarter earnings season piece here. We saw some nice reports from J&J (JNJ) and Abbott (ABT), and while we had some concerns about the core industrial economy in light of Fastenal’s (FAST) and CSX’s (CSX) reports, news from Honeywell (HON), Danaher (DHR), and Dover (DOV) suggest that industrial activity is more likely mixed than outright deteriorating. Honeywell’s second-quarter results, released July 18, … Read more