BMY

Markets Up Big; Upside Volatility

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Image shown: The S&P 500 ETF (SPY) since August 2017. The index has broken through support and is now bouncing back to resistance. By Brian Nelson, CFA Good morning everyone, Are you watching these markets? This is incredible. The Dow finished down 660 points yesterday (briefly dropping 700 points), and today, the Dow is currently trading up 600 points at the time of this writing. Granted, there was Apple’s (AAPL) poor first-quarter 2019 guidance yesterday and the strong jobs report today, but this volatility is not “normal,” no matter what others are saying. A couple announcements up front. For those that already ordered our book Value Trap, I will send you the pdf download to your email address just to make sure … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending January 4

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending January 4. 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 Bank OZK (OZK): now $0.22 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.21. Brandywine Realty Trust (BDN): now $0.19 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.18. Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY): now $0.41 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.40. Owens Corning (OC): now $0.22 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.21. Preferred Bank (PFBC): now $0.30 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.25. Templeton Emerging Markets Income Fund (TEI): now $0.0655 per share … Read more

Valuentum Stock Screeners

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This article was sent to members via email December 29. That email can be accessed at the link that follows this article. By Brian Nelson, CFA Hi everyone, I wanted to provide an update with respect to Valuentum’s stock screeners. We believe our stock screeners are among the most robust when it comes to providing forward-looking data, or data that is important with respect to the investment decision-making process. We publish screens in each of the monthly newsletters, but we also provide a basic weekly screener for download on the left column of the website, “Download Weekly Stock Screener (xls) — login required.”   We also have other products. The more robust DataScreener, for example, is part of the quarterly Financial … Read more

Market Mayhem — Alerts for Members

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During these extremely volatile times, it’s important to stay focused. On December 15, we informed all of our members to “Pay Attention.” Shortly thereafter, we notified members of the potential for a stock market technical breakdown. This morning, we offered a pre-market briefing about the importance of thinking about portfolio protection. For Best Ideas Newsletter and Dividend Growth Newsletter members: http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?preview=true&m=1110817109903&ca=e2406cd6-c113-4344-8731-493f33fc44a4&id=preview For High Yield Dividend Newsletter members: http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?preview=true&m=1110817109903&ca=b3ba530f-38b3-489a-ac96-2961dca89c6b&id=preview For Exclusive members: http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?preview=true&m=1110817109903&ca=ba6d90c0-4433-48b2-9b8a-aac4ddf9006e&id=preview We’re here for any questions. Please just let us know how we can help! Kind regards, Brian Nelson, CFA  brian@valuentum.com

Stellar Keytruda Growth Powers Merck Higher

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Shares of pharmaceutical giant Merck continue to accelerate thanks in large part to the growth of its key oncology asset Keytruda. Even though Merck is a well-established entity, future growth is highly correlated to the continued expansion of Keytruda as it continues to gain market share thanks in large part to superior clinical data and label expansion. By Alexander J. Poulos Key Takeaways Keytruda remains a star performer powering Merck’s quarterly performance. We remain big fans of Keytruda’s potential as the recent clinical data underscores the best in class potential of the molecule. The performance of Keytruda is critical for Merck as sales deceleration in former growth properties begin to weigh on overall sales of the company. Why are we … Read more

Pfizer: Lots of Moving Parts in a Generally-Inspiring Second Quarter

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Image Source: Pfizer We came away generally impressed with the progress at Pfizer during the second quarter as the company begins to replace its current patent protected line-up with next-generation treatments. Pfizer continues to gain political favor with its decision to forgo price hikes on its product line-up while announcing a re-organization of the business structure. By Alexander J. Poulos Key Takeaways There has been lots of political intrigue as Pfizer seeks to gain favor with the White House via rolling back its annual drug price hikes. The company announced plans to split into three companies, which we view as the first step towards a complete split of the company. In the second-quarter earnings report, released July 31, Pfizer raised … Read more

Valuentum’s Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) Distribution

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The weighted average cost of capital is one of the most subjective measures in corporate finance, but it is also one of the most important ones. “The most important item over time in valuation is obviously interest rates…If interest rates are destined to be at low levels…It makes any stream of earnings from investments worth more money. The bogey is always what government bonds yield….Any investment is worth all the cash you’re going to get out between now and judgment day discounted back. The discounting back is affected by whether you choose interests rates like those of Japan or interest rates like those we had in 1982…When we had 15 percent short-term rates in 1982, it was silly to pay … Read more

Roche Continues to Underwhelm

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We like cutting-edge, novel therapies as they have a transformative impact on a small to mid-cap biotech as years of revenue growth could be in the cards. While new therapies are the life-blood of the research field, the impact of a new novel therapy on the growth prospects of a large cap is often muted, however. Such is the fate of Roche as it struggles to replace its mainstay oncology division with new patent-protected entities. By Alexander J. Poulos Key Takeaways Roche remains highly exposed to loss of patent exclusivity as a whole suite of its top-producing products is expected to lose coverage over the next couple of years. Roche will need to hit a few home runs, but its … Read more

Merck’s Dominance in Immuno-Oncology Expands Once Again

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Image Source: Merck Merck simply blew away the competition–the results are simply incredible. Keytruda is a gamechanger, and we think it will become the top-selling pharmaceutical once the patent lapses on Humira. By Alexander J. Poulos Key Takeaways Merck has solidified its lead in non-small cell lung cancer, which should power revenue growth well into the future. Merck will become increasingly more dependent on Keytruda for top-line growth, however, as we think its clinical pipeline remains uninspiring. The company’s dividend is a head-turner, but there are long-term risks to big pharma payouts. Shares look fairly valued to us. What is Immuno-Oncology? Immuno-oncology is the innovative field which seeks to augment the body’s own immune system to fight and hopefully eradicate cancer. … Read more

Study: Valuentum’s Best Ideas Newsletter Portfolio

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To read the study, please click on the image to download the pdf document (pdf).