The Best Years Are Ahead

By Brian Nelson, CFA — The wind is at our backs. — The Federal Reserve, Treasury, and regulatory bodies of the U.S. may have no choice but to keep U.S. markets moving higher. The likelihood of the S&P 500 reaching 2,000 ever again seems remote, and I would not be surprised to see 5,000 on the S&P 500 before we see 2,500-3,000, if the latter may be in the cards. The S&P 500 is trading at ~4,100 at the time of this writing. — The high end of our fair value range on the S&P 500 remains just shy of 4,000, but I foresee a massive shift in long-term capital out of traditional bonds into equities this decade (and markets … Read more

VBI Ratings Not as Impressive As We Would Have Liked in 2022

Image: How the VBI rating system has ranked equities so far this year. By Brian Nelson, CFA At Valuentum, we use the Valuentum Buying Index (VBI) to source ideas into diversified simulated newsletter portfolios, and the VBI may be most applicable to the simulated Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio, where we generally like to include ideas when they register a high VBI rating and remove them when they register a low VBI rating. We always use the VBI in a portfolio setting and never by itself. But what about the Valuentum Buying Index ratings, themselves? How did they “perform” during 2022 in one of the worst years for stock market investors in history? Well, not as spectacular as we would have … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week of August 2

Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending August 2. 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                          American States Water (AWR): now $0.4655 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.4300. Ardmore Shipping (ASC): now $0.38 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.31. Barret Business (BBSI): now $0.08 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.075, on a split-adjusted basis. Black Diamond Group (BDIMF): now CAD 0.03 per share quarterly dividend, was CAD 0.02. Boise Cascade (BCC): now $0.21 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.20. BP … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending May 12

Below we provide a list of firms that raised/lowered their dividends during the week ending May 12. 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 The Brink’s (BCO): now $0.15 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.10. Buckeye Partners (BPL): now $1.25 per share quarterly dividend, was $1.2375. BWX Technologies (BWXT): now $0.11 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.09. Cabot (CBT): now $0.315 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.30. Canadian Pacific Railway (CP): now CAD 0.5625 per share quarterly dividend, was CAD 0.50. Clorox (CLX): now $0.84 per share quarterly dividend, was … Read more

There Is Milk At The Store

This article first appeared in the September edition of the High Yield Dividend Newsletter. For more information about this publication, please see here. “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” — Winston Churchill By Brian Nelson, CFA Very few of us could have imagined that we’d witness the bull market that began on that fateful day in March 2009 that might very well mark a generational low. In 2009, major investment banks around the globe were struggling to survive, and the fallout in the mortgage markets left the banks holding paper that nobody wanted to own, let alone buy. The global financial system … Read more

Earnings Roundup for the Week Ended Sunday, April 19, Covering Companies Across the Board

By Callum Turcan Let’s take a look at several earnings reports across numerous industries in this article as the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic forces the global economy to a crawl. Please note that as these reports primarily cover the first quarter of calendar year 2020, the impact of the pandemic has yet to be truly reflected in corporate earnings. That said, these reports still provide an important glimpse into what to expect going forward and how companies are responding to the pandemic. By ticker in alphabetical order: BBBY, CPSS, ISRG, LAKE, MRTN, OFLX, SCHW, TSM Bed Bath & Beyond Inc (BBBY) Shares of BBBY shot up on April 16 after reporting fourth quarter and full-year results for its fiscal 2019 … Read more

8 Announcements and Top Research You May Have Missed

8 Announcements. This article was sent to members via email March 27. By Brian Nelson, CFA Hi everyone, Brian here. Trust you are doing great! Here are eight announcements I want you to be aware of: Everything we do is for our members. We’re very proud of the outperformance of the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio, that we’ve never had a dividend cut in the Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio, that our high-yield ideas are holding up very well, and the success rates of the Exclusive capital-appreciation ideas and short-idea considerations are running at approximately 80%. We’re proud to be your research partner. The odds of a Fed rate cut are going up as yield-curve inversion continues to threaten. The risks are more behavioral in … Read more

VIDEO/TRANSCRIPT: 2021 Valuentum Exclusive Call: Inflation Is Good

Valuentum’s President Brian Michael Nelson, CFA, explains why investors should not fear inflation, why government agencies such as the Fed and Treasury are prioritizing something other than price discovery, why the 10-year Treasury rate is a must-watch metric, and why Valuentum prefers the moaty constituents in large cap growth due to their net cash rich balance sheets, tremendous free cash flow generating potential, and secular growth tailwinds. Transcript: << Valuentum’s Best Ideas On behalf of the Valuentum team, I’d like to present to you our prepared remarks for the Valuentum Exclusive conference call for 2021. It is both an honor and a privilege to share our team’s work with you, and I personally am very grateful for your continued interest … Read more

How to Think About Corporate Tax Reform