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

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

Stock Market Outlook for 2021

By Valuentum Analysts February 8, 2021 2020 was one for the history books. We covered our thoughts and reflections on the past year in our “2020 Won’t Soon Be Forgotten” article (link here), and now we are looking towards the future. Global health authorities should be able to bring an end to the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic sooner than many had expected as several vaccines have already been improved for emergency use and several others appear increasingly likely to get approved. Global vaccine distribution activities are currently underway, and this should allow the world to slowly return to pre-pandemic activities. Before then, immense stimulus measures launched primarily in developed nations should support global economic activities until the public health crisis … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week of January 26

Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending January 26. 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                          Acerinox, S.A. (ANIOY): now $0.1219 per share semi-annual dividend, was $0.1159. Acuity Brands (AYI): now $0.15 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.13. ADT (ADT): now $0.055 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.035. Air Products and Chemicals (APD): now $1.77 per share quarterly dividend, was $1.75. ALLETE (ALE): now $0.705 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.6775. American Express (AXP): now $0.70 per share quarterly dividend, … Read more

Which Sectors Are Leading the Market Higher? And Why Is This Important?

Missed the ’13 Most Important Steps to Understand the Stock Market’? Click here. Demand academic evidence regarding the efficacy of the Valuentum process? Click here. Tobias J. Moskowitz and Mark Grinblatt documented the “strong and prevalent momentum effect in industry components of stock returns which accounts for much of the individual stock momentum anomaly” in their scholarly article published in the Journal of Finance, ‘Do Industries Explain Momentum’ (download here; stable link here; updated by Fraulo and Nguyen here). Moskowitz and Grinblatt also concluded that “industry momentum investment strategies, which buy stocks from past winning industries and sell stocks from past losing industries, appear highly profitable.” Such findings are consistent with the ‘Case for the Valuentum Style of Investing,’ and … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending January 27

Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending January 27. 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 AGCO (AGCO): now $0.14 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.13. Air Products and Chemicals (APD): now $0.95 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.86. ALLETE (ALE): now $0.535 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.52. Applied Industrial Technologies (AIT): now $0.29 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.28. Arthur J. Gallagher (AJG): now $0.39 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.38. Bank First National (BFNC): now $0.16 per share quarterly … Read more

Top Research and Ideas You May Have Missed

Is Quant Value Giving Intrinsic Value Investors a Bad Name? Surely, you don’t believe Warren Buffett’s “style” is out of favor? By Brian Nelson, CFA I need to make sure that you’re aware of something very important. The media and perhaps many investment professionals define the concept of “value” as companies with low price-to-book (P/B) ratios, and the concept of “growth” as companies with high price-to-book ratios. This definition of “value” and “growth” and their corresponding returns have been magnified in writings throughout the media and across quantitative research, even in prestigious journals. Warren Buffett has been rallying against most quantitative applications and how “growth” and “value” are defined in popular media and quantitative research for decades.  Here’s one of the Oracle’s most … Read more

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

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week of January 27

Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending January 27. 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                Air Products and Chemicals (APD): now $1.75 per share quarterly dividend, was $1.62. Alliant Energy (LNT): now $0.4525 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.4275. American Express (AXP): now $0.60 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.52. Applied Industrial Technologies (AIT): now $0.35 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.34. Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM): now $0.45 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.40. Archrock (AROC): now $0.15 per share quarterly dividend, … Read more