CSCO

The Invincible S&P 500?

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This is the performance of the S&P 500 (SPY) since the March 2009 panic bottom. It’s incredible, to say the least. US stocks, as measured by the S&P 500 have more than tripled since the doldrums of the Financial Crisis, and for those of us that lived and breathed the markets during every day of the Financial Crisis, the lack of volatility and the ongoing, steady advance seemingly month after month during the past 6-plus years have been incredibly peculiar–and perhaps contradictorily–less-than-comforting. Any market that sets prices on the buying and selling behavior of a wide-variety of participants with differing views shouldn’t be so coordinated and one directional. It seems unnatural, or at the very least, unusual. While others are … Read more

Dividend Increases for the Week Ending February 13

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending February 13. 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 Allegion (ALLE): now $0.10 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.08. Auburn National (AUBN): now $0.22 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.215. Cisco (CSCO): now $0.21 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.19. Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE): now $0.28 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.25. Compass Minerals (CMP): now $0.66 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.60. Dominion Resources (D): now $0.6475 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.60. Excel Trust … Read more

Is Apple Worth More Than $200 Per Share?

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Possibly. But we do think Apple’s stock is cheap. $727 billion. $727,000,000,000. That’s Apple’s (AAPL) market capitalization as of the close of business February 11. It’s hard to put such a huge number into perspective, but it amounts to roughly the market caps of the next two largest companies on the US market, Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Microsoft (MSFT), combined. From our perspective, Apple is finally getting credit for its sprawling and near-impenetrable ecosystem and dominance in converging technologies from the iPhone to the iPad to wearable devices. In his latest open letter that’s making headlines, Carl Icahn upped his fair value estimate of Apple to $216 from $203 due in part to higher-than-previously-forecast earnings estimates for the current fiscal … Read more

Stocks Catapult Back To Near All-Time Highs

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It appears that we may get a Santa Claus rally after all. Call it window dressing. Call it drinking at the Fed’s punch bowl. Call it what you will. But the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA) polished off its biggest two-day gain in six years to propel itself back to near all-time highs again. The S&P 500 (SPY), shown above, is now within throwing distance of setting new record ground, and spirits remain high as we approach the Christmas holiday and New Year. Collapsing prices at the gas pump, though highlighting risks to global economic growth, may be helping to spread the holiday cheer. For clarification, we continue to be optimistic about the future returns in the newsletter portfolios, but … Read more

Cisco Is Breaking Out

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We’re adding Cisco (CSCO) to both the Best Ideas portfolio and Dividend Growth portfolio. Communications networking giant Cisco recently registered a 9 on the , and the firm’s dividend has always been one of the strongest in our coverage. Shares yield ~3% and boast an incredible 3.4 ratio on the Dividend Cushion. These marks are very similar to one of our other dividend growth favorites, Microsoft (MSFT). Both tech giants benefit from huge cash positions on the balance sheet, a characteristic that we view as vital to a sustainable and growing dividend.  Though Cisco has registered a 9 on the Valuentum Buying Index before (at $15.82 in September 2011 and at $19.06 in August 2012), we’ve been hesitant to add shares to … Read more

A Sneak Peek at Valuentum’s Slides for the AAII Presentation in Chicago This Saturday!

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Let’s take a sneak peek at President Brian Nelson’s slides for this weekend’s presentation in Chicago! Firms mentioned: MSFT, GOOG, AIR, BRCM, CSCO, SPY, AAPL, QCOM, MA, DPZ, SVU, RNDY, DDE, STRA, EXC, CLF, PBI, CTL, JCP and others. <select image to download the slide deck>

The Correction: Draghi; Chip, Telecom Warnings; Oil and MLPs

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The equity markets have been under significant pressure the past few weeks, and we think there is further downside to come. Our view is that the equity markets will be lower than today’s levels within the next 6-18 months, if not tomorrow or next week or next month. We’ve taken profits on cyclicals, and we’ve already closed out the put option hedges in both portfolios for a substantial gain (the latest transaction alert email can be accessed here). Europe appears to be in a giant mess again. The region hadn’t been strong by any stretch of the imagination, but we recently picked up material weakness during Ford’s (F) recent analyst day, which in part prompted us to take a very … Read more

Cisco: Not the Best Idea in Big Cap Tech

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It’s hard not to like Cisco’s (CSCO) strong free cash flow generation, solid cash balance, and dominance in the communications networking market, but fiscal fourth-quarter results (ended July 26), released Wednesday after the close, weren’t great. We continue to prefer Apple (AAPL) in the Best Ideas portfolio and Microsoft (MSFT) in the Dividend Growth portfolio as the large cap technology exposure, among others. The Best Ideas portfolio seeks to find firms that have good value and good momentum characteristics and typically holds each idea from a Valuentum Buying Index rating of a 9 or 10 (consider buying) to a rating of a 1 or 2 (consider selling). The goal of the Best Ideas portfolio is to generate a positive return … Read more

Valuentum Economic Castleâ„¢ Rating Update

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Read: Keeping the Horse Before the Cart: Valuentum’s Economic Castle™ Rating The Economic Castle Focuses on the Magnitude of Economic Value Creation The Valuentum Economic Castle™ rating is an enhancement of the competitive advantage framework (commonly known as economic moat analysis) that has become widespread and ubiquitous within the investing world. Whereas an economic moat framework evaluates a firm on the basis of the sustainability and durability of its competitive advantages, Valuentum’s Economic Castle™ rating evaluates a firm on the basis of the firm’s future economic profit spread (return on invested capital less its weighted average cost of capital). The companies with the strongest Valuentum Economic Castle™ ratings are poised to generate the most economic value for shareholders in the … Read more