Best Idea Dollar General Roaring Higher

Image Shown: We like the niche Dollar General Corporation has carved out for itself in the competitive discount retail industry. Image Source: Dollar General Corporation – Fiscal 2021 Annual Report By Callum Turcan Though the discount store retail industry is incredibly competitive, we like the niche that Dollar General Corp (DG) has carved out for itself by targeting towns and cities in the U.S. with populations of 20,000 or less. These are regions where e-commerce economics are not attractive due to hefty fulfillment costs, and often are underserved in terms of shopping options. Dollar General operates over 18,100 stores across 46 U.S. states and is included as an idea in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio. We continue to be big … Read more

Don’t Throw the Baby Out with the Bathwater

Image: Erica Nicol Takeaways: Junk tech should continue to collapse, but the stylistic area of large cap growth and big cap tech should remain resilient. Moderately elevated levels of inflation coupled with interest rates hovering at all-time lows isn’t a terrible combination. In fact, it’s not bad at all. The markets are digesting the huge gains of the past few years so far in 2022, and the excesses in ARKK funds, crypto, SPACs, and meme stocks are being rid from the system. Our best ideas are “outperforming” the very benchmarks that are outperforming everyone else. The BIN portfolio is down 6.4% and the DGN portfolio is down 3.2% year to date. The SPY is down 7.8%, while the average investor … Read more

Valuentum Weekly: Nothing Surprising, Well-Positioned!

Image source: Cathie Wood’s flagship ETF, the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) has fallen more more than 40% from its 52-week high. This is nothing short of a complete and utter bloodbath for such an actively-managed fund, in our view. We note this for context. We’re not just talking about one or two or five stocks that are down 40% from 52-week highs, but the *entire fund.* Investors have to keep things in perspective. It’s perfectly reasonable within the context of a portfolio to have a few stocks off 10%, 20%, or maybe even 50% from all-time highs. However, if your entire portfolio is down 40%+ from 52-week highs, you’re doing something wrong. Hi everyone: It’s the most wonderful time of … Read more

Best Idea Dollar General Announces Plans to Go International

Image Source: Dollar General Corporation – Fiscal 2020 Annual Report By Callum Turcan On December 2, Dollar General Corporation (DG) reported third quarter earnings for fiscal 2021 (period ended October 29, 2021) that matched consensus top-line estimates and beat consensus bottom-line estimates. The discount retailer also once again raised its full-year guidance for fiscal 2021, which we will cover in just a moment. For reference, please note that Dollar General’s fiscal years end in late-January or early-February. We will start off by stressing that Dollar General put up banner performance in fiscal 2020 (period ended January 29, 2021) when its same-store sales boomed higher by over 16% and its GAAP net revenues grew by almost 22% on an annual basis. … Read more

Hard Work and the Trust That Binds

Image Source: Terry Johnson By Brian Nelson, CFA We’ll have our traditional Valuentum Weekly email coming out on Sunday, and I’m excited to say our team is putting the finishing touches on our technology industry update, so we’ll have a whole bunch of fresh reports for you to look at Sunday evening/Monday morning. It’s easy to forget how much we’ve been through the past two years. Often, we forget how helpful the warning that markets were going to crash was the weekend before they did on February 22, 2020, “Is a Stock Market Crash Coming? – Coronavirus Update and P/E Ratios,” how we thought dollar-cost-averaging made sense at the bottom in March 2020, and how we went “all-in” in April … Read more

Large Cap Growth Has More Room To Run

“The stylistic area of large cap growth has been one of our favorite areas because of the strong net cash rich, free cash flow generating, secular growth powerhouses that make up much of the space. The image is a rundown of the key Valuentum statistics for the top 15 holdings of the Schwab U.S. Large Cap Growth ETF (SCHG). We believe where large cap growth goes, so does the broader market, considering the hefty weightings of some of these stocks in other broad-based indices. Based on the high end of our fair value estimate range for this group of bellwethers, the broader U.S. markets still have room to run, to the tune of 7%+, despite the many highs already reached … Read more

Best Idea Newsletter Portfolio Idea Dollar General Provides Key Update for Investors

Image Source: Dollar General Corporation – Fiscal 2020 Annual Report By Callum Turcan On August 26, Dollar General Corporation (DG) reported second-quarter earnings for fiscal 2021 (period ended July 30, 2021) that beat both consensus top- and bottom-line estimates. Dollar General updated its full fiscal year guidance in conjunction with its latest earnings report in a favorable manner, though investors were expecting more, and shares of DG fell moderately after the report was published. We continue to like Dollar General as an idea in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio, however. Guidance Boost Dollar General’s updated guidance calls for net sales growth of 0.5%-1.5% (versus its previous guidance calling for flat net sales at the midpoint) and a decline in its … Read more

Top Ideas Doing Great

Image Source: Aguayo Samuel By Brian Nelson, CFA Hi everyone: Hope you’re doing great. The S&P 500 (SPY) continues to roar higher. No longer is the market as easy of a call when we pounded the table near the bottom in April 2020, but we remain bullish on the backdrop. The economy remains very healthy, borrowing rates remain near all-time lows, and widespread interest in equities remains elevated given the paltry yields on alternatives such as investment-grade bonds. We continue to let our winners run, though we remain vigilant in protecting the downside. Quietly, the two top holdings in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio, Alphabet (GOOG) and Facebook (FB), have raced to outsized performance during 2021, advancing 43%+ and ~21% … Read more

ICYMI — Video: Exclusive 2020 — Furthering the Financial Discipline

ICYMI — Video: Exclusive 2020 — Furthering the Financial Discipline — — In this 40+ minute video jam-packed with must-watch content, Valuentum’s President Brian Nelson talks about the Theory of Universal Valuation and how his work is furthering the financial discipline. Learn the pitfalls of factor investing and modern portfolio theory and how the efficient markets hypothesis holds little substance in the wake of COVID-19. He’ll talk about which companies Valuentum likes and why, and which areas he’s avoiding. This and more in Valuentum’s 2020 Exclusive conference call.   Note: This video was originally published August 2, 2020.    To watch the video >>   The Theory of Universal Valuation —– Valuentum members have access to our 16-page stock reports, … Read more

Best Idea Dollar General Beats Estimates and Raises Guidance

Image Source: Dollar General Corporation – Fiscal 2020 Annual Report By Callum Turcan On May 27, Dollar General Corporation (DG) reported first-quarter earnings for fiscal 2021 (period ended April 30, 2021) that smashed past consensus top- and bottom-line estimates. The company raised its full year guidance for fiscal 2021 in conjunction with its latest earnings report. We continue to be big fans of Dollar General and include shares of DG as an idea in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio. Dollar General is a discount retailer that is focused on catering to small cities and towns in the US with populations of 20,000 or less. These are regions where e-commerce operations with a home delivery component have historically had a difficult time meeting … Read more