DHR

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

Surveying the Outlooks of a Few Industrial Companies

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We wanted to highlight the performance of a few industrial firms, which as the backbone of the global economy, are often used as a barometer for the trajectory of future business activity. Industrial gas company Air Products (APD), chemical bellwether DuPont (DD), diversified industrial giant Danaher (DHR), and industrial equipment maker Illinois Tool Works (ITW) all reported earnings recently. Let’s take a look at their respective outlooks for 2014. Air Products (APD) Expects Momentum to Pick Up in Second Half Looking ahead, (chairman, president and CEO) McGlade said, “We still see greater momentum in the second half of the year. Full year performance remains on track and we expect to drive earnings growth by continuing to focus on our priorities — improved asset utilization, … Read more

Industrial Conglomerates Dominate News on Friday

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The latter part of this week brought about a plethora of news from the ‘Industrial Conglomerates’ industry. On Friday, General Electric (GE) announced a 16% increase to its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share (a 3.3% annual yield). The industrial behemoth was just added to the portfolio of our Dividend Growth Newsletter October 21 on account of its fantastic Dividend Cushion score and solid third-quarter performance. General Electric’s dividend report will be updated with the new information shortly. Also on Friday, Honeywell (HON) approved an authorization to repurchase up to $5 billion of its common stock, now that the firm’s previous $3 billion share repurchase program approved in 2011 is substantially complete. We encourage Honeywell management to be a bit … Read more

Third-Quarter Industrial Earnings Support Exposure in Best Ideas Portfolio

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For starters, if you haven’t yet read through our piece on General Electric’s (GE) third-quarter earnings, it’s a must-read. The step-up in backlog and order trends at the industrial behemoth are quite remarkable, and we think GE’s performance bodes well for the sector as a whole. Still, let’s drill down on a few themes across the industrial space and how our Best Ideas portfolio is well-positioned to capture the strength of underlying trends. Danaher (DHR) Danaher reported third-quarter results Thursday that showed revenue expansion of 5.5% and diluted net earnings per share growth of 9%. The company generated 30 basis points of operating-margin improvement and generated more than $800 million in free cash flow, or about 17.8% of revenue (a very … Read more

The Danaher Business System Continues to Drive Strong Free Cash Flow Conversion

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Diversified industrial firm Danaher (click ticker for report: ) reported better than expected second quarter results Thursday. Revenue advanced 4% to $4.7 billion (organic revenue growth was 2.5%), which led to nearly a 4% increase in operating income. The firm’s gross margin improved 100 basis points, and core operating margin grew 95 basis points. Adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 7.5% to $0.87 (which beat consensus estimates of $0.85). Year-to-date, free cash flow has fallen nearly 10%, though it still represents 13.9% of revenue, which is a very healthy number. Revenue growth across Danaher’s segments was modest, with the exception of its ‘Test & Measurement’ segment, which was roughly flat during the period. The company experienced sequential improvement in Brazil … Read more

Top Research and Ideas You May Have Missed

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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

Stock Market Outlook for 2021

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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 February 23

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending February 23. 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                          ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. (ACAVF): now $0.16 per share dividend. Aker BP ASA (AKRBY): now $0.1738 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.1577. Allstate (ALL): now $0.92 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.89. AMERISAFE (ASMF): now $0.37 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.34. Analog Devices (ADI): now $0.92 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.86. Armada Hoffler Properties (AHH): now $0.205 per share quarterly dividend, was … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending February 24

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised/lowered their dividends during the week ending February 24. 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 Albemarie (ALB): now $0.32 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.305. AllianceBernstein (AB): now $0.67 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.45. Ares Management (ARES): now $0.28 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.20. Argo Group (AGII): now $0.27 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.22. Assured Guaranty (AGO): now $0.1425 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.13. Autoliv (ALV): now $0.60 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.58. Bank of Hawaii … Read more