EBAY

Valuentum’s 3 Breakthroughs in the Field of Finance and More

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Valuentum’s President Brian Nelson pauses for a picture before speaking at the CFA Society of Houston in March 2017. By Valuentum Editorial Staff Let’s cover Valuentum’s 3 major breakthroughs in the field of finance. The first one is big and may challenge you to rethink everything you think you know about investing. 1. On a logical framework, Valuentum has debunked John C. Bogle’s landmark syllogism that has paved the way for the concept of index investing. Index investing has been built on a logical shortcoming, whether supported by evidence or not. We think it is important that the investment community know of this. Read (pdf): The “Luck” and “Randomness” of Index Funds (2018), Brian Nelson, CFA See video documentation: /FALLACY_of_Index_Funds To … Read more

Nelson’s Earnings Roundup: GOOG(L), PYPL, INTC

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Image Source: Aaron Fulkerson Let’s get President of Valuentum Brian Nelson’s quick thoughts on the earnings reports of Alphabet, Paypal, and Intel, all very important holdings in the newsletter portfolios. By Brian Nelson, CFA Alphabet The Mountain View, California-based Internet search giant continues to do a lot of things right. CFO Ruth Porat called the top-line growth in the fourth-quarter results of the company formerly called Google “exceptional.” Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) is the lifeblood of the Internet, and consumers every day consult Google with their innermost questions and sometimes deepest thoughts and concerns (looking for answers). It will remain a core aspect of our lives, as core as the most innate possessions of those that use it. During the quarter, … Read more

PayPal: The Way of the Future

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Image Source: PayPal “As a customer champion and a leader in financial technology, our goal is to provide simple, affordable, secure, and reliable financial services and digital payments that enable the hopes, dreams, and ambitions of millions of people and businesses around the world, including those who have been underserved by the traditional financial system. This focus and clarity enabled us to achieve strong growth across every key aspect of our business in 2015. For the year, revenue increased 19 percent* to $9.24 billion, and our total payment volume reached $282 billion, an increase of 27 percent. We also generated $1.8 billion in free cash flow.” – PayPal’s 2015 Annual Report By Brian Nelson, CFA Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio holding … Read more

After-Hours: MSFT +5.9%, PYPL +4.6%

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A holding in the Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio and a holding in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio are indicated up after hours October 20. You may remember us taking some profits on Microsoft (MSFT) following its deal to acquire LinkedIn (LNKD), but did you know the company has been the prime example of our cash-flow-based dividend methodology for years? Microsoft was added to the Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio at inception at a tender price of ~$26 per share. Our roughly 2.5% current weighting (yes, it is still one of our favorite dividend growth ideas!) is indicated up in after-hours trading, now to all-time highs near $61 per share, even past those of the dot-com bubble days! We’re not going to … Read more

Yahoo! Should Still Buy eBay’s “Free Cash Flow”

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Image Source: eBay According to the latest from CNBC, there are five bidders left for Yahoo’s (YHOO) core business, and it’s very likely the company will make the sale to one of them soon. Many are saying that Verizon (VZ) is the front-runner, but we can’t rule out the buying power of the group led by Quicken Loans’ Dan Gilbert, who has the backing of the Oracle of Omaha himself, Warren Buffett, or a high-ball bid from private equity, perhaps TPG Capital. AT&T (T), Time (TIME), and other private equity giants KKR and Bain Capital might still be in the game as well. We think breaking apart Yahoo! or selling it outright, instead of merging it with eBay (EBAY) isn’t … Read more

Mr. Buffett: Apple and the Potential Yahoo-eBay Tie-Up

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Image Source: Fortune Live Media Stocks will be volatile. Remember – they are driven by people, and people act emotionally, irrationally at times. This dynamic has hammered Apple (AAPL) as of late. Though we’ve engaged in risk mitigation in recent months in trimming our position in Apple in both newsletter portfolios, “Valuentum’s Exclusive Weekly Recap (August 2015),” we’ve done all that we can to explain to our membership the tremendous valuation opportunity presented by shares, “Quantifying Apple’s Tremendous Investment Case (September 2015), while acknowledging that market “spirits” could pressure the company in the near term, “Apple Will Go Lower… (January 2016).” The transparency of our writing is enough to make our reader’s heads spin sometimes, perhaps to make them think … Read more

Debt, Debt and More Debt

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Image Source: Michael Fleshman Many readers may be familiar with the rhetoric of the Presidential Election Cycle of 2016 and Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders’ view on making “college tuition free and debt free.” You can take a read of the 6 steps Bernie will take as president to make college debt-free here. Many may find his last point rather intrusive to the heartbeat of the American economy and the driver behind innovation and standard-of-living improvements, but we’ll leave that conversation for another day. But what’s the shocking statistic, right? Get this – and I hope you are sitting down. According to an article by the Journal, “more than 40% of Americans who borrowed from the government’s main student-loan program aren’t … Read more

Thinking About Increasing Equity Exposure Modestly in Best Ideas Newsletter Portfolio

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  Image Source: Berkshire Hathaway By Brian Nelson, CFA I’m putting together something for you… …an annotated commentary of Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRK.A, BRK.B) recently-released 2015 annual report, and specifically Warren Buffett’s letter to shareholders. Why does my opinion on this topic matter? Well, having trained hundreds of equity and credit analysts on the concept of “economic moats” (or competitive advantages) across continents for one of the largest independent investment research firms and its clients and beyond, I believe that my opinion is at least worth hearing on the topic, if only for thought-generation, conceptual understanding, and debate. Given some of the recent technical strength at Berkshire, we are also considering taking a bite out of shares should markets remain strong, … Read more

Target’s E-Commerce Growth the Real Story

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Image: Target’s mascot Bullseye sporting new shades at a local job fair. We have a difficult time dismissing Target’s (TGT) short-sightedness in abandoning its efforts in Canada, as in time, its ability to continue to drive traffic and store count in the US higher will plateau. In no way will this occur anytime soon, or within the next few years or so, but it will, and Target will have wished it wouldn’t have given up in Canada. But that’s not the story today Skeptics are looking wrong in a big way, as Target showcased a pace of e-commerce expansion better than that of Wal-Mart (WMT) and even Amazon (AMZN) and eBay (EBAY) in its most recently-reported fourth quarter. Digital sales … Read more

Warming Up to IBM, Walmart Disappoints Again

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Most of us woke up to the news February 18 that Apple (AAPL) would be vigorously defending the privacy of its customers against a potential “overreaching” by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and/or others. The crux of the matter is whether Apple should unlock a phone that had been used by a shooter in the San Bernardino attacks early December, per the request of the FBI, as doing so may eventually jeopardize the personal safety and security of all Americans. Several tech CEOs have come out to support Apple, but any outcome on the matter will be difficult to predict. In a day and age where privacy is a major hot-button issue, CEO Tim Cook knows he needs to step … Read more