EWI

1Q 2023 Earnings Coming in Better Than Feared Thus Far

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By Brian Nelson, CFA We’ve been receiving questions about the companies that we are looking to add to the Best Ideas Newsletter to replace the ones we recently removed, and I can say that we’re strongly considering adding Booking Holding (BKNG) and adding to the existing “position” in Chipotle (CMG) following their first-quarter 2023 results. We recently raised our fair value estimate for Booking Holding significantly (now $3,091; was $2,147 per share), and we expect a huge fair value increase at Chipotle in the coming weeks. Booking Holding will report its first-quarter 2023 earnings in early May, while Chipotle will report first-quarter 2023 results on April 25. We have several other ideas in mind to add to the Best Ideas … Read more

Exxon Mobil Is Working on Boosting U.S. LNG Export Capacity

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Image Shown: Exxon Mobil Corporation is a big player in the global LNG industry. Image Source: Exxon Mobil Corporation – March 2022 Investor Day Presentation By Callum Turcan Europe’s dependence on Russian natural gas supplies has taken centerstage in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Members of the European Union (‘EU’) receive roughly 40% of their natural gas needs from Russia. In March 2022, the US and the EU announced an agreement covering energy security that among other things encouraged greater liquified natural gas (‘LNG’) exports from the US to the EU. Such an accord would require Europe to boost its LNG regassification capacity. Recent LNG News In February 2022, Germany announced plans to build two LNG import … Read more

Best Idea Alphabet Growing Global Cloud Presence

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Image Shown: Alphabet Inc Class C shares, a top-weighted idea in our Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio, are up ~65% over the past year. By Callum Turcan Alphabet Inc (GOOG) (GOOGL) has historically focused primarily on growing its digital advertising revenues since the company was founded under the Google name back in 1998. More recently, the technology giant has begun seriously seeking to broaden its revenue base, and we like what we see on this front. We include Alphabet Class C shares (ticker: GOOG) as an idea in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio given its immense capital appreciation upside potential as a net cash-rich, free cash flow generating powerhouse (topics that we have covered often in the past). Our fair value … Read more

Unicredit Struggles to Demonstrate Earnings Power

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When one looks at individual bank interests and also the national champion nature of many banks that are closely tied to their home countries, it becomes difficult to picture how the overtraded European banking landscape will resolve itself. One scenario is perhaps by smaller banks coming together, though that might not really move the needle that much. We generally dislike the banking industry due to the arbitrary nature of its cash flows, weak economic returns, and highly-regulated nature, and we think Unicredit may be one to avoid, in particular. By Matthew Warren Unicredit (UNCRY) put up another measly quarter, results released August 6, this time with small positive underlying net profits of EUR 0.5 billion. Revenues were down 7.7% compared … Read more

Unicredit Is Best Worth Avoiding

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The combination of revenue pressure from lower rates, a difficult operating environment, weakening efficiency metrics, one-off losses, and arguable low provisions for credit losses make for an ugly picture emerging at Unicredit at this time. We’re paying close attention to the key banking players in Europe to assess the likelihood of a global financial contagion that may accompany the global pandemic that has become COVID-19. By Matthew Warren Unicredit (UNCFF) posted dismal first-quarter results May 6 that showed revenue falling 8.2% and negative “underlying net profit” of EUR 100 million from the same period last year. Stated net profit in the period was even worse at negative EUR 2.706 billion, including integration costs in Italy (EWI), a loss related to … Read more

Fed Cuts 100 Basis Points, Launches More QE

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“Now, stocks and other assets are being sold, some indiscriminately. It is truly becoming a stock pickers market as opposed to a quant-led and index-led market. It takes a different kind of bravery to buy on massive down days and one must have conviction in their research that the company will not go away if massive downside scenarios do in fact emerge.” – Matthew Warren. In this piece, we cover our assessment of what the global markets might be facing in a bull-case, base-case, and bear-case scenario. Our base case is a substantial recession in the US and a financial crisis of some unknown magnitude. By Matthew Warren The tremendous (mostly downside) volatility in all asset markets globally during the … Read more

Oil Markets Get Decimated

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Image Shown: Oil prices have been decimated year-to-date. By Callum Turcan We are following up on our ‘Oil Prices Collapse, Reiterating 2,350-2,750 S&P 500 Target Range; Credit Crunch Looming?’ note (link here) published Sunday, March 8, to provide additional commentary on what’s going on in the shale patch right now. As of this writing, oil prices (BNO, USO) continue to get hammered. Here’s what we had to say in that recent note: The independent upstream producer space (XOP) is careening off a cliff, and that was before the OPEC+ cartel was unable to reach an agreement during their joint meeting (OPEC and non-OPEC members) on March 6. Due to the inability for the oil cartel to reach a deal, largely because Russia … Read more

Oil Prices Collapse, Reiterating 2,350-2,750 S&P 500 Target Range; Credit Crunch Looming?

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Image Source: Value Trap: Theory of Universal Valuation From Value Trap: “The banking sector was not the only sector that faced considerable selling pressure during the Financial Crisis of the late 2000s, of course. Other companies that required funding to maintain their business operations faced severe liquidity risk, or a situation where refinancing, or rolling over debt, might be difficult to do on fair terms, making such financing prohibitive in some cases. Those that faced outsize debt maturities during the most severe months of the credit crunch faced a real threat of Chapter 11 restructuring had the lending environment completely seized. In thinking about share prices as a range of probable fair value outcomes, equity prices tend to face pressure as … Read more

Coronavirus Crisis Deepens, Italy on Lockdown

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Image: WHO. The epidemic curve of confirmed COVID-19 cases that have been reported outside of China is steepening. Italy remains a hotspot. By Brian Nelson, CFA The “Coronavirus Crisis” is worsening. According to the latest situation report from the World Health Organization (47), dated March 7, Italy (EWI) reported an increase of 778 new cases and 49 deaths as a result of COVID-19, increases of 20.2% and 24.9%, respectively, from the day prior. Total cases in Italy are now over 4,600 and total deaths now nearly 200, but these numbers are sure to rise in the coming days, if they have not already (the latest unofficial tally in Italy suggests new infections have risen to 5,883). The terrible news prompted … Read more

A ~0.1% Probability Since 1896

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Image Source: Wikipedia Commons   By Brian Nelson, CFA It was mid-June 2015, and our team released our case on why the midstream MLP space would collapse. To us, it just made sense. We’ve been practicing enterprise valuation for a long time, and to this day, we’ve updated over 20,000+ discounted cash flow models. I used to head up the methodology and valuation infrastructure of a department of over 100 analysts across several continents and all sectors when I used to work at Morningstar. Baptism by fire as they say. This was about 10 years ago now. Since our call in mid-June 2015 through March 2, 2020, on a price basis, the S&P 500 (SPY) has advanced 46%, while the Alerian MLP … Read more