FCAU

Tesla Scaling Up Nicely

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Image Shown: Tesla Inc is steadily working towards bringing another manufacturing facility online in the US, this time near Austin, Texas. Image Source: Tesla Inc – Shareholder Letter Covering the First Quarter of 2021 By Callum Turcan Electric vehicle (‘EV’) giant Tesla Inc (TSLA) continues to impress as it smashed past consensus top- and bottom-line estimates when it reported first quarter 2021 earnings on April 26. The company delivered 184,800 vehicles (182,780 Model 3/Y variants and 2,020 Model S/X variants) and produced 180,338 vehicles in the first quarter of this year, though we note that Tesla only produced Model 3/Y variants last quarter and Model S/X vehicle deliveries were met via its inventory. In the first quarter of 2021, Tesla’s … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week January 8

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending January 8. 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 Alamo (ALG): now $0.14 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.13. Bank OZK (OZK): now $0.2775 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.2750. Caledonia Mining (CMCL): now $0.11 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.10. CIGNA (CI): now $1.00 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.04. Enterprise Products Partners (EPD): now $0.45 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.445. Fiat Chrysler (FCAU): now EUR 1.84 per share special dividend, was EUR … Read more

General Motors Playing Catch Up

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Image: Hummer EV. According to General Motors’ website, the Hummer EV will be a “zero emissions, zero limits all-electric supertruck.” By Brian Nelson, CFA Most of the headlines focused on General Motors (GM) the past couple months had to do with its relationship with flailing electric heavy truck maker Nikola (NKLA). With GM’s executive suite largely distracted from the goings on at Nikola, Tesla (TSLA) has quietly changed the game in the bread-and-butter pickup heavy duty pickup truck market with last year’s launch of the company’s Cybertruck (view the unveil here). Investors will be hearing more about the Cybertruck soon. From our perspective, General Motors is playing catch up. It took Tesla’s successful launch of the Cybertruck in November 2019 … Read more

General Motors and the Union Strike!

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Image Source: General Motors Company – IR Presentation By Callum Turcan A holding in both our Best Ideas Newsletter and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolios, shares of General Motors (GM) have come under pressure over the past month from the ongoing strike that involves roughly 46,000-48,000 of its workers (primarily in the US). So far, this strike has halted production at more than 30 General Motors facilities in the US and has negatively impacted operations at various auto parts suppliers as well. The walkout is now coming up on its second month if a deal isn’t reached soon. Talks between General Motors and the Union Automobile Workers (“UAW”) union reportedly took a turn for the worse over this past weekend (ended … Read more

Uncertainty of Italy’s Political Future Weighing on Global Investors’ Minds

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Italy holds ~$2.7 trillion in public debt, and global investors are worried that a new government could implement policies that would weaken the country’s credit status. Though a sovereign debt crisis does not seem probable at this point, bond markets are suggesting that risks are rising. By Brian Nelson, CFA We do not want investors to be worried by events unfolding in Italy (EWI) of late, as they may not be any more significant than the impact of Brexit (EWU) on equity market returns during the past few years. We can’t cast a blind eye to developments either, however, as Italy’s sovereign debt is not-at-all small by any country’s standards (it’s the third-largest in the world), and the political uncertainty … Read more

Why Won’t GM Break Out Already?

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What is it going to take for General Motors to catapult to new heights? By Brian Nelson, CFA August was a busy month for the auto makers. Following General Motors’ (GM) fantastic second-quarter results in late July, we thought shares of the auto giant would have surged higher, but they have been stuck in neutral, despite what we consider to be a very, very attractive valuation and an equally attractive dividend yield. Read why we think “General Motors May Offer an Incredible Opportunity (July 2017).” Where Tesla (TSLA) and Ferrari (RACE) are trading at rather high valuation multiples, poor GM can’t even get a double-digit multiple on current-year earnings, despite what we consider to be a solid balance sheet. What … Read more

Major Automakers: Fundamental Uncertainty But Potential Investment Opportunity…Soon

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Source: YCharts The fates of major US automakers General Motors and Ford remain as tethered as ever, but we remain in awe at how punitive “this” frothy market is on their respective valuations. For one, GM is trading at 5 times forward adjusted earnings and boasts a near-5% dividend yield! By Kris Rosemann The market has been very kind to some, but perhaps overly punitive to others. While dividend-rich consumer staples giants continue to garner the favor of investors, “A Kleenex? Consumer Staples Trading At Nosebleed Levels (August 2016),” the ‘Detroit Three’ — Ford (F), General Motors (GM), and Chrysler (FCAU) — have all trailed the S&P 500 Index (SPY) return thus far in 2016 due to a variety of … Read more

Brexit: Secession Bells Are Ringing!

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First Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., where the first secession convention in the United States opened on Dec. 17, 1860. Source: Library of Congress, Washington, DC. Photo. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Web. 24 Jun. 2016. Global markets are plunging, and the implosion may still be in the early innings. Market valuations remain stretched among stagnant global economic growth, and “Brexit” may be the catalyst for a correction. In the paraphrased words of the well-known The Day of the Jackal author, Frederick Forsyth: the peasants have spoken. On June 23, the UK (EWU) held a referendum, in which anyone of voting age could take part, to decide whether the country should leave the European Union. The turnout was incredible at nearly 72%, and … 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

US Auto Sales Continue Breakneck Pace in September

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The recent market volatility seemed to have had little impact on auto sales for the month of September. Amid a wild ride in the stock market that began near the conclusion of August, the US auto industry posted its best month in September since July 2005 in terms of seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of sales, which came in at 18.17 million. Consensus estimates were not nearly has high as the actual figure, as sales were initially expected to be closer to 17.6 million. A number of factors helped drive the strong sales numbers across the automotive industry. Consumer confidence remains high, as does disposable income; unemployment is at its lowest point since April 2008, and gas prices have fallen. … Read more