GM

Outperformance No Matter How You Measure It

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Image shown: The performance of Valuentum’s simulated Best Ideas Newsletter since the inaugural edition of the newsletter, July 13, 2011. We migrated to a weighting range format for the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio ideas beginning in 2018. At that time, Visa (V) was the top weighting by far at 8.6%. Shares of Visa have soared since, and other ideas haven’t been too shabby either! Source. Valuentum’s Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio is in a class by itself. Did you know that ~90% of active fund managers are underperforming their benchmarks over prolonged periods of time? The lack of volatility of the simulated Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio had been driven by its massive average cash “weighting” of 25% during its history, something we … Read more

It Definitely Is a *Best* Ideas Newsletter!

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Image shown: Valuentum migrated to a weighting range format for the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio ideas beginning in 2018. This article was sent to members via email March 15. By Brian Nelson, CFA I was on social media the other day, and somebody was asking whether there would be more engagement/likes/appreciation from a picture of a cat than if someone were to put up great stock picks year after year. I think the poll came back in favor of the cat pictures! It’s an interesting time, and investors are tuning out great research because they simply don’t know what to listen to. They don’t know the real deal, and that’s why writing Value Trap: Theory of Universal Valuation was so important. It’s … Read more

DG Newsletter Alert, Markets on a Roll! New Highs Coming?

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Image shown: We notified members December 26 that we had moved the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio to a “fully invested” position, from a 30% and 20% cash “weighting” at the high end of the range, respectively. It doesn’t look like the timing could have been much better.  Changes to Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio Removing Novartis (NVS) -3.5%-5.5% Adding Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLV) +3.5%-5.5% By Brian Nelson, CFA The back half of 2018 was among the most exciting in Valuentum’s history. For one, we might have made one of our best “market-direction” calls since inception in practically calling the near-term bottom December 26. In hindsight, it’s clear the market had overreacted, but at the time, going to “fully … Read more

Valuentum’s Stock and Data Screens and Screeners

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Let’s go over where to find Valuentum’s stock and data screens and screeners. We believe our stock screeners are among the most robust when it comes to providing forward-looking data, and our data comes straight from our enterprise discounted cash flow models that we use to derive a company’s fair value estimate. By The Valuentum Team In late 2017, we made the decision to transition to providing an updated Excel download each week to members in order to allow them to facilitate any combination of screening criteria they want with respect to our vast amounts of data, whether it be the Valuentum Buying Index, the Dividend Cushion ratio or other. What we’ve found out the past 15 months or so … Read more

News Roundup: Tesla, Gap, eBay, Stericycle, Foot Locker, and Monster Beverage

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  No changes to newsletter portfolios By Brian Nelson, CFA There’s a lot of news out on the first day of March 2019. Tesla’s (TSLA) big reveal was that it will be moving strictly to online purchases in a cost-savings move and that it now has the efficiencies in place to roll out a more-affordable $35,000 Model 3. We’re excited about the development, but we have to admit that we’re still skeptical of the company’s long-term success given the fierceness of the competitive environment, not the least of which is the electronic line-up at General Motors (GM), which remains an idea in both the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio. As it relates to other news, Gap … Read more

News Roundup: Tesla’s Musk, Department Stores, Summit Midstream, Cracker Barrel, Home Depot, GE and More

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No changes to simulated newsletter portfolios By Brian Nelson, CFA There’s never a dull moment in the Tesla (TSLA) story. Just when we thought things were getting back to “normal,” Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk has been hit with a contempt charge for a tweet that allegedly violated his prior deal with the SEC. We don’t think the tweet was a big deal, by itself, and it may have included content from a prior conference call, but given Musk’s prior behavior, including being outspoken about not having any respect for the SEC, he doesn’t have much wiggle room with the authorities. From our perspective, Musk is in now in some serious hot water. We’ve always viewed Tesla as “uninvestable,” not necessarily … Read more

Kraft-Heinz Blows Up, More Updates!

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Image shown: The rating history of Kraft-Heinz (KHC). Valuentum members were warned in advance of this pricey equity in 2016/2017, and the VBI rating never advanced past 5 since then after registering a 1, the worst rating, on two separate occasions. Dear members, I wanted to first of all welcome our new members. There have been a lot of new ones during the past few weeks. Thank you. The buzz might be coming from the new book launch, Value Trap. If you haven’t read the book yet, please do so here. Members can get the pdf digital download today at 25% off. For new members, reading this book is simply par for the course to get a feel for how we look at … Read more

General Motors Rallies, Tesla and Toyota Improve, Auto Parts Suppliers Getting Squeezed

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Image shown: General Motors may very well be on its way to $50+ per share. We continue to like General Motors, and we think Tesla is getting back on the right track with its financials. Auto parts suppliers have faced their fair share of pressure in recent months as the potential for a slowdown in global light vehicle production rises and input cost inflation also makes its presence felt. By Kris Rosemann and Brian Nelson, CFA On February 6, General Motors (GM) reported fourth-quarter 2018 earnings, and they were quite good. We continue to believe shares of GM are ultra-cheap, as we wrote in: “We Think General Motors Is Poised for New Highs.” The automaker is included as an idea … Read more

Consider Selling Discipline = Systematic, Forward-looking, Repeatable

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Image shown: An illustration of Valuentum’s call on Kinder Morgan during 2015. You can read about this in more detail in the Preface of Value Trap: Theory of Universal Valuation. For a consider-selling discipline to be successful, it must be systematic, forward-looking and repeatable. The Valuentum process worked equally well with General Electric during 2017 (image later in note). No changes to simulated newsletter portfolios. By Brian Nelson, CFA Good morning everyone! The markets took a shellacking yesterday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA) falling over 300 points during the trading session January 22. Had there not been a near-100 point leap in the Dow during the past few minutes of trading, the fallout may have been worse. Most are … Read more

Conference Call Coming Soon, Catch Up This Weekend

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Image shown: The markets continue to rally significantly since the near-term bottom in December. Here’s the email we sent to members December 26.  No changes to simulated Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and simulated Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio (contact us if you missed the latest notification regarding the simulated High Yield Dividend Newsletter portfolio). This article was sent to members via email January 19. That email can be accessed at the link that follows this article. Conference Call Monday, January 28, 11amET/10amCT. We’ll talk about website navigation, how to use the stock and dividend reports, and dig deep into our capital-appreciation and dividend growth methodology. Details to follow, but add this date/time to your calendar. Read what some of our members have … Read more