Valuentum Weekly: Nothing Surprising, Well-Positioned!

Image source: Cathie Wood’s flagship ETF, the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) has fallen more more than 40% from its 52-week high. This is nothing short of a complete and utter bloodbath for such an actively-managed fund, in our view. We note this for context. We’re not just talking about one or two or five stocks that are down 40% from 52-week highs, but the *entire fund.* Investors have to keep things in perspective. It’s perfectly reasonable within the context of a portfolio to have a few stocks off 10%, 20%, or maybe even 50% from all-time highs. However, if your entire portfolio is down 40%+ from 52-week highs, you’re doing something wrong. Hi everyone: It’s the most wonderful time of … Read more

Large Cap Growth Dominates, MLPs Have Suffered

— Sign up to our new options commentary here. — $1,000/year. 4 ideas per month and more! — Image: Win = The options contract was closed as a win. Closed = the options contract was closed at a loss. Expired = The options contract expired worthless. Pie chart above does not consider ideas still open. Data through October 26, 2021. Results are hypothetical. No trading is taking place. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. — Please note that with options trading, investors can lose their entire premium. Don’t ever trade with money that you can’t afford to lose. Valuentum is an investment research publisher and accepts no liability for how readers may choose to utilize the content. By continuing with an … Read more

Hard Work and the Trust That Binds

Image Source: Terry Johnson By Brian Nelson, CFA We’ll have our traditional Valuentum Weekly email coming out on Sunday, and I’m excited to say our team is putting the finishing touches on our technology industry update, so we’ll have a whole bunch of fresh reports for you to look at Sunday evening/Monday morning. It’s easy to forget how much we’ve been through the past two years. Often, we forget how helpful the warning that markets were going to crash was the weekend before they did on February 22, 2020, “Is a Stock Market Crash Coming? – Coronavirus Update and P/E Ratios,” how we thought dollar-cost-averaging made sense at the bottom in March 2020, and how we went “all-in” in April … Read more

Large Cap Growth Has More Room To Run

“The stylistic area of large cap growth has been one of our favorite areas because of the strong net cash rich, free cash flow generating, secular growth powerhouses that make up much of the space. The image is a rundown of the key Valuentum statistics for the top 15 holdings of the Schwab U.S. Large Cap Growth ETF (SCHG). We believe where large cap growth goes, so does the broader market, considering the hefty weightings of some of these stocks in other broad-based indices. Based on the high end of our fair value estimate range for this group of bellwethers, the broader U.S. markets still have room to run, to the tune of 7%+, despite the many highs already reached … Read more

Alphabet Launches Higher

Image: Our fair value estimate of Alphabet has continued to lead the stock higher, and shares continued to deliver following the company’s third-quarter report, released October 28. By Brian Nelson, CFA Our long-term thesis and the top weighting of Google parent company, Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL) in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio is unchanged following the company’s fantastic third-quarter report, released October 28. During the period, revenue advanced 41% on a year-over-year basis as the company’s operating margin swelled ~8 percentage points to drive diluted earnings per share to $27.99, beating consensus by nice margin. We’re reiterating our $3,500 fair value estimate for shares. Here is what Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google had to say in the press release: … Read more

I Don’t Know How Lucky I Am, Do You?

Image: The category of large cap growth (SCHG) has outperformed a 60/40 stock/bond rebalanced portfolio (VBIAX) by ~310 percentage points the past 10 years. Image Source: Morningstar. By Brian Nelson, CFA Hi everyone. I hope you all are doing well. It’s been a while since I wrote a personal message, but today, I thought it would be worthwhile to share my ever-evolving opinion on the world of financial markets. First, let me start with Facebook (FB). Hopefully, I set your expectations very low for the social media giant’s third-quarter report because this one is a long-term holding. Shares are dirt cheap, and while sentiment has moved against it, we’re going to “hold” strong in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio (1). … Read more

Facebook’s Third-Quarter 2021 Results Better Than Feared

Image: Facebook continues to put up impressive levels of free cash flow generation. We remain huge fans of the stock. Image Source: Facebook By Brian Nelson, CFA Expectations were low for Facebook’s (FB) third-quarter 2021 results, released October 25, following a read-through from news in recent weeks, including Snapchat’s (SNAP) weak third-quarter performance due to Apple’s (AAPL) iOS 14 changes and supply chain issues that may be slowing ad growth. Though Facebook’s third-quarter results still felt an impact from Apple’s iOS 14 changes and perhaps advertisers slowing some spending due to reduced product availability, the social media giant revealed that it remains a net-cash-rich, free cash flow generating powerhouse that continues to benefit from secular ad growth trends, and one … Read more

Markets Look Vulnerable, Adding “Protection”

Image: The S&P 500 (SPY) and corresponding 50-day (green), 100-day (purple), and 200-day moving averages (red). We expect the SPY may have to “correct” to the 200-day moving average, or about $412-$413 per share before it finds its footing. Self-inflicted wounds the past several weeks have altered the market’s sentiment for the worse, and we don’t think the selling is done yet. To read the email, please click here. — Hi everyone: — Volatility has picked up, and options trading is all the rage. — The markets are under pressure again this morning, and we’re not wasting any time to add put option “protection” to both the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio. The last time we added … Read more

The Investment Case for More Gender Diversity

Image: The Impact Shares’ YWCA Women’s Empowerment ETF (WOMN) has trounced the S&P 500 since inception, while the SPDR SSGA Gender Diversity Index ETF (SHE) has bested the quantitatively-hailed small cap value ETF over the same time period. By Valuentum Analysts There has been a plethora of research over the years regarding the value of diversity on teams, in corporate boardrooms, and across asset management. The CFA Institute defines diversity as “the spectrum of human attributes, perspectives, identities, and backgrounds,” and notes that “the discussion around motivations for pursuing diversity in investment management often revolves around two main areas: ‘the business case for diversity’ (i.e., with more diverse perspectives, business outcomes will improve) and ‘because it is the right thing … Read more

Update on Best Idea Alphabet’s Self-Driving Taxi Upside

Image Shown: Shares of Alphabet Inc Class C have boomed higher year-to-date as of early-September 2021. We see ample room for additional upside. By Callum Turcan We are enormous fans of large cap US equities because these entities then to be tremendous free cash flow generators, generally have net cash rich balance sheets, and their promising growth outlooks are underpinned by secular growth tailwinds. Alphabet Inc (GOOG) (GOOGL) fits the bill, and we include Alphabet Class C shares as a top-weighted idea in our Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio. Let’s provide some updates on the company’s self-driving taxi ambitions in this note concerning its Waymo spinoff. Self-Driving Taxi Upside Alphabet announced that it was spinning off Waymo, the company’s self-driving unit, … Read more