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FAQ: How Is Your Best Ideas Portfolio Doing This Year?

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At Valuentum, we task ourselves with a tall order. While most investment newsletters compare themselves to a market benchmark, we go one step further. We want to deliver positive returns to you, our subscriber, year after year, in addition to outperforming the market benchmark. Below, we outline a table that shows the outperformance we provided to our members since the time they joined.  So, for example, if you joined as a member on April 13, 2012 our Best Ideas portfolio has offered 3.8 percentage points of outperformance. Or, if you joined on July 13, 2011, our Best Ideas portfolio has offered 22 percentage points of outperformance. Importantly, did you know that, according to Advisor One, only 13% of hedge funds are beating the S&P … Read more

A Dual Focus on Valuation and Yield Is the Best Way to Combat Changes in Future Dividend Tax Rates

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With a potential hike in the dividend tax rate just around the corner, there is no more important time than now for income investors to evaluate their existing portfolio holdings to determine whether they are well-positioned for a higher-tax environment. Assuming there are no changes to the current trajectory, the top dividend tax rate is expected to rise to 39.6% next year (up from 15% currently), and the highest-income earners will see a Medicare surtax on top of that. Evaluate All Aspects of a Dividend Investment First of all, we think those investing in high-yielders (firms) at any price (HYAAP) may be most affected by this change in tax rates. These high-yielders at any price (HYAAP) tend to be favorites of those at or near retirement, particularly given the paltry payouts on fixed … Read more

Special Dividends: A Fantastic Idea…Fiscal Cliff Has Started a Trend

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Throughout 2012, we’ve seen a huge surge in special dividends, with 59 companies in the Russell 3000 declaring special dividends from September to November compared to just 15 during the same period last year. The impetus is obvious: the impending fiscal cliff has left both companies and investors wondering what to do with the mountains of cash sitting on pristine balance sheets and low return prospects. As a result, companies across different sectors are declaring special one-time dividends. Costco (click ticker for report: ) will pay a one-time special dividend of $7 per share (amounting to $3 billion) as a reward to shareholders, while Tyson Foods (click ticker for report: ) declared a special one-time payment of $0.20 per share. … Read more

Intel CEO Paul Otellini Will Step Down

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This morning, Intel (click ticker for report: ) announced its current CEO, Paul Otellini, will retire in May. The company will focus on finding a new CEO during that time period, with Otellini and board chairman Andy Bryant leading the search. Given the recent weakness in the firm’s share price, many seem to suspect that Otellini’s hand was forced by the company’s inability to become the dominant mobile technology player. Though we view this criticism as valid, we doubt Otellini’s exit was anything more than a planned retirement. During his tenure, he oversaw several billions of dollars in earnings growth, helped grow the company’s data center business, made a savvy acquisition in McAfee, and returned billions of dollars to shareholders. … Read more

Intel Maintains Margins While PC Business Stalls

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Chip-maker Intel (click ticker for report: ) reported better than expected, though still weak, third quarter results Tuesday afternoon. The tech giant saw revenue fall 5% year-over-year to $13.5 billion, which was better than consensus expectations. Earnings per share fell 11% year-over-year to $0.58 per share, which was meaningfully better than the consensus estimate of $0.49 per share. Gross margins remained flat quarter-over-quarter at 63.3%, enabling the company to beat estimates and maintain profitability. Revenue in every region except Europe was down slightly from the previous quarter. Not surprisingly, most of Intel’s weakness came in the PC Client Group, where sales tumbled 8% year-over-year to $8.6 billion, as average selling prices fell 4% and volumes fell 4%. Production remains muted … Read more

AMD Warns Again…The Knife is Still Falling

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Chipmaker AMD (click ticker for report: ) announced Thursday afternoon that its third quarter results will be substantially worse than expected. Revenues will fall 10% sequentially, compared to prior guidance of -3% to -1% declines, with gross margins coming in substantially lower at approximately 31% compared to a previously-expected gross margin of 44%. With the PC business struggling mightily and no presence in the mobility market, AMD’s decline has no real end in sight. We’ve previously noted some excitement regarding the firm’s next generation video game technology, but we see no reason establish a position in the name in the portfolio of our Best Ideas Newsletter at this time. Shares of Intel (click ticker for report: ) have experienced tremendous … Read more