Taiwan Semiconductor Experiences Revenue Weakness in March

Image: Taiwan Semiconductor’s shares have rallied nicely since the beginning of November of last year. By Brian Nelson, CFA Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) reported March revenue on April 10. During the month, net revenue dropped nearly 11% on a sequential basis and more than 15% on a year-over-year basis from March 2022. Though the top-line weakness in the month was somewhat of a surprise, the company’s revenue advanced 3.6% during the first quarter of this year. The Taiwanese chip fabricator is an idea for the risk-seeking investor that is looking for exposure to the semiconductor space. The company pays a decent dividend yield, and the high end of our fair value estimate for shares stands at $90 per share. Taiwan Semiconductor’s … Read more

Legacy of Benjamin Graham

Legacy of Benjamin Graham: The Original Adjunct Professor. This film, brought to you by the Heilbrunn Center for Graham and Dodd Investing, Columbia Business School, premiered on February 1, 2013 at the 16th Annual Columbia Student Investment Management Association conference. Produced by: Louisa Serene Schneider. Shot & Edited by: Christina Choe. Video Source: HeilburnnCenter Tickerized for companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. ———- It’s Here!  The Second Edition of Value Trap! Order today!   —– Brian Nelson owns shares in SPY, SCHG, QQQ, DIA, VOT, BITO, RSP, and IWM. Valuentum owns SPY, SCHG, QQQ, VOO, and DIA. Brian Nelson’s household owns shares in HON, DIS, HAS, NKE, DIA, and RSP. Some of the other securities written about in this article may … Read more

Markets Bounce Off Technical Support But Not Out of the Woods

Image: The market-cap weighted S&P 500 (SPY) bounced off technical support last week, both the 200-day moving average as well as the breakout of the downtrend line, but while this may push off any leg down in the near term, we won’t hesitate to “raise cash” on a few newsletter portfolio names if a breakthrough of support to the downside happens. Image Source: TradingView By Brian Nelson, CFA The 200-day moving average remains a key technical level for the market-cap weighted S&P 500. The risks that the market may break through both the 200-day moving average and the breakout of the technical downtrend line remain elevated, but the past week showed a successful test of technical support levels, in our … Read more

Follow Up on Intel’s Dividend Cut: We Will Strive to Do a Better Job Communicating

The Dividend Cushion ratio is one of the most powerful financial tools an income or dividend growth investor can use in conjunction with qualitative dividend analysis. The ratio is one-of-a-kind in that it is both free-cash-flow based and forward looking. Since its creation in 2012, the Dividend Cushion ratio has forewarned readers of approximately 50 dividend cuts. We estimate its efficacy at ~90%. By Brian Nelson, CFA As noted in our brief note on Intel this morning, “Intel Cuts Dividend, As Expected,” we have now refreshed the company’s reports on the website, with updated Dividend Safety and Dividend Growth Potential ratings, both as VERY POOR. After factoring in Intel’s updated outlook to our valuation model from its fourth-quarter release, our … Read more

Intel Cuts Dividend, As Expected

  Image Source: Aaron Fulkerson By Brian Nelson, CFA The Dividend Cushion ratio caught another dividend cut. This time it was Intel’s (INTC). With a Dividend Cushion ratio of 0.4, Intel announced February 22 that it has slashed its dividend by nearly two thirds, to $0.125 on a quarterly basis, down from its prior quarterly dividend of $0.365. The company’s estimated forward yield now stands at ~1.9%, and we can’t say that the dividend cut was unexpected given its massive net debt position and significantly weakened free cash flow generation–the two most important components behind an assessment of its cash-based intrinsic value and dividend health. Intel’s fourth-quarter results and outlook for 2023, released January 26, were atrocious. Here’s what we … Read more

Meta’s Free Cash Flow Generation Has Returned, But TikTok Has Permanently Changed the Competitive Landscape

Image: Meta Platforms’ free cash flow has bounced back a bit, but the firm’s top-line growth remains challenged as it transitions away from a secular growth powerhouse into a cyclical story with encroaching competition. Image Source: Meta Platforms By Brian Nelson, CFA As we outlined in our introductory note in the February edition of the Dividend Growth Newsletter (pdf), the Federal Reserve is slowing its pace of benchmark rate increases as signs of inflation start to slow. Though there may still be pockets of input cost pressures, particularly with respect to prices at the pump and food-at-home expenses, for the most part, the negative wealth effect from falling asset prices around the globe is successfully working itself through the system. … Read more

We Don’t Think Intel Will Spoil the Tech Rally

Image Shown: The Invesco QQQ ETF (QQQ) has broken through its technical downtrend, and we don’t think Intel’s poor outlook will derail this tech rally. Image Source: TradingView By Brian Nelson, CFA The Invesco QQQ ETF (QQQ) has rallied more than 12% to start 2023, and we don’t think much will derail the advance. The pace of inflation looks like it peaked in June 2022 and save for a few big quarterly earnings misses from Goldman Sachs (GS) and Intel (INTC), fourth-quarter 2022 earnings season is shaping up better than feared for a lot of companies. The labor market is easing a bit, and a breakout of both the equal-weight S&P 500 (RSP) and the market-cap weight S&P 500 (SPY) … Read more

Our Reports on Stocks in the Technology Giants Industry

Valuentum members have access to our 16-page stock reports, Valuentum Buying Index ratings, Dividend Cushion ratios, fair value estimates and ranges, dividend reports and more. Not a member? Subscribe today. The first 14 days are free. Dividend Yield: Estimated on a forward-looking annualized basis. VBI: The Valuentum Buying Index, a timeliness indicator that overlays a price-to-fair-value estimate consideration. Fair Value Estimate: Derived by Valuentum’s enterprise valuation process. Dividend Cushion ratio: A ratio assessing the health of the dividend (the higher, the better). Data as of the date of this article. Individual company reports may have been updated subsequent to the publishing of this article, so please download a company’s stock and dividend report for its latest information and data. Note: The … Read more

Exclusive Call: What To Expect From Valuentum in 2023

Video: 2022 was a successful year by almost every measure from the simulated Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and simulated Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio to the simulated High Yield Dividend Newsletter portfolio and Exclusive publication and beyond. There were some disappointments in 2022, of course, but the year showed the value of a Valuentum membership. Join President of Investment Research Brian Nelson on this year’s Exclusive conference call to learn what to expect from Valuentum in 2023. Cheers! Transcript President of Investment Research Brian Nelson: Happy Holidays everyone! I hope that you are enjoying this special time of year with family and friends, and I wish you all a wonderful 2023! I just wanted to take a few minutes to recap … Read more

Apple iPhone Supply Disruptions Not Likely to Hurt Markets with Overall Holiday Sales Reportedly Strong

Image: Holiday sales are expected to expand ~2.5% in 2022 over very strong growth in 2021 and 2020. Image Source: Adobe By Brian Nelson, CFA Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk and Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook seemingly have worked out a plan for Apple to keep advertising on the Twitter platform after what looked to be a temporary pause by the iPhone maker. Though the news is immaterial to our thesis on Apple in any respect, it was good to see the two tech giants work whatever differences they had out. Certainly, a fallout between Musk and Cook would not be a good thing for the tech sector and innovation, more broadly, as the two wield large influences across Silicon … Read more