Valuentum’s 3 Breakthroughs in the Field of Finance and More

Valuentum’s President Brian Nelson pauses for a picture before speaking at the CFA Society of Houston in March 2017. By Valuentum Editorial Staff Let’s cover Valuentum’s 3 major breakthroughs in the field of finance. The first one is big and may challenge you to rethink everything you think you know about investing. 1. On a logical framework, Valuentum has debunked John C. Bogle’s landmark syllogism that has paved the way for the concept of index investing. Index investing has been built on a logical shortcoming, whether supported by evidence or not. We think it is important that the investment community know of this. Read (pdf): The “Luck” and “Randomness” of Index Funds (2018), Brian Nelson, CFA See video documentation: /FALLACY_of_Index_Funds To … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending January 30

Let’s take a look at dividend increases/decreases for the week ending January 30.

Valuentum Economic Castleâ„¢ Rating Update

Read: Keeping the Horse Before the Cart: Valuentum’s Economic Castle™ Rating The Economic Castle Focuses on the Magnitude of Economic Value Creation The Valuentum Economic Castle™ rating is an enhancement of the competitive advantage framework (commonly known as economic moat analysis) that has become widespread and ubiquitous within the investing world. Whereas an economic moat framework evaluates a firm on the basis of the sustainability and durability of its competitive advantages, Valuentum’s Economic Castle™ rating evaluates a firm on the basis of the firm’s future economic profit spread (return on invested capital less its weighted average cost of capital). The companies with the strongest Valuentum Economic Castle™ ratings are poised to generate the most economic value for shareholders in the … Read more

FedEx, Ford and Facebook Topping News

On Wednesday, FedEx (FDX) reported slightly lower-than-expected bottom-line performance in its fiscal second-quarter results. Revenue advanced 3% during the quarter, while reported operating income leapt 15% thanks to roughly 80 basis points of operating-margin improvement. Adjusted for the effects of Hurricane Sandy, however, year-over-year performance wasn’t that great. The firm’s quarterly earnings per share mark of $1.57 compares to an adjusted measure of $1.50, or a 4.7% increase, which itself was augmented by its share-repurchase program. Free cash flow was negative during the six months ended November 30, 2013, consistent with the cash use during the prior-year period. The company experienced improved yield and cost management (and materially better operating margin performance) at FedEx Express (its largest operating segment), but … Read more

FedEx Ships More Packages as Economy Strengthens

Wednesday morning, shipping goliath FedEx (click ticker for report: ) announced better-than-anticipated fiscal first quarter results. Revenue rose 2% year-over-year to $11 billion, slightly above consensus expectations. Earnings per share increased 5.5% year-over-year to $1.53 per share, also slightly above consensus estimates. Free cash flow was decent at $357 million, equal to 3.2% of total revenue. FedEx Express Express revenue was roughly flat year-over-year at $6.61 billion, but segment operating income jumped 14% year-over-year to $236 million as the firm benefitted from 50 basis points of operating margin expansion. Management cited lower pension expenses and lower maintenance costs as the main drivers of earnings expansion in the face of flat top-line performance. This ends two consecutive quarters of top-line growth, … Read more

No Coal? No Problem for the Rails

In the third quarter of 2012, we highlighted weak rail traffic as being driven by weaker coal shipments, and the trend continued throughout the fourth quarter. According to the Association of American Railroads (AAR), coal shipments for the week ending on December 22 fell 11.1% year-over-year. Given the wealth of railroads that were heavily leveraged to coal, including Norfolk Southern (click ticker for report: ), CSX (click ticker for report: ), and Union Pacific (click ticker for report: ), it would be natural to assume the entire segment is ripe for decline. Yet, that doesn’t appear to be the case. The AAR also reported that total rail traffic for that same week increased 0.9% compared to the previous year and … Read more

Search Dividend Reports by Company Name: F to J

Going forward, please use the ‘Symbol’ search box to download stock and dividend reports of companies you are interested in. The ‘Symbol’ search box can be found in our website header. Image shown from above. Use the active search box in the website header above. Learn more about your membership >>  Note: We have now discontinued this list. Please use the ‘Symbol’ search box in the website header for stock and dividend reports. Please read about our Valuentum Dividend Cushion score (ratio) here. Just having access to this valuable metric alone could save your income portfolio thousands of dollars! The past meets the future as we showcase the Valuentum Dividend Cushion scores of Dividend Aristocrats in this article (click here). The dividend reports below … Read more

How to Think About Corporate Tax Reform

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending January 31

Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending January 31. 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 1st Constitution Bancorp (FCCY): now $0.09 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.075. Alaska Air (ALK): now $0.375 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.350. ALLETE (ALE): now $0.6175 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.5875. AmerisourceBergen (ABC): now $0.42 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.40. Anthem (ANTM): now $0.95 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.80. Apartment Investment (AIV): now $0.41 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.39. Apollo Global … Read more

Stock Market Outlook for 2021

By Valuentum Analysts February 8, 2021 2020 was one for the history books. We covered our thoughts and reflections on the past year in our “2020 Won’t Soon Be Forgotten” article (link here), and now we are looking towards the future. Global health authorities should be able to bring an end to the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic sooner than many had expected as several vaccines have already been improved for emergency use and several others appear increasingly likely to get approved. Global vaccine distribution activities are currently underway, and this should allow the world to slowly return to pre-pandemic activities. Before then, immense stimulus measures launched primarily in developed nations should support global economic activities until the public health crisis … Read more