Walmart’s Free Cash Flow Remains Robust, Buys Vizio to Boost Advertising Business

Image: Walmart’s free cash flow generation during fiscal 2024 was superb and comfortably covers its cash dividends paid. By Brian Nelson, CFA On February 20, Walmart (WMT) reported excellent fourth quarter fiscal 2024 results, raised its dividend, and announced that it would acquire Vizio (VZIO) in a $2.3 billion all-cash deal. Walmart continues to be well-positioned in the current retailing environment after the step-change in prices over the past 12-18 months due to heightened levels of inflation, as consumers trade down to lower-priced value items. Shares of Walmart advanced followed the release of its report, and while they are trading above our fair value estimate at the time of this writing, we see upside to the high end of our … Read more

Not Expecting Much From Consumer Staples Stocks

By Brian Nelson, CFA Within the discounted cash-flow [DCF] modeling process (also known as enterprise valuation, or the free cash flow to the firm model), there are two primary sources of cash-based intrinsic value: net cash on the balance sheet and future expected enterprise free cash flows. The sum of net cash on the balance sheet and the present value of future enterprise free cash flows divided by weighted average diluted shares outstanding results in a fair value estimate per share, which then can be divided by earnings to arrive at a value-derived price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio. Only when this value-derived P/E ratio is compared to the price-observed P/E ratio—the latter calculated as price divided by estimated earnings–can a company then be … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week of November 3

Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending November 3. 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                          AllianceBernstein (AB): now $0.65 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.61. Amcor (AMCR): now $0.1250 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.1225. American Financial (AFG): now $1.50 per share special dividend, was $0.71. Banco Santander (SAN): now $0.085 per share semi-annual dividend, was $0.063. Black Diamond Group Limited (BDI:CA): now CAD 0.03 per share quarterly dividend, was CAD 0.02. Brixmor Property (BRX): now $0.2725 per share … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week of February 7

Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending February 7. 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                          3M (MMM): now $0.73 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.70. Allegion (ALLE): now $0.51 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.48. AllianceBernstein (AB): now $1.05 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.77. Alpine Income Property Trust (PINE): now $0.285 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.280. Amdocs (DOX): now $0.527 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.479. Ameren (AEE): now $0.71 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.67. American … Read more