ICYMI — Video: Exclusive 2020 — Furthering the Financial Discipline

ICYMI — Video: Exclusive 2020 — Furthering the Financial Discipline — — In this 40+ minute video jam-packed with must-watch content, Valuentum’s President Brian Nelson talks about the Theory of Universal Valuation and how his work is furthering the financial discipline. Learn the pitfalls of factor investing and modern portfolio theory and how the efficient markets hypothesis holds little substance in the wake of COVID-19. He’ll talk about which companies Valuentum likes and why, and which areas he’s avoiding. This and more in Valuentum’s 2020 Exclusive conference call.   Note: This video was originally published August 2, 2020.    To watch the video >>   The Theory of Universal Valuation —– Valuentum members have access to our 16-page stock reports, … Read more

Lockheed Martin Boosts Guidance

Image Source: Lockheed Martin Corporation – First Quarter of Fiscal 2021 IR Earnings Presentation By Callum Turcan Geopolitical tensions are on the rise worldwide. In recent weeks, Russian forces started massing on the border with Ukraine (though reportedly, those forces are beginning to pull back) as acrimony between Western governments and Russia continues to grow while the situation in Ukraine (i.e., Russia’s annexation of Crimea and involvement in eastern regions of Ukraine) remains in paralysis. Tensions between the US and China are building as well with an eye towards trading relations, espionage of all kinds, and cyber-attacks. The geopolitical backdrop indicates that the trajectory of defense spending is likely to continue growing in key developed and developing nations worldwide going … Read more

General Electric Provides Upbeat Outlook for 2021

Image Shown: An overview of GE’s cash flow forecasts on a divisional basis for 2021. Image Source: General Electric – Fourth Quarter of 2020 IR Earnings Presentation By Callum Turcan The ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) has weighed negatively on the industrial sector for most of 2020, before the space started to recover during the latter part of the year. On January 26, industrial conglomerate General Electric Company (GE) reported fourth quarter earnings for 2020 that beat consensus top-line estimates but missed consensus bottom-line estimates. The company’s business operating segments are broken down into its various GE Industrial divisions (‘Power,’ ‘Renewable Energy,’ ‘Aviation’ and ‘Healthcare’) and GE Capital. What really impressed us was that GE Industrial’s free cash flow came in at … Read more

ALERT: Raising Cash in the Newsletter Portfolios

January 27, 2021 ALERT: Raising Cash in the Newsletter Portfolios We are raising the cash position in the simulated Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and simulated Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio to 10%-20%. — By Brian Nelson, CFA — Our research has been absolutely fantastic for a long time, but 2020 may have been our best year yet. You can read the 2020 recap here. With the S&P 500 trading within our fair value estimate range of 3,530-3,920 (and the markets rolling over while showing signs of abnormal behavior), we’re raising the cash position in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio to 10%-20%. — For more conservative investors, the high end of this range may even be larger, especially … Read more

Lockheed Makes an Intriguing Acquisition

Image Source: Lockheed Martin Corporation – December 2020 IR Presentation covering Lockheed Martin Corporation’s pending acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc By Callum Turcan On December 20, Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) announced it was acquiring Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc (AJRD) for $56.00 per share in cash, or $51.00 per share after taking into account a special $5.00 per share pre-closing cash dividend payment that Aerojet Rocketdyne plans to pay out. The deal has a total equity value of ~$5 billion when including the special dividend component and is expected to close in the second half of 2021. In our view, this deal is highly complementary to Lockheed Martin’s existing operations. Combining Aerojet Rocketdyne’s propulsion and power systems business segments with … Read more

Nvidia Is a Great Company but Its Shares Appear to be Generously Valued

Image Source: Nvidia Corporation – October 2020 IR Presentation By Callum Turcan On November 18, Nvidia Corporation (NVDA) reported third quarter earnings for fiscal 2021 (period ended October 25, 2020) that beat both consensus top- and bottom-line estimates. The company’s GAAP revenues jumped higher by 57% year-over-year last fiscal quarter, aided by growth at its ‘Data Center’ (sales were up 190% year-over-year) and ‘Gaming’ (sales were up 37% year-over-year) business operating segments, which combined represented ~88% of its revenues last fiscal quarter. Nvidia’s ‘Professional Visualization’ and ‘Automotive’ business operating segments both posted year-over-year declines in sales. The ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic has accelerated recent trends in the digital world, such as the pivot towards offsite cloud-computing solutions to meet IT … Read more

Boeing’s Financials Are Absolutely Frightening

By Brian Nelson, CFA On November 18, 2020, Boeing (BA) announced that the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) withdrew its order that had grounded its 737-8s and 737-9s (737 MAX) that had been involved in two terrible accidents during the past few years, a Lion Air flight that killed 189 people and an Ethiopian Airlines jet crash that claimed the lives of 157 more. We’ll never forget these tragedies and the impact on the families and the aviation industry, more generally.   In January 2017, we had added Boeing to the Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio, but we had removed it March 16, 2018, prior to the unfortunate and high-profile accidents that occurred several months after. During the short time it … Read more

We Expect to Raise Our Fair Value Estimate of Honeywell

Image: Honeywell’s Third Quarter 2020 Earnings Release Slide Deck By Brian Nelson, CFA With GE’s (GE) fall from grace years ago, Honeywell (HON) has taken the reigns as one of Valuentum’s top industrial ideas. That said, we don’t include Honeywell in any newsletter portfolio given weakening fundamentals and an increased net debt position, but it remains top of mind should our existing holdings start to register ratings on the Valuentum Buying Index that may start to point to some profit taking. Honeywell yields just north of 2%. We continue to expect our newsletter holdings to perform relatively better against a strengthening economic backdrop, and that means for us, Honeywell will remain on the bench. During Honeywell’s third quarter, results released … Read more

Our Thoughts on Intel’s Latest Earnings Report

Image Shown: An overview of Intel Corporation’s performance during the first nine months of fiscal 2020. Image Source: Intel Corporation – Third Quarter of Fiscal 2020 IR Earnings Presentation By Callum Turcan On October 22, Intel Corporation (INTC) reported third quarter fiscal 2020 earnings (period ended September 26, 2020) that largely matched consensus expectations. Intel boosted its full-year outlook for fiscal 2020 on a net basis (which included an increase in its expected free cash flows this fiscal year) during its latest earnings update, though management reduced its forecast for Intel’s expected operating margins versus previous expectations. We continue to like Intel’s ability to generate sizable free cash flows, though we are concerned with its rising net debt load of … Read more

Our Thoughts on Intel’s Big Divestiture Ahead of Its Earnings Report

Image Source: Intel Corporation – Second Quarter of Fiscal 2020 IR Earnings Presentation By Callum Turcan On October 20, Intel Corporation (INTC) and South Korean-based SK Hynix announced a major transaction that will reshape the global NAND flash memory market. For reference, NAND flash memory is used in smartphones, personal computers, and other digital devices. Intel will receive $9.0 billion in cash that will be paid out in two phases, assuming everything goes as planned. In return, SK Hynix is receiving “Intel NAND memory and storage business, which includes the NAND SSD business, the NAND component and wafer business, and the Dalian NAND memory manufacturing facility in China” though Intel will retain its Intel Optane business, which caters to both … Read more