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Analyst Job Preservation and the Conflicts of Interest That Prevail

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“I’d rather lose half of my clients than lose half of my clients’ money.” – Jean-Marie Eveillard (First Eagle Global) I think very few investment research firms other than Valuentum can say that they are truly free from conflicts of interest. As shown in the excerpt from FINRA attached at the end of this article, there are at least five sources of analyst conflict of interest: investing banking relationships, analyst compensation, brokerage commissions, buy-side pressures, and ownership interests. No matter how much you may want to believe that sell-side equity research, or research provided by companies such as Morgan Stanley or Goldman Sachs, is free from conflicts of interest, it simply is not. Valuentum prides itself on being one of … Read more

You Can’t Trust Anonymity; Einhorn Sues

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By Brian Nelson, CFA We’re writing this piece to make you aware of some troubling developments in this industry. The investment business, as we’ve highlighted many times in the past, is based on trust. During the past several years, there’s been an explosion of information overload on the worldwide web, and a lot of the financial and investment information is written by anonymous authors without analyst credentials and with unknown motives. We hold the belief that, if a writer cannot stand behind his work in his own name, then there’s something wrong. Not only are a lot of the articles on other financial websites written by biased and anonymous authors, but now at least one anonymous author has been dealing … Read more

Firms Raising Their Dividend In the Week Ending July 26 Included Hershey and Republic Services

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Below we provide a list of firms that increased/decreased their dividends for the week ending July 26. The dividend reports of covered firms on this list will be updated shortly with the new information. To access our dividend reports, please click here. Increases Atlas Energy (ATLS): now $0.44 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.31. Bar Harbor Bankshares(BHB): now $0.315 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.31. Barnes Group (B): now $0.11 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.10. BBCN Bancorp (BBCN): now $0.075 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.05. Celanese Corporation (CE): now $0.18 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.09. Crane Co (CR): now $0.30 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.28. Fidelity Southern Corporation (LION): now $0.02 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.01. First … Read more

Raising Our Fair Value Estimate on Berkshire Hathaway, Our Thoughts on the Insurance Industry

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Image Source: AIG Competitive Structure of the Insurance Industry Constituents in the insurance industry earn revenues primarily from insurance premiums, policy fees from life insurance/investment products, and income from investments. Operating expenses consist of policyholder benefits and claims incurred, interest credited to policyholders, commissions and other costs of servicing products, as well as general business expenses. An insurer’s profitability is dependent on its ability to price and manage risk on insurance and annuity products, to manage its portfolio of investments effectively, and to control costs through expense discipline. The insurance industry is highly competitive, with rivals numbering in the thousands–including stock companies, specialty insurance organizations, life insurers, mutual companies, other underwriting firms, and banks. Though risk-acceptance criteria, product pricing, and … Read more

8 Announcements and Top Research You May Have Missed

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8 Announcements. This article was sent to members via email March 27. By Brian Nelson, CFA Hi everyone, Brian here. Trust you are doing great! Here are eight announcements I want you to be aware of: Everything we do is for our members. We’re very proud of the outperformance of the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio, that we’ve never had a dividend cut in the Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio, that our high-yield ideas are holding up very well, and the success rates of the Exclusive capital-appreciation ideas and short-idea considerations are running at approximately 80%. We’re proud to be your research partner. The odds of a Fed rate cut are going up as yield-curve inversion continues to threaten. The risks are more behavioral in … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week February 11

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending February 11. 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 $1.49 per share quarterly dividend, was $1.48. Algoma Steel Group (ASTL): now $0.05 per share quarterly dividend. Amdocs (DOX): now $0.395 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.360. Ameren (AEE): now $0.59 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.55. Ametek (AME): now $0.22 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.20. Ares Management (ARES): now $0.61 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.47. AstraZeneca PLC (AZN): now $1.97 … Read more

Nelson: The 16 Most Important Steps To Understand The Stock Market

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A previous version of this article appeared on our website July 21, 2013. Refreshed and updated throughout, as of July 2018. By Brian Nelson, CFA After earning my MBA at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and training stock and credit analysts from large organizations over the past decade or so, I have heard just about every question (though I admit I am still surprised by many things and remain a very humble student of the markets). I’ve also spent years perfecting the discounted cash flow process for large research organizations such as Morningstar and studied under one of the most famed aggressive growth investors of all time, Richard Driehaus. My knowledge runs the gamut from value through … Read more

There Is Milk At The Store

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This article first appeared in the September edition of the High Yield Dividend Newsletter. For more information about this publication, please see here. “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” — Winston Churchill By Brian Nelson, CFA Very few of us could have imagined that we’d witness the bull market that began on that fateful day in March 2009 that might very well mark a generational low. In 2009, major investment banks around the globe were struggling to survive, and the fallout in the mortgage markets left the banks holding paper that nobody wanted to own, let alone buy. The global financial system … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week of February 16

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending February 16. 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                          Advanced Info Service Public Ltd. ADR (AVIFY): now $0.102 per share semi-annual dividend, was $0.090. Ardmore Shipping (ASC): now $0.21 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.16. British American Tobacco (BTI): now $0.7431 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.7006. Brookfield Reinsurance (BNRE): Now $0.08 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.07. Brunswick (BC): now $0.42 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.40. Cisco (CSCO): now $0.40 per … Read more

Dropping Coverage of the Securities Research Industry

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Image Source: Andreas Poike Valuentum is dropping coverage of the securities research industry to allocate resources elsewhere. Structure of the Securities Research Industry The securities research industry has become increasingly competitive, with a large number of rivals in the individual, advisor, and institutional markets. However, barriers to success for new entrants in the individual market are incredibly high, if not impossible, while the advisor market continues to be dominated by entrenched providers with deep ties. The institutional market is shielded to new rivals thanks to talent and capital costs, offering established players an attractive position. Licensed research and data can be a high-return means of generating sustainable, recurring business. We like the group’s structure. Dun & Bradstreet (DNB) Dun & Bradstreet … Read more