ICYMI: Interview with Valuentum’s President Brian M. Nelson, CFA

Catch up with Valuentum’s President Brian M. Nelson, CFA in a recent interview with dividend growth investor Arne Magnus Lorentzen Ulland of the blog stockles. By Brian Nelson, CFA Recently, I was interviewed by Arne Magnus Lorentzen Ulland of the blog stockles. Arne is a dividend growth investor like many of you, and I sincerely hope you enjoy the interview he put together. I’m very grateful for his interest. His questions were fantastic. We discuss why and how I incorporate independence and integrity into the service at Valuentum. We go into detail regarding why Valuentum views stocks the way it does, and how Valuentum combines enterprise valuation and the information contained in prices in its stock-selection process. I discuss the pitfalls … Read more

Economic Commentary: US-Listed Chinese Names, 60-40 Stock-Bond Allocation and More

There’s an interesting saying that I came across recently…that hits at the most important component of any fiduciary approach: capital preservation. The saying was “Friends don’t let friends buy and hold.” We’ve always employed the Valuentum strategy, which we believe is much more promising than a traditional buy and hold strategy. – Brian Nelson, CFA The US-China trade war continues with reports indicating that the White House is considering delisting Chinese (FXI, MCHI, KWEB) companies on US exchanges. Let’s get more of the Valuentum’s team’s thoughts on these developments as well as other topics that have come to the fore. The latest alert to members is a great prompt to get the conversation started. The Valuentum Team: If we had … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending September 13

Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending September 13. 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 Aberdeen Emerging Markets Equity Income Fund (AEF): now $0.045 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.04. BIOQUAL (BIOQ): now $0.70 per share annual dividend, was $0.60. BRT Apartments (BRT): now $0.22 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.20. CNB Community Bancorp (CNBB): now $0.26 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.25. Exantas Capital (XAN): now $0.25 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.225. First Farmers Financial (FFMR): now $0.31 per … Read more

DGN Holding Realty Income Continues Moving Higher

Image Shown: Shares of Realty Income Corporation (O) have been on an upward tear this year as excitement over a lower interest rate environment, courtesy of the Federal Reserve, is driving up interest in real estate investment trusts. By Callum Turcan A holding in our Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio, Realty Income Corporation (O) invests in single-tenant properties both domestically and now abroad after expanding overseas for the first time earlier this year. The REIT pays out a monthly dividend and has done so for 590 consecutive months (as of early-September 2019), pushing through 102 payout increases since going public in 1994. Shares of the REIT yield 3.6% as of this writing. We like Realty Income’s “A” rated credit ratings (A3/A-), … Read more

Shares of DGN Holding Digital Realty Climbing Upwards

Image Source: Digital Realty Trust Inc – IR Presentation By Callum Turcan One of our favorite holdings in the Dividend Growth Newsletter is Digital Realty Trust (DLR), a data center REIT whose shares yield 3.4% as of this writing. Digital Realty expects to generate $6.60-$6.70 per share in core FFO this year, up 5% at the midpoint when excluding a new lease accounting standard and foreign currency headwinds. Please note that due to those two factors and pressure from rental renewals (DLR had a lot of leases expire in 2019 and some of the new leases were signed at modestly lower rates), Digital Realty’s reported core FFO ($6.65/share at the midpoint of guidance) in 2019 will only grow marginally from … Read more

Realty Income Posts Solid Earnings, Acquires Overseas Real Estate for First Time

Image Source: Realty Income Corporation – IR Presentation By Callum Turcan Realty Income Corporation (O) is a REIT focused on free-standing, single-tenant commercial properties in 49 US states, Puerto Rico, and now the UK. At the end of the second quarter of 2019, Realty Income had economic interests in almost 6,000 properties. The REIT reported second quarter earnings on August 5, and we liked what we saw. Realty Income is included in our Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio and shares of O yield 3.9% as of this writing. Please note that the REIT pays out a monthly dividend and has been doing so for 589 consecutive months (~49 years). Financial Overview As you can see in the graphic below, Realty Income … Read more

New Highs! The December Call Has Been Well-Rewarded

Image shown: Valuentum’s Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio. Since inception, the newsletter portfolio has *never* had a constituent that experienced a dividend cut. We moved to weighting ranges beginning in 2018.   “The less the prudence with which others conduct their affairs, the greater the prudence with which we must conduct our own.” – Warren Buffett (2018) By Brian Nelson, CFA While others are celebrating, we know better. This market could come down upon itself like nothing else. But for now. We breathe a sigh of relief. A company, Valuentum, that emphasizes the importance of timing and then delivers on that cold December 26 day to move to all-in in the newsletter portfolios is something remarkable (see image below). We cannot go back to … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending June 14

Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending June 14. 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 Andrew Peller (ADWPF): now $0.215 per share annual dividend on Class A shares, was $0.205. Blackstone/GSO Long-Short Credit Income Fund (BGX): now $0.122 per share monthly dividend, was $0.115. Blackstone/GSO Strategic Credit Fund (BGB): now $0.114 per share monthly dividend, was $0.109. Capstead Mortgage (CMO): now $0.12 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.08. Caseys General Stores (CASY): now $0.32 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.29. Cherry … Read more

Markets Swooning, Expect Extreme Volatility, Finger on Put-Option Trigger

Image shown: We notified members December 26 that we had  moved  the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio to a “fully invested” position, from a 30% and 20% cash “weighting” at the high end of the range, respectively.  — No change to simulated newsletter portfolios…at this time.  — Hi everyone, — Hope you’re navigating these tumultuous markets well.   — If you recall, during the holiday season last year, we had moved the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio to “fully invested.” See image above (point of the arrow). Because many members were traveling and out of the office, not all were able to read the notification until a week or two after. They were … Read more

Mortgage REITs Floundering, More Reports

In alphabetical order by company name: NLY, CAKE, CLX, CVS, EL, PBI, PSA, QCOM, O, SMG  — Annaly Capital (NLY): We’ve been warning about the mortgage REITs (REM) for as long as we can remember, and we just issued yet another warning recently about the sustainability of group’s dividends. These equities are high-risk, and they’ve been underperformers for years. On May 1, Annaly Capital pre-announced a dividend cut to $0.25 per share, down from $0.30 per share previously. Economic leverage at the mREIT was 7x at the end of the quarter, and mortgage market dynamics remain as difficult to predict as ever. CEO Kevin Keyes characterized the current environment as one hindered by a “flattening yield curve and compressed spreads.” Buyer … Read more