There Will Be Volatility

By Brian Nelson, CFA Last year, 2022, was a big test for equity investors, and the downside volatility that we witnessed during the year wasn’t comfortable, to say the least. Following the COVID-19 crash and rebound during 2020, and then the market surge in 2021, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say many investors’ heads are probably still spinning from all the volatility witnessed to start this decade. That said, part of what we’ve been warning about the past few years with respect to the equity market, especially in Value Trap, is that the proliferation of price-agnostic trading (e.g. quant, machine/algorithmic trading, etc.) will only lead to more and more market volatility, so while we were somewhat surprised by last … Read more

Dividend Growth Idea Oracle Showing Serious Growth Momentum

Image Source: Oracle Corporation – September 2019 IR Presentation By Callum Turcan On June 13, Oracle Corporation (ORCL) reported fourth quarter earnings for fiscal 2022 (period ended May 31, 2022) that beat both consensus top- and bottom-line estimates. The tech giant also provided favorable constant currency revenue growth guidance for its cloud businesses for fiscal 2023. Shares of ORCL initially surged higher in the wake of its latest earnings report before drifting modestly lower along the decline in broader equity markets. We include Oracle as an idea in the Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio and shares of ORCL yield ~1.9% as of this writing. Quarterly Update In the fiscal fourth quarter, Oracle’s GAAP revenues grew by 5% year-over-year and were up … Read more

Salesforce Has Room to Run

Image Source: Salesforce Inc – Fourth Quarter of Fiscal 2022 IR Earnings Presentation By Callum Turcan Salesforce Inc (CRM) was founded in 1999 as software-as-a-service (‘SaaS’) company built around customer relationship management (‘CRM’) software, initially a version created by its co-founders Marc Benioff, Parker Harris, Frank Dominguez, and Dave Moellenhoff. The firm is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company offers software that assists its customers with marketing, customer service, sales, digital commerce, business development, collaboration, analytics, recruitment, and numerous other activities. These offerings aim to improve workplace productivity by streamlining certain functions and automating others. Salesforce provides a comprehensive suite of software solutions designed for businesses and government entities across its Customer 360 platform, while using analytics and AI … Read more