ALERT: Markets Now Fairly Valued

Hi everyone: — Long-term investing is a great proposition. You have an incredible advantage over most professional investors that have to deliver on a quarterly or annual basis. The reason is due to something called time horizon arbitrage.  — For example, where most professionals are focused on near-term economic data or near-term earnings, you can focus on how the broader earnings trajectory might look like in 2022 and beyond. I think we’d both agree that the economic data or earnings performance for the remainder of 2020 won’t matter much when we turn the calendar to 2021 in just a few months–and in 2021, the market will be looking at 2022 numbers.  — Markets will always be forward-looking, and stocks are long-duration … Read more

Valuentum Website Overview

Overview of the key features of valuentum.com/ (03:55). Valuentum (val∙u∙n∙tum) [val-yoo-en-tuh-m] Securities Inc. is an independent investment research publisher, offering premium equity reports, dividend reports, and ETF reports, as well as commentary across all sectors/companies, a Best Ideas Newsletter (spanning market caps, asset classes), a Dividend Growth Newsletter, modeling tools/products, and more. Independence and integrity remain our core, and we strive to be a champion of the investor. Valuentum is based in the Chicagoland area. Valuentum is not a money manager, broker, or financial advisor. Valuentum is a publisher of financial information. The Benefits of Premium Membership >> Subscribe Now!

Alibaba Mirrors the Performance of Its Western Peers

Image Shown: Alibaba Group Holding Limited posted strong results for the fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2020, mirroring the performance of its large-cap tech peers based in Western countries (particularly the US). Image Source: Alibaba Group Holding Limited – June Quarter 2020 Earnings Presentation By Callum Turcan At a time when US-China geopolitical tensions are rising and the Trump Administration is pushing the Chinese tech firm ByteDance to divest (at least) the US-based operations of TikTok, many Chinese tech firms are still thriving. The ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic has fundamentally altered daily life for most households around the world. Social distancing practices have aggressively driven up e-commerce demand along with demand for cloud computing offerings (as more employees work from … Read more

August Best Ideas Newsletter!

Image: The Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio. We migrated to weighting ranges at the beginning of 2018. The image above is as of the close April 15. — Hi everyone: — Trust you are well.  — Portfolio concentration among strong-performing equities has been the key to outperformance. Since the last update, we’ve witnessed some big moves from our top-weighted entities: Berkshire Hathaway (+10.7%), Facebook (+8.7%), and PayPal (+11.2%). These three entities comprise roughly 34% of the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio at the high end of the weighting ranges, more than offsetting the weaker performance from lower-weighted Cisco and Intel during the month. We continue to focus on over-weighting our “best of the best” ideas within a portfolio setting, and we’re hoping to … Read more

Visa Remains Resilient in the Face of COVID-19

Image Shown: Visa Inc remained a free cash flow cow last fiscal quarter in the face of the pandemic. Image Source: Visa Inc – Third Quarter of Fiscal 2020 IR Earnings Presentation By Callum Turcan On July 29, Visa Inc (V) reported third quarter fiscal 2020 earnings (period ended June 30, 2020) that missed consensus top-line estimates and beat consensus bottom-line estimates. The ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic weighed on travel-related purchases across Visa’s cardholder base, a dynamic that held down cross-border transactions which tend to be more lucrative for the payment processor. Keeping pandemic-related headwinds in mind, the company noted its performance was improving in several key markets around the world. We continue to like Visa as a top-weighted holding … Read more

PayPal Posts a Tremendous Quarterly Report, Reinstates Guidance

Image Shown: PayPal Holdings Inc put up tremendous performance during the first half of 2020 as consumers are increasingly shopping online. In the second quarter of 2020, PayPal continued to grow at a decent clip even in the face of the ongoing pandemic. Image Source: PayPal Holdings Inc – Second Quarter of 2020 IR Earnings Presentation By Callum Turcan After the market close July 29, PayPal Holdings Inc (PYPL) reported second quarter 2020 earnings that beat consensus top- and bottom-line estimates. Shares of PYPL moved sharply higher after the report was published, and we continue to like PayPal as a holding in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio. Our fair value estimate sits at $200 per share of PYPL, comfortably above … Read more

Second Quarter Earnings Roundup

The figure above shows the performance of the simulated Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio from inception May 17, 2011, through December 15, 2017, relative to its declared benchmark, the S&P 500 (SPY), on an apples-to-apples basis, with dividends collected but not reinvested for both the newsletter portfolio and the SPY, as reported in the monthly newsletter. The simulated Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio outperformed the S&P 500, including reinvested dividends in the benchmark, since inception (May 17, 2011) and since the inaugural release of the newsletter (July 13, 2011) through the end of the measurement period (December 15, 2017). The results are hypothetical and do not represent returns that an investor actually earned. Past results are not indicative of future performance. Valuentum … Read more

Best Idea PayPal Hits Record High!

—– Hi everyone, — The Valuentum strategy continues to deliver! My goodness! One of our favorite ideas in the payment processing space PayPal (PYPL) is hitting a record high today. Simply incredible. For those that missed the latest edition of the Best Ideas Newsletter, it can be downloaded here (pdf). For those that missed the latest edition of the Dividend Growth Newsletter, it can be downloaded here (pdf). Thanks so much for your interest, and we’re available for any questions. Cheers! — Kind regards, Brian Nelson, CFA President, Investment Research Valuentum Securities, Inc. brian@valuentum.com — Financial Tech Services: MA, MELI, PYPL, V, VRSK

Reiterating Our Bullish Long-Term View on Stocks

Reiterating Our Bullish Long-Term View on Stocks Image: The NASDAQ 100 Index remains resilient, bouncing off support, after breaking out to new highs recently. Some of our best ideas are included in the NASDAQ 100, and our favorite concentrations include exposure to big cap tech and large cap growth. We continue to be bullish on equities for the long run. — By Brian Nelson, CFA — Hi everyone, — Hope you are doing great! First, I wanted to let you know that we’re still working to get the second release of the survey out to you. Your participation in the survey will determine whether we launch a new business, so please do fill it out and keep a watchful eye out for … Read more

ICYMI: Survey Coming Later Today, More Market Volatility Expected

ICYMI: Survey Coming Later Today, More Market Volatility Expected Image: The market’s levels of volatility so far in 2020 have been among the greatest in history. Expectations for increased volatility in the marketplace as a result of the proliferation of price-agnostic trading (indexing and quantitative trading) is a key theme of Valuentum’s text, Value Trap: Theory of Universal Valuation. We continue to emphasize the importance of due diligence, enterprise valuation, behavioral thinking, the information contained in prices, and stock selection across equity portfolios. Page 256. — Hi everyone, — Hope you all are doing great!  — Many of you have already filled out the survey, and I can’t thank you enough for that. For those that may have missed the email housing … Read more