PYPL

Markets Up Big; Upside Volatility

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Image shown: The S&P 500 ETF (SPY) since August 2017. The index has broken through support and is now bouncing back to resistance. By Brian Nelson, CFA Good morning everyone, Are you watching these markets? This is incredible. The Dow finished down 660 points yesterday (briefly dropping 700 points), and today, the Dow is currently trading up 600 points at the time of this writing. Granted, there was Apple’s (AAPL) poor first-quarter 2019 guidance yesterday and the strong jobs report today, but this volatility is not “normal,” no matter what others are saying. A couple announcements up front. For those that already ordered our book Value Trap, I will send you the pdf download to your email address just to make sure … Read more

Valuentum Stock Screeners

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This article was sent to members via email December 29. That email can be accessed at the link that follows this article. By Brian Nelson, CFA Hi everyone, I wanted to provide an update with respect to Valuentum’s stock screeners. We believe our stock screeners are among the most robust when it comes to providing forward-looking data, or data that is important with respect to the investment decision-making process. We publish screens in each of the monthly newsletters, but we also provide a basic weekly screener for download on the left column of the website, “Download Weekly Stock Screener (xls) — login required.”   We also have other products. The more robust DataScreener, for example, is part of the quarterly Financial … Read more

Market Mayhem — Alerts for Members

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During these extremely volatile times, it’s important to stay focused. On December 15, we informed all of our members to “Pay Attention.” Shortly thereafter, we notified members of the potential for a stock market technical breakdown. This morning, we offered a pre-market briefing about the importance of thinking about portfolio protection. For Best Ideas Newsletter and Dividend Growth Newsletter members: http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?preview=true&m=1110817109903&ca=e2406cd6-c113-4344-8731-493f33fc44a4&id=preview For High Yield Dividend Newsletter members: http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?preview=true&m=1110817109903&ca=b3ba530f-38b3-489a-ac96-2961dca89c6b&id=preview For Exclusive members: http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?preview=true&m=1110817109903&ca=ba6d90c0-4433-48b2-9b8a-aac4ddf9006e&id=preview We’re here for any questions. Please just let us know how we can help! Kind regards, Brian Nelson, CFA  brian@valuentum.com

PayPal Person-to-Person Volume Growing Rapidly

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Image Source: PayPal third-quarter earnings presentation PayPal continues to benefit from secular trends away from cash and towards mobile, and its free cash flow generation and balance sheet strength remain impressive. Person-to-Person volume growth has been robust. By Kris Rosemann Simulated Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio idea PayPal (PYPL) continues to ride the secular trend away from cash, and nothing may be more exemplary of this than its continued rise in Person-to-Person volume, which advanced 50% in the third quarter from the year-ago period to roughly 25% of its total payment volume (TPV). PayPal’s third quarter report, released October 18, also revealed a 15% increase in active accounts added in the period on a year-over-year basis, and the 9.1 million active … Read more

In the News: Sears Nears Bankruptcy, Luxury Apparel Weakens, Fastenal Reports, and Financial Tech Stocks Take Hit

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In what was a long-time coming, Sears looks to finally be succumbing to the pressures of the brick-and-mortar retailing business. It won’t be the last big-name retailer to fail, and it certainly wasn’t the first. Luxury stocks are reeling as a result of worries in China. Financial tech stocks gave back a fraction of their huge gains more recently, as investors size up credit risk at this stage of the economic cycle. We continue to believe financial tech is the place to be, however, with PayPal and Visa as two of our top considerations. By Brian Nelson, CFA Sears Holdings (SHLD) is now nothing more than a penny stock, trading at about $0.40 per share, as CNBC reported that the … Read more

Best Ideas Newsletter Portfolio Not Bad Thus Far in 2018

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Part of what we take pride in at Valuentum is telling things how they are. If things are going great, we let you know. If things aren’t going as good as they could be, we don’t hold back. In the year of crypto and cannabis, 2018 hasn’t been the best year for the simulated Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio, but it hasn’t been bad either.  By Brian Nelson, CFA We wrote up an extensive piece on the background of the simulated Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio earlier this year, and we encourage everyone to have a read of that here (pdf). We made some changes to the goals of the newsletter portfolio prior to the beginning of this year. For starters, we … Read more

Valuentum’s Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) Distribution

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The weighted average cost of capital is one of the most subjective measures in corporate finance, but it is also one of the most important ones. “The most important item over time in valuation is obviously interest rates…If interest rates are destined to be at low levels…It makes any stream of earnings from investments worth more money. The bogey is always what government bonds yield….Any investment is worth all the cash you’re going to get out between now and judgment day discounted back. The discounting back is affected by whether you choose interests rates like those of Japan or interest rates like those we had in 1982…When we had 15 percent short-term rates in 1982, it was silly to pay … Read more

PayPal on the Move to $125?

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PayPal gets the backing of a new investor, and expectations are for the equity to trade to $125 within the next 18 months. We’re not as bullish on its valuation as others might be, but we’d be really excited to see this simulated Best Ideas Newsletter idea surge! By Brian Nelson, CFA We have been mighty pleased with PayPal’s (PYPL) performance since its split from eBay (EBAY), and while we do have some concerns regarding the impending and expected non-renewal of its agreement with eBay in coming years, we fully expect PayPal to replace lost business as eBay represents just a few months of expansion at its current growth run rate. Rivalries are heating up in the online payments space, … Read more

Internet Sales Taxes and Restructuring the U.S. Post Office

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The Supreme Court has been active in creating revenue opportunities for states, as in legalizing sports betting and most recently in facilitating the collection of online sales taxes. The White House has floated the idea of reorganizing the U.S. Postal Service, but we think this endeavor represents more of a tail risk for Stamps.com than anything else. Though we expect smaller online retailers to feel some pressure as a result of the online sales tax ruling (Amazon already collects online sales taxes), we don’t think the ruling, while leveling the playing field for some brick-and-mortar retailers, will change the fate of many aging department stores such as J.C. Penney and Sears, both of which may not make it to the … Read more

PayPal Hits New Highs!

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We continue to watch PayPal as it has been a fantastic idea in the simulated Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio since it split from eBay. Rivalries are intensifying in the digital payments space and the company will have to replace lost business with eBay in coming years, but we still like the idea. We also view Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as more an opportunity than a threat for many digital payment providers. By Brian Nelson, CFA On June 19, PayPal (PYPL) announced it would acquire Hyperwallet for $400 million in cash. We think the PayPal executive team was impressed with the technology at Hyperwallet, which faciliates the ability to “pay almost anyone almost anywhere in the world.” As PayPal fuses this … Read more