Another Great Day for Best Ideas Newsletter Portfolio Holdings!

Image: The holdings in the Best Ideas Newsletter during the trading session November 5. We continue to pound the table on our best ideas. By Brian Nelson, CFA The votes keep coming in for the Presidential Election of 2020, and it is a very high probability that Democratic nominee Joe Biden will become the next President of the United States. We don’t expect incumbent Donald Trump to go down without a fight however, and while we anticipate a bunch of news headlines in the coming weeks about recounts in battleground states, accusations of voter fraud, and the like, we also expect a peaceful transition of power once the dust settles. With many news outlets projecting Joe Biden will win the key … Read more

Our $140 Fair Value Estimate of Apple Remains Unchanged

Image Shown: Apple Inc maintained its enormous net cash position at the end of fiscal 2020. In the graphic up above, Apple’s cash-like items are underlined in red and its debt-like items are underlined in blue. Image Source: Apple Inc – 8-K SEC filing covering the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 with additions from the author. By Callum Turcan On October 29, Apple Inc (AAPL) reported fourth quarter and full-year earnings for fiscal 2020 (period ended September 26, 2020). Its fiscal 2020 GAAP revenues and GAAP operating income were up 6% and 4% year-over-year, respectively. Growth was driven by its Mac, iPad, ‘Wearables, Home and Accessories,’ and ‘Services’ offerings while its iPhone revenues dropped somewhat. Longer term, we are optimistic … Read more

Our Thoughts on Intel’s Latest Earnings Report

Image Shown: An overview of Intel Corporation’s performance during the first nine months of fiscal 2020. Image Source: Intel Corporation – Third Quarter of Fiscal 2020 IR Earnings Presentation By Callum Turcan On October 22, Intel Corporation (INTC) reported third quarter fiscal 2020 earnings (period ended September 26, 2020) that largely matched consensus expectations. Intel boosted its full-year outlook for fiscal 2020 on a net basis (which included an increase in its expected free cash flows this fiscal year) during its latest earnings update, though management reduced its forecast for Intel’s expected operating margins versus previous expectations. We continue to like Intel’s ability to generate sizable free cash flows, though we are concerned with its rising net debt load of … Read more

Our Thoughts on Intel’s Big Divestiture Ahead of Its Earnings Report

Image Source: Intel Corporation – Second Quarter of Fiscal 2020 IR Earnings Presentation By Callum Turcan On October 20, Intel Corporation (INTC) and South Korean-based SK Hynix announced a major transaction that will reshape the global NAND flash memory market. For reference, NAND flash memory is used in smartphones, personal computers, and other digital devices. Intel will receive $9.0 billion in cash that will be paid out in two phases, assuming everything goes as planned. In return, SK Hynix is receiving “Intel NAND memory and storage business, which includes the NAND SSD business, the NAND component and wafer business, and the Dalian NAND memory manufacturing facility in China” though Intel will retain its Intel Optane business, which caters to both … Read more

Our Thoughts on Apple Launching Its First-Ever 5G-Capable iPhone

Image Shown: Shares of Apple Inc have surged higher year-to-date. By Callum Turcan On October 13, Apple Inc (AAPL) announced its first-ever lineup of 5G-capable iPhones along with a new smart home speaker offering HomePod Mini. While the 5G-capable iPhone announcement was largely expected, we appreciate the good news all the same. We include shares of Apple as a holding in both our Best Ideas Newsletter and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolios and are big fans of the name. The HomePod Mini offering represents Apple’s way of staying competitive with similar offerings from Amazon Inc (AMZN) and Alphabet Inc (GOOG) (GOOGL). The Big News Apple’s four new iPhone offerings (iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro … Read more

Our Thoughts on Nvidia Acquiring Arm

Image Source: Nvidia Corporation – Nvidia to Acquire Arm IR Presentation By Callum Turcan On September 13, Nvidia Corporation (NVDA) announced it would acquire Arm Limited (a semiconductor company with a heavy focus on smartphones and gaming devices) from SoftBank Group Bank Corp. (SFTBY) and SoftBank’s Vision Fund through a transaction valued at approximately $40 billion. That deal will see Nvidia pay SoftBank and the Vision Fund $12.0 billion in cash (including $2.0 billion payable at signing), $21.5 billion in Nvidia stock (equal to 44.3 million shares at the time of the announcement, though that figure could change as it depends on NVDA’s average closing price over the last 30 trading days), and the deal has an earn-out component that … Read more

3 Lessons in Portfolio Management Over 10 Years

Dear members: — We’re finally getting a pause in the rapid ascent of the markets on September 3rd. Though headlines may look scary and momentum/volatility investors could start to pile on to the downside, a modest retracement is actually a good thing. We continue to focus on the long haul with our processes, and we’re viewing the sell-off as profit taking, for the most part. — In the near term, the markets will also have to digest some speculators betting on mean reversion between “value” (cyclical) versus “growth” (secular), but we maintain the view that the value-versus-growth conversation is largely nonsense (see block quotes below), and mean reversion is something akin to the gamblers’ fallacy, in my humble opinion. Investors should also continue … 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!

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