QQQ

There Is Milk At The Store

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This article first appeared in the September edition of the High Yield Dividend Newsletter. For more information about this publication, please see here. “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” — Winston Churchill By Brian Nelson, CFA Very few of us could have imagined that we’d witness the bull market that began on that fateful day in March 2009 that might very well mark a generational low. In 2009, major investment banks around the globe were struggling to survive, and the fallout in the mortgage markets left the banks holding paper that nobody wanted to own, let alone buy. The global financial system … Read more

Overweighting Outperformers

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Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio (trading session October 21, interim) — Image: The performance of ideas in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio during the trading session October 21. Many of the higher-weighted ideas in the newsletter portfolio (weightings shown here) are propelling the portfolio to relative outperformance. The Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio comprises a portfolio constructed of Valuentum’s best ideas. These are companies that have scored favorably on the Valuentum Buying Index (VBI) and have been included in the newsletter portfolio with consideration of sector diversification and market/economic risk. The Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio is found in the Best Ideas Newsletter, which is released on the 15th of each month. Its archives can be accessed here. Source: Seeking Alpha. — Hi everyone, — As … Read more

Valuentum Weekly: Yields on New Series I Savings Bonds Have Soared!

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The Valuentum Weekly is a brand-new weekly market commentary from Valuentum Securities, released each weekend in digital form. The Valuentum Weekly offers members a weekly synopsis of the markets and major events. It will be straight and to-the-point. Our goal is to deliver to you the latest information and insights. We welcome your feedback on how we can make the Valuentum Weekly as useful and as relevant for you as ever! — —– — Markets  — The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and NASDAQ futures are all indicated up Sunday night (March 13), but that may not mean much when trading kicks off tomorrow. The start to 2022 has been one of the worst stretches during the past decade, but broader … Read more

Euphoria Running Rampant: Investigating Some of the Hottest Names Around

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Image Source: Tesla Roadster As we march forward in what Morgan Stanley has dubbed a bull market of “epic proportions,” euphoria appears to be at levels perhaps not seen since the dot-com bust of the early 2000s. Let’s take a look at some of the “hottest” names on the market. By Kris Rosemann and Brian Nelson, CFA Earlier this month, Ireland (IRL, EIRL) borrowed five-year paper at a -0.008% (negative 0.008%), meaning that the country is being paid to borrow. If you recall, we penned a piece in April 2016, that commented on an obscure article in the Journal where a Danish couple was being paid interest on their mortgage (that’s right – they are being paid interest, not paying … Read more

Why We Like Apple and Microsoft in the Newsletter Portfolios

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Image Shown: Shares of Apple Inc (blue line) and Microsoft Corporation (red line) are up significantly year-to-date as of the market close on June 19, and we see room for both shares of AAPL and MSFT to continue marching higher after recently revising our fair value estimates for both companies. By Callum Turcan On June 12, we added back shares of Apple Inc (AAPL) and Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) to both the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio (link here). We added Apple and Microsoft back to the newsletter portfolios using the cash position generated by removing the Vanguard Real Estate ETF (VNQ) and the SPDR S&P Aerospace and Defense ETF (XAR) from the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio … Read more

Alphabet (Google) and Amazon Continue to Power Ahead

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Image Shown: Shares of Alphabet Inc Class C surged higher in after-hours trading on February 2 after the digital advertising giant reported a stellar fourth-quarter 2020 earnings report. We continue to be big fans of the name and include shares of GOOG as a top-weighting holding in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio. By Callum Turcan On February 2, both Alphabet Inc (GOOG) (GOOGL) and Amazon Inc (AMZN) surprised the market to the upside, but not us. We’ve been huge fans of large cap growth, big cap tech, and the NASDAQ for some time now. In this note, we cover Alphabet’s earnings report. The company is one of our favorite tech giants and a holding in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio. … Read more

Still Bullish — Stocks for the Long Run!

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Excuses not to pick stocks are only exposing biases these days. By Brian Nelson, CFA The S&P 500 (SPY), Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA) and Nasdaq (QQQ) continue to hover near all-time highs, and all appears well. We maintain our bullish take on the markets and believe that we are in the early innings of a long bull market that started following the washout March 2020 during the depths of the COVID-19 meltdown. Stock bull markets tend to average about 4.4 years in duration, with the last one enduring ~11 years, while bear markets are very abrupt, lasting only 11.3 months on average, the last one a very short 1.1 months, according to data from First Trust. We’re about 15 … Read more

Governance: The G in ESG Investing

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By Valuentum Analysts No discussion of ESG investing would be complete without addressing the role of corporate governance (“stewardship”) in equity investing. As with the other aspects of ESG investing, corporate governance covers a lot of ground. It can include pretty much anything related to how a company is run, including leadership, executive compensation, audits and accounting, and shareholder rights. These areas are just the tip of the iceberg, however.  A company with good corporate governance is one that is run well with the proper incentives and with all stakeholders in mind, from employees to suppliers to customers to shareholders and beyond. Good corporate governance practices decrease the risk to investors as it cuts through conflicts of interest, misuse of … Read more