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Dividend Growth Idea Lockheed Martin Doing Its Best to Arm Western Allies

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Image Shown: Dividend growth idea Lockheed Martin Corporation is very shareholder friendly. The defense contractor is doing its best to arm Ukraine and other Western allies during these difficult times. Image Source: Lockheed Martin Corporation – First Quarter of Fiscal 2022 IR Earnings Presentation By Callum Turcan The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and simmering geopolitical tensions in East Asia between Western aligned nations and China over Taiwan and other issues have created a backdrop that is conducive to significant increases in national defense spending. Though we hope peace prevails soon, the realities on the ground in Ukraine and elsewhere call for North Atlantic Treaty Organization (‘NATO’) member nations and other Western aligned nations to ramp up their … Read more

Valuentum Weekly: Outsized Energy Exposure Continues to Buoy Newsletter Portfolios

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Image: Light crude oil futures once traded for roughly -$40 (negative $40) during the COVID-19 crisis, but have now rocketed to more than $120 in recent trading. Image Source: TradingView. This note was emailed to members Sunday, March 6, 2022. Markets   The S&P 500, as measured by the SPY, is down 9% year-to-date, a modest pullback, in our view, particularly in light of the fantastic performance the past few years. Though not necessarily welcome, a down year every now and then for the broader market indexes and a modest bear market can only be expected, at times. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, as measured by the DIA, is down more than 7% year-to-date (not too bad), while the Nasdaq–as measured by the … Read more

Cisco Posts Great Earnings Update; Increases Dividend and Share Buyback Authority

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Image Shown: Cisco Systems Inc is a very shareholder friendly company. Image Source: Cisco Systems Inc – Second Quarter of Fiscal 2022 IR Earnings Presentation By Callum Turcan On February 16, Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO) reported second quarter earnings for fiscal 2022 (period ended January 29, 2022) that smashed past both consensus top- and bottom-line estimates. Shares of CSCO surged higher initially after its earnings were made public as the company offered up promising near term guidance, indicating that its positive momentum seen of late is expected to continue. We include shares of CSCO as an idea in both the Best Ideas Newsletter and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolios. Cisco announced a 3% sequential increase in its quarterly dividend in conjunction … Read more

Weekly: Why We Missed Big on T and FB; Overpriced Staples, Our Call To Action; and More!

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In this Valuentum Weekly, in video form, President of Investment Research Brian Nelson, CFA, explains why Valuentum missed big on T and FB, how volatility on names with huge market caps is spiking recklessly, and why the call to action in the book Value Trap remains as relevant as ever given current incentives. ———- Valuentum members have access to our 16-page stock reports, Valuentum Buying Index ratings, Dividend Cushion ratios, fair value estimates and ranges, dividend reports and more. Not a member? Subscribe today. The first 14 days are free.    Brian Nelson owns shares in SPY, SCHG, QQQ, DIA, VOT, BITO, and IWM. Valuentum owns SPY, SCHG, QQQ, VOO, and DIA. Brian Nelson’s household owns shares in HON, DIS, HAS, NKE. … Read more

Don’t Throw the Baby Out with the Bathwater

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Image: Erica Nicol Takeaways: Junk tech should continue to collapse, but the stylistic area of large cap growth and big cap tech should remain resilient. Moderately elevated levels of inflation coupled with interest rates hovering at all-time lows isn’t a terrible combination. In fact, it’s not bad at all. The markets are digesting the huge gains of the past few years so far in 2022, and the excesses in ARKK funds, crypto, SPACs, and meme stocks are being rid from the system. Our best ideas are “outperforming” the very benchmarks that are outperforming everyone else. The BIN portfolio is down 6.4% and the DGN portfolio is down 3.2% year to date. The SPY is down 7.8%, while the average investor … Read more

Nvidia Continues to Deliver in the Face of Global Supply Chain Crunch

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Image Source: Nvidia Corporation – September 2021 IR Presentation By Callum Turcan On November 17, Nvidia Corporation (NVDA) reported third quarter earnings for fiscal 2022 (period ended October 31, 2021) that beat both consensus top- and bottom-line estimates, and the firm provided favorable guidance covering the current fiscal quarter. The company has done a solid job navigating the ongoing shortage of semiconductor components along with other hurdles, such as logistical bottlenecks and inflationary pressures. Nvidia’s growth runway is enormous as it intends to expand into a new market within the semiconductor space, which we will cover in this note. Shares of NVDA have leapt higher during the past month as the “chip” company’s (Nvidia designs chips that are produced by … Read more

Cisco Systems Posts Solid Earnings Update; Supply Chain Hurdles Impacting Near Term Outlook

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Image Source: Cisco Systems Inc – First Quarter of Fiscal 2022 IR Earnings Presentation By Callum Turcan On November 17, Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO) reported first quarter earnings for fiscal 2022 (period ended October 30, 2021) that missed consensus top-line estimates but beat consensus bottom-line estimates. Shares of CSCO fell initially after its latest earnings update was published due to its near term guidance coming in a tad softer than expected, though we caution that this is primarily due to supply chain headwinds negatively impacting Cisco Systems and the networking hardware industry more broadly. As global health authorities work towards bringing the coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic to an end worldwide, the supply chain situation should improve going forward. We include Cisco … Read more

Putting the Environmental in ESG

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Valuentum’s ESG newsletter helps identify which stocks have strong ESG scores, and which ones come up short. Subscribe to the monthly Valuentum ESG Newsletter today by selecting the ‘Subscribe’ button below (12 editions, $1,000/year).   —– By Valuentum Analysts There is no single definition for ESG investing beyond the words that make up the acronym – Environmental, Social, and Governance. Investors looking at ESG may be doing so for a variety of reasons with a variety of different needs. But for every investor, a focus on ESG allows for a fuller consideration of the company, as a whole, as well as how that company impacts the 21st century landscape, as it relates to rewarding social responsibility by investing in companies … Read more

Markets Look Vulnerable, Adding “Protection”

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Image: The S&P 500 (SPY) and corresponding 50-day (green), 100-day (purple), and 200-day moving averages (red). We expect the SPY may have to “correct” to the 200-day moving average, or about $412-$413 per share before it finds its footing. Self-inflicted wounds the past several weeks have altered the market’s sentiment for the worse, and we don’t think the selling is done yet. To read the email, please click here. — Hi everyone: — Volatility has picked up, and options trading is all the rage. — The markets are under pressure again this morning, and we’re not wasting any time to add put option “protection” to both the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio. The last time we added … Read more

Two Alerts and Bull Market On!

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By Brian Nelson, CFA It’s very hard not to be bullish on the stock market these days. The prudence exercised by many of the largest companies in the S&P 500 remains unprecedented, in our view. Some of the best companies out there have tremendous balance sheets, as evidenced by huge net cash positions. Perhaps two of our favorite companies, Microsoft (MSFT) and Facebook (FB) are the best examples of this, but Apple (AAPL) still retains quite the large net cash hoard as it works to net-cash breakeven. As we look at the next couple years, most investors will continue to focus on the Fed. We’ve seen this song and dance following the Great Financial Crisis (GFC) that wreaked havoc on … Read more