SCHG

Loving Stocks Here! Meta and Alphabet Setting Up Nicely for Long Term Investors!

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  Image: Nelson still remains bullish. We wouldn’t be surprised to see the markets make new highs as they have done time and time again over the stock market’s storied history of bull and bear markets, crashes and rip-your-face off rallies, and economic booms and recessions! There are myriad risks, but we’re not overthinking this market. We like stocks for the long haul. “The active versus passive over-benchmarking plague is hurting investor returns, and flawed measures of risk are disguising the underperformance.” — Brian Nelson, CFA Dear members: Latest thoughts on Meta Platforms >> Latest thoughts on Alphabet >>  One of the hardest parts of investing is keeping your head when others around you are running for the exits. That’s … Read more

Shares of Best Idea Alphabet Remain Incredibly Undervalued

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Image Shown: Alphabet Inc Class C shares are trading at bargain basement levels, in our view. By Callum Turcan Alphabet Inc (GOOG) (GOOGL) reported second quarter 2022 earnings that missed consensus top- and bottom-line estimates. However, investors were clearly expecting the tech giant to perform much worse as shares of GOOG leapt higher following the report. We continue to like Alphabet Class C shares (ticker: GOOG) as a top-weighted idea in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio. Our fair value estimate (adjusted for Alphabet’s recent 20:1 stock split) sits near $157 per share of GOOG, well above where shares are trading at as of this writing. Earnings Update During the second quarter of 2022, Alphabet’s GAAP revenues grew 13% year-over-year and … Read more

Meta Platforms’ Shares Remain Cheap; Long Term Focus Required

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Image Shown: Meta Platforms Inc’s family of apps continued to grow its active user base last quarter. Its social media networks are used by billions of users every single day. Image Source: Meta Platforms Inc – Second Quarter of 2022 IR Earnings Presentation By Callum Turcan On July 27, Meta Platforms Inc (META) reported second quarter 2022 earnings that missed consensus top- and bottom-line estimates. We appreciate that its active user base across its family of apps (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger) and its ad impressions continued to trend in the right direction last quarter, though recent softness in its pricing power is concerning. Meta Platforms is responding by scaling back its targeted operating expense growth, which we appreciate. We … Read more

The Stock Market Is Nearing Technical Support Levels

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Image: This year has been a difficult one for equity investors, but the selling pressure that has been common in the markets may start to slow as broader indices such as the S&P 500 begin to approach technical support levels. On the S&P 500, we think there is substantial technical support in the 3,200-3,500 range, which to us suggests that further near-term downside may be limited. The S&P 500 closed at 3,674.84 on Friday, June 17, and we think fair value is much higher. By Brian Nelson, CFA  It’s been difficult to watch the stock market give up much of the gains reaped over the past year or so during the selling barrage that has occurred thus far in 2022. … Read more

Three Growth Stocks That Offer Tremendous Value!

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Image: Some of the most attractive stocks on the market have both growth and value characteristics. By Brian Nelson, CFA As the market struggles to find a near term bottom, three of our favorite ideas are on sale. Meta and Alphabet are dirt cheap, in our view, while Microsoft has tremendous dividend growth prospects. We expect these three names to bounce back considerably once economic uncertainty subsides. Meta Platforms Meta Platfoms (META), formerly Facebook, has a portfolio of properties the world simply cannot do without, and the network effect that emanates from the nature of its properties creates a sizable competitive advantage where its advertising business model can proliferate, despite heightened competition from TikTok and the like. But for Meta, … Read more

Stocks Up 70%+ Since COVID-19 Pandemic Bottom, Best Ideas Outperforming So Far in 2022

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Image Source: Mike Cohen By Brian Nelson, CFA Investors are building in near worst-case scenarios for future free cash flow expectations across our coverage universe in most cases, and it may not make a lot of sense, in our view, given the resilient nature of the global economy through thick and thin. Within the discounted cash flow model that we use to derive the fair value estimates for companies in our coverage, we apply a 10-year baseline (discount) Treasury rate of 4.5%, which is still meaningfully above the current 10-year Treasury rate that is now hovering around 3.5%. What that means is that there still remains an adequate margin of safety within our analytical framework before we might grow concerned … Read more

Apple Reports Record Services Revenue in Calendar First Quarter 2022, We Still Love Shares!

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Image Shown: Apple Inc put up another strong earnings report for the quarter ended March 2022. We continue to like Apple as an idea in our newsletter portfolios. By Callum Turcan On April 28, Apple Inc (AAPL) reported earnings for its second quarter of fiscal 2022 (period ended March 26, 2022) that beat both consensus top- and bottom-line estimates by a wide margin. Apple also increased its dividend by 5% on a sequential basis and authorized an additional $90.0 billion in share repurchases in conjunction with its latest earnings update. We are big fans of Apple and include shares of AAPL as an idea in both our Best Ideas Newsletter and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolios. Shares of AAPL yield ~0.5% … Read more

Weekly: We’re Bullish on This Self-Inflicted Market Sell-Off; Plus Meta (Facebook), PayPal, Consumer Staples, and HPQ

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Dear members: — This Valuentum Weekly is not taking on its traditional form for a number of important reasons as we want to hammer home some of our opinions in this volatile market environment. — First, I want to highlight the Recession Resistant/Consumer Staples industry, which comprises 30 fine names, many with strong dividend growth prospects. All of their stock and dividend reports have been refreshed on the website for your convenience. The stock reports for the Recession Resistant/Consumer Staples industry can be accessed by link below this introductory note. — Second, I wanted to address the sell-off that the markets have experienced to start 2022. The SPDR S&P 500 Trust ETF is down roughly 6% so far year-to-date. Nothing … 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

The ARKK CRASHED But Large Cap Growth/Tech Is Still Cheap!

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“The crash in speculative tech, namely the ARKK, is ongoing and expected to continue. On the other hand, blue chip technology, namely the area of large cap growth, is overflowing with moaty, net cash rich, free cash flow generating, secular growth powerhouses and continues to look attractive. On a weighted average basis, for example, the Schwab U.S. Large Cap Growth ETF has considerable room to run higher based on the high end of our fair value estimate range of its largest holdings. We think large cap growth will continue to deliver in the years ahead, and we like exposure to this area.” – Brian Nelson, CFA