SPY

Fastenal Shares Shifting Higher

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Fastenal is an interesting company and we like the firm’s business model and high quality cash flow profile. The firm’s acquisition of the Apex assets should put Fastenal in a better position to meet the needs of its industrial and construction customer base. Though its near-term operational and financial performance will likely be volatile due to the ongoing pandemic, recent operational improvements and its growing safety supplies business lends some support, as does its strong financials. Fastenal appears well-positioned to ride out the storm with its financials, operations, and dividend intact. By Callum Turcan Fastenal (FAST) is primarily a distributor of industrial and construction products that seeks to provide its customers with a one-stop shopping experience in a vast and … Read more

*ALERT* Newsletter Portfolio Changes

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*ALERT* Newsletter Portfolio Changes Image: The markets are selling off rather aggressively today, June 11, but it is important to keep things in context. Above, the NASDAQ 100 Index (NDX) just hit all-time highs recently, and some profit taking is to be expected. Though it will make for scary headlines, the move today isn’t out of the ordinary after such a strong run higher. — By Brian Nelson, CFA — We’re making a couple tweaks to the simulated newsletter portfolios today. It has been one of the strongest bull markets we’ve ever seen off the March 23 bottom, and while we continue to be optimistic about some of our favorite ideas, we are now re-positioning the newsletter portfolios after taking advantage of … Read more

Data from Visa Indicates the Economic Outlook is Improving

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Image Shown: Visa Inc reports that US processed transactions volumes across its payment processing network improved materially on a year-over-year basis in May, relatively speaking, versus the downturn seen in the second half of March and the first half of April. Image Source: Visa Inc – 8-K SEC Filing By Callum Turcan One of our favorite secular growth industry tailwinds is happening in the payment processing, payment solutions, and financial technology space. The world is shifting toward a “cashless” society, and that has accelerated due to the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic, in part due to the rise of e-commerce and in part due to the preference of many consumers to use contactless payment options when in physical stores. Visa Inc … Read more

Macy’s Secures Additional Financing

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Image Shown: Shares of Macy’s Inc have started to recover some of their lost ground after the company secured additional financing to ride out the storm created by the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic. Store closures have decimated the company’s bottom-line, but the reopening of the US economy and many of the retailer’s stores has improved Macy’s outlook. By Callum Turcan Back on April 21, 2020, we published a note on Valuentum (link here) highlighting why it would be hard for Macy’s Inc (M) to unlock the (fair) value of its real estate assets. We are following up on that piece given recent events that we will cover in this article, and we strongly encourage our members to check out that … Read more

Earnings Roundup for the Week Ended June 6

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Image Shown: We highlight the operational and financial performance of four companies that recently reported earnings, which included periods of time where the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic was present. By Callum Turcan In alphabetical order by ticker: AEO, DKS, TOL, ZM Teen apparel retailer American Eagle Outfitters Inc (AEO) reported first-quarter fiscal 2020 earnings (period ended May 2, 2020) June 3 which saw the firm miss consensus estimates on both the top- and bottom-lines. However, investors looked towards the future as American Eagle’s Chairman and CEO Jay Schottenstein noted that “I’m very pleased to see stores re-opening strong, supported by industry-leading health and sanitization measures to ensure safe and secure stores for our associates and customers. American Eagle and Aerie … Read more

Dollar General Posts a Tremendous Fiscal First Quarter Earnings Report

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Image Source: Dollar General Corporation – Fiscal 2019 Annual Report and Fiscal 2020 Proxy Statement By Callum Turcan Dollar General Corporation (DG) is one of our favorite retail plays given its focus on smaller cities and towns (with populations of 20,000 or less) in the US as that gives it an immense edge over e-commerce giants such as Amazon Inc (AMZN) due to the logistical hurdles involved with expanding into these regions. Shares of DG have run up above the top end of our fair value range as of this writing. However, given its strong technical and fundamental performance of late, we are keeping Dollar General as an idea in our Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio as we like to let … Read more

Earnings Roundup: Week Ended May 24, 2020

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Image Shown: In this article we cover a variety of companies that reported earnings in May 2020. By Callum Turcan As we get deeper into 2020, more companies have reported earnings that covered how they performed during the early days of the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic on both a financial and operational basis. In alphabetical order by ticker: DE, LOW, NVDA, TGT Deere & Company On May 22, Deere & Company (DE) reported second quarter earnings for fiscal 2020 (period ended May 3, 2020) that saw the net sales at its equipment division fall by almost 20% year-over-year while revenues at its financial services division fell by almost 2% year-over-year. The company expects its worldwide ‘agriculture and turf equipment’ sales … Read more

Facebook Augments Its Impressive Growth Trajectory

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Image Shown: Shares of Facebook Inc have outperformed the S&P 500 index year-to-date, as of this writing on May 21, by a wide margin. By Callum Turcan Facebook Inc (FB) is a top-weighted holding in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and shares have surged upwards of late, sparked in part by its strong first-quarter 2020 performance, relatively speaking, given the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic. Members interested in reading our thoughts on Facebook’s latest earnings report are encouraged to check out this article here. As of this writing on May 21, shares of FB are up ~14% year-to-date while the S&P 500 (SPY) is down ~8% during the same period (this is before taking dividend considerations into account; however, that doesn’t … Read more

Retail Roundup: Home Depot and Walmart Report Earnings

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Image Source: Home Depot Inc – June 2019 IR Presentation By Callum Turcan In this article we cover two major retailers that reported strong comparable store sales growth in the face of the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic. E-commerce offerings and past digital investments have been key to supporting sales growth at major retail firms, and those that haven’t made these investments are in a far worse position than HD and WMT. Home Depot On May 19, Home Depot Inc (HD) reported first-quarter earnings for fiscal 2020 (period ended May 3, 2020) that beat consensus top-line estimates and missed consensus bottom-line estimates. Comparable store sales were up 6.4% year-over-year, including up 7.5% at its US stores. Home Depot announced $850 million … Read more

Valuentum’s COVID-19 Ideas Have Outperformed Significantly

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Image Shown: Valuentum released two sets of its top 10 ideas for capital appreciation and dividend growth, respectively, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both sets of ideas have performed extremely well. —By Brian Nelson, CFA —Hi everyone, — I wanted to check in to see how you are doing. I’ll talk a little about the table above in a bit, which goes into our top ideas amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but first, I wanted to keep the Exclusive publication in front of you (if you haven’t yet subscribed). In the Exclusive publication, we’re now setting up to get the 26th consecutive monthly short idea correct! I can hardly believe it.  — The May edition was released last Saturday, and our team continues to … Read more