SUNE

Our Reports on Stocks in the Solar Industry

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Structure of the Solar Industry The solar industry is extremely competitive and continually evolving as constituents strive to differentiate themselves to better compete within the broader electric power industry. Significant price reductions (per watt), reduced margins, and drastic market share shifts have become commonplace for participants. Profitability can be negatively impacted from government subsidies and sovereign capital that allow firms to operate unprofitably for extended periods of time. Production overcapacity is another major concern and will likely persist for some time. We think the structure of the solar industry is very poor. We have dropped coverage of stocks in the Solar industry. First Solar (FSLR) has been reassigned to the Broadline Semiconductors industry.

GE Pulls Back From 8-Year High, Russia Still Pumping

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By Brian Nelson, CFA The last week of each calendar quarter is often a busy one for the Valuentum team. Not only did we release the Dividend Growth Newsletter on the first of the month (download ), but we also released the financial advisor publications as well (see here). If you haven’t received them, please be sure to let our team know, and we’ll forward those along to you. These documents just scratch the surface of our research and analysis offering. Please don’t forget to RSVP for an upcoming orientation webinar here. We also wanted to make you aware of the update cycle for our ETF analysis. We’ve now released the 2016 versions for the Consumer Staples (), Consumer Discretionary … Read more

Solar Not So Bright

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We continue to believe the solar industry is “uninvestable.” You don’t have to look much further than the write-up in any solar industry constituent’s 16-page report to get our straightforward opinion: The solar industry is extremely competitive and continually evolving as constituents strive to differentiate themselves to better compete within the broader electric power industry. Significant price reductions (per watt), reduced margins, and drastic market share shifts have become commonplace for participants. Profitability can be negatively impacted from government subsidies and sovereign capital that allow firms to operate unprofitably for extended periods of time. Production overcapacity is another major concern and will likely persist for some time. We think the structure of the solar industry is very poor. After the … Read more

New England Wins!

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Does that mean we’re doomed in 2015? Don’t be silly. The Super Bowl indicator, which says that if a team from the NFC wins we’re in for a good year, is akin to reading the stars. But the AFC’s Patriots won the big game – so does that mean 2015 will disappoint? Perhaps 2015 will…but certainly not because of the Patriots won the Super Bowl. A person doesn’t have to look much further than the NFC’s New York Giants winning the Super Bowl in 2008 to understand why such things just don’t matter. The dawn of the Financial Crisis that year sent stocks a-tumbling. It’s unfortunate that such things get so much attention because it makes it sound like the … Read more

Valuentum Economic Castleâ„¢ Rating Update

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Read: Keeping the Horse Before the Cart: Valuentum’s Economic Castle™ Rating The Economic Castle Focuses on the Magnitude of Economic Value Creation The Valuentum Economic Castle™ rating is an enhancement of the competitive advantage framework (commonly known as economic moat analysis) that has become widespread and ubiquitous within the investing world. Whereas an economic moat framework evaluates a firm on the basis of the sustainability and durability of its competitive advantages, Valuentum’s Economic Castle™ rating evaluates a firm on the basis of the firm’s future economic profit spread (return on invested capital less its weighted average cost of capital). The companies with the strongest Valuentum Economic Castle™ ratings are poised to generate the most economic value for shareholders in the … Read more