Surveying Fourth Quarter Earnings at Health Care Firms

The broader equity markets have been under pressure for much of January, and while it may be tempting to consider completely exiting stock investing for a time, we’re staying the course with both of our actively-managed portfolios. We had been expecting a contraction in price-to-earnings (P/E) multiples across the broader market (see our outlook here), and the performance thus far in 2014 has not been surprising. In case you may have missed it, I sent out some very important thoughts over the weekend to keep in mind as uncertainty and volatility increase through the course of 2014: Stay focused on @Valuentum portfolio holdings (best ideas), #asset allocation (cash) in portfolios and #prudence in allocating new capital. — Brian Nelson, CFA … Read more

In-Line Is Good Enough…for Today

Tuesday brought a couple of interesting developments that showed sometimes in-line performance is good enough. Valeant Pharma (VRX)—fact sheet download here—surged more than 10% in trading Tuesday as it spoke favorably about its long-term ambitions. Though fourth-quarter financial guidance in the presentation was in-line with expectations, the company’s outlook for 2014 and its intermediate-term goal to become one of the world’s top five pharma companies (by market capitalization) by the end of 2016 caught investor’s attention. We don’t think saying such a noble goal is a reason for its stock price to appreciate, but the company’s other strategic priorities are worth noting. We think the “one significant deal” highlighted below may potentially refer to a future purchase of or a … Read more

Buffett Doubles Down on USG; Teva Expected to Appoint New CEO; Crude by Rail Transportation Comes under Scrutiny

The day after the New Year holiday was light with news, as expected, but there were three developments that we thought you should be aware of. We recently highlighted the third-quarter performance of USG (USG), the maker of wallboard under the SHEETROCK name, as it scored one of the highest ratings of a 9 on the Valuentum Buying Index in late October. Warren Buffett on Thursday announced that he has increased his stake in the firm, to 30.5% (more than double previously-reported figures). According to a recently-filed Schedule 13D/A, he now owns 43.4 million shares of the firm. USG continues to be significantly undervalued on the basis of our discounted cash-flow process, and we peg its fair value estimate north … Read more

Merger Rumors Helping Best Ideas Portfolio Holdings

On Friday, rumors of Dish Network (DISH) and DirecTV (DTV) tying the knot sent shares of both firms higher during the trading session. The potential tie-up is nothing new; we had profiled the potential deal in March this year, but the re-hashing of the idea has some market participants excited. The anti-trust hurdles will be significant for this deal to happen, but it looks like the Department of Justice is warming up to allowing consolidation if recent progress of the merger between AMR Corp (AAMRQ) and US Airways (LCC) is any indication. We love the increased leverage over content creators, the significant cost savings, and the additional financial flexibility that a Dish Network/DirecTV merger would bring. We would expect the … Read more

The Curious Cases of Intuitive Surgical and Teva Pharma: What We Have Learned

Within every portfolio, there will be a couple companies that do not live up to immediate expectations. Two such companies in our Best Ideas portfolio that haven’t yet delivered on our theses are Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) and Teva Pharma (TEVA). We hold the Healthcare Select SPDR ETF (XLV) in the Best Ideas portfolio as well (it has been a top performer) and our healthcare picks—Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Medtronic (MDT)—have performed wonderfully in our Dividend Growth portfolio, but we’re still waiting for our theses to be confirmed with respect to Intuitive Surgical and Teva Pharma. Before we go any further, however, we think it is important to reiterate that the size of the weighting of a position in our … Read more

Niaspan Generic Could Boost Teva

On Friday, Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio holding Teva Pharma (click ticker for report: ) announced that its generic version of AbbVie’s (click ticker for report: ) Niaspan would hit the US market this week. The news is particularly noteworthy because Teva was the first-to-file, making the product eligible for 180 days of marketing exclusivity (a large windfall for the company). To learn more about the generic industry and the significant benefits of marketing exclusivity, please consult our initiation report on the generics industry here.   Niaspan is a cholesterol drug used to reduce elevated TC, LDL-C (bad cholesterol), Apo B and TG levels, and to raise HDL-C cholesterol (the good variety). Niaspan had annual sales of more than $1.1 billion … Read more

Teva Boasts a Several Billion Dollar NTE Opportunity

Leading generic pharma firm and Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio holding Teva Pharmaceuticals (click ticker for report: ) issued mediocre second-quarter results today. Net revenue was roughly flat on a year-over-year basis, as weakness in generic sales in the US and Europe was mostly offset by strength in Treanda, ProAir, and multiple-sclerosis drug Copaxone, the latter accounting for about 20% of revenue and half of profits. Teva continues to address ongoing hurdles associated with Copaxone, as CEO Jeremy Levin outlined on the firm’s second-quarter conference call: “The U.S Federal Court of Appeals confirmed validity of select COPAXONE patents through May 2014, but not others including one patent expiring September 2015. We are disappointed with this part of the Appeals Court decision … Read more

Search Dividend Reports by Company Name: Q to Z

Going forward, please use the ‘Symbol’ search box to download stock and dividend reports of companies you are interested in. The ‘Symbol’ search box can be found in our website header. Image shown from above. Use the active search box in the website header above. Learn more about your membership >>  Note: We have now discontinued this list. Please use the ‘Symbol’ search box in the website header for stock and dividend reports. Please read about our Valuentum Dividend Cushion score (ratio) here. Just having access to this valuable metric alone could save your income portfolio thousands of dollars! The past meets the future as we showcase the Valuentum Dividend Cushion scores of Dividend Aristocrats in this article (click here). The dividend reports below … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending February 7

Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending February 7. The dividend reports of covered firms on this list will be updated shortly with the new information. To access our dividend reports use the ‘Symbol’ search box in our website header. Firms Raising Their Dividends This Week 3M (MMM): now $1.47 per share quarterly dividend, was $1.44. Activision Blizzard (ATVI): now $0.41 per share annual dividend, was $0.37. Aflac (AFL): now $0.28 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.27. Allegion (ALLE): now $0.32 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.27. Amdocs (DOX): now $0.3275 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.2850. Angel Oak Financial Strategies Income Term (FINS): now $0.1112 per share monthly dividend, was $0.1097. … Read more