Resetting Your Mental Model

Image Source: affen ajlfe A version of this article was originally published on our website October 6, 2013. Having the right mental model and using the right information can be the reason why you win or lose in investing. “What is the definition of timeliness? Many believe it is getting information to investors as quickly as possible after an event, or updating something every single day or week for immaterial information. I believe in a different definition of timeliness. I believe timeliness is using all information available in a mosaic approach to accurately predict the event before it even happens. Take Kinder Morgan as the latest example. We were the only ones predicting what was going to happen before it did. To investors, … Read more

Nucor Is One of the Best in a Bad Business

Image Source: Nucor Corporation – June 2019 IR Presentation By Callum Turcan Steel and steel product producer Nucor Corporation (NUE) bills itself as North America’s largest recycler, using scrap metal at its mills in the US to maintain its status as a low cost producer of anything from steel beams to precision castings. The company has 25-scrap based steel mills that can produce 27 million tons of steel per year. Our fair value estimate for Nucor stands at $53 per share after our recent industry update, and we like the firm’s dividend coverage as well. Shares of NUE yield 2.8% and trade just north of our fair value estimate as of this writing. Strong Free Cash Flows On October 22, … Read more

Why We’re Staying Away from KLX Energy Services for Now

Image Source: KLX Energy Services By Callum Turcan KLX Energy Services Holdings Inc (KLXE) is the product of a major corporate restructuring, as the oilfield services side of KLX was spun-off to shareholders while the aerospace business was acquired outright by Boeing Company (BA) in an all-cash deal worth $4.25 billion (including the assumption of $1.0 billion in debt) last year. Going forward, the new KLX Energy Services is focused on providing well completion, well intervention, and drilling services to America’s upstream oil & gas industry. A key consideration is that as a more focused enterprise, KLX Energy Services should be able to better perform in a tough space to be in right now. Note that the company does not … Read more

Major Improvements in 2018 But Tough Times Ahead for Halliburton

Image Source: Halliburton 2016 Annual Report Halliburton’s 2018 performance was boosted by higher oil prices driving upstream capital spending, but tough times may very well lay ahead for the oilfield services provider. By Callum Turcan While Halliburton’s (HAL) financial performance improved materially last year as upstream capital expenditures perked up on the back of higher global oil prices, tough times lay ahead for this oilfield services provider given the current near-term outlook for oil prices. A large part of Halliburton’s business caters to unconventional upstream operators in North America, which are quick to react to any changes in oil prices when it comes to setting capital expenditure budgets. 60% of Halliburton’s revenue last year was generated in North America. Pricing … Read more

Schlumberger Enters 2019 with Optimism

Image source: Schlumberger investor presentation We recently put Schlumberger on members’ radars, and it appears as though the market is picking up on what we’ve been highlighting as shares surged following its fourth quarter report. By Kris Rosemann  Shares of leading energy equipment and services provider Schlumberger (SLB) received a nice boost following its fourth-quarter 2018 earnings report, released January 18, thanks to expectations for a positive supply/demand balance to drive a gradual recovery in oil prices in 2019. Uncertainty in its North American onshore outlook continues to raise concerns, but management is anticipating solid single-digit growth in international markets in 2019. Here’s what we had to say about the company prior to the release of its earnings report: —– Schlumberger has been hurt by … Read more

Valuentum Stock Screeners

This article was sent to members via email December 29. That email can be accessed at the link that follows this article. By Brian Nelson, CFA Hi everyone, I wanted to provide an update with respect to Valuentum’s stock screeners. We believe our stock screeners are among the most robust when it comes to providing forward-looking data, or data that is important with respect to the investment decision-making process. We publish screens in each of the monthly newsletters, but we also provide a basic weekly screener for download on the left column of the website, “Download Weekly Stock Screener (xls) — login required.”   We also have other products. The more robust DataScreener, for example, is part of the quarterly Financial … Read more

Market Mayhem — Alerts for Members

During these extremely volatile times, it’s important to stay focused. On December 15, we informed all of our members to “Pay Attention.” Shortly thereafter, we notified members of the potential for a stock market technical breakdown. This morning, we offered a pre-market briefing about the importance of thinking about portfolio protection. For Best Ideas Newsletter and Dividend Growth Newsletter members: http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?preview=true&m=1110817109903&ca=e2406cd6-c113-4344-8731-493f33fc44a4&id=preview For High Yield Dividend Newsletter members: http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?preview=true&m=1110817109903&ca=b3ba530f-38b3-489a-ac96-2961dca89c6b&id=preview For Exclusive members: http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?preview=true&m=1110817109903&ca=ba6d90c0-4433-48b2-9b8a-aac4ddf9006e&id=preview We’re here for any questions. Please just let us know how we can help! Kind regards, Brian Nelson, CFA  brian@valuentum.com

ETF Analysis: Energy

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Valuentum’s Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) Distribution

The weighted average cost of capital is one of the most subjective measures in corporate finance, but it is also one of the most important ones. “The most important item over time in valuation is obviously interest rates…If interest rates are destined to be at low levels…It makes any stream of earnings from investments worth more money. The bogey is always what government bonds yield….Any investment is worth all the cash you’re going to get out between now and judgment day discounted back. The discounting back is affected by whether you choose interests rates like those of Japan or interest rates like those we had in 1982…When we had 15 percent short-term rates in 1982, it was silly to pay … Read more

Study: Valuentum’s Best Ideas Newsletter Portfolio

To read the study, please click on the image to download the pdf document (pdf).