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Microsoft Hinted at Trouble in Calendar Q2 But AMD’s Massive $1 Billion Quarterly Q3 Revenue Miss Spells Big Problems for PC Market; Search and News Advertising Revenue Also Likely Weakening Substantially

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  Image Source: Fritzchens Fritz By Brian Nelson, CFA Things aren’t going well across the technology (XLK) landscape these days. Microsoft Corp (MSFT) said in mid-July Windows OEM revenue faced pressure in its quarter ended June 30, its fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, and noted that the “PC market…deteriorated in June (slide 15).” On its fourth-quarter fiscal 2022 conference call, the software and gaming giant said that its outlook “has the trends (it) saw in June continu(ing) through Q1 (the quarter ending in September 2022). Continued weakness in the PC market demand and advertising spend (is expected to) impact Windows OEM, Surface, LinkedIn and search and news advertising revenue.” We took note of this weakness at the time, but it … Read more

Post-Mortem on Facebook (Meta Platforms): Apple Crushed Our Thesis

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Image: Thesis creep kept us excited about Meta, but we’ve since trimmed the “weighting” in the simulated Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio, as updated August 19. What more can we say–Apple is eating Facebook’s lunch, and the iPhone giant is now advancing with its advertising revenue, too. Apple blew up our thesis on Meta, and that’s the long and short of it. By Brian Nelson, CFA Meta Platforms (META) wasn’t the first idea that hasn’t worked out perfectly for us, and it won’t be the last. Frankly, we’re as surprised as the next person at how quickly things fell apart at Meta, and there wasn’t much time to be patient on the idea as the savviest portfolio managers like to do. … Read more

Nelson: Executing the Valuentum Strategy

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Video: Valuentum’s President Brian Nelson, CFA, explains why he’s turned bearish on the equity markets after a great bull run. In this 8-minute video, learn about the fantastic returns of the stock market the past three years, and how the Valuentum way has cushioned the market decline in 2022. Watch now to learn about the textbook execution of the Valuentum strategy and more! –——— Tickerized for holdings in the SPY. Brian Nelson owns shares in SPY, SCHG, QQQ, DIA, VOT, BITO, and IWM. Valuentum owns SPY, SCHG, QQQ, VOO, and DIA. Brian Nelson’s household owns shares in HON, DIS, HAS, NKE. Some of the other securities written about in this article may be included in Valuentum’s simulated newsletter portfolios. Contact … Read more

Video: We Expect A Huge Market Flush! Looking to “Raise” Incremental Cash

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Video: Valuentum’s Brian Nelson, CFA, breaks down the current market environment, highlighting reasons for the poor market sentiment driven by “tapped out” consumers and investors alike. He expects a big market “flush,” and a challenging next couple years but remains a big fan of stocks for the long haul. Valuentum continues to seek to “raise” incremental cash in the simulated newsletter portfolios as it prepares to weather the storm. Video length: ~10 minutes. –——— Tickerized for holdings in the SPY. Brian Nelson owns shares in SPY, SCHG, QQQ, DIA, VOT, BITO, and IWM. Valuentum owns SPY, SCHG, QQQ, VOO, and DIA. Brian Nelson’s household owns shares in HON, DIS, HAS, NKE. Some of the other securities written about in this … Read more

ICYMI (Aug 19) — ALERT — PYPL, META, GOOG, V — Making Some Big Changes in the Simulated Best Ideas Newsletter Portfolio!

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This note was emailed to members August 19. Alert >> Image Shown: We are very happy with the overall “performance” of the simulated Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio, which is carving out 2.6 percentage points of relative outperformance so far in 2022 on a price-only basis, as shown in the table above. However, we’re making some big changes to the simulated newsletter portfolio today on some of our favorite names. Our best ideas continue to be in the simulated Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio, the simulated Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio, the simulated High Yield Dividend Newsletter portfolio, the ESG Newsletter portfolio, and the Exclusive publication, as well as with our additional options commentary. “So when it comes to using data, you can think … Read more

Valuentum’s Unmatched Product Suite

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Hi everyone! — We continue to be huge believers in the concept of enterprise valuation, which emphasizes the key cash-based sources of intrinsic value–net cash on the balance sheet and strong and growing future expected free cash flows. Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) and Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) remain two of the most underpriced ideas on the market today, and we remain huge fans of their tremendous long-term investment prospects. — There are a couple things worth reminding readers, however. A good relevant rule of thumb I learned early in my career working for my first portfolio manager is that a stock’s return in the near term is driven roughly 40% by the market, 30% by the industry it operates in, and 30% … Read more

Nelson: I Have Been Wrong About the Prospect of Near-Term Inflationary-Driven Earnings Tailwinds

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Transcript During the past several weeks, we’ve grown increasingly concerned about the health of consumer-tied entities across not only the consumer staples but also the consumer discretionary spaces. Many consumer staples entities, while raising prices, aren’t raising them fast enough to drive operating-income and bottom-line expansion, while many consumer-discretionary companies are facing higher freight and logistics costs and weaker performance in China, perhaps best revealed by Nike’s most recently-reported quarter, where inventory advanced 23% compared to the prior-year period. The tell-tale sign about the health of the consumer may be Amazon (AMZN) Prime Day, which is coming up on July 12-13, but based on many of the reports we’ve monitored this past earnings season, even if sales are strong on … Read more

Taiwan Semi Firing on All Cylinders

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Image Source: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company – First Quarter of 2022 IR Earnings Presentation By Callum Turcan Semiconductor components, or “chips,” are the bedrock of the digital economy. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM) operates numerous semiconductor fabrication sites all of the world, with its major manufacturing hub located in Taiwan, that produce chips utilized in all sorts of applications. Furthermore, Taiwan Semi is one of only a handful of companies capable of producing high-end chips at scale. Taiwan Semi’s business model revolves around producing chips for third-parties as the firm does not design semiconductor components itself, and the company is the largest semiconductor foundry in the world (foundries are chip fabrication sites specifically built to meet third-party needs). We are … Read more

Shares of Best Idea Meta Platforms Leap Higher After Stellar Earnings Report!

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Image Shown: Shares of best idea Meta Platforms Inc surged higher by ~18% in afterhours trading on April 27 after its first quarter 2022 earnings report indicated that investor fears over its core business were overblown as its daily active user base posted solid growth in March 2022. By Callum Turcan The company behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, Meta Platforms Inc (FB) reported first quarter 2022 earnings on April 27 that missed consensus top-line estimates but smashed past consensus bottom-line estimates. Shares of FB surged higher in the wake of its latest earnings report as the company’s family daily active people (‘DAP’) stood at 2.87 billion in March 2022, up 6% year-over-year, while its Facebook daily active users (‘DAU’) stood … Read more

Best Idea Alphabet Continues To Grow at a Robust Pace

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Image Shown: Best idea Alphabet Inc continued to grow its revenues by a nice double-digit clip last quarter. Image Source: Alphabet Inc – First Quarter of 2022 Earnings Press Release By Callum Turcan On April 26, Alphabet Inc (GOOG) (GOOGL) reported first quarter 2022 earnings that missed top-line estimates but beat bottom-line estimates. The company remains a free cash flow powerhouse with a fortress-like balance sheet and an incredibly promising growth outlook. Its core digital advertising business, its high-growth Google Cloud unit, and its longer term bets such as the self-driving company Waymo underpin our expectations that Alphabet will continue to grow its revenues at a nice premium to global GDP growth over the decades to come. We include shares … Read more