VRTX

Best Biotech Idea Vertex Pharma Outperforming Struggling Peers, Its New Treatment for Pain a Game Changer in the Fight Against the Opioid Epidemic

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Image: Vertex Pharma has advanced more than 18% since the beginning of 2021, trouncing the performance of the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF by an incredible margin. The outperformance gap stands at more than 50+ percentage points at the time of this writing. By Brian Nelson, CFA We were blown away by the phase II results released March 31 at Vertex Pharma (VRTX) for its non-opioid, non-addictive pain killer, the NaV1.8 inhibitor VX-548, and we think the molecule has the potential to provide a solution to the widespread opioid crisis in a meaningful way. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, tens of thousands of deaths each year are “attributed to overdosing on synthetic opioids.” The company’s phase … Read more

Our Favorite Biotech Vertex Pharma Powers Ahead, Leaps 6%+

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Image: Vertex Pharma continues to soar toward our fair value estimate. By Brian Nelson, CFA  On Wednesday, January 26, Vertex Pharma (VRTX) reported solid fourth-quarter results that showed continued advancement across its clinical pipeline. For background reading on our thesis on the net cash rich, free cash flow generating biotech tied to established cystic fibrosis (CF) therapies and CRISPR technology, please read: “Best Idea Vertex Pharma Boosts Guidance (Again), Buying Back Stock While Awaiting Key Clinical Trials (December 2, 2021)” and “Best Idea Vertex Pharma Marching Forward with Innovative CRISPR Technology” (August 31, 2021).” Following fourth-quarter results, we’re reiterating our $250 per share fair value estimate at this time.   Image: Vertex finished an exciting 2021, and we look forward to … Read more

Johnson & Johnson’s Pending Split-Up, Talc Liabilities, New CEO Add Complexity to a Once-Clean Dividend Growth Story

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  Image Shown: J&J continues to face legal liabilities due to talcum powder lawsuits. Image Source: Mike Mozart.  By Brian Nelson, CFA Johnson & Johnson’s (JNJ) dividend growth story has become much more complicated in recent years. On a price-only basis, shares of the consumer and pharma giant haven’t been nearly as impressive as that of technology names, but the company still has put up a nice 45% price-only return the past five years, further bolstered by a continuous stream of quarterly dividend payments. J&J yields ~2.6% at the time of this writing, and the company reluctantly remains the bedrock of the Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio, at least for now. The Split-Up Before we dig into J&J’s fourth-quarter 2021 results, … Read more

Don’t Throw the Baby Out with the Bathwater

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Image: Erica Nicol Takeaways: Junk tech should continue to collapse, but the stylistic area of large cap growth and big cap tech should remain resilient. Moderately elevated levels of inflation coupled with interest rates hovering at all-time lows isn’t a terrible combination. In fact, it’s not bad at all. The markets are digesting the huge gains of the past few years so far in 2022, and the excesses in ARKK funds, crypto, SPACs, and meme stocks are being rid from the system. Our best ideas are “outperforming” the very benchmarks that are outperforming everyone else. The BIN portfolio is down 6.4% and the DGN portfolio is down 3.2% year to date. The SPY is down 7.8%, while the average investor … Read more

Valuentum Weekly: Nothing Surprising, Well-Positioned!

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Image source: Cathie Wood’s flagship ETF, the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) has fallen more more than 40% from its 52-week high. This is nothing short of a complete and utter bloodbath for such an actively-managed fund, in our view. We note this for context. We’re not just talking about one or two or five stocks that are down 40% from 52-week highs, but the *entire fund.* Investors have to keep things in perspective. It’s perfectly reasonable within the context of a portfolio to have a few stocks off 10%, 20%, or maybe even 50% from all-time highs. However, if your entire portfolio is down 40%+ from 52-week highs, you’re doing something wrong. Hi everyone: It’s the most wonderful time of … Read more

Hard Work and the Trust That Binds

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Image Source: Terry Johnson By Brian Nelson, CFA We’ll have our traditional Valuentum Weekly email coming out on Sunday, and I’m excited to say our team is putting the finishing touches on our technology industry update, so we’ll have a whole bunch of fresh reports for you to look at Sunday evening/Monday morning. It’s easy to forget how much we’ve been through the past two years. Often, we forget how helpful the warning that markets were going to crash was the weekend before they did on February 22, 2020, “Is a Stock Market Crash Coming? – Coronavirus Update and P/E Ratios,” how we thought dollar-cost-averaging made sense at the bottom in March 2020, and how we went “all-in” in April … Read more

Large Cap Growth Has More Room To Run

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“The stylistic area of large cap growth has been one of our favorite areas because of the strong net cash rich, free cash flow generating, secular growth powerhouses that make up much of the space. The image is a rundown of the key Valuentum statistics for the top 15 holdings of the Schwab U.S. Large Cap Growth ETF (SCHG). We believe where large cap growth goes, so does the broader market, considering the hefty weightings of some of these stocks in other broad-based indices. Based on the high end of our fair value estimate range for this group of bellwethers, the broader U.S. markets still have room to run, to the tune of 7%+, despite the many highs already reached … Read more

Johnson & Johnson Boosts Guidance Again, Posts Great Earnings Update

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Image Shown: Johnson & Johnson reported strong performance across its three core business operating segments in the third quarter of fiscal 2021. Image Source: Johnson & Johnson – Third Quarter of Fiscal 2021 IR Earnings Presentation By Callum Turcan On October 19, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) reported third quarter earnings for fiscal 2021 (period ended around the end of September 2021) that missed consensus top-line estimates but beat consensus bottom-line estimates. The healthcare giant also raised its full-year guidance (again) for fiscal 2021 as its ‘Pharmaceutical’ segment is growing at a robust pace, its ‘Medical Device’ segment is steadily recovering from the worst of the coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic, and its ‘Consumer Health’ segment is holding up well. We continue to … Read more

Best Idea Vertex Pharma Marching Forward with Innovative CRISPR Technology

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Image Shown: An overview of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc’s commercialized drug portfolio and pipeline. Image Source: Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc – Second Quarter of 2021 IR Earnings Presentation By Callum Turcan The world of medicine and therapeutics continues to evolve, with gene editing CRISPR technology offering the medical community an immense source of potential life-saving therapies over the years and decades to come. Our favorite way to gain exposure to this space is through Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (VRTX), an idea included in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio. What Is CRISPR? In short, CRISPR gene editing technology can identify a specified portion of DNA in a cell and when done properly (this is no easy task), CRISPR technology can alter that DNA, potentially … Read more

Facebook, PayPal, Apple Earnings Reports and More!

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Image shown: Qualcomm’s chart is looking mighty attractive. By Brian Nelson, CFA We continue to like Facebook (FB), PayPal (PYPL) and Apple (AAPL) as ideas in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio following their calendar second-quarter 2021 reports, released recently. Vertex Pharma (VRTX) is our favorite way to play emerging CRISPR technologies through its partnership with CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP), and we were mighty pleased with Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio holdings Republic Services (RSG) solid 8% dividend increase and Qualcomm’s (QCOM) impressive momentum. Facebook’s revenue soared 56% in the second quarter, and the company leveraged its operating margin to over 1000 basis points of year-over-year expansion. Both net income and diluted earnings per share more than doubled at the social media giant … Read more