XHB

Risks Remain Prevalent For Mortgage REITs

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Image shown: Mortgage REITs have held up better than master limited partnerships (MLPs) since mid-2015, but they haven’t exactly done well. For income investors, they may be the lesser of the two pain areas, but we’re still not really excited about them. By Kris Rosemann “The fundamental point remains sound: these are highly-levered, risky entities that depend on a number of factors beyond their control to generate profits.” – Kris Rosemann The Yield Curve Curve Is A Key Driver The mortgage REIT (mREIT) industry is not easy for many to understand, and even a great understanding of the space may not lead to investment success either. Many have stated that this area is not one in which individual investors should … Read more

News Roundup: Tesla’s Musk, Department Stores, Summit Midstream, Cracker Barrel, Home Depot, GE and More

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No changes to simulated newsletter portfolios By Brian Nelson, CFA There’s never a dull moment in the Tesla (TSLA) story. Just when we thought things were getting back to “normal,” Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk has been hit with a contempt charge for a tweet that allegedly violated his prior deal with the SEC. We don’t think the tweet was a big deal, by itself, and it may have included content from a prior conference call, but given Musk’s prior behavior, including being outspoken about not having any respect for the SEC, he doesn’t have much wiggle room with the authorities. From our perspective, Musk is in now in some serious hot water. We’ve always viewed Tesla as “uninvestable,” not necessarily … Read more

Valuentum Stock Screeners

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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

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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

In The News: Oil, Housing, and Cryptocurrency

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Let’s take a look at some market-impacting headlines from the morning of November 19, including volatile oil prices, pressure in the housing market, and the sustained decline in Bitcoin. By Kris Rosemann Speculation in the global crude oil market (USO) that Saudi Arabia would be able to lead OPEC and Russia to cut supply appears to have taken a hit as Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak stated his views that producers need to monitor supply and demand levels in the coming weeks before deciding on a course of action. Saudi-led OPEC is looking to strike a similar production cap agreement to those seen in recent years with the goal of reducing output by 1 million barrels per day to 1.4 … Read more

In the News: Housing Starts and Railroad Pricing

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Two highly-followed portions of the US economy are experiencing demand and pricing movements, and investors are taking note. Let’s take a quick look. By Kris Rosemann Homebuilders (XHB, ITB) faced selling pressure early in the October 17 trading session after concerns over slowing demand and affordability continue to be present. Housing starts for the month of September revealed a more significant than expected decline from the previous month as the measure fell 5.3% to 1.201 million compared to the 1.216 million expected. Building permits came in at 1.241 million in the month compared to 1.272 million expected. Meanwhile, mortgage applications dropped as interest rates continue to rise, and total mortgage applications fell 7.1% in the week ended October 12. The … Read more

The Inflating Index Fund Bubble

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Image Source: Mac.Else von Berlin The investment industry is changing fast, and we’re happy to be an instrument for change. We’ve been clamoring to make index funds free for a long time, and we’re glad to see it finally happen. Let’s cover the implications of indiscriminate buying regardless of price with the observation that the number of publicly-traded companies is vastly shrinking. How long will the inflating index fund bubble last? By Brian Nelson, CFA Those that know Valuentum know that we stand up for the individual investor, and we work our tails off to make sure that we get the individual investor the very best of information and informed judgment. The CFA Institute via its Enterprising blog showcases a … Read more

Strong Backdrop Driving Homebuilders’ Top Lines But Rising Costs Making Presence Known

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Image Source: Montgomery County Planning Commission Homebuilding stocks have experienced volatility following recent earnings reports from major companies in the industry. The economic backdrop for the group has translated into robust top-line growth, but cost increases have called into question the group’s ability to turn that growth into bottom-line gains, at least for some operators. By Kris Rosemann A strong job market with low levels of unemployment and rising wages are providing tailwinds to homebuilders as the US housing market recovery marches on, and rising home prices are offering additional equity for buyers to spend on new move-up homes, too. Supply remains relatively constrained while home ownership and new household formation continue to rise. For example, PulteGroup (PHM) notes that … Read more

Study: Valuentum’s Best Ideas Newsletter Portfolio

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

ICYMI: Valuentum’s Improved Stock and ETF Web Pages

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Valuentum has rolled out improved stock and ETF web pages on its website valuentum.com/. Now, subscribers can access key proprietary information on the stock and ETF web pages in addition to the customary stock and ETF reports. Dear reader, We have some exciting news that we can’t wait to share with you! At valuentum.com/, we have rolled out new stock and ETF pages that conveniently include a variety of our proprietary metrics from the Dividend Cushion ratio to the Economic Castle rating and beyond! There’s even mouseover functionality so you can learn about how we define the key metrics across our stock-selection and dividend growth methodologies. You’ll still have access to the stock and dividend reports on the landing pages, … Read more