How To Think About Our Methodology In Action

Image shown: Chipotle (CMG) has been one of our best calls so far in 2019. No changes to simulated newsletter portfolios. Tickers mentioned: AAPL, AMZN, BRK.B, CMG, CVS, FB, GE, JPM, KMI, PYPL, V, XLNX.  Let’s talk about the newsletter portfolios, some areas where we’ve made mistakes, and how some members use our services. By Brian Nelson, CFA I love it when I get questions because it shows the engagement of our members. I appreciate that very much. Though there are other considerations, of course, the Valuentum methodology is really quite simple: dividend growth considerations aside, we like undervalued ideas that are going up, and we generally won’t remove ideas that are overvalued until their technical/momentum indicators turn over. Here’s more about our … Read more

DG Newsletter Alert, Markets on a Roll! New Highs Coming?

Image shown: We notified members December 26 that we had moved the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio to a “fully invested” position, from a 30% and 20% cash “weighting” at the high end of the range, respectively. It doesn’t look like the timing could have been much better.  Changes to Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio Removing Novartis (NVS) -3.5%-5.5% Adding Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLV) +3.5%-5.5% By Brian Nelson, CFA The back half of 2018 was among the most exciting in Valuentum’s history. For one, we might have made one of our best “market-direction” calls since inception in practically calling the near-term bottom December 26. In hindsight, it’s clear the market had overreacted, but at the time, going to “fully … Read more

Valuentum’s Stock and Data Screens and Screeners

Let’s go over where to find Valuentum’s stock and data screens and screeners. We believe our stock screeners are among the most robust when it comes to providing forward-looking data, and our data comes straight from our enterprise discounted cash flow models that we use to derive a company’s fair value estimate. By The Valuentum Team In late 2017, we made the decision to transition to providing an updated Excel download each week to members in order to allow them to facilitate any combination of screening criteria they want with respect to our vast amounts of data, whether it be the Valuentum Buying Index, the Dividend Cushion ratio or other. What we’ve found out the past 15 months or so … Read more

Dividend Growth Portfolio Alert: Adding KMI, Removing HAS!

Note: The Exclusive publication will be released next Saturday, March 9th. Add the Exclusive to your membership here.  We see as much as 20%+ upside in Kinder Morgan’s shares, and separately, we think its dividend is poised for growth in the coming years. We’re swapping out a huge winner in Hasbro to make room. How exciting! Changes to Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio Remove Hasbro (HAS) -2.5%-3.5% weighting Add Kinder Morgan (KMI) +2.5%-3.5% weighting Be on the lookout for a very important survey in the coming months. We need your responses. By Brian Nelson, CFA This will be a short note. First, General Electric’s (GE) shares continue to face pressure. You can read about our experience in calling the collapse in GE’s shares … Read more

Kraft-Heinz Blows Up, More Updates!

Image shown: The rating history of Kraft-Heinz (KHC). Valuentum members were warned in advance of this pricey equity in 2016/2017, and the VBI rating never advanced past 5 since then after registering a 1, the worst rating, on two separate occasions. Dear members, I wanted to first of all welcome our new members. There have been a lot of new ones during the past few weeks. Thank you. The buzz might be coming from the new book launch, Value Trap. If you haven’t read the book yet, please do so here. Members can get the pdf digital download today at 25% off. For new members, reading this book is simply par for the course to get a feel for how we look at … Read more

Changes to the Newsletter Portfolios (Best Ideas & Dividend Growth)

Image shown: In our December 26 note to members, we moved the simulated Best Ideas Newsletter and simulated Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio to “fully invested” from a cash “allocation” of 30% and 20%, respectively at the high end of the range. It has worked out wonderfully as we keep our finger on the put option trigger in case price-agnostic trading and heightened volatility rears its ugly ahead again, as it did in December 2018. Summary of Changes to Newsletter Portfolios Best Ideas Newsletter: Remove Gilead Sciences (GILD) Add Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) at 2.5%-4% weighting Dividend Growth Newsletter: Remove Xilinx (XLNX) Remove Gilead Sciences Add Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF at 2.5%-3.5% weighting Add Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV) at 2.5%-3.5% weighting By Kris … Read more

Questions Answered!

Image shown: The S&P 500 (SPY) performance and the timing of when we went to “fully invested” in the simulated newsletter portfolios, the Best Ideas Newsletter and Dividend Growth Newsletter. No changes to simulated newsletter portfolios. By Brian Nelson, CFA Hi everyone! Trust you are doing great. Here’s what you need to know about the broader market backdrop.  1) We’ve been expecting a more dovish Fed as the yield curve continues to threaten material inversion. We doubt the Fed will materially and purposefully invert it. The behavioral risks of actually causing a recession by doing so are too great. That means yield-oriented equities may continue to breathe a sigh of relief. This is good for ideas in the simulated Dividend … Read more

Facebook +10% After Hours; How ‘Bout That VBI Rating!

No changes to simulated newsletter portfolios. By Brian Nelson, CFA You’ve got to know when to hold ’em Know when to fold ’em Know when to walk away And know when to run — Kenny Rogers, The Gambler Facebook (FB) just reported solid fourth-quarter results (here are the slides). Was there really any doubt Facebook would come roaring back? After all, Facebook is 10-rated on the Valuentum Buying Index. Net balance sheet health and free cash flow generation are so important in determining when to “hold ’em” and when to “fold ’em.” When it was obvious that Kinder Morgan (KMI) and General Electric (GE) were in a lot of trouble and needed to be discarded, how can one truly sour on a company … Read more

A Great Couple Months! Apple Pops!

Image shown: The markets continue to rally significantly since the near-term bottom in December. Here’s the email we sent to members December 26.  No changes to simulated newsletter portfolios. By Brian Nelson, CFA Hope you are doing great. Believe it or not, the wind chill may have hit 50 or 60 below-zero in Woodstock, Illinois this morning. The polar vortex has most of the Midwest running for cover. Even the Chicago Bears have changed their name to the Chicago Polar Bears. Just kidding. In any case, the markets don’t mind. We continue to recover from the December lows, and we’ve been staying mighty busy. For starters, if you haven’t read Value Trap: Theory of Universal Valuation, you’re not going to get as … Read more

Today’s Recorded Website Walk Through

  No changes to simulated newsletter portfolios. By Brian Nelson, CFA Hi everyone, Today was busy.  A stock we have stayed far away from, NVIDIA Corp (NVDA) tumbled aggressively today, down nearly 14%. Shares of the equity are starting to bump against the low end of our fair value estimate range, but we expect a downward revision in the coming days. When it comes to semiconductors, we continue to prefer Xilinx (XLNX) and Intel (INTC). My colleague Kris Rosemann wrote up Intel’s recent quarterly report, released January 24, and you can find that write-up here (login required). Caterpillar (CAT) also released a doozy of a fourth-quarter report today, with shares trading off more than 9%. We don’t include any direct metals and mining … Read more