Chinese Stocks Getting Hammered

Image shown: A confluence of factors are driving Chinese stocks lower, not the least of which is heightened regulatory concerns. By Brian Nelson, CFA The collapse in Chinese equities (FXI) (MCHI) during the trading session July 26 is a reminder (again) why you should consider combining momentum with *enterprise valuation* in stocks, as in the Valuentum process. It’s not enough for you to think a stock is undervalued or cheap. The market must agree with you, too. A falling stock price says the market disagrees. Our favorite ideas for consideration are always in the newsletter portfolios, whether the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio, Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio, or High Yield Dividend Newsletter portfolio. We do not have any direct exposure to … Read more

FTC Attacks Facebook, Win-Win Scenario for Investors

Image Shown: Facebook Inc has a large digital advertising business with global reach, but it does not have a monopoly on digital advertising or social media by any means. Image Source: Facebook Inc – Third Quarter of 2020 IR Earnings Presentation Summary Facebook is being sued by the FTC for allegedly engaging in monopolistic activities via its acquisition program. It’s important to note that the government is not seizing Facebook’s assets and that Facebook investors own the future free cash flow stream of the entire entity under any and every scenario–whether Facebook is retained in current form or whether it is broken into different parts through a potential IPO/spin-off of its Instagram and WhatsApp properties.  Under a status quo scenario, … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week September 4

Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending September 4. The dividend reports of covered firms on this list will be updated shortly with the new information. To access our dividend reports use the ‘Symbol’ search box in our website header. Firms Raising Their Dividends This Week Formula Systems (FORTY): now $0.5206 per share semi-annual dividend, was $0.4609. Kenon (KEN): now $2.23 per share quarterly dividend, was $1.21 per share quarterly dividend. JOYY (YY): now $0.31 per share/ADS quarterly dividend. RCI Hospitality (RICK): now $0.04 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.03. Royalty Pharma (RPRX): now $0.15 per share quarterly dividend. Sabine Royalty Trust (SBR): now $0.20329 per share monthly dividend, was $0.1017. Smith … Read more

SEC Proposes Barring the Chinese Units of the Big 4 Accounting Firms for 6 Months; A Washington-Beijing Scuffle; Neither Firm-Specific, Nor Is It “New” News

On Thursday, Reuters reported that SEC Administrative Law Judge Cameron Elliot believes “Chinese units of the global ‘Big Four’ accounting firms (KPMG, Deloitte & Touche, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst and Young) should be suspended from auditing U.S.-listed companies for six months in an escalation in a long-running dispute over regulators’ access to documents.” Though the accounting firms have indicated that they intend to appeal against the ruling, the article did unnerve investors in many US-listed Chinese stocks, including Baidu (BIDU), which notes Ernst & Young Hua Ming LLP as its principal external auditor. This is not “new” news. Baidu goes to great lengths to highlight this scenario as a risk in its 20-F on page 32, with potential de-listing (not bankruptcy or … Read more

Videogaming Business Becoming More and More Attractive

Image Shown: The video game industry has been placing a much greater emphasis on growing their mobile gaming operations in recent years. Part of that strategy has involved leveraging existing IP and well-known gaming titles to appeal to a wide range of users. Image Source: Electronic Arts Inc – Second Quarter of Fiscal 2021 IR Earnings Presentation Executive Summary: Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, and Take-Two Interactive Software have pristine balance sheets, stellar cash flow profiles, and their business models are supported by secular growth tailwinds such as the rise of the global middle class (and more broadly, additional households in emerging economies gaining access to the internet), a growing casual and dedicated video game user base across the globe, and … Read more

ICYMI: Time to Consider Buying Chinese Equities? Not Exactly.

This article was originally published August 26, 2021. Image Shown: Shares of Alibaba Group have plummeted over the past year in the wake of Beijing’s crackdown on China’s domestic tech and fintech titans. By Callum Turcan Many would argue that the key event that kicked off Beijing’s ongoing crackdown on its domestic tech giants started back in October 2020 when the once domestically revered entrepreneur Jack Ma, the founder of e-commerce, fintech, payment solutions, and cloud computing giant Alibaba Group (BABA), gave a speech critical of Chinese regulators. A WSJ article published August 20, Jack Ma’s Costliest Business Lesson: China Has Only One Leader, covered the situation in great detail. Mr. Ma noted at the time that he viewed Beijing’s … Read more

Microsoft Soars, Strong Revenue Growth Continues Unabated

Image Shown: Microsoft Corporation put up a solid fiscal third quarter earnings report and we continue to be big fans of the name. Image Source: Microsoft Corporation – Power Point Earnings Presentation Covering the Third Quarter of Fiscal 2022 By Callum Turcan On April 26, Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) reported third quarter earnings for fiscal 2022 (period ended March 31, 2022) that beat both consensus top- and bottom-line estimates. Shares of MSFT jumped higher by ~4%-5% in afterhours trading on April 26 as investors cheered on the good news and its promising near term outlook. Microsoft’s cloud-oriented products and services were a bright spot in the fiscal third quarter and underpinned its impressive pricing power. The firm was able to stay … Read more