ZNGA

15 Stocks That Have Boatloads of Net Cash Relative to Their Market Cap

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They say that value is in the eye of the beholder. This is certainly true, but when it comes to stock valuation, value rests on the balance sheet and cash flow statement. The build-up of net cash on the balance sheet that results from the net performance of cash flow from operations less both capital expenditures and dividend payments is the primary reason how the intrinsic value of a firm increases over time. Think of a company’s balance sheet like your personal savings account. The more money you put into your personal savings relative to your liabilities and what you spend on personal dividends like vacation, for example, the wealthier you are.  Similarly, the more cash a company saves on … Read more

Valuentum Economic Castleâ„¢ Rating Update

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Read: Keeping the Horse Before the Cart: Valuentum’s Economic Castle™ Rating The Economic Castle Focuses on the Magnitude of Economic Value Creation The Valuentum Economic Castle™ rating is an enhancement of the competitive advantage framework (commonly known as economic moat analysis) that has become widespread and ubiquitous within the investing world. Whereas an economic moat framework evaluates a firm on the basis of the sustainability and durability of its competitive advantages, Valuentum’s Economic Castle™ rating evaluates a firm on the basis of the firm’s future economic profit spread (return on invested capital less its weighted average cost of capital). The companies with the strongest Valuentum Economic Castle™ ratings are poised to generate the most economic value for shareholders in the … Read more

GameStop Tumbles on Lower Than Expected Holiday Outlook

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One of the ‘Top 25 Overvalued Stocks on the Market’ reported third-quarter results Thursday. GameStop (GME) represents the latest firm that we highlighted as significantly overvalued to engage in a large pricing correction toward our fair value estimate. Third-quarter results at the world’s largest video game retailer weren’t the problem. Total global sales advanced 18.8%, while comparable store sales rose 20.5%. Sales of new software increased 43.1% thanks to strong performance from Grand Theft Auto V. Hardware sales also performed well, jumping 15.3% thanks to a strong sell-thru of Nintendo 2DS and 3DS. Pre-owned sales, however, declined 2%. The strong overall performance led to 675 basis points of market share gains. GameStop’s net earnings jumped 45.3%, to $68.6 million, while the … Read more

Grand Theft Auto V Will Drive Fantastic Results at Take-Two

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It is no secret that the video game industry is surprisingly cyclical for many players. Look no further than GameStop (click ticker for report: ), which has seen shares soar after a multi-year lull in games now appears to be over with the launch of Microsoft’s Xbox One (click ticker for report: ) and Sony’s PlayStation 4 (click ticker for report: ). The game-developing business is probably even more cyclical, but it has little to do with broader economic conditions. Rather, development is somewhat similar to biotechnology in the sense that developers may spend years developing a game before finally launching and recouping costs with extraordinarily high marginal profits. That story is playing out at Take-Two Interactive Image Source: TTWO … Read more

Shares of GameStop Look Expensive Even with Strong Guidance

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Retailer GameStop (click ticker for report: ) posted a steep decline in second quarter results that was overshadowed by a positive outlook for the back half of the year. Revenue fell 10.7% year-over-year to $10.4 billion, which was a bit better than consensus expectations. Earnings per share dropped 44% year-over-year to $0.09, which was also better than consensus estimates. Sales have been weak… Image Source: Valuentum, Company Filings Shares of GameStop are up 177% over the past year—a phenomenal increase given the steep same-store sales declines recently (shown above). Weakness didn’t moderate much in the second quarter, with same-store sales dropping 10.7% year-over-year. Of course, the rally in GameStop’s share price has little to do with what happened in fiscal … Read more

Investors Can Dislike Facebook But Third Quarter Results Were Strong

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Social networking kingpin Facebook (click ticker for report: ) reported strong third quarter results Tuesday afternoon as the company navigates the shift towards mobile computing. Revenue surged 32% year-over-year to $1.2 billion, while earnings were flat at $0.12 per share as operating margins fell. However, both numbers exceeded consensus estimates and were surprisingly strong given the weakness we saw last week from Google (click ticker for report: ). Facebook continues to win eyeballs as usage and users continue to surge. Monthly active users increased 26% year-over-year to 1.01 billion, daily active users grew 28% year-over-year to 584 million, and mobile active users grew 61% year-over-year to 604 million. Facebook remains the number one application for both Android and iOS. Despite … Read more

Zynga’s Quarterly Results a Non-Event; Steer Clear of the Firm’s Stock

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Zynga (ZNGA), a leading provider of social gaming services and probably best known for Farmville on Facebook, reported its first-ever quarterly results after going public in December. Though its results showed tremendous top-line expansion, we have long-term concerns with owning Zynga at these levels and view its near-term results as inconsequential to its intrinsic value.   First of all, we urge investors to keep their heads as the social-networking bubble heats up in the coming months, leading up to and following the well-publicized IPO of Facebook. We’ve already witnessed what we’d describe as “sympathy buying” of firms like Zynga and LinkedIn (LNKD) and think the best way to play the group is to stay as far away as possible or … Read more

Euphoria Running Rampant: Investigating Some of the Hottest Names Around

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Image Source: Tesla Roadster As we march forward in what Morgan Stanley has dubbed a bull market of “epic proportions,” euphoria appears to be at levels perhaps not seen since the dot-com bust of the early 2000s. Let’s take a look at some of the “hottest” names on the market. By Kris Rosemann and Brian Nelson, CFA Earlier this month, Ireland (IRL, EIRL) borrowed five-year paper at a -0.008% (negative 0.008%), meaning that the country is being paid to borrow. If you recall, we penned a piece in April 2016, that commented on an obscure article in the Journal where a Danish couple was being paid interest on their mortgage (that’s right – they are being paid interest, not paying … Read more