Valuentum Exclusive Analysis for the Discerning Investor

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Apr 16, 2020

Wells Fargo Faces Regulatory Pressure Amid an Enormous Bad Debt Cycle
Image Source: Wells Fargo 1Q2020 Earnings Presentation. Wells Fargo is facing the same enormous bad debt cycle ahead just like its big bank peers, but it is also carrying a ton of its own baggage at just the wrong time. Earnings had already been under pressure before the bad debt cycle had hit, and the bank is facing a very difficult regulatory situation, with a cap on total assets that has been in place since 2018. This is causing the bank to forgo revenue growth opportunities and make difficult trade offs to help existing customers over new customers. This means that Wells is competing with one arm tied behind its back; it has also meant substantially higher costs as the bank has done a ton of hiring to help deal with the regulatory issues. Now Wells is under (optical) pressure to retain employees. All of this has resulted in sliding earnings over the past four quarters.

Apr 13, 2020

Historic Oil Deal Reached
Image Source: Chevron Corporation - March 2020 Security Analyst Meeting Presentation. Over the Easter holiday weekend, members from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (‘OPEC’), non-OPEC members that are part of the OPEC+ group (countries that in the recent past have joined forces with OPEC to curtail global oil supplies in a formal manner), and non-OPEC members outside of the OPEC+ group such as Brazil, Canada, and the United States came to an agreement to cut their collective oil output by north of 10 million barrels per day. Global oil and other raw energy resource prices have been simply demolished year-to-date due to a combination of demand destruction from the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic and the emergence of a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. Please note that oil demand destruction due to the “cocooning” of households (and the related drop off in refined petroleum product demand from automobiles, airplanes, etc.) may be as high as 35 million barrels per day according to some analysts, an enormous figure that’s resulting in major stockpile buildups all over the world. Other analysts don’t necessarily see the level of demand destruction as that high (projections are being updated constantly); however, they are still calling for a drop off in demand that’s in the ten(s) of millions of oil barrels per day range (at least in the short-term, depending on how long the pandemic lasts). Even if this agreement is effectively implemented, that won’t result in oil prices (and other raw energy resource prices) returning to pre-COVID-19 levels in the short/medium-term, in our view, but will make emerging from this pandemic an easier task given that global oil storage capacity is nearing its limit. As of this writing on April 13, oil prices are trading up modestly but are still down by well over 50% year-to-date.

Apr 13, 2020

Dollar General Near All-Time Highs, Decides to Issue Long-Term Debt at Attractive Rates
Image Source: Dollar General Corporation – May 2016 Investor Day Presentation. Dollar General is now trading near its all-time highs after rising ~8.5% year-to-date, at a time when the S&P 500 is down almost 15%, as of the end of normal trading hours on April 9. We include shares of DG in our Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and recently covered some of Dollar General’s operational updates in our ‘US Beer Sales Reportedly Surge During the Pandemic, Dollar General Well-Positioned to Meet Rising Demand’ article that can be viewed here. We are following up on that piece, and our note covering Dollar General’s most recent financial updates that can be viewed here, to highlight how Dollar General is maintaining its liquidity position during these harrowing times. The ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic is wreaking havoc on global economies and staying on top of debt maturities is a key part of maintaining the funds needed to meet surging demand for consumer staples products (keeping inventory management and other considerations in mind). Shares of DG yield ~0.9% as of this writing.

Apr 12, 2020

ICYMI -- Video: The Question Is If the Economy Can Be Held Together Without Vast Equity Dilution
President of Investment Research at Valuentum and award-winning author of "Value Trap: Theory of Universal Valuation" explains how the range of probable fair value outcomes of S&P 500 companies has increased as a result of COVID-19 and possible equity dilution on the downside to long-run inflationary pressures on stocks driven by runaway Fed and Treasury stimulus on the upside.

Apr 3, 2020

US Beer Sales Reportedly Surge During the Pandemic, Dollar General Well-Positioned to Meet Rising Demand
Image Source: Valuentum. According to some reports, US beer and alcohol sales are surging during the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic. As of early Wednesday April 1, Johns Hopkins University reported there are now over 850,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 around the world and that includes over 42,000 fatalities. We are still months away from human trials commencing on a potential vaccine, and it likely won’t be until 2021 at the very earliest that a vaccine could enter commercial production. As we wait out this pandemic, we hope everyone and their loved ones stay safe. We continue to like Dollar General in our Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and view the firm as well-positioned to ride out the storm and emerge on the other side as a stronger enterprise. Back on March 17, we published a piece on our website, ‘Dollar General Holding Up Relatively Well in the Face of COVID-19’, that we encourage our members to take a look if they haven’t done so already (link here).

Apr 3, 2020

Repub from July 2019 -- The Valuentum Economic Roundtable
We sat down with the Valuentum team to get their thoughts on the global economy and key issues that may threaten this near 10-year bull market.

Mar 30, 2020

Bullets: Recapping the Crash, Where Are We Now?
Image: The S&P 500 has only retraced a small part of its decline since the top in February 2020. We established an S&P 500 target of ~2,550 in late February and more formally established a target range of 2,350-2,750 in the March edition of the Dividend Growth Newsletter, prior to the crash. As predicted, the S&P 500 crashed to the mid-point of our S&P 500 target range of 2,350-2,750, now trading at ~2,590 at this moment. We continue to emphasize that panic selling during this crisis may continue to 2,000 on the S&P, while we emphasize that the range of fair value outcomes for equities has increased, both to the upside and to the downside. Let's recap the crash in bullet-point fashion, and explain what investors can expect next.

Mar 27, 2020

Republic Services is Well Prepared
Image Source: Republic Services Inc – March 2020 COVID-19 Investor Update Presentation. Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio holding Republic Services, which was added to the portfolio back on January 13, 2020, is well positioned to ride out the turbulence created by the ongoing novel coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic. Before getting into its recent refinancing activity, please note that roughly four-fifths of Republic Services’ revenues comes from long-term contracts, and that fundamentally, waste disposal services are almost always in demand (hard to combat a healthcare crisis if trash is piling up on the streets, sidewalks, and can’t be properly disposed of in landfills). While its financials will face some pressures from the pandemic, Republic Services should be able to emerge on the other side of this crisis with its business and balance sheet relatively intact. As of this writing, shares of RSG yield ~2.1% and its Dividend Cushion ratio of 1.9 provides for a “GOOD” Dividend Safety rating.

Mar 25, 2020

Gut-Wrenching Volatility and Credit Facility Panic
Image shown: Stock markets have never been this volatile in history. Our 2,350-2,750 fair value on the S&P 500 remains unchanged, and we could see aggressive panic/forced selling to 2,000 on the broad market index (the S&P 500 closed at 2,447 on March 24). Long-term investors with time horizons greater than 10 years may have already been nibbling at this market, using dollar cost averaging strategies and may benefit from any bear market rally. These long-term investors have a keen eye toward retaining dry powder in the event the worst of the swoon is still ahead. Our additional options commentary can be added to your membership here.

Mar 23, 2020

Fed and Treasury Efforts Might Not Be Enough to Avoid Another Great Depression
Image: The Energy Select Sector SPDR and Financial Select Sector SPDR, two securities removed from both the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio in August 2019 have been ravaged during this market selloff. We maintain our view that the energy and banking sectors are worth avoiding during this market meltdown. The U.S. is stuck between a rock and a hard place, and we might get the next Great Depression regardless of what the Fed or Treasury does. The timeline for when these markets attempt to bounce back meaningfully from this disruption may not be based on whether COVID-19 cases roll over, but rather when consumers start coming out to spend in droves again, and that may not happen until we have a vaccine broadly available. We're maintaining our fair value range on the S&P 500 of 2,350-2,750, with expectations of panic/forced selling down to 2,000 on the broad market index (it closed at 2,304.92 on Friday, March 20). We believe that savvy investors have been nibbling at this market during the past couple weeks and may have achieved up to 50%-75% of their equity allocation in a well-diversified portfolio via dollar-cost averaging strategies, with expectations of further market declines. Our best ideas remain in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio, Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio, High Yield Dividend Newsletter portfolio and Exclusive publication. Expect more gut-wrenching volatility.