Valuentum Exclusive Analysis for the Discerning Investor

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Dec 20, 2023

Latest Report Updates
Check out the latest report updates on the website.

Dec 1, 2023

A Note on Valuation -- Low P/E Stocks with High Dividend Yields
Image: Stocks with low valuation multiples have trailed the broader S&P 500 (orange) considerably since the depths of the Great Financial Crisis. Today, with all the readily available information and data out there, it is far more likely the case that a company with a low P/E ratio actually deserves it, and a firm with an outsized dividend yield just holds a lot of net debt on their books. Investing in low P/E stocks or stocks with low valuation multiples without considering their intrinsic values (i.e. fair value estimates) may result in owning a basket of value traps. Investors may be attracted to these types of stocks for their low P/E ratios and hefty dividend yields, but just having a low P/E ratio and a high dividend yield doesn’t a good stock make. If investing were this easy, so-called “value stocks” wouldn’t have underperformed the market significantly for more than a decade and a half now.

Oct 22, 2023

There Will Be Volatility
Image: An ETF tracking Russell 1000 "growth" stocks has outperformed an ETF tracking Russell 2000 "value" stocks since the beginning of 2021. To us, the market remains hypersensitive to almost every economic data point that hits the wires, and we’re just not going to play that game. The macro headlines and never-ending news flow are what many quant and algorithmic traders are trading on, and to a very large extent, for investors with a long-term horizon, these macro data points just don’t factor into the equation. When valuing equities, we’re always after mid-cycle expectations, not peak or trough performance, so our valuations implicitly embed a "normal" recession. Warren Buffett didn’t become a billionaire buying and selling on macro data points, and volatility is simply to be expected given the proliferation of price-agnostic trading these days. Instead of panicking over higher interest rates, we think investors should view the Fed’s work thus far as future potential dry powder to stimulate both the economy and the markets. Whenever you feel like stocks are no good, have a read of Warren Buffett’s classic piece written during the Great Financial Crisis, “Buy American. I Am.” To us, we still like stocks for the long run. Happy investing!

Sep 4, 2023

Report Updates -- Did You Throw the Baby Out with the Bathwater?
The markets are finally making sense again, and we remain huge fans of big cap tech and the stylistic area of large cap growth. Though entities are starting to register high ratings on the Valuentum Buying Index, we’re not pulling the trigger on either Alibaba or Korn/Ferry in light of the tremendous risks related to U.S-China relations for Alibaba and the lack of fundamental catalysts for Korn/Ferry. That said, should these firms’ technical and momentum indicators shape up, their equity prices could really catch a bid, in our view. The newsletter portfolios continue to deliver in a big way, not only generating outperformance relative to the market-cap weighted S&P 500 during 2022, but also positioning well for the boom in big cap tech and the stylistic area of large cap growth that has materialized in 2023. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Aug 15, 2023

Home Depot’s Comparable Store Sales Continue Declines, Big Ticket Purchases Slow
Image: Our fair value estimate range of Home Depot. Shares of Home Depot are trading at the high end of the range at ~$325 per share at the time of this writing. Home Depot is one of the most resilient companies across the retail arena. The firm weathered the Great Financial Crisis [GFC] well and it handled the vicissitudes of the COVID-19 pandemic and aftermath flowingly as it juggled supply chain issues, changing consumer buying preferences, and increased demand as consumers remodeled and upgraded their working and living spaces while cocooning at home. The company’s second-quarter 2023 results, released August 15, came in better than expected, but comparable store sales fell 2% both in aggregate and in the U.S. Though comparable store sales declines improved from bigger declines in the first quarter, Home Depot’s guidance for comparable sales to fall 2%-5% for all of fiscal 2023 indicates there may be some further year-over-year weakness ahead. We’re sticking with Home Depot in the Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio, however.

Mar 17, 2023

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week of March 17
Let's take a look at firms raising/lowering their dividends this week.

Feb 22, 2023

Walmart Warns: “Prices Are Still High and There Is Considerable Pressure on the Consumer”
Image Source: Mike Mozart. Walmart’s outlook may very well be conservative, but its commentary certainly doesn’t bode well for many discretionary retailers and the broader economy. With the labor markets still strong and the producer price index still coming in hot, the Federal Reserve is not yet done raising rates. We expect the markets to test their uptrends and 200-day moving averages in the coming days to weeks, and if we break through these support levels to the downside, we won’t hesitate to “raise some cash” across the newsletter portfolios. When Walmart warns about the health of the consumer, we pay attention.

Jan 15, 2023

Our Reports on Stocks in the Discretionary Spending Industry
Image Source: Mike Mozart. Our reports on stocks in the Discretionary Spending industry can be found in this article: BBY, CBRL, CMG, DIS, DG, DLTR, DPZ, EL, F, GM, HAS, HD, LOW, MCD, NFLX, NKE, SBUX, TSLA, YUM, DKS, TJX, ROST, WHR, KMX, AZO, RL, ULTA, LEG, GPC, VFC, CTAS, WSM.

Dec 4, 2022

Apple iPhone Supply Disruptions Not Likely to Hurt Markets with Overall Holiday Sales Reportedly Strong
Image: Holiday sales are expected to expand ~2.5% in 2022 over very strong growth in 2021 and 2020. Image Source: Adobe. Apple's sales of the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max will come in lower than expected this holiday season due to labor unrest in Zhengzhou, but holiday sales for 2022 overall look fairly solid with Adobe Analytics estimating 2.5% growth over 2021, which, itself, was a fantastic year. A prior warning about holiday sales from Target Corp. appears to have been overblown given the sales strength witnessed during Black Friday and Cyber Monday across the retail landscape this year. It may be too early to say that the markets have definitely bottomed as economic data remains inconclusive, but holiday sales so far in 2022 and an overall resilient job market are giving investors something to cheer about in what has turned into an otherwise loathsome year.

Nov 21, 2022

Target’s Holiday Outlook Sends Mixed Messages; Big Sales Data Week Ahead
Image Source: Valuentum. Both Walmart and Target indicated that discretionary spending may face some pressure heading into the holiday season. Strength in beauty, skin care, and cosmetics may not be enough to cushion the blow that home electronics, sporting goods retailers, and toy makers may face. Though incrementally more positive than we were a few months ago, we remain cautious/defensive on the markets. In light of the tremendous weakness share prices have faced so far this year, we think the market had been anticipating the current slowdown, as retailers continue to adjust to a more difficult economic environment. We continue to wait to see how Black Friday and Cyber Monday numbers shake out to get an incrementally better read on how holiday numbers may pan out, which will have far-reaching implications across the retail and logistics landscapes.