Valuentum Exclusive Analysis for the Discerning Investor

Symbol Keyword

Nov 8, 2021

ASML Holding’s Bright Growth Outlook
Image Shown: Shares of ASML Holding NV are booming higher as demand for its photolithography systems, a crucial part of the semiconductor supply chain, continues to grow at a robust pace. ASML Holding is a tremendous way to play the ongoing boom in semiconductor demand. The firm’s medium-term growth targets are fantastic and supported by surging net bookings for its photolithography systems (clearly there is ample demand here for ASML Holding’s offerings). With a pristine balance sheet, shareholder friendly management team, stellar free cash flow generating abilities, and promising growth outlook, ASML Holding has a lot going for it. The company is a good fit for the ESG Newsletter portfolio, in our view, as ASML Holding scores well on our 1-100 (100 being the best) ESG rating system (94 out of 100).

Oct 29, 2021

Apple Remains a Free Cash Flow Generating Powerhouse
Image Shown: Apple Inc remained a free cash flow generating powerhouse in fiscal 2021. Key line-items are underlined in red and blue. Image Source: Apple Inc – Fourth Quarter of Fiscal 2021 Financial Supplement with additions from the author. Apple is not immune to the headwinds facing global supply chains, though its fortress-like balance sheet and stellar free cash flow generating abilities should enable the firm to ride out near-term hurdles with its bright growth trajectory intact. We are huge fans of the tech behemoth and continue to like shares of AAPL as an idea in both the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio.

Oct 27, 2021

Digital Realty Boosts Guidance and Further Extends Growth Runway
Image Source: Digital Realty Trust Inc – Third Quarter of 2021 IR Earnings Presentation. On October 26, Digital Realty Trust posted third quarter 2021 earnings that beat both consensus top- and bottom-line estimates. The data center real estate investment trust (‘REIT’) saw its GAAP operating revenues come in at $1.1 billion (up 11% year-over-year) and its non-GAAP core funds from operations (‘FFO’) per share come in at $1.65 per share (up 7% year-over-year) last quarter. Digital Realty also increased its guidance in conjunction with its latest earnings report, which we appreciate, as that signals the REIT is growing confident that it will exit 2021 on a high note. When taking into consideration Digital Realty’s ability to tap capital markets at attractive rates (something we cover in this article), we give the REIT a “GOOD” Dividend Safety rating as its adjusted Dividend Cushion ratio is near parity at 0.7, which factors in expected dividend growth over the coming years. Additionally, we give Digital Realty a “GOOD” Dividend Safety rating, underpinned by its bright cash flow growth outlook. The top end of our fair value estimate range sits at $186 per share of DLR, well above where Digital Realty is trading at as of this writing.

Oct 26, 2021

Facebook’s Third-Quarter 2021 Results Better Than Feared
Image: Facebook continues to put up impressive levels of free cash flow generation. We remain huge fans of the stock. Image Source: Facebook. Facebook showed what it means to have a wide economic moat when it reported its third-quarter 2021 results. Robust revenue growth in the face of disruptive Apple iOS 14 privacy changes, impressive operating-income expansion in the face of considerable expense growth to build out the ‘metaverse,’ and cultural resilience in the face on a slew of media attacks on its business practices reveal that Facebook may be near-invincible. We’re huge fans of Facebook’s free cash flow generation capacity and its attractive net-cash-rich balance sheet, and we expect more good things to come from this top-weighted idea in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio. A huge new buyback authorization that we thought was in the cards in the wake of share-price weakness has arrived, and we love that Facebook is scooping up its undervalued stock. We’re maintaining our 10 rating on the VBI and $515 fair value estimate for shares.

Oct 7, 2021

IBM Provides Investors with a Major Update
Image Source: International Business Machines Corporation – October 2021 IR Presentation. While still a major enterprise, International Business Machines Corp is no longer the tech juggernaut it used to be and hasn’t been a leading tech company for over a decade. The company recognizes this and back in October 2020, IBM announced that it planned to “separate its Managed Infrastructure Services unit of its Global Technology Services division into a new public company” that will be called Kyndryl. By the end of 2021, this tax-free spinoff is expected to be complete (shares of Kyndryl will be spun off to IBM shareholders). In October 2021, IBM provided a major update to its shareholders covering its medium-term financial outlook, key operational updates, and what to expect going forward as it concerns its dividend policy, areas that we are going to cover in this article.

Oct 4, 2021

Markets Look Vulnerable, Adding "Protection"
The S&P 500 (SPY) and corresponding 50-day (green), 100-day (purple), and 200-day moving averages (red). We expect the SPY may have to "correct" to the 200-day moving average, or about $412-$413 per share before it finds its footing. Self-inflicted wounds the past several weeks have altered the market's sentiment for the worse, and we don't think the selling is done yet.

Oct 1, 2021

Best Idea Visa on the Rebound, Generating Gobs of Free Cash Flow
Image Shown: Visa Inc is a stellar free cash flow generator and is included as an idea in our Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio. Image Source: Visa Inc – Third Quarter of Fiscal 2021 IR Earnings Presentation. We are huge fans of the payment processing and payment solutions space. This industry is supported by secular growth tailwinds due to the global shift away from cash-to-card and card-not-present (e.g. online purchases) purchase options, and the ongoing proliferation of e-commerce. Furthermore, companies in this space benefit immensely from the network effect, which creates an economic moat for their business. These companies are incredibly lucrative with relatively high operating margins and impressive free cash flow generating abilities, aided by their relatively modest capital expenditure requirements to maintain a certain level of revenues. We include payment networks giant Visa as a “top-weighted” idea in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and view its capital appreciation upside quite favorably, with the top end of our fair value estimate range sitting at $304 per share of Visa.

Sep 27, 2021

Update on High-Yielding AT&T
Image Source: AT&T Inc – Second Quarter of 2021 IR Earnings Presentation. The communications and media giant AT&T Inc is pivoting back to its roots, a strategy that we think will pay off handsomely in the long run, though there have been plenty of rough bumps along the way. Management has finally found a strategy that AT&T can stick with. We include AT&T as an idea in the High Yield Dividend Newsletter portfolio and shares of T yield ~7.7% as of this writing (note that the company will rightsize its dividend in the coming quarters, resulting in a yield adjustment lower).

Sep 24, 2021

Cisco Systems’ Growth Outlook Continues to Improve
Image Source: Cisco Systems Inc – 2021 Investor Day Event Presentation. Things at Cisco Systems are beginning to turn around and management made sure to highlight the company’s improving outlook during its big Investor Day event held on September 15. We include Cisco Systems as an idea in both the Best Ideas Newsletter and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolios as the firm has a fortress-like balance sheet (i.e., large net cash position), tremendous free cash flow generating abilities, and its growth outlook has improved immensely since contending with serious headwinds from the worst of the coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic. Shares of CSCO yield ~2.6% as of this writing.

Sep 22, 2021

Facebook’s Stock Sell Off Explained
Image: Facebook's free cash flow generation has been resilient in the face of prior iOS updates, and we think it will continue to grow rapidly in the future. Source: Facebook. We never like to see a 10-rated stock sell off, even if it’s up more than 30% so far this year and up over 140% since it registered a 10 on the Valuentum Buying Index in January 2019, but that’s what we’ve been closely following with Facebook. The stock experienced similar selling pressure during the summer of 2018, and while we’re huge fans of this underpriced tech giant in the long run, we think shares may face more selling pressure in the near term. Nonetheless, we’re reiterating its 10-rating on the Valuentum Buying Index and our $515 fair value estimate. Shares closed Friday at ~$353 each.