Valuentum Exclusive Analysis for the Discerning Investor

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Sep 16, 2019

Economic Roundtable: Quant Quake, “Quac-cidental Correlation,” and Economic Moats
Image Source: Anders Sandberg. Last week, the markets may have revealed that internals aren’t all that healthy. Major equity markets experienced a “rotation” that reminded many investors of the “quant quake” from August 2007. As Valuentum’s Brian Nelson wrote in Value Trap, “just a few bad days in the market caused a rapid unwinding of many quant long-short strategies (back then). Goldman’s chief financial officer said at the time that the firm was witnessing ‘25-standard deviation moves, several days in a row.’” On the surface, markets last week seemed relatively calm, but as the episode in 2007 revealed the activity last week may just be the calm before the storm. Many are pointing to overcrowded trades in betting against certain factors, while others are saying that many were forced to deleverage. We’re not so sure, and we think it may be the opposite: after years of suffering from lagging “value” returns, we think several quant shops stepped in to take on leverage, betting on a return to “value.” Let's talk about last week's quant quake, spurious correlations (the “guac-cidental correlation, in fact), economic moats and much more.

Sep 11, 2019

Economic Roundtable: “Value” Versus “Growth” Rotation
“This kind of trading activity could be setting the stage for a big quant fund blow up, if the kind of leverage it takes to move the markets to this magnitude was applied. All it may take is for the B/M “value” factor to continue to suffer in the coming 12-18 months--it’s possible we could see a few quant firms go belly up. My guess is that market participants are paying very close attention to this activity, and if they “smell blood,” things could get ugly.” – Brian Nelson, CFA

Sep 5, 2019

Valuentum’s Economic Roundtable: Trade War, Factors and Beyond
The markets rallied hard September 5 on relief that the US and China will go back to the negotiations table next month. This back-and-forth news cycle is enough to give any investor whiplash. Let’s catch up with the Valuentum Team on the latest developments, not only with the trade war but also with respect to factor investing, possible bubbles and beyond.

Sep 4, 2019

The "Hierarchy" of Valuentum Idea Generation
Image: The Valuentum Buying Index rating scale.Let's talk about this hierarchy of idea generation in this note.

Aug 29, 2019

Where Are the Safe Havens?
"We believe that staying diversified as in holding a broad swath of ideas as in either the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio or Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio as the equity portion of one’s allocation makes a lot of sense in any environment...High yield dividend investing may become more and more popular in coming years as rates across the globe approach 0%, and the amount of negative-yielding debt proliferates." -- Brian Nelson, CFA

Aug 24, 2019

Not Worried About Cisco
Image Source: Fiscal fourth-quarter 2019 press release.We think the market is overreacting when it comes to Cisco’s outlook. Our fair value estimate remains in the mid-$50s, and Cisco’s Dividend Cushion ratio is still very healthy at ~2.8x.

Aug 13, 2019

Thought Piece: The Hidden Advantage
Image Source: Kamilla Oliveira. As activist investing proliferates, investors are becoming more and more familiar with celebrity investing gurus such as Carl Icahn and David Einhorn. Let’s examine how these investing giants have carved out a unique structural advantage over mom-and-pop investors. This article was originally published in June 2014.

Jul 17, 2019

In the News: Second-Quarter Earnings Season Begins
Second-quarter earnings season is upon us. The markets aren’t expecting much growth. Core industrial names may not fare well, but thus far, big pharma is solid. We’re not making any changes to the newsletter portfolios.

Jul 1, 2019

New Highs! The December Call Has Been Well-Rewarded
"The less the prudence with which others conduct their affairs, the greater the prudence with which we must conduct our own." - Warren Buffett (2018)

Jun 16, 2019

Valuentum's June Best Ideas Newsletter
Image: Page 49, June edition of American Library Association Booklist."I hope that my book Value Trap: Theory of Universal Valuation marks a turning point in the financial research industry. To you and me, 1) looking forward, 2) understanding that stock values are based on future expectations, and 3) calculating intrinsic value is simply par for the course. If other investors are not doing this, it should be no surprise that they are failing miserably. 90% underperformance! I hope my book serves as a wake up call for readers to demand forward-looking analysis and research that calculates a best fair value estimate." -- Brian Nelson, CFA