Valuentum Exclusive Analysis for the Discerning Investor

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Mar 2, 2020

Analyzing Parsons: A Defense, Intelligence, and Critical Infrastructure Solutions Company
Image Source: Parsons Corporation – February 2020 IR Presentation. Parsons Corp is a provider of technical design, engineering, and software solutions to markets within the realm of defense, intelligence, threat detection and mitigation, cybersecurity, critical and transportation infrastructure, mobility solutions, connected communities, and more. The company went public in May 2019 and has since used those IPO proceeds to fund its growth story, including the acquisition of OGSystems during the first half of 2019 (which focuses on “geospatial intelligence, big data analytics, and threat mitigation”) and QSR in the second half of 2019 (which “specializes in radio frequency spectrum survey, record and playback; signals intelligence; and electronic warfare missions”). Parsons has a compelling product line-up that is aligned with strong and growing end markets. The company generates material free cash flow, and its balance sheet remains strong, with 0.4x net leverage and a strong liquidity position. Its valuation isn't too stretched, and the firm has a deep bench in the executive suite. We like Parsons and will have more to say when the firm reports its fourth quarter earnings for fiscal 2019 before the market opens on March 10.

Mar 2, 2020

Self-Storage Industry Faces a Rocky 2020, But Long-Term Outlook Remains Bright
Image Source: CubeSmart – November 2019 IR Presentation. With housing costs rising aggressively in “Tier 1” and “Tier 2” cities across the East and West coasts in the US, that has created an immense need from households for additional storage space but at a much lower cost than simply buying a larger home, apartment, or condo. This has created a major secular growth trend that we’ve highlighted repeatedly in our High Yield Dividend Newsletter (‘HYDN’) by including shares of CubeSmart and Public Storage in our HYDN portfolio, both of which are self-storage focused real estate investment trusts (‘REITs’). Click here for more information on our HYDN. Both self-storage REITs have steadily grown their already sizable payouts over the past several years and we expect that to continue to be the case going forward, with shares of CUBE and PSA yielding ~4.2% and ~3.6%, respectively, as of this writing.

Feb 21, 2020

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending February 21
Let's take a look at companies that raised/lowered their dividend this week.

Feb 20, 2020

Newmont Posts a Great Earnings Report
Image Shown: A look at Newmont Corporation’s asset base, which is heavily centered on the Americas and Australia, with some exposure to West Africa as well. Image Source: Newmont – Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2019 IR Earnings Presentation. On February 20, gold miner Newmont Corp reported a fourth quarter and full-year earnings report for 2019 that pleasantly surprised, with shares of NEM up sharply after the report during the trading session that Thursday. Back on January 13, we added a modest weighting of NEM shares to our Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio as part of our pivot to more defensive names given rising exogenous headwinds to the global economy. While Newmont’s top-line marginally missed consensus expectations, its bottom-line handedly beat consensus expectations which is partially why investors were excited about the report. The other big reason shares of NEM march higher is likely due to Newmont noting its outlook had improved materially since closing on its Goldcorp acquisition and selling off some of its assets, as part of the normal portfolio optimization process one would expect after a major acquisition.

Feb 7, 2020

Update on Wuhan 2019 Novel Coronavirus Outbreak: 31,000+ Infections, 630+ Deaths
Image Source: 2019-nCoV, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of infections and deaths related to the Wuhan 2019 Novel Coronavirus has surged since our last update, but we maintain our view that investors should keep a level head. We continue to wait to add protection to the newsletter portfolios as the market absorbs a massive liquidity injection from the PBOC.

Jan 31, 2020

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending January 31
Let's take a look at companies that raised/lowered their dividend this week.

Jan 23, 2020

Why *NOW* Do You Care About Boeing’s Stock?
Image Source: Robert Sullivan. In no, way shape or form should you *now* be interested in Boeing’s stock. Let’s explain.

Jan 21, 2020

Two Dividend Growth Newsletter Portfolio Holdings Get Ready to Report Earnings Later This Month
Two holdings in the Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio, Johnson & Johnson and Microsoft Corporation, are getting ready to report earnings later this month.

Jan 12, 2020

Capital Appreciation or Dividend Growth?
Image source: David Mulder. “Xilinx crushed the market over its holding period of a matter of a few weeks during 2019” is not something that we think dividend growth investors are focused on, or even care to hear.

Jan 9, 2020

Yum! Brands Buys Habit Restaurants
Image Shown: An overview of Yum! Brands Inc’s operations. Image Source: Yum! Brands Inc - Investor Fact Sheet. On January 6, quick-service restaurant chain Yum! Brands (which owns the KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell brands) announced that it was acquiring fast causal burger joint Habit Restaurants for $14 per share in cash for a total cash consideration of $375 million. Habit Burger’s footprint includes ~265 restaurants in total across more than a dozen US states and China under its namesake brand, Habit Burger Grill, and please note roughly 90% of those locations are company-owned. Having the benefit of Yum! Brands global marketing and advertising wing will support future growth endeavors at the Habit Burger Grill brand. We still aren’t interested in shares of YUM here as the top end of our fair value range estimate sits at $106, or just a few dollars ahead of where YUM is trading at as of this writing.