Valuentum Exclusive Analysis for the Discerning Investor

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Oct 14, 2019

Economic Commentary: Robots, Value Trap, and Politics on the Markets
Valuentum sat down for the latest installment of its periodic economic commentary, and the team tackled a wide array of topics, from robots on Wall Street, to President of Investment Research Brian Nelson’s new book Value Trap, to political influence on the markets and boyond. Let’s set the stage with a prompt from a recent Bloomberg article, “The Master of Robots…Coming for Wall Street...

Oct 11, 2019

Apple Surges Higher!
We continue to like Apple and think shares will continue advancing toward the upper end of our fair value estimate range ($260+). Recent technical strength at Apple is possibly a sign that investors are beginning to price in the very positive tailwind the tech giant’s ‘Services’ segment represents in terms of both sales and margin upside (and the positive effect that has on Apple’s expected future free cash flows).

Oct 10, 2019

5 Questions Answered by the Valuentum Team
Image Source: Eric. Let’s cover some recently asked questions for the benefit of all.

Oct 10, 2019

Covering Best Ideas Newsletter Holding Berkshire Hathaway
Image Source: Berkshire Hathaway Inc – 2018 Annual Report. As a top holding in our Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio, Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares have room to run in our view. Our fair value estimate for BRK.B stands at $229 per share, significantly higher than where shares are trading at as of this writing (~$204 per share). Please note Berkshire Hathaway does not pay out a common dividend at this time.

Oct 9, 2019

Oracle Makes a Big Push Into the Cloud
Image Source: Oracle Corporation – September 2019 IR Presentation. On Monday October 7, Reuters reported that Oracle Corporation planned to hire an additional ~2,000 workers to support the tech giant’s cloud expansion strategy. These new jobs would be centered around San Francisco, Seattle, and India. We continue to like Oracle as a holding in our Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio and are excited to see how its push into new international cloud computing markets will pan out. Our fair value estimate stands at $55 per share, roughly where ORCL is trading at as of this writing, with the top end of our fair value estimate range sitting at $66 per share (Oracle could test the upper bounds of our range should its cloud computing growth story pick up steam).

Oct 7, 2019

General Motors and the Union Strike!
Image Source: General Motors Company – IR Presentation. A holding in both our Best Ideas Newsletter and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolios, shares of General Motors have come under pressure over the past month from the ongoing strike that involves roughly 46,000-48,000 of its workers (primarily in the US). Our fair value estimate for shares of General Motors stands at $48 per share, well above where GM is trading at as of this writing. We continue to like the name and will be monitoring ongoing UAW-GM talks very closely going forward. Shares of GM yield 4.4% as of this writing.

Oct 4, 2019

Economic Commentary: Apple $225+, Brokers Tumble, Auto Sales Look Tired
Image: Shares of TD Ameritrade Holdings have been punished as online trading commissions go to zero. "Though all signs point to increased volatility, we maintain our view that we’re well-positioned in the newsletter portfolios, and the ideas highlighted in the Exclusive publication consider the backdrop economic conditions we closely monitor." -- Brian Nelson, CFA

Oct 4, 2019

PepsiCo Posts Solid Quarterly Report, Targets Powerful Long-Term Growth Trends
On October 3, PepsiCo reported third quarter earnings for fiscal 2019 (12 week period ended September 7) that were positively received by the market as the beverage and snack company beat both consensus top and bottom line estimates. PepsiCo still has its eyes on the ball in the face of exogenous shocks (i.e. the US-China trade war and the potential for an EU-US trade war) as management targets secular growth trends in emerging and developing markets, but we still think the company’s valuation is stretched after its impressive year-to-date rally. Shares of PEP yield ~2.7% as of this writing.

Oct 3, 2019

Competition Heats Up in the Medical Robotics Space
Image Source: Intuitive Surgical Inc – IR Presentation. Competition is heating up in the medical robotics space, an area of the medical device industry Intuitive Surgical is a clear leader in with its Da Vinci system installed in ~5,000 hospitals and other medical centers around the world (approximately 60% of Intuitive Surgical’s installed base is in the US). Medtronic PLC seeks to launch its own robot-assisted surgery device for soft tissue surgeries, aimed not at stealing market share from Intuitive Surgical’s existing customers (no easy feat given that the upfront cost of ~$0.5-$2.0 million per Da Vinci system on top of needing to retrain surgeons on how to use a new system) but winning over new customers that have yet to adopt medical robotics systems like the Da Vinci. Medtronic’s new offering isn’t expected until 2021 at the earliest and the company plans to utilize the same business model as Intuitive Surgical given the success the market leader has had with winning over recurring business.

Oct 2, 2019

Zimmer Biomet’s Near-Term Outlook Is Less Rosy Than Management Would Have You Believe
Shares of Zimmer Biomet are trading on lofty expectations and investors may be in for a shock should Zimmer Biomet continue to underperform during the second half of 2019. Foreign currency headwinds continue to grow as seen through the strength of the US Dollar Index during the third quarter of 2019. We like Zimmer Biomet’s deleveraging activities but think its share price has gotten ahead of itself given these rising headwinds, lack of top line growth, and deteriorating net operating cash flows. We are staying away from Zimmer Biomet.