Valuentum Exclusive Analysis for the Discerning Investor

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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 15, 2020

Visa Enhances Its Long-Term Outlook
On January 13, top weighted Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio holding Visa announced it was buying financial tech company Plaid for $5.3 billion. Plaid primarily offers a network that allows consumers to connect financial accounts to apps securely and safely, meaning that when a consumer downloads a mobile financial-oriented app to their phone (for example), Plaid is the company that ensures a smooth connection between app and the relevant financial institution when it comes to transferring information and ultimately money. What’s important about this acquisition is that Visa, once again, is showcasing its ability to spot and capitalize on high quality opportunities within the financial services space.

Jan 2, 2020

Apple, Microsoft Dominated This Decade
Source: Marketwatch. Data by Andrea Riquier, through December 27, 2019*.The three best contributors to the S&P 500 return during 2019 have been included in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio for a long time, two of them, Apple and Facebook are top weighted (see image at the end of this article). Three of the biggest contributors to the S&P 500 return during this decade have been included in the Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio for a long time (see image above). Sure -- these are household names, but it's important you understand that mispricings can occur anywhere, even with some of the most popular names. Investing is synonymous with identifying mispriced securities.

Dec 30, 2019

Dividend Growth Newsletter Portfolio Delivers Again in 2019
 The story of the Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio this year was one dominated by big tech. Apple trounced the return of what could be considered our benchmark by about 80 percentage points. It basically beat the S&P Dividend ETF SDPR by a factor of about 5 times! 2019 was simply the year to own Apple, and my goodness we had it right near the top of both the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio. You would think this was a no-brainer, as everyone loves Apple, but many a portfolio manager did not own Apple this year. Apple also upped its dividend 5%+ during 2019...

Dec 15, 2019

Our Reports on Stocks in the Staffing Services Industry
Image Source: Michael Cote. We've optimized our coverage universe.

Dec 13, 2019

Oracle’s Dividend Growth Trajectory Remains Solid
Image Source: Oracle Corporation – Financial Analyst Meeting Presentation, September 2019. On December 12, Oracle Corp reported second quarter earnings for its fiscal 2020 (period ended November 30, 2019). Massive share repurchases reduced Oracle’s diluted outstanding weighted-average share count from 3,908 million in the first half of fiscal 2018 to 3,370 million in the first half of fiscal 2019. That played a key role in boosting Oracle’s EPS performance (diluted GAAP EPS was up 12% year-over-year in the first half of fiscal 2020) as its revenues were broadly flat during this period. We continue to like Oracle in our Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio given the strength of its free cash flow profile and promising outlook. Shares of ORCL yield 1.7% as of this writing, and its strong Dividend Cushion ratio of 2.7x provides for a solid payout growth trajectory. Shares of Oracle sold off initially on its weaker than expected sales performance last quarter, but we remain optimistic on its future potential as we’ll cover in this note.

Dec 12, 2019

Analyzing Chevron and Important Updates in the Global Energy Industry
Image Source: Chevron Corporation – November 2019 IR Presentation. In this note, let’s cover the current state of raw energy resource prices in North America and around the world. We’ll analyze Chevron’s 2020 capital investment and exploration budget, in particular, and the global energy industry at-large. Shares of CVX appear generously valued, as of this writing, given the numerous headwinds facing the energy industry going forward.

Dec 11, 2019

GameStop’s Problems Continue
Image Source: GameStop Corporation – Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2018 Earnings IR Presentation. On December 10, video game retailer GameStop Corp reported third quarter earnings for its fiscal 2019 (13-week period ended November 2, 2019) that were simply terrible. Shares of GME were down big after-hours on December 10. GAAP net sales were down 26% year-over-year last quarter, hitting $1.4 billion, while the company’s GAAP operating loss came in at ~$0.05 billion, an improvement versus an operating loss of $0.5 billion (due to a large goodwill impairment charge) in the same period last fiscal year. GameStop halted its common dividend program in the middle of 2019, which freed up substantial cash flow for share buybacks and deleveraging efforts. Investors looking to avoid disruptions to their dividend income streams should consider utilizing Valuentum’s Dividend Cushion ratio to avoid value traps (read more about the importance of our Dividend Cushion ratio here).

Dec 6, 2019

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending December 6
Let's take a look at companies that raised/lowered their dividend this week.

Dec 3, 2019

Cleveland-Cliffs Buying AK Steel Through All-Stock Transaction
Image Shown: A tale of two charts, with Cleveland-Cliffs Inc in blue and AK Steel Holding Corporation in orange, after the announcement was that that the former would acquire the latter in an all-stock deal.On December 3, Cleveland-Cliffs agreed to acquire AK Steel Holding Corporation through an all-stock deal, creating a vertically integrated producer of iron ore and steel products in the US. Cleveland-Cliffs operates three iron ore mines in Michigan and Minnesota, along with a hot briquetted iron production plant in Ohio that’s under-construction, and AK steel operates steel mills in North America along with related facilities in Western Europe.