Valuentum Exclusive Analysis for the Discerning Investor

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Jan 25, 2023

Microsoft Is Betting Big on Artificial Intelligence (AI); Fiscal Q2 Shows Meager Revenue Growth, Weaker Cash Flow Generation
Image: Microsoft believes artificial intelligence (AI) will be the next platform wave, and the company is going full steam ahead to incorporate AI across its business systems. Image Source: Microsoft. “The age of AI is upon us and Microsoft is powering it. We are witnessing non-linear improvements in capability of foundation models, which we are making available as platforms. And as customers select their cloud providers and invest in new workloads, we are well positioned to capture that opportunity as a leader in AI. We have the most powerful AI supercomputing infrastructure in the cloud. It’s being used by customers and partners like OpenAI to train state-of-the-art models and services, including ChatGPT.” – Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella (January 24, 2023)

Jan 19, 2023

Consumers Feeling the Pinch; S&P 500 Bounces Off Technical Resistance; Elasticities Breaking Down for Staples Stocks
Image: The S&P 500 has bounced right off its technical resistance and will likely test 3,400, in our view. Image Source: TradingView. Things continue to deteriorate across the broader U.S. economy, but it's worth reiterating that the economy is not the stock market. The labor markets remain strong, but we continue to hear of layoffs across Silicon Valley, consumers are working through their excess savings built up during the pandemic, while net charge offs are expected to double in 2023 as credit quality deteriorates. Consumer staples names may be struggling to make elasticities work of late in light of the weakness in operating income in P&G’s calendar fourth-quarter 2022 results. Consumers are finding ways to trade down to private-label products. The S&P 500 has bounced right off its technical resistance, and we could test 3,400 during the year on the index. We remain bullish on stocks in the long run, however.

Jan 11, 2023

Don't Let "Them" Spin the Narrative
Here’s the bottom line: The 60/40 stock/bond portfolio has failed both during the COVID-19 crisis as well as during 2022, when diversification was needed most. The strongest performers during 2022 were among the weakest performers in the years prior, and their 5-year returns still pale in comparison to those of big cap tech and large cap growth during the past five years. Small cap value, of which factor investing has been built on top of, continues to trail most other stylistic areas during the past five years. We’re staying the course. Though we expect continued tough sledding during the first quarter of 2023, we think the year will offer an incredible opportunity for investors to dollar cost average into what could be yet another strong decade of returns for stocks!

Jan 11, 2023

We’re Glad Microsoft Sees Promise in ChatGPT
Image Source: Mike Mozart. We’re going to be hearing a lot more about artificial intelligence chatbot technologies in the coming years, and our initial interaction with ChatGPT a month ago indicates to us that it will be a gamechanger for a lot of industries. Microsoft’s continued backing in OpenAI, the owner of ChatGPT, will likely accelerate the technology’s development, and we expect it to eventually augment Microsoft’s own search technology and ad-driven revenue opportunities. Alphabet may have a few AI tricks up its own sleeve in its ‘Other Bets’ segment, so we’re not ruling out a highly competitive environment in this area in the coming years. We like that we include both Microsoft and Alphabet in the simulated newsletter portfolios and that we’re not forced to make a decision on whether a new upstart is worthy of inclusion. Our fair value estimate for both Microsoft and Alphabet remain unchanged at this time.

Jan 6, 2023

These Things Sometimes Take Time
Image: The QQQ, which tracks the Nasdaq-100 Index, including Apple, Alphabet, and Microsoft has been a tremendous generator of wealth. Image Source: TradingView. For those that understand dollar cost averaging and the benefits of compounding, the next few years may be among the most important years for building and preserving long-term wealth. Even if markets retrace to the pre-COVID-19 highs, which we expect they will, it may just be setting up long-term investors for more attractive entry points with respect to dollar cost averaging to further compound returns. The next few years may be boring and somewhat stressful with lots of ups and downs, but we continue to like stocks for the long run!

Jan 3, 2023

Our Reports on Stocks in the Technology Giants Industry
Our reports on stocks in the Technology Giants industry can be found in this article. Reports include META, AAPL, GOOG, AMZN, MSFT, CSCO, V, MA, PYPL, INTC, ORCL, QCOM, ADI, IBM, ADBE, NVDA, CRM, AMD, AVGO, BABA, BKNG, BIDU, TSM, TXN, EBAY, ADP, MU, KFY, MAN, KLAC, LRCX, AMAT.

Dec 30, 2022

5 Top Stock Ideas for 2023!
With 2022 almost in the rear-view mirror, investors are expecting continued weakness into 2023. Millionaires are as bearish as they have been since the beginning of 2008, and we all know what happened during that year. Inflationary pressures coupled with substantially weakened consumer spending as a result of the collapse in the price of cryptocurrencies, traditional asset allocation models such as the 60/40 stock/bond portfolio, and ultra-high yielding stocks with payouts north of 9%-10% have most investors worried about what might be ahead in 2023. Still, investors have reason to be hopeful, in our view. The labor markets continue to hold up well, and the rate hikes that have pummeled equity, bond and real estate prices also act as future dry powder for the Fed to stimulate markets. At any time, the Fed can reverse its contractionary course. In 2023, we should start to see year-over-year increases in inflation slow, too. In this article, let’s talk our top 5 stock ideas for 2023!

Dec 25, 2022

Salesforce Doesn’t Make the Cut for the Newsletter Portfolios
Image: How we rank our favorite ideas. We're huge fans of ideas in the simulated newsletter portfolios and Exclusive publication. We like these ideas better than others on our website. We’re not interested in adding Salesforce to any of the simulated newsletter portfolios at this time, and we’re reiterating our wide fair value estimate range for shares amid executive departures and a weakened software spending environment. Microsoft remains our favorite play on the software space at this time, a company that we include in both the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio.

Dec 4, 2022

Apple iPhone Supply Disruptions Not Likely to Hurt Markets with Overall Holiday Sales Reportedly Strong
Image: Holiday sales are expected to expand ~2.5% in 2022 over very strong growth in 2021 and 2020. Image Source: Adobe. Apple's sales of the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max will come in lower than expected this holiday season due to labor unrest in Zhengzhou, but holiday sales for 2022 overall look fairly solid with Adobe Analytics estimating 2.5% growth over 2021, which, itself, was a fantastic year. A prior warning about holiday sales from Target Corp. appears to have been overblown given the sales strength witnessed during Black Friday and Cyber Monday across the retail landscape this year. It may be too early to say that the markets have definitely bottomed as economic data remains inconclusive, but holiday sales so far in 2022 and an overall resilient job market are giving investors something to cheer about in what has turned into an otherwise loathsome year.

Nov 13, 2022

ASML Launches Big Buyback; Lithography Systems Well Positioned for Demand Growth
Image: ASML has been one of the most successful semiconductor companies thanks in part to the firm’s advanced lithography systems that continue to meet customer demands for size and cost efficiencies. Image Source: ASML. We think ASML Holding is in a sweet spot in the semiconductor space as its lithography systems position the industry well along the path of Moore’s Law. Strong past investments have given it a leadership position, and we expect ASML to capture a significant amount of its addressable market from smartphones to personal computing and beyond, all the while it pays a dividend and buys back stock along the way. A continued focus on research & development and capital spending, while maintaining a strong and flexible balance sheet should be expected. The firm’s recent Investor Day was a positive catalyst for shares and eased the worst of the concerns regarding the intermediate-term impact of Sino-American tensions on the semiconductor space. We continue to like shares of ASML Holding.