Valuentum Exclusive Analysis for the Discerning Investor

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Sep 14, 2021

Chevron Investing in Biofuels and Hydrogen
Image Source: Chevron Corporation – August 2021 IR Presentation. We are huge fans of Chevron’s dividend growth potential in the wake of the recovery seen in raw energy resources pricing year-to-date. Shares of CVX yield ~5.6% as of this writing, and we expect Chevron will steadily grow its payout going forward, aided by its promising free cash flow growth trajectory.

Sep 13, 2021

The Investment Case for More Gender Diversity
Image: The Impact Shares' YWCA Women’s Empowerment ETF (WOMN) has trounced the S&P 500 since inception, while the SPDR SSGA Gender Diversity Index ETF (SHE) has bested the quantitatively-hailed small cap value ETF over the same time period. There has been a plethora of research over the years regarding the value of diversity on teams, in corporate boardrooms, and across asset management. One of the forms of diversity is gender diversity. It has been documented that diverse teams create more innovative ideas and creativity, which can serve as quite an advantage in industries where margins are slim, or there are few barriers to entry. While a 2019 study summarized in the Harvard Business Review indicated that the value of gender diversity is highly context-dependent and tends to have the greatest benefit where it is already valued, the corporate environment, and arguably the stock market, itself, are a few of those areas where value has been demonstrated.

Sep 10, 2021

Best Idea Korn Ferry Posts a Stellar Earnings Update
Image Shown: Shares of Korn Ferry have surged higher year-to-date, and we see room for additional capital appreciation upside. We added shares of Korn Ferry as an idea to our Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio back in January 2021 and continue to be huge fans of the name. The top end of our fair value estimate range sits at $104 per share of Korn Ferry. Organizational consulting firm Korn Ferry posted results for its first quarter of fiscal 2022 (period ended July 31, 2021) on September 8 that smashed past consensus top- and bottom-line estimates. Korn Ferry commented in the earnings press release that it had generated record quarterly fee revenue, the source of the lion’s share of its sales (alongside modest ‘reimbursed out-of-pocket engagement expenses’), and that its operating income, adjusted EBITDA, and diluted EPS all came in at all-time highs last fiscal quarter. The company’s business is rebounding strongly from the worst of the coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic with room to run.

Sep 10, 2021

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week September 10
Let's take a look at companies that raised/lowered their dividend this week.

Sep 9, 2021

Digital Realty Is a Stellar Income Growth Idea
Image Source: Digital Realty Trust Inc – September 2021 IR Presentation. Digital Realty Trust is a carrier-neutral data center real estate investment trust (‘REIT’) that provides co-location and interconnection services. The REIT has grown its annual dividend over the past 15+ consecutive years, and we view Digital Realty as a stellar income-generation idea. As of this writing, shares of DLR yield ~2.8%. We include shares of DLR as an idea in both the Dividend Growth Newsletter and High Yield Dividend Newsletter portfolios. Investors have been steadily warming up to Digital Realty this year, with shares of DLR up ~23% year-to-date, and we see room for additional upside as the top end of our fair value estimate range sits at $186 per share of Digital Realty.

Sep 8, 2021

Dividend Aristocrat Albemarle Bets Big on Lithium
Image Source: Albemarle Corporation – May 2021 IR Presentation. Dividend Aristocrat Albemarle Corp is a specialty chemicals company with three core business operating segments; ‘Lithium’ (primarily used for battery storage solutions), ‘Catalysts’ (primarily used in the oil refining industry), and ‘Bromine Specialties’ (primarily used as flame retardants). The company is focused on aggressively growing its lithium derivatives operations going forward, Albemarle’s largest in terms of revenues and most profitable in terms of non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA performance. Albemarle offers investors a way to play both the ongoing EV boom and the recovery in global refined petroleum product demand (via its Catalysts business operating segment) as the world slowly emerges from the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Let's learn more about this fascinating idea.

Sep 7, 2021

Update on Best Idea Alphabet’s Self-Driving Taxi Upside
Image Shown: Shares of Alphabet Inc Class C have boomed higher year-to-date as of early-September 2021. We see ample room for additional upside. We are huge fans of Alphabet and include Alphabet Class C shares (ticker: GOOG) as a top-weighted holding in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio. Our fair value estimate for Alphabet Class C shares sits at $3,500 per share, well above where GOOG is trading at as of this writing. Should Waymo, the company's self-driving unit, one day get commercialized, that upside is purely incremental to our fair value estimate, highlighting why we are such huge fans of the digital advertising behemoth.

Sep 3, 2021

Best Idea PayPal Is a Tremendous Enterprise with Ample Capital Appreciation Upside
Image Source: PayPal Holdings Inc – 2021 Investor Day Presentation. PayPal is a stellar enterprise with rock-solid financials. The company is incredibly free cash flow positive and carries a pristine balance sheet while also sporting tremendous pricing power. We continue to be enormous fans of the fintech giant and expect to hear more great things from the company going forward. PayPal’s growth outlook is incredibly bright, and we forecast the company’s free cash flows will swell higher over the years and decades to come. Management noted during the firm’s 2021 Investor Day event that the goal is to allocate 30%-40% of PayPal’s future free cash flows towards share repurchases over the medium-term. We view PayPal’s capital appreciation upside quite favorably and continue to like the company as an idea in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio with a sizable 'weighting' in the portfolio.

Sep 3, 2021

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week September 3
Let's take a look at companies that raised/lowered their dividend this week.

Aug 31, 2021

Best Idea Vertex Pharma Marching Forward with Innovative CRISPR Technology
Image Shown: An overview of Vertex Pharmaceuticals commercialized drug portfolio and pipeline. Image Source: Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc – Second Quarter of 2021 IR Earnings Presentation. The world of medicine and therapeutics continues to evolve, with gene editing CRISPR technology offering the medical community an immense source of potential life-saving therapies over the years and decades to come. Vertex Pharma is well-positioned to capitalize on any potential CRISPR technology breakthroughs, and we continue to like shares of VRTX as an idea in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio. Should the company's experimental gene-editing therapy CTX001 get commercialized, that would provide Vertex Pharma with an incredibly powerful growth catalyst, complementing its existing portfolio of commercialized drugs that treat cystic fibrosis (‘CF’).