Valuentum Exclusive Analysis for the Discerning Investor

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May 9, 2023

Earnings Roundup
Let's get Nelson's thoughts on five stocks recently reporting their first-quarter 2023 results: PYPL, DPZ, MNST, BKNG, TXRH.

May 8, 2023

Long Live Apple and Large Cap Growth!
Image: Since the release of the book Value Trap in December 2018, an ETF that tracks large cap growth (SCHG) has outperformed not only the S&P 500 (SPY), but also the areas of dividend growth (SDY) and small cap value (IWN) by sizable margins. In a world where monetary policy is tightening and regional banks are failing, we maintain our long-held view that big cap tech and large cap growth are the places to be. Since the release of the book Value Trap in December 2018, an ETF that tracks the area of large cap growth (SCHG) has not only outperformed the S&P 500 (SPY), but also the areas of dividend growth (SDY) and small cap value (IWN) by sizable margins. We love the net cash rich balance sheets and strong expected future free cash flow generators within the area of large cap growth, and Apple remains one of our very favorites that fits the mold. Apple is included in both the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio.

May 5, 2023

Apple’s Second-Quarter Fiscal 2023 Results Were Good Enough
Image Source: Valuentum. On May 4, Apple reported second-quarter results for its fiscal 2023 for the period ending April 1, 2023, that were slightly better than consensus forecast, but we’re viewing the report as mixed. Revenue dropped 2.5% in the quarter on a year-over-year basis as better-than-expected resilience in iPhone sales could not offset weakness in Mac and iPad performance, and its quarterly EPS of $1.52 was unchanged from last year’s mark. Revenue in the company’s Services business jumped 5.4%, and the iPhone maker announced a $90 billion buyback program as it upped its quarterly dividend by more than 4%, to $0.24 per quarter. We plan to make a few tweaks to our valuation model of Apple, but we don’t anticipate a material change to our fair value estimate.

May 4, 2023

Paramount Global Cuts Payout, Dividend Cushion Ratio Caught Another!
Image Source: Paramount Global. The Dividend Cushion ratio is not a perfect predictor of dividend health and the risks of a dividend cut, but it’s a pretty darn good one. On May 4, Paramount Global missed expectations for its first-quarter 2023 results on both the top and bottom line and cut its quarterly dividend to $0.05 per quarter (was $0.24). The company’s Dividend Cushion ratio, which considers its balance sheet as well as future expectations of free cash flow relative to future expected cash dividends paid, was -2.5 (negative 2.5). Any ratio below 1 indicates growing risk to the health of the dividend, while any materially negative (below 0) ratio indicates severe risk of a dividend cut in the longer run.

May 1, 2023

Honeywell Raises Outlook for 2023; Backlog Remains Strong
Image: Honeywell continues to experience strong fundamental momentum across the board. Image Source: Honeywell. We liked Honeywell’s first-quarter 2023 report, released April 27, and its raised outlook for 2023. We remain huge fans of Honeywell’s ~2.1% dividend yield, and we support Honeywell’s COO Vimal Kapur who will succeed Darius Adamczyk as CEO on June 1, 2023. Our fair value estimate for Honeywell remains $210 per share. With shares trading at ~$200 at the time of this writing, there’s still valuation upside to the Honeywell story, in our view.

May 1, 2023

Case Study: How to Assess Earnings Quality
How a lack of a focus on return on invested capital and economic profit and an emphasis on accounting measures and earnings per share in IBM's executive incentive programs brought down Big Blue. In this case study, let's discuss the five basic areas that we at Valuentum evaluate to assess the quality of a firm's earnings.

Apr 28, 2023

The Energy Sector Has Had a Great Run
Image: The energy sector was the top-performing sector during 2022. Exxon Mobil's and Chevron's first-quarter 2023 results were strong but as expected. The energy sector may have another good year or two in the next five-to-seven years, but our favorite areas for long-term investors remain large cap growth and big cap tech. Let’s say the only thing you ever read about investing was the book Value Trap, and after reading it, you decided to go long large cap growth and stay away from small cap value. You would be dancing right now.

Apr 27, 2023

Meta Platforms Surges Back to Fair Value Estimate
Image: Meta Platforms’ shares continue to recover from its massive fallout in 2022. We’re sticking with our $225 fair value estimate following the company’s first-quarter 2023 earnings report. Though Meta Platforms is no longer included in the newsletter portfolios, many readers know that we’ve been bullish on the areas of large cap growth and big cap tech for a long time now and that we include Alphabet, Microsoft, and Apple as core ideas in the newsletter portfolios. Year-to-date and over the past year, an ETF that tracks the area of large cap growth (SCHG) has outperformed an ETF that tracks the area of small cap value (IWN) by roughly 9 percentage points. Over the past five years, the outperformance grows to more than 70 percentage points. Without a doubt, large cap growth has been the place to be, and we’ve had a courtside view of why thanks to our fundamental, cash-flow-driven analysis. We expect large cap growth to continue to lead markets, and while we’ve grown skeptical of Meta Platforms, we like that the market is viewing its first-quarter 2023 report positively.

Apr 26, 2023

Chipotle Hits All-Time High, Microsoft Doesn’t Disappoint in Calendar First-Quarter 2023
Image: Ideas in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio are doing great! Shares of Chipotle are up ~45% so far in 2023, while shares of large cap growth giant Microsoft (orange) are up more than 20% year-to-date. Microsoft’s shares soared during the trading session April 26 thanks to strong third-quarter fiscal 2023 performance for the period ending March 31 led by its Azure cloud business segment, while Chipotle’s first-quarter 2023 report only provides more support for a higher intrinsic value estimate for shares.

Apr 25, 2023

Brief Take: Best Idea PepsiCo Hits All-Time High! Beautiful Breakout!
Image: PepsiCo, an idea in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio, has broken out to all-time highs. We continue to like the name. PepsiCo now expects core earnings per share to advance to $7.27 in fiscal 2023, a 7% increase (up from 6% previously). As in the case of General Mills and several consumer staples entities, PepsiCo’s price elasticities remain in its favor, and we expect a modest fair value increase upon our next report update. PepsiCo remains a key idea in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio.