Valuentum Exclusive Analysis for the Discerning Investor

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Nov 26, 2021

South32 Continues to Improve Its Asset Base
Image Source: South32 – October 2021 Sierra Gorda Acquisition IR Presentation. South32 represents one of our favorite ideas in the mining space, and we include shares of SOUHY as an idea in the new ESG Newsletter portfolio. We view both South32’s capital appreciation and income generation upside quite favorably, keeping in mind the firm has a variable dividend policy that is subject to foreign currency movements. On a scale of 1-100 (with 100 being the best), South32 earns a nice ESG rating of 93 (based on our proprietary ESG rating matrix) as the miner continues to pivot towards commodities that will be essential to making the green energy revolution possible.

Nov 12, 2021

Hard Work and the Trust That Binds
Image: Terry Johnson. It’s easy to forget how much we’ve been through the past two years. Often, we forget how helpful the warning that markets were going to crash was the weekend before they did on February 22, 2020, “Is a Stock Market Crash Coming? – Coronavirus Update and P/E Ratios,” how we thought dollar-cost-averaging made sense at the bottom in March 2020, and how we went “all-in” in April 29, 2020, “ALERT: Going to “Fully Invested” – The Fed and Treasury Have Your Back,” when we saw the writing was on the wall for this blow off top. If nothing else, these three moves alone during the past couple years have paid for a lifetime of subscriptions.

Nov 3, 2021

Large Cap Growth Has More Room To Run
“The stylistic area of large cap growth has been one of our favorite areas because of the strong net cash rich, free cash flow generating, secular growth powerhouses that make up much of the space. The image is a rundown of the key Valuentum statistics for the top 15 holdings of the Schwab U.S. Large Cap Growth ETF (SCHG). We believe where large cap growth goes, so does the broader market, considering the hefty weightings of some of these stocks in other broad-based indices. Based on the high end of our fair value estimate range for this group of bellwethers, the broader U.S. markets still have room to run, to the tune of 7%+, despite the many highs already reached during 2021. Though traditional valuation multiples may seem stretched by most measures, many market bellwethers have huge net cash positions and tremendous free cash flow growth potential. We expect the equity markets to continue to be led by large cap growth.” – Brian Nelson, CFA

Sep 29, 2021

South32 Is a Great Miner
Image Shown: An overview of South32’s global asset base. We are big fans of the Australian miner. Image Source: South32 – Fiscal 2021 IR Earnings Presentation. Back in 2015, the mining giant BHP Group Ltd spun off South32. Since then, South32 has seen some major changes to its asset base through a combination of acquisitions, divestments, and organic investments. We include shares of South32’s American depository receipts (‘ADRs’) as an idea in the new ESG Newsletter portfolio. Each ADR represents five ordinary shares of South32. South32 is based in Perth, Australia, and we're huge fans of its pristine balance sheet, stellar free cash flow generating abilities, top-notch asset base, and bright growth outlook. The miner pays out a variable dividend and offers investors meaningful capital appreciation upside potential as well.

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.

Aug 3, 2021

Rounding Up the 2Q Earnings Reports of Some of America’s Most Recognizable Brands: Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Ford, Boeing, and Procter & Gamble
Image Source: Valuentum. The world is bouncing back in a big way from the coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic, and some of America’s top brands have put up impressive calendar second-quarter results. Ford’s performance may have been the most interesting from an investor perspective, and we continue to warn against Boeing in light of its weak cash-based fundamentals and the tremendous flexibility that program accounting can have with respect to GAAP financials. Though the following five companies are not included in the newsletter portfolios, they should be on your radar, especially as it relates to market-moving trends and economic information: Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Ford, Boeing, and Procter & Gamble.

Jun 8, 2021

News Round Up and Some Answers
Image Shown: Wendy's is the latest stock to be swept away by the meme-stock craze, providing further evidence that 1) markets are inefficient and 2) prices and returns are based on future expectations that may be realized or not. We continue to witness extremely volatile trading in "meme" stocks, including AMC Entertainment and GameStop but the crowd has now moved into restaurants of late, centering on Wendy’s, which soared to an all-time high as a result of positive mentions on the Reddit platform. We think price-agnostic trading--trading that does not pay attention to the underlying value of the security--will create tremendous problems for the financial markets, if not curbed. In the meantime, we continue to watch with a cautious eye. You should, too.

Jun 1, 2021

ICYMI -- Video: Exclusive 2020 -- Furthering the Financial Discipline
In this 40+ minute video jam-packed with must-watch content, Valuentum's President Brian Nelson talks about the Theory of Universal Valuation and how his work is furthering the financial discipline. Learn the pitfalls of factor investing and modern portfolio theory and how the efficient markets hypothesis holds little substance in the wake of COVID-19. He'll talk about what companies Valuentum likes and why, and which areas he's avoiding. This and more in Valuentum's 2020 Exclusive conference call.

May 11, 2021

Stock Markets Still Healthy, Big Cap Tech and Large Cap Growth Safe Havens
 Image Shown: Facebook’s shares are trading below the low end of our fair value estimate range at the time of this writing. The social media giant registers a 10 on the Valuentum Buying Index as it boasts a tremendous financial position with respect to net cash on the balance sheet and future expected free cash flows. Image Source: Valuentum. It’s easy to get spooked sometimes by the market’s volatility, but what we’ve witnessed the past few days is nothing compared to the volatility during the COVID-19 crisis and the Great Financial Crisis before it—and what we eventually expect the proliferation of price-agnostic trading to do to the markets in the years ahead. We continue to like the areas of big cap tech and large cap growth thanks to their strong competitive positions, solid net cash profiles, and robust and growing future expected free cash flow. Facebook remains our top idea for capital appreciation potential. Newmont Mining is our favorite “inflation hedge” within the metals and mining arena, and investors that would like greater exposure to energy and financials may look to more diversified ETFs to gain access to the broader themes of rising energy resource prices and net interest margins. AT&T is a top equity consideration for the high-yield dividend crowd. In the coming weeks and months, we’ll be looking to put some of the dry powder that we raised in January 2021 “to work” in some of the areas we outlined in this article. In the meantime, we’re going to continue to watch this orderly sell-off that’s being driven by valuation model adjustments (to factor in higher inflation expectations) and modest deleveraging from cryptocurrency volatility. All is well.

Apr 27, 2021

Tesla Scaling Up Nicely
Image Shown: Tesla is steadily working towards bringing another manufacturing facility online in the US, this time near Austin, Texas. Image Source: Tesla Inc – Shareholder Letter Covering the First Quarter of 2021. Electric vehicle (‘EV’) giant Tesla continues to impress as it smashed past consensus top- and bottom-line estimates when it reported first quarter 2021 earnings on April 26. The company delivered 184,800 vehicles (182,780 Model 3/Y variants and 2,020 Model S/X variants) and produced 180,338 vehicles in the first quarter of this year, though we note that Tesla only produced Model 3/Y variants last quarter and Model S/X vehicle deliveries were met via its inventory. In the first quarter of 2021, Tesla’s ‘automotive revenues’ of $9.0 billion were up 75% year-over-year, its GAAP revenues of $10.4 billion were up 74% year-over-year, and its GAAP net income came in north of $0.4 billion (up sharply from year-ago levels).