Valuentum Exclusive Analysis for the Discerning Investor

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Jul 8, 2024

3 High Dividend Yielders for Consideration
Image: Energy Transfer, Philip Morris, and Altria have outperformed the SPDR S&P 500 Dividend ETF since the beginning of 2024. The market remains laser-focused on inflation readings and employment trends – two of the main dynamics that influence policy at the Federal Reserve. Since the beginning of 2024, the market has ratcheted down expectations of rate cuts from as many as 5 or 6 to just 1 or 2 in 2024. With yields on risk-free instruments poised to go lower soon, a focus on high yielding equities may be appropriate for the income investor. Here are three high dividend yielders that we like for consideration.

Jul 3, 2024

High Yield Dividend Income Investing Is Not as Easy as Chasing the Highest Yield
Image: EpicTop10.com. The skills to successfully invest for long-term capital gains or long-term dividend growth are much different than those required for generating high yield dividend income. Income investing is a much different proposition. However, the skills do center on a similar equity evaluation process, but one that requires an acknowledgement and heightened awareness of considerably greater downside risks. Income investing, or high yield dividend income investing, should at times be considered among the riskiest forms of investing, as many high dividend-yielding securities tend to trade closer to the characteristics of junk-rated bonds than they do most net cash rich and free cash flow generating powerhouses that we like so much in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio.

Jun 10, 2024

Update: Frequently Asked Questions About Valuentum Securities, Inc.
Valuentum (val∙u∙n∙tum) [val-yoo-en-tuh-m] Securities Inc. is an independent investment research publisher, offering premium equity reports and dividend reports, as well as commentary across all sectors/companies, a Best Ideas Newsletter (spanning market caps, asset classes), a Dividend Growth Newsletter, modeling tools/products, and more. Independence and integrity remain our core, and we strive to be a champion of the investor. Valuentum is based in the Chicagoland area. Valuentum is not a money manager, broker, or financial advisor. Valuentum is a publisher of financial information. We address a number of questions from both subscribers and visitors to our site.

Jun 1, 2024

Latest Report Updates
Check out the latest report updates on the website.

Apr 25, 2024

Altria Reaffirms Full Year 2024 Earnings Outlook
Image: Shares of Altria have faced pressure during the past couple years, but its dividend yield is too hard to pass up, in our view. On April 25, Altria reported mixed first-quarter results. Though Altria won’t win any awards for ESG, the company’s ~9.1% dividend yield is too hard to pass up, in our view.

Mar 15, 2024

Altria Selling Portion of ABI Stake, Raises 2024 Guidance
Image: Altria’s shares reacted positively to news that it would sell a portion of its stake in Anheuser-Busch Inbev. On March 14, Altria Group announced that it would be selling in a secondary offering 35 million of its ~197 million shares of Anheuser-Busch Inbev it owns to unlock value for shareholders. The cigarette maker noted that it would use the proceeds of the sale for accelerated share buybacks to the tune of a $2.4 billion increase to its existing $1 billion repurchase program, a move that we like quite a bit as it helps to reduce total dividend obligations paid to shareholders given Altria’s outsized dividend yield. The cigarette maker also raised its earnings guidance because of the sale, and we continue to like Altria as a high yield dividend income idea.

Mar 14, 2024

Latest Report Updates
Check out the latest report updates on the website.

Feb 25, 2024

We Remain Bullish; Is This 1995 – The Beginning of a Huge Stock Market Run?
Image: Large cap growth stocks have trounced the performance of the S&P 500, REITs, and bonds since the beginning of 2023. We expect continued outperformance in this area of the market. We’re now roughly four years past the depths of the COVID-19 meltdown, where equities collapsed in February and March of 2020. As the markets began to recover through 2020, our long-term conviction in equities only grew stronger. We think the biggest risk for long-term investors remains staying out of the market on the basis of what could be considered stretched valuation multiples. As we outlined heavily in the book Value Trap, valuation multiples hardly tell the complete story about a company and often omit key long-term earnings growth, cash flow dynamics, and balance sheet health considerations. We remain bullish on equities for the long haul, and we think the next couple years will be incredibly strong. Our best ideas can be found in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio, Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio, High Yield Dividend Newsletter portfolio, ESG Newsletter portfolio, and via the Exclusive publication as well as options idea generation.

Feb 19, 2024

The Price-to-Earnings Ratio Demystified
Let's examine the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio. The key takeaways are: 1) without using a discounted cash-flow model, the P/E ratio that should be applied to a company's future expected earnings stream can never be appropriately calculated, and by extension, 2) when investors assign an arbitrary price-to-earnings multiple to a company’s earnings (based on historical trends or industry peers or the market multiple), they are essentially making estimates for all of the drivers behind a discounted cash-flow model in one fell swoop (and sometimes hastily). As earnings for next year are often within sight and can be estimated with some confidence (though this certainly varies among firms), calculating the price-to-earnings ratio via a discounted cash-flow process, in our opinion, is of far greater importance than worrying about whether a firm will beat or miss earnings in its next fiscal year. Because the P/E ratio is a discounted cash-flow model that considers the long-term qualitative dynamics of a particular entity, cash-flow analysis remains the first and most important pillar of our Valuentum Buying Index. And finally, investors cannot ignore valuation analysis or the future. Valuation is an important driver behind stock prices, and it is based on future expectations that can only be estimated. This is just a fact of the markets.

Feb 4, 2024

Earnings Roundup: MO, EPD, SBUX, CLX, HON
Image: Starbucks’ international store growth potential remains robust. Image Source: Starbucks. High-yielding tobacco giant Altria offered an outlook through 2028 that spoke to continued robust earnings and dividend-per-share expansion. Enterprise Products Partners, now a Dividend Aristocrat, is handling record volumes through its pipeline network, and the firm is investing heavily to drive improved long-term cash flow trends. Starbucks recently disappointed on a number of metrics, but the company's margin and earnings performance remains excellent, as is its international store growth opportunities. Clorox has recovered nicely from a recent cyberattack, and the firm is now forecasting adjusted earnings per share growth in fiscal 2024. We're monitoring its cash flow trends closely, however. Honeywell is targeting tremendous free cash flow growth in 2024 thanks to continued strength in its commercial aerospace operations.