Valuentum Exclusive Analysis for the Discerning Investor

Symbol Keyword

May 19, 2025

3 Undervalued Stocks to Consider Buying Now
All told, we think these three names are ripe for the picking. UnitedHealth Group has clearly plummeted on bad headline news, while the market is not giving Nvidia enough credit for the sustainability of its technology. Alphabet is being weighed down by antitrust issues and the concern that artificial intelligence will permanently alter its business model, which we believe will not happen anytime soon, if at all. All three ideas are included in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio, where we include a diversified portfolio of ideas for members to consider. Happy investing!

May 15, 2025

Dick’s Sporting Goods to Acquire Foot Locker
Image: Dick’s Sporting Goods’ shares sold off on its announcement that it would acquire Foot Locker. On May 15, Dick’s Sporting Goods announced that it would acquire Foot Locker in a transaction that implies an equity value of $2.4 billion and enterprise value of $2.5 billion. Dick’s intends to finance the acquisition through a combination of cash on hand and new debt and is expected to close in the second half of 2025. Dick’s intends to operate Foot Locker as a standalone business unit within its portfolio, while it maintains the Foot Locker brands. Dick’s also released preliminary first quarter results, showcasing comparable store sales growth of 4.5% and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share of $3.37. The ongoing strength in its business positions it well to gobble up Foot Locker. The deal will allow Dick’s to serve consumers in new locations in the U.S., while also expanding internationally for the first time. The combined entity will benefit from learnings from Dick’s House of Sport and Foot Locker’s Reimagined Concept stores and serve as a stronger partner for key brands, offering multiple platforms for both established and emerging partners. Dick’s expects the transaction to be accretive to EPS in the first full fiscal year post-close and to deliver between $100-$125 million in cost synergies. Our $229 per share fair value estimate for Dick’s remains unchanged at this time.

May 6, 2025

Magnificent 7 Earnings Reports Not Bad Thus Far
Shortly after Trump's Liberation Day, where the President unveiled lofty tariffs on numerous countries, we released our wait-and-see outlook for the equity markets, which thus far has proven to be the right move, with the markets largely recovering from the depths reached in April. The S&P 500, for example, is down just 3.3% year-to-date, excluding dividends. A lot has happened since Liberation Day, including easing of tariffs to a 10% baseline for most, if not all, countries, with the key exception of China, where tariffs remain extremely elevated and prohibitive. Many countries are now reportedly negotiating trade agreements with the White House, and we expect China to be added to that list soon, even if a full US/China trade agreement won't be completed in the near term, as full-scale trade deals take time to mold. Thus far, we have been impressed by earnings this season, particularly by the Magnificent 7.

Apr 4, 2025

Trump Tariffs Higher than Expected; What We're Doing
The Trump tariff increases came in larger than what we were expecting, and it remains to be seen how they will flow through the global economy, as we monitor potential retaliatory tariffs from other countries. As it relates to the equity markets, we’re taking a wait and see approach at the moment as we monitor new policy changes related to trade, immigration, fiscal (tax), and regulations. In short, we’re not overreacting to the sell off as we won’t have a great handle on the tariff impact to companies for a few quarters when they report results post-tariff increases. That said, we’re expecting continued market volatility, with meaningful risk to the downside, before trade uncertainty alleviates in the coming months.

Mar 22, 2025

Nike Faces Continued Revenue Declines
Image: Nike’s shares remain under pressure. Nike had the following to say about its outlook on the conference call: “Our fourth quarter guidance includes our best assessment of these factors based on the data we have available to us today. We expect Q4 revenues to be down in the mid-teens range, albeit at the low end. This includes several points of unfavorable shipment timing in North America, as well as 2 points of negative impact from foreign exchange headwinds. We expect Q4 gross margins to be down approximately 400 basis points to 500 basis points, including restructuring charges during the same period last year. We have included the estimated impact from newly implemented tariffs on imports from China and Mexico.” Nike continues to be in the early stages of a turnaround. Shares yield 2.4% at the time of this writing.

Dec 27, 2024

Nike’s Revenue Under Considerable Pressure; Turnaround Will Take Time
Image: Nike’s shares have been under considerable pressure as sales results disappoint. Nike’s outlook for the near term doesn’t provide us with much confidence. As we have noted before, Nike has a storied brand that is unmatched by rivals, but it may take more than a new CEO to turn things around. Competition remains fierce and the promotional environment intense, while consumer discretionary spending remains a big wild card. We like Nike, but we continue to stay on the sidelines until we start to see some improvement on the top line, not just better than feared results.

Dec 5, 2024

Foot Locker Talks of a More Promotional Environment, Softening Consumer Spending
Image Source: Foot Locker. Looking to all of 2024, Foot Locker now expects sales growth to be -1.5% to -1% from -1% to +1% previously and comparable store sales growth of 1%-1.5%, down from the prior range of 1%-3%. It also lowered its EBIT margin outlook for the full year 2024 to the range of 2.3%-2.5% from 2.8%-3.2% previously. Non-GAAP earnings per share for the year is now targeted in the range of $1.20-$1.30 from $1.50-$1.70 previously. Given the disappointing outlook, we’re viewing Foot Locker as a put option idea candidate.

Nov 15, 2024

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week of November 15
Let's take a look at firms raising/lowering their dividends this week.

Oct 2, 2024

Nike In the Midst of a CEO Transition, Withdraws Full Year Guidance
Image: Nike’s shares have been under pressure as the firm continues to underperform. Nike is in the midst of a management transition with Elliott Hill returning to the company in the capacity of President and CEO effective October 14. Looking to the second quarter of fiscal 2025, Nike expects revenue to be down in the 8%-10% range and gross margins to be down roughly 150 basis points, pointing to higher promotions and channel mix headwinds. Though Nike has a storied brand, unmatched by rivals, it has fallen on difficult times, and we’re staying on the sidelines with respect to shares. Shares yield 1.7% at the time of this writing.

Aug 9, 2024

Paper: Value and Momentum Within Stocks, Too
Abstract: This paper strives to advance the field of finance in four ways: 1) it extends the theory of the “The Arithmetic of Active Management” to the investor level; 2) it addresses certain data problems of factor-based methods, namely with respect to value and book-to-market ratios, while introducing price-to-fair-value ratios in a factor-based approach; 3) it may lay the foundation for academic literature regarding the Valuentum, the value-timing, and ultra-momentum factors; and 4) it walks through the potential relative outperformance that may be harvested at the intersection of relevant, unique and compensated factors within individual stocks.