Tag Archives: Invested Capital

No Security In VirnetX Holding Corp’s (VHC) Stock

Is VHC the next Google? The market’s cur­rent val­u­a­tion seems to sug­gest it is that and much more.
Very few times in the last 15 years have I found a stock as expen­sive as VHC. The only com­pa­ra­ble sit­u­a­tion that comes to mind is Google (GOOG) at its IPO.

Stock Pick of the Week: Buy Discover Financial Services (DFS)- Very Attractive Rating

HIDDEN GEMS:
1. Our dis­counted cash flow analy­sis shows that DFS’s cur­rent val­u­a­tion (stock price of $21.80) implies that the company’s prof­its will decline by 40% and never grow again.
2. Eco­nomic earn­ings are grow­ing faster that reported account­ing earn­ings.
3. Free cash flow of $2.8bn or 24% of its enter­prise value dur­ing the last fis­cal year.

For Ask Matt readers: Abbot Laboratories (ABT) — Attractive Rating

HIDDEN GEM: ABT’s cur­rent stock price (~$45 per share) implies the company’s prof­its will per­ma­nently decline by 20%. In other words, the mar­ket is not only giv­ing no credit for future profit growth, it is pre­dict­ing a sig­nif­i­cant (20%) decline in profits.

Stock Pick of the Week: Buy Apollo Group Inc cl A (APOL)- Very Attractive Rating

HIDDEN GEMS:
1. Our dis­counted cash flow analy­sis shows that APOL’s cur­rent val­u­a­tion (stock price of $42.31) implies that the company’s prof­its will decline by 60% and never grow again.
2. Eco­nomic earn­ings are higher than reported account­ing earn­ings.
3. Excess cash of $1,201mm or about 20% of its mar­ket cap

Starbucks –Don’t Be Fooled Again: Stong Brand Does Not Equal Strong Stock

We went on record that investors should short SBUX on 11/6/2006 when the stock was close to $38 per share. Click here to see the For­tune Arti­cle. The stock did not look attrac­tive to us until 2 years (11/18 – 11/20/08) later when it was under $8, and that for only about 3 days. And ever since we have had a Neu­tral or Dan­ger­ous Rat­ing on the stock.

Stock Pick of the Week: Buy Accenture Plc (ACN)- Very Attractive Rating

HIDDEN GEMS:
1. Our dis­counted cash flow analy­sis shows that ACN’s cur­rent val­u­a­tion (stock price of $48.59) implies that the company’s prof­its will decline by 9% and never grow again.
2. Eco­nomic earn­ings are higher than reported account­ing earn­ings.
3. Excess cash of $3,728mm or about 12% of its mar­ket cap

Stock Pick of the Week: Buy Analog Devices Inc (ADI) — Very Attractive Rating

HIDDEN GEMS:
1. About $15 mil­lion in non-operating expenses (after-tax) cause reported earn­ings to be under­stated.
2. Our dis­counted cash flow analy­sis shows that ADI’s cur­rent val­u­a­tion (stock price of $37.18) implies that the company’s prof­its will decline by 10% and never grow again.
3. The com­pany grew its eco­nomic earn­ings by $283mm dur­ing its last fis­cal year.
4. Excess cash of $2,462.5mm or nearly 25% of its mar­ket cap

Buy The Travelers Co (TRV) — Very Attractive Rating

HIDDEN GEMS:
1. About $29 mil­lion in non-operating expenses (after-tax) cause reported earn­ings to be under­stated.
2. Our dis¬counted cash flow analy¬sis shows that TRV’s cur¬rent val¬u¬a¬tion (stock price of $55.49) implies that the company’s prof­its will decline by 30% and never grow again.
3. The com­pany grew its eco­nomic earn¬ings by $827mm dur­ing its last fis­cal year.

Western Digital Corp (WDC) — free report for Ask Matt, Very Attractive Rating

HIDDEN GEM: Our detailed val­u­a­tion model shows that WDC grew its “eco­nomic” prof­its by 226% while account­ing prof­its grew 194% dur­ing its last fis­cal year. Eco­nomic prof­its rose by $769mm while account­ing prof­its rose by $912mm.

Initiation of Coverage of ETFs

Today we ini­ti­ated cov­er­age of ETFs for all major sec­tors and Indices. Free sam­ples of the ini­ti­a­tion reports are here. These reports deliver strate­gic insights into entire sec­tors and markets.

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