Other than a Super Bowl watch party, most people hate commercials and advertisements of any kind. They are disruptive, often offensive and increasingly violate privacy. Nonetheless, Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook) continues to print and store massive piles of money it derives from advertising across its platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and others. And despite the fact that growth in traditional markets may be slowing, and its pivot to the Metaverse is wildly unproven, the low valuation (of this once growth now value stock) is hard to ignore. This report reviews the business, valuation, risks and concludes with our opinion on investing.
Honeywell: Growth-Value Debate, Big Dividend Growth
In the “olden days,” it was widely accepted that value stocks outperform growth stocks over the long-term. But as central bankers have gotten increasingly involved in the last few batches of market cycles, growth stocks (supported by easy money) have been dominating—until this year. And if the US Fed’s now increasing interest rate trajectory is any indication, value stocks may again return to extended periods of outperformance. Shares of diversified industrial company, Honeywell (HON), fall into the value stock category, and may be worth considering. This report reviews Honeywell’s business, its valuation and risks, and then concludes with our opinion on investing.
Shopify: Meme Stock, New Market Paradigm
We first purchased Shopify at ~$143 per share in August of 2018. It now trades at ~$333 per share. Not a bad return—until you realize the shares have fallen over 80% in the last 6 months! This report compares Shopify’s business fundamentals (including its business strategy, ongoing revenue growth and margins) to its current valuation, and then examines the question of whether Shopify CEO, Tobias Lütke, continues to imprudently push an easy-money, high-growth business strategy in an increasingly sober new market paradigm—now characterized by higher costs of capital and a starkly less friendly meme stock environment (yes—Shopify is a meme stock). We conclude with our opinion on who might want to invest—or if it’s simply time to sell and move on.
Verizon: 5.2% Yield, 4 Risks Worth Considering
The share price of steady dividend-growth stock, Verizon, is still down more than 11% following its latest earnings release. And the 5.2% dividend yield is increasingly tempting for many income-focused investors (especially in our current volatile market). But the outsized dividend doesn’t come without risks. In this report, we review Verizon’s business, its dividend safety, the current valuation and four big risks the company currently faces. We conclude with our opinion on who might want to consider investing.
Roku: Despite Massive Sell Off, False Headwinds Still Exist
Roku (ROKU) shares are down 85%. And while some investors celebrate the bursting of what they believe was an obvious pandemic bubble stock, things could still get worse. For example, the Fed’s hawkishness is driving us into recession, Roku’s earnings are again negative and the shares remain highly shorted right along with many other now infamous “high-growth” stocks. In this report, we review Roku’s business, its growth opportunities, its valuation, the multitude of headwinds that many investors are now increasingly aware of (such as supply chain issues, competitive threats, slowing growth), and then conclude with our opinion on investing.
STAG's 4.4% Yield: 3 Big Risks Drive Price Lower
If you are an income-focused investor, you probably like investing in REITs for their often big, steady, dividend payments. However, you may have noticed that following years of strong outperformance, the industrial REIT sector (including monthly-dividend payor, STAG Industrial (STAG)) has recently sold off hard. This report reviews STAG’s business, including information on the 3 big risk factors contributing to its relatively lower valuation multiple—as compared to industry peers (especially following the recent big Industrial REIT sector sell off), and then concludes with our opinion on investing.
CrowdStrike: This “Ain’t” Their First Rodeo
CrowdStrike founder and CEO, George Kurtz, has founded and led multiple successful cybersecurity businesses, and he knows the drill. Specifically, CrowdStrike is a high-margin Software-as-a-Service company with highly attractive recurring revenues that continue to grow rapidly in a large (and expanding) total addressable market (cybersecurity). What’s more, despite the continuing rapid growth, the valuation has come down, thereby making the shares even more compelling to some investors. In this report we share our opinion on whether CrowdStrike is worth considering for investment at these levels (valuation), or if it’s just another overhyped growth stock that is being valued too much on a euphoric narrative and not enough on its underlying fundamentals.
Owl Rock’s 9.1% Yield: Credit Spread Risks, Rewards
Business Development Companies, or BDCs, make the loans that big banks generally will not (or cannot, due to regulatory rules). However, like big banks, BDC bottom lines usually come down to simply net interest margins (i.e. the margin between the rate they borrow at and the rate they lend at), assuming they can survive any macroeconomic turmoil, considering they have much higher sensitivity than do the big banks. Interest rates are trending sharply higher (as the Fed fights inflation), and this can be very good (or very bad) for big-dividend BDCs (like Owl Rock). In this report, we share our opinion on whether Owl Rock’s big 9.1% dividend yield is attractive and worth considering, or whether the risks are simply too great and if investors should avoid the shares.
This Steady Growth Juggernaut is a Gift from the Market
There is a lot to like about the highly-profitable business we review in this report, including its high margins, powerful revenue growth, large total addressable market opportunity, impressive history of dividend growth (10+ years) and its compelling valuation. The company helps consumers and small businesses make short work of their financial responsibilities and challenges. And the shares have absurdly lost nearly 50% of their value since November as they’ve gotten caught up in the recent market-wide high-growth selloff. Yet, yesterday’s earnings announcement makes clear this business is still quite healthy (they again exceeded expectations) and on track to do even better (perhaps dramatically so) in the years ahead.
Attractive 7.1% Yield BDC: Monthly Dividend, Compelling Valuation
The well-managed, blue-chip, Business Development Company (“BDC”) we review in this report currently trades at a compelling price, it offers a healthy dividend, and it sits at an attractive spot in the current business cycle. But is it worth investing? This report reviews all the details and then concludes with our opinion on investing.
CEF Rover: Bond CEFs Are Ugly--Could Get Uglier
This quick note shares data on over 100 big-yield (7% to 14%+) bond Closed-End Funds (“CEFs”), including discounts/premiums, recent returns, amount of leverage, and more. Returns have been ugly this year (as interest rates have risen), and they could get uglier considering the Fed is set to keep raising, losses will be magnified by the use of leverage, and forced “fire sales” could make matters worse as the funds mathematically bump up against regulatory leverage limits. Caveat Emptor.
Disciplined Growth Portfolio: 6 New Buys!
I don’t trade often (because I believe in long-term investing), but recent market dislocation has created some very attractive buying opportunities. Year-to-date, growth stocks have been hammered, and as counterintuitive as that may seem—that can often be the best time to buy. In this report, we review the new buys, the new “buy under” prices, and the aggregate portfolio details. has all the details.
Albemarle to Benefit from Inflation, EV Lithium Demand
The basic materials stock we review in this report has increased its dividend for 28-years in a row. It also has newfound growth opportunities related to dramatically increasing lithium demand and pricing (courtesy of exploding demand for lithium-based batteries in electric vehicles, for example). Not to mention, the basic materials sector can continue to be a highly attractive inflation hedge. In this report, we review the details and then conclude with our opinion on investing.
Micron: 25 Growth Stocks To Rip Higher
To the satisfaction of many prognosticators, hoards of “pandemic darling” stocks have now fallen more than 30%, 50% and even 70%. However, it’s worth noting that some of them actually have impressive businesses and now trade at dramatically more compelling valuation multiples—even after taking into consideration the risks created by the fed’s aggressive interest rate hike trajectory (to battle inflation) which could drive us into recession and decisively warrant discounted valuation multiples being assigned to these businesses still on track to achieve significantly higher future earnings. In this report, we highlight 25 examples, including a special focus on Micron (MU).
Income Equity Portfolio: MANY New Buys!
I don’t trade often (because I believe in long-term investing), but recent market dislocation has created some very attractive buying opportunities. Year-to-date, the Blue Harbinger Income Equity Portfolio has significantly outperformed the S&P 500 (this has been due to its large overweight to very high-income securities, in particular). However, going forward, the strategy is focused more heavily on steady dividend/income growth—through compelling blue-chip capital appreciation opportunities. This report has all the details.
A Special Note on Market Volatility
This Steady Dividend Growth Stock Is Attractive
If you are into wide-moat, blue-chip, dividend-growth stocks, you might want to consider the impressive industrial stock in this report. It’s not a high-flying growth stock, nor does it offer a massive dividend yield, but it does have a healthy growing dividend (2.0% yield), ongoing share repurchases, strong operating margins and a business that is virtually impossible for competitors to replicate. It’s also a high book value business (which can be valuable in times of inflation). We will review this attractive business in detail in this report (including valuation and risks), and then conclude with our opinion on investing (we currently own shares in our income portfolio).
8.7% Yield Bond CEF: Max Interest Rate Pain, Taper Tantrum Looms
As the Fed continues on its path of aggressive interest rate increases (to tame inflation), infamous growth stock investor, Cathie Wood, says “equities and bonds seem to be warning the Fed that its policy measures could cause an economic and/or financial crisis.” Both stock and bond markets are down sharply this year (largely in response to the Fed), but there are reasons to believe things could be about to change (for example, high inflation rates could still prove somewhat transitory thereby making the Fed more receptive to the market’s growing taper tantrum), and now may be an attractive time to consider investing in select high-yield bond CEFs. In this report, we review one in particular that is increasingly attractive.
This Stock: 360 Degrees of Attractiveness
If you are looking for an investment opportunity that is attractive in every direction, you might want to consider this professional services consulting company. It’s classified in the information technology sector, but benefits handsomely from the massive opportunities that exist across the many compelling industries it serves. In this report, we review the company’s healthy growing dividend, share repurchases, massive cash flow, strong balance sheet, powerful earnings and revenue growth trajectories, and the attractive valuation for this very impressive business model.
This Attractive, High-Growth, Blue-Chip Stock Is On Sale
Now trading at only 6.4 times sales (down from over 12x in late 2021), but with an ongoing sales growth trajectory of nearly 20%, this CRM (customer relationship management) technology company has a lot of room to run (large total addressable market) and a highly defensible moat to its business. In this report, we review the business details and the risks, and then conclude with our opinion on investing (we currently own shares).