Category Archives: Earnings

Under Armour (UA) – Buy, Sell or Hold?

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ua1Dear Mr. Market –

Throughout 2014 consumers have proven that they can be extremely fickle, looking for superior products at the best possible price. They have been very selective how they spend their hard-earned money forcing companies to be both creative and resourceful. When looking at consumer discretionary companies returns have been all over the board, separating the contenders from the pretenders. For a company to be successful they must provide a superior product with quality service at a competitive price. When it comes to the sporting goods/apparel industry there is a relatively young company that has emerged as a leader and is playing ball with the big boys.

Under Armour (UA) has burst onto the sports/fitness industry scene over the last decade. With bold marketing and innovative products they have become a force and have caught investors attention. UA is up over 34% YTD and has left many of its competitors in the dust: Nike (NKE, YTD =-1.87%), Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU, YTD = -33%), Adidas (ADDYY, YTD = -24%) and Columbia Sportswear (COLM, YTD = +3%). With impressive numbers like this investors are forced to ask themselves if the stock still has positive upside or if it is too late to take a position? Continue reading →

InvenSense (INVN) : Motley Fool’s Secret Wearable Technology Stock!?

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INVN #2Dear Mr. Market:

Technology is a bit like true love. You have to believe in it but it can also bite you in the ass.
Read through this article and you’ll see how this relates to a particular investment!

The technology Industry can be a challenging sector for investors. Perhaps the best way to describe it is with a popular saying … “the one constant is change itself.” Plenty of analysts and investment firms scour through stock ticker symbols looking for the next Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN) or Google (GOOG).

We couldn’t help but notice the Motley Fool’s recent …shall we say, “stock pitch” about a company that could be your next homerun! If you’re a die-hard Apple fan, wouldn’t you like to know who their next HUGE inside supplier is? Rewind the clock and take for example the desktop computer or the cell phone you have within inches of your hand right now…

Put Apple, Sony or IBM on the shelf for a minute and think about investing in the next company that has a stake in every sale regardless of the brand you choose? In other words, buy the “chip” or technology that’s inside of each device instead of trying to figure out which phone or computer manufacturer is going to win the battle. Continue reading →

MPG Core Tactical 60 /40: March 2014 Performance Update

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MW-BB798_sm6040_20130422180557_MDDear Mr. Market:

March has turned in another month of stubborn market defiance as the investment world is waiting for a correction yet it never seems to come or fully develop! It’s without question that many of the warning signs continue to lurk below the surface but the S&P 500 has still managed to tack on about another +1%. Year to date we’re just about 1% of where we started 2014 but it sure feels uncomfortable for many.

If this is your first time reading about our MPG Core Tactical Portfolio please refer back to our first post. (click here) In short you will see what adjustments we make throughout the year on a $1 million dollar portfolio and how that performs relative to a portfolio that is rebalanced once per month with an allocation of 60% Stocks and 40% Bonds. Continue reading →

Clean Energy Fuels (CLNE): Bleeding soon to become Profit

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anghmap-011614Just about anyone who has invested in Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (Nasdaq: CLNE), has traveled a rough road thus far. Clean Energy has serious potential but its great story hasn’t materialized at all. The stock has done absolutely nothing for shareholders and if you’re the type of investor that screens for strong fundamentals it probably hasn’t hit your radar; at least not yet…

What do United Parcel Service (UPS), Frito-Lay/Pepsi (PEP), Procter & Gamble (PG), Ryder (R), and Lowe’s (LOW) all have in common? Each of these companies, and more and more of corporate America, is pouring money into the natural gas industry. Companies like these all see the writing on the wall with regard to energy trends and they are expanding their natural gas fleets.

The U.S. heavy-duty trucking market is beginning to embrace the economic and environmental benefits of natural gas fueled trucks.  There are over 8 million heavy-duty trucks in the U.S. consuming about 20,000 gallons of fuel per year.  The operating cost savings that operators will benefit from by converting from gasoline and diesel to natural gas along with movements towards clean air regulations bode extremely well for companies like CLNE.

Company summary:

Clean Energy is headquartered in Newport Beach, CA and has a market capitalization of almost $1.1 billion.  CLNE supplies compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel for light, medium, and heavy-duty vehicles; and liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuel for medium and heavy-duty vehicles. They are the largest provider of natural gas fuel for transportation in North America. CLNE fuels over 30,000 vehicles per year at over 500 fueling stations throughout the U.S. and Canada. The company has created and continues to develop a network of fueling stations with what they call “America’s Natural Gas Highway”. This network connects major truck corridors across the country for coast-to-coast and border-to-border natural gas fueling. Continue reading →

Should You Buy Target (TGT) Stock?

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Target InvestigationDear Mr. Market:

With the holiday season now in the rear view mirror U.S. consumers are being reminded of the world we live in.  In the middle of the holiday shopping season Target made an announcement that had an impact on millions of individuals.  On December 19th Target announced that 40 million credit and debit cards had been jeopardized by a cyber attack.  Since then the number of cards has grown to 70 million, it has been reported that the number could grow to as many as 110 million!  Just last week Neiman Marcus released news that it is dealing with a similar situation and other retailers are likely to be in the same boat in the coming weeks.

On Friday (January 10th) Target announced that the security issue had a negative impact on their holiday shopping results.  Stores saw sales decline up to 5% (depending on location) when compared to the previous years results.  When 4th quarter earnings are announced on February 26, 2014, the additional expenses the company has incurred due to the hacking incident will certainly have an impact.  CEO Greg Steinhafel announced that 4th quarter EPS (earnings per share) were lowered to $1.20 – $1.30 from the previous guidance of $1.50 – $1.60.  Continue reading →

Mutual Funds’ dirty little secret….Capital Gains Tax

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cap gains tax cartoonDear Mr. Market:

With one of the strongest stock market years on record many mutual fund investors will end the holiday season by unwrapping a lump of coal. In January most mutual fund companies and the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) will mail out Form 1099-DIV. 2013 will bring mutual fund investors capital gains distributions ranging from 6% to 60%. It’s no secret that we’re not fans of most mutual funds and capital gains distributions are just one more reason.  Today we will take a moment to address an issue that every investor (especially mutual fund investors) needs to be aware of – Capital Gains Distributions.

Capital Gains Distribution – The payment of proceeds prompted by a fund manager’s liquidation of underlying stocks and securities in a mutual fund. Capital gains distribution occurs when a mutual fund manager liquidates underlying positions that have made gains since they were added to the fund. Capital gains distributions will be taxed as capital gains to the person receiving the distribution. (Source – Investopedia.com)

 When a mutual fund sells any position at a profit it creates a capital gain, these can be either short-term or long-term.  By law mutual fund companies are required to distribute these gains to all of their shareholders.  If the position was held for less than a year it will be considered short-term. These are distributed to shareholder as income dividends and taxed at their ordinary income rates.  Long-term capital gain distributions (over one year) are taxed as follows: 0% for taxpayers in the 10% and 15% tax brackets, 20% for individuals in the 39.6% bracket and 15% for all others.  The key thing to remember when looking at mutual funds is that the investor has absolutely no say as to when positions are purchased or sold within the fund and the taxable consequences that are incurred. Continue reading →

Earnings Reports: What to look for and how to read them

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Dear Mr. Market:

Earnings ReportHere we are in the middle of Earnings Season listening to the various talking heads on TV attempt to decipher the plethora of numbers that companies announce.  As they spew out seemingly meaningless information how is the average investor expected to make sense of it all?  With terms like “diluted earnings, future guidance, write downs, cash infusions and GAAP financial measures” it can certainly be a bit overwhelming!  Ultimately investors simply want to know if a company was profitable or lost money for the previous quarter and what expectations are going forward.  Why does Wall Street have to make these quarterly reports so confusing and talk over the average persons head?

We will attempt to cut through the ‘financial jargon’ and focus on the core numbers and what investors really need to look at each earnings season.   “Creative Finance” is a term that comes to mind as you read through some of the reports that are released by corporate America.  Maybe a more accurate phrase would be “you can put lipstick on a pig…but it’s still a pig!”  There is certainly a lot of window dressing that takes place each earnings season but the key is to focus on what is truly important and not get lost in the data.

The numbers that are released can have a profound impact on the stock itself as well as the entire stock market.   The market usually approaches quarterly earning reports with caution due to uncertainty. If there is one thing the market does not like, it is uncertainty.    Companies that hit or exceed their numbers will see the stock typically rise while the market will hammer companies that disappoint.  For the larger companies analysts will usually have an expectation of what their numbers should be prior to them announcing their actual numbers.  Companies will also often release their own “earnings guidance” in an attempt to set expectations.  If an industry leader stumbles with the numbers shared in their earnings announcement the stock itself and the entire industry or sector could suffer. Continue reading →