WEEKLY ISSUE: Examining an Aging of the Population Contender as we wait for the Fed

WEEKLY ISSUE: Examining an Aging of the Population Contender as we wait for the Fed

 

Key Points from this Issue:

  • We’ll continue to stick with Facebook shares, and our long-term price target remains $225.
  • We continue to have a Buy rating and $1,300 price target on Alphabet (GOOGL) shares.
  • Our price target on Amazon (AMZN) shares remains $1,750.
  • We are adding shares of Aging of the Population company Brookdale Senior Living (BKD) to the Tematica Investing Contender List

 

The action has certainly heated up this week, with more talk of trade restraints with China, two more bombings in Austin, Texas and renewed personal data and privacy concerns thanks to Facebook. And that’s all before the Fed’s monetary policy concludes later today when we see how new Fed Chair Jerome Powell not only handles himself but answers questions pertaining to the Fed’s updated forecast and prospects for further monetary policy tightening. Amid this backdrop, we’ve seen the major US stock market indices trade off over the last week, but as I shared in this week’s Monday Morning Kickoff, what Powell says and how the market reacts will determine the next move in the market.

I continue to expect a 25bps interest rate hike with Powell offering a dovish viewpoint given the uncertainty emanating from Washington, the lack of inflation in the economy and the preponderance of weaker than expected data that has led to more GDP cuts for the current quarter than upward revisions. As of March 16, the Atlanta Fed’s GDP Now reading stood at 1.8% for 1Q 2017 vs. 5.4% on Feb. 1 – one would think Powell and the rest of the Fed heads are well aware of this.

We touched on these renewed personal data and privacy concerns earlier in the week, and the move lower in Facebook (FB) shares in response is far from surprising. As I wrote, however, I do expect Facebook to instill new safeguards and make other moves in a bid to restore user trust. At the heart of the matter, Facebook’s revenue model is reliant on advertising, which means being able to attract users and drive usage in order to serve up ads. As it is Facebook is wading into original content with its Watch tab and moves to add sporting events and news clearly signal there is more to come. I see it as part of a strategy to renews Facebook’s position as a sticky service with consumers and one that advertisers will turn to in order to reach consumers as Facebook focuses on “quality user engagement.”

The ripple effects of these renewed privacy concerns weighed on our Alphabet/Google (GOOGL) shares, which traded off some 4% over the last week, as well as other social media companies like Twitter (TWTR) and Snap (SNAP). The silver lining to all of this is these companies are likely to address these concerns, maturing in the process.

Not a bad thing in my opinion and this keeps Alphabet/Google shares on the Tematica Investing Select List, while the company’s prospect to monetize YouTube, mobile search, Google Express (shopping) and Google Assistant keep my $1,300 price target intact. Per a new report from Reuters, Google is working with large retailers such as Target Corp (TGT), Walmart (WMT), Home Depot (HD), Costco Wholesale (COST and Ulta Beauty (ULTA) to list their products directly on Google Search, Google Express, and Assistant. I see this as Alphabet getting serious with regard to Amazon (AMZN) as Amazon looks to grow its advertising revenue stream.

  • We’ll continue to stick with Facebook shares, and our long-term price target remains $225.
  • We continue to have a Buy rating and $1,300 price target on Alphabet (GOOGL) shares.
  • Our price target on Amazon (AMZN) shares remains $1,750.

 

On the housekeeping front, earlier in the week, we shed Universal Display (OLED) shares, bringing a close to one of the more profitable recommendations we’ve had over the last year here at Tematica Investing. Now let’s take a look at a Brookdale Senior Living and our Aging of the Population investing theme.

 

Brookdale Senior Living – A well-positioned company, but is it enough?

One of the great things about thematic investing is there is no shortage of confirming data points to be had in and our daily lives. For example, with our Connected Society investing theme, we see more people getting more boxes delivered by United Parcel Service (UPS) from Amazon (AMZN) and a several trips to the mall, should you be so inclined, will reveal which retailers are struggling and which are thriving. If you do that you’re also likely to see more people eating at the mall than actually shopping; perhaps a good number of them are simply show rooming in advance of buying from Amazon or a branded apparel company like Nike (NKE) or another that is actively embracing the direct to consumer (D2C) business model.

While it may not be polite to say, the reality is if you look around you will notice the domestic population is greying More specifically, we as a people are living longer lives, which has a number of implications and ramifications that are a part of our Aging of the Population investing theme. There are certainly issues of having enough saved and invested to support us through our increasingly longer life spans, as well as the right healthcare to deal with any and all issues that one might face.

According to data published by the OECD in 2013, the U.S. expectancy was 78.7 years old with women living longer than men (81 years vs. 76 years). Cross-checking that with data from the Census Bureau that says the number of Americans ages 65 and older is projected to more than double from 46 million today to 75.5 million by 2030, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Other data reveals the number of older American afflicted with and the 65-and-older age group’s share of the total population will rise to nearly 25% from 15%. According to United States Census data, individuals age 75 and older is projected to be the fastest growing age cohort over the next twenty years.

As people age, especially past the age of 75, it becomes challenging for individuals to care for themselves, and this is something I am encountering with my dad who turns 86 on Friday. Now let’s consider that roughly 6 million Americans will have Alzheimer’s by 2020, up from 4.7 million in 2010, and heading to 8.4 million by 2030 according to the National Institute of Health. Not an easy subject, but as investors, we are to remain somewhat cold-blooded if we are going to sniff out opportunities.

What all of this means is we are likely to see a groundswell in demand over the coming years for assisted living facilities to house and care for the aging domestic population.

One company that is positioned to benefit from this tailwind is Brookdale Senior Living (BKD), which is one of the largest players in the “Independent Living, Assisted Living and Memory Care” market with over 1,000 communities in 46 states. The company’s revenue stream is broken down into fives segments:

  • Retirement Centers (14% of 2017 revenue; 22% of 2017 operating profit) – are primarily designed for middle to upper income seniors generally age 75 and older who desire an upscale residential environment providing the highest quality of service.
  • Assisted Living (47%; 60%) – offer housing and 24-hour assistance with activities of daily living to mid-acuity frail and elderly residents.
  • Continuing care retirement centers (10%; 8%) – are large communities that offer a variety of living arrangements and services to accommodate all levels of physical ability and health.
  • Brookdale Ancillary Services (9%; 4%) – provides home health, hospice and outpatient therapy services, as well as education and wellness programs
  • Management Services (20%; 6%) – various communities that are either owned by third parties.

 

In looking at the above breakdown, we see the core business to focus on is Assisted Living as it generated the bulk of the company’s operating profit stream. This, of course, cements the company’s position in Tematica’s Aging of the Population theme, but is it a Contender or one for the Tematica Investing Select List?

 

Changes afoot at Brookdale

During 2016 and 2017, both revenue and operating profit at Brookdale came under pressure given a variety of factors that included a more competitive industry landscape during which time Brookdale had an elevated number of new facility openings, which is expected to weigh on the company’s results throughout 2018. Also impacting profitability has been the growing number of state and local regulations for the assisted living sector as well as increasing employment costs.

With those stones on its back, throughout 2017, Brookdale surprised to the downside when reporting quarterly results, which led it to report an annual EPS loss of $3.41 per share for the year. As one might imagine this weighed heavily on the share price, which fell to a low near $6.85 in late February from a high near $19.50 roughly 23 months ago.

During this move lower in the share price, Brookdale the company was evaluating its strategic alternatives, which we all know means it was putting itself up on the block to be sold. On Feb. 22 of this year, the company rejected an all-cash $9 offer as the Board believed there was a greater value to be had for shareholders by running the company. Alongside that decision, there was a clearing of the management deck with the existing President & CEO as well as EVP and Chief Administrative Officer leaving, and CFO Cindy Baier being elevated to President and CEO from the CFO slot.

Usually, when we see a changing of the deck chairs like this it likely means there will be more pain ahead before the underlying ship begins to change directions. To some extent, this is already reflected in 2018 expectations calling for falling revenue and continued bottomline losses. Here’s the thing – those expectations were last updated about a month ago, which means the new management team hasn’t offered its own updated outlook. If the changing of the deck history holds, it likely means offering a guidance reset that includes just about everything short of the kitchen sink.

On top of it all, Brookdale has roughly $1.1 billion in long-term debt, capital and leasing obligations coming due this year. At the end of 2017, the company had no borrowings outstanding on its $400 million credit facility and $514 million in cash on its balance sheet. It would be shocking for the company to address its debt and lease obligations by wiping out its cash, which probably means the company will have to either refinance its debt, raise equity to repay the debt or a combination of the two. This could prove to be one of those overhangs that keeps a company’s shares under pressure until addressed. I’d point out that usually, transaction terms in situations like this are less than friendly.

While I like the drivers of the underlying business, my recommendation is we sit on the sidelines with Brookdale until it addresses this balance sheet concern and begins to emerge from its new facility opening drag and digestion. Odds are we’ll be able to pick the shares up at lower levels. This has me putting BKD shares on the Tematica Investing Contender List and we’ll revisit them in the coming months.

 

 

We expect Facebook will answer the call for more privacy safeguards

We expect Facebook will answer the call for more privacy safeguards

Over the weekend, the Sunday morning political talk shows put Facebook (FB) the spotlight following renewed privacy concerns and that is hitting FB shares this morning.

This privacy concern renewal stems from news that data firm Cambridge Analytica came to access information about potentially tens of millions of users without their explicit permission to build “a system to target individual U.S. voters with political advertisements.” As has become clear, Cambridge Analytica worked on Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and “and has come under scrutiny in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether Trump associates colluded with Russia’s efforts to interfere in the U.S. election.” It’s been estimated that Cambridge improperly accessed private information from more than 50 million Facebook users, and was not deleted despite Facebook’s demands beginning in 2015. Per Facebook, it learned this month the data had by Cambridge was not destroyed.

This morning it is being reported that Republican Senator John Kennedy and Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar are calling Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify before Congress. Those two join a growing list of people calling for Facebook to explain how the data was used, what policies were violated, what legal implications are to be had, and why Facebook didn’t disclose what happened until late last week despite knowing of the abuse in 2015.

Clearly, there will be a number of questions to answer, and we see this as a renewed call for Facebook to mature as a company and instill better safeguards for user privacy. While its possible these headlines could lead to some short-term disruption in user activity and advertising spend, we see them as somewhat in the rearview mirror with Facebook already refocusing on quality user engagement. We’ll continue to monitor the developments, but our suspicion is Facebook has already been laying the groundwork to address such privacy concerns.

At the same time, the company continues to focus on not only video advertising, but also expanding its Watch tab, which should help drive both user engagement and advertising revenue. The same can be said about its move to broadcast live sporting events as well as develop its own proprietary content that would position the shares inside our Content is King investing theme. As we have said many times in the past, the only thing better than having one of our thematic tailwinds pushing on a company’s business is having two or more.

  • Our long-term price target for Facebook (FB) shares remains $225.
Earnings from Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and UPS lead to several price target changes… and not all of them are moving higher

Earnings from Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and UPS lead to several price target changes… and not all of them are moving higher

 

In the last 24 hours we’ve had four Tematica Investing Select List positions – United Parcel Service (UPS) Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOGL) and Apple (AAPL) – report their quarterly earnings. Across the four companies, it was a mixed bag — on one hand, we have solid performance and profits at Amazon and Apple, while on the other hand, both United Parcel Service and Alphabet lagged in converting their respective topline strength into profits. We’re going to dig into company specifics below, but in summary:

  • We are increasing our long-term price target on Amazon shares to $1,750 from $1,400, which keeps our Buy rating on the shares in place. As a quick reminder, we continue to see Amazon as a company to own not trade
  • We are maintaining our $200 price target on Apple, which also keeps our Buy rating intact.
  • With Alphabet shares, we are now boosting our price target to $1,300 from $1,150, which offers upside of 15% from current levels. Subscribers that are underweight GOOGL shares are advised to let the full impact of last night’s earnings announcement be had and wade into the shares in the coming days.
  • We are trimming our United Parcel Service price target to $130 from $132.

 

United Parcel Service

Shares of United Parcel Service slumped throughout the early part of the day yesterday, and while they did recover off their lows, the day ended with the shares down just over 6% following the company’s December quarter earnings report. Inside that report, the company reported slightly better than expected top-line results of $18.83 billion, up 11.2% year over year, vs. the expected $18.2 billion. The issue that pressured UPS shares was revealed in the 2.5% year over year increase in EPS to $1.67 even though that figure was slightly ahead of expectations. Comparing those two growth rates as well as looking at the year over year drop in operating margin for the quarter to 12.2% from 13.1%, we find UPS’s network capacity was once again overwhelmed by the shift to digital shopping in the US. Outside of that business, its profits climbed at its International business as well as Supply Chain and Freight Segment.

Near-term following the year-end holiday shopping season we are entering the seasonally slower part of the year for UPS’s business. If historical patterns repeat, we’re likely to see the shares range-bound over the coming months with them trending higher as more data shows the continued shift toward digital shopping that is powering its UPS Ground business. With more pronounced share gains likely to reveal themselves in the shopping-heavy back half of the year, we’re inclined to be patient investors with UPS, reaping the rewards as more companies continue to embrace the direct-to-consumer business model either on their own or through partnerships with other companies, like Amazon. We will continue to monitor oil and at the pump gas prices, which could be a headwind to UPS’s efforts to improve margins at its US Domestic business in the coming months. In terms of the company’s 2018 outlook, it guided EPS between $7.03-$7.37 billion, a 20% increase year over year at the midpoint, which is in line with expectations.

 

Apple

After the market close yesterday, Apple reported December quarter results that bested Wall Street expectations on the top and bottom line even though iPhone shipments fell short of expectations and dipped year over year. More specifically, the company served up EPS of $3.89 per share, $0.04 ahead of consensus expectation on revenue of $88.29 billion, which edged out expectations of $87.6 billion. While Apple once again bested expectations, the truly revealing revenue and EPS comparisons are had versus the December 2016 quarter as revenue rose 12.6% year over and EPS 16%.

Year over year revenue improvement was had in the iPad and Services business — the latter benefitting from Apple’s continued growth in active devices, which hit 1.3 billion in January, up from 1.0 billion just two years ago. Mac sales, in terms of revenue and units, edged lower year over year and Apple Watch volumes rose 50% year over year on the strength of Apple Watch 3.  Despite the 1.2% year over year drop in iPhone shipments, the higher priced newer models drove the average selling price in the December 2017 quarter to hit roughly $795 up from $695 in the year ago quarter. That pricing surge led iPhone revenue to climb 12.5% to $61.6 billion. Digging into the results, we find the year over year improvements even more impressive when we consider iPhone X didn’t go on sale until early November and the December 2017 quarter had one less week compared to the December 2016 one.

All in all, it was a solid December quarter for Apple, and as we all know, there has been much speculation over iPhone production levels in the first half of the year, particularly for iPhone X. While Apple did issue its take on the March quarter – revenue between $60-$62 billion (vs. $52.9 billion in the March 2017 quarter), gross margin between 38%-38.5% and operating expenses $7.6-$7.7 billion – it was its usual tight-lipped self when it came to device shipments.

Let’s remember chatter over the last few weeks was calling for steep cuts to iPhone X shipments, but Apple ended the December quarter with channel inventories near the lower end of its 5-7-week target range. On the earnings call, Apple shared that iPhone should be up double digits year over year in the March 2018 quarter with the non-iPhone businesses up double digits as well. If we assume iPhone average selling prices remain relatively flat quarter over quarter, back of the envelope math suggests Apple is likely to ship 48-49 million iPhone units – roughly a 3%-5% drop in shipments year over year. That is far less than the talking heads were talking about over the last few weeks and explains why Apple shares rallied in aftermarket trading.

We see this as a positive for our Universal Display (OLED) shares as well – our price target on those remains $225.

From our perspective, the Apple story remains very much intact and with several positives to be had in the coming quarters. When Apple reports its March quarter results, we expect a clearer picture of how Apple plans to leverage the benefits of tax reform on its capital structure and share potential dividend and buyback plans. Next week, Apple’s HomePod will be released and before too long we expect to hear more about iPad and other product refreshes before the talk turns to WWDC 2018. Along the way, we hope to hear more concrete plans over Apple’s push into original content, a move we continue to think will make its ecosystem even stickier and likely result in even more people switching to Apple devices.

  • Our price target on Apple (AAPL) shares remains $200.

 

Amazon

Turning to Amazon, we were expecting a strong quarter given all the data points we received over the accelerated shift to digital shopping during the 2017 holiday season and we were not disappointed. For the December quarter, Amazon’s net sales increased 38% to $60.5 billion. Excluding the $1.1 billion favorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates, the quarter’s net sales still increased a robust increased 36% year over year. By reporting segments, North America revenues rose an impressive 42% year over year, International by 29% and Amazon Web Services (AWS) just under 45%.

More impressive than the segment revenue results was the year over year move in operating income in North America, which rose 107% for the quarter, and the increase in sales in AWS (Amazon’s cloud computing division), with sales increasing 46% for the quarter. That led the company’s overall operating income to climb to $2.1 billion in the quarter, up significantly from $1.3 billion in December 2016 quarter. In our view, after delivering 11 quarters of profitability, Amazon has shown the naysayers that it can prudently invest to drive profitable growth and innovation. Period.

The seasonally strong shopping quarter resulted in Amazon’s North America division being the largest generator of profit for the quarter, a role that is usually had by AWS. Looking at the profit picture for the full year 2017, we find AWS generated nearly all of the company’s operating profit. We continue to be impressed by Amazon’s ability to win not just profitable cloud market share but fend off margin erosion as players like Alphabet and Microsoft (MSFT) look to win share in this market.

If we had to find one issue to pick with Amazon’s December quarter report it would be the continued losses at its International business. Those losses tallied $0.9 billion in the December 2017 quarter and $3.06 billion for all of 2017.  We understand Amazon continues to expand its footprint in Europe and Asia, replicating the Prime and content investments it has made in the US, to drive long-term growth. As we have said before, Amazon is leveraging its secret weapon, AWS (10% of 2017 sales but more than 100% of 2017 operating profits), and its cash flow to fund these long-term investments and as patient investors, we accept that. We would, however, like to have a better understanding what the timetable is for bringing the International business up to at least to break even so it’s no longer a drag on the company’s bottom line.

In typical Amazon fashion, Amazon’s earnings press release contained a plethora of highlights across its various businesses, but the few that jumped out at us were:

  • In 2017, more than five billion items shipped with Prime worldwide.
  • More new paid members joined Prime in 2017 than any previous year — both worldwide and in the U.S.
  • Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced several enterprise customers during the quarter: Expedia, Ellucian, and DigitalGlobe are going all-in on AWS; The Walt Disney Company and Turner named AWS their preferred public cloud provider; Symantec will leverage AWS as its strategic infrastructure provider for the vast majority of its cloud workloads; Expedia, Intuit, the National Football League (NFL), Capital One, DigitalGlobe, and Cerner announced they’ve chosen AWS for machine learning and artificial intelligence; and Bristol-Myers Squibb, Honeywell, Experian, FICO, Insitu, LexisNexis, Sysco, Discovery Communications, Dow Jones, and Ubisoft kicked off major new moves to AWS
  • AWS continues to accelerate its pace of innovation with the release of 497 significant new services and features in the fourth quarter, bringing the total number of launches in 2017 to 1,430.

 

Those are but a few of the three-plus pages of highlights contained in the December quarter’s earnings press release. These and others show Amazon continues to expand its reach, laying the groundwork for further profitable growth in the coming quarters.

In characteristic fashion, Amazon issued revenue guidance for the current quarter that was in line with expectations – $47.75 – $48.7 billion – that equates to year over year growth between 34%-42%. Per usual, the company also issued it “you could drive a truck through it” operating income forecast calling for $0.3-$1.0 billion for the quarter.

  • We are boosting our price target on Amazon (AMZN) shares to $1,750 from $1,400 and we continue to view them as ones to own for the long-term as the company continues to disrupt the retail industry and is poised to make inroads into others.

 

Alphabet/Google

Rounding out yesterday’s earnings blitzkrieg, was Alphabet, which delivered yet another 20% plus increase in revenue for the December quarter. The performance bested Wall Street expectations, but the company’s bottom line disappointed and missed the consensus by $0.37 per share.

For the record, Alphabet reported December quarter EPS of $9.70 vs. the expected $10.07 on revenue of $32.32 billion. At 85% of overall revenue for the quarter, advertising remains the core focus of revenue. Year over year in the quarter, the company’s advertising revenue rose 22% with growth compared to the year ago quarter also had at its Network Members’ properties and other revenue segments.

The difference between the company’s top line beat and bottom line miss can be traced primarily to its Traffic Acquisition Costs (TAC) — the fees it pays to partner websites that run Google ads or services. Those fees climbed 33% year over year to resemble 24% of advertising revenue vs. 22% in the December 2016 quarter. The continued rise in TAC reflects the ongoing shift in the company’s mix toward mobile, which makes the increase not a surprising one as mobile search and content consumption continues to grow faster than desktop.

On a positive note, the company prudently managed operating expenses, which accounted for 26.6% of revenue in the quarter down from 27% a year ago. The net effect led Alphabet’s overall operating margin for the quarter to slip to 24% from 25% in the December 2016 quarter.

Outside of the core advertising business, the company continues to make progress on its other initiatives better known as Google Other, which includes cloud, its Pixel phones and Google Play. On the earnings call, the management team called out that Google Cloud has surpassed $1 billion, a notable achievement but to be fair the company lags considerably behind Amazon in the space. That said, ongoing cloud adoption leaves ample room for future growth in the coming quarters.

Turning to the company’s Other Bets segment, which houses its autonomous vehicle business Waymo, Google Fiber, home security and automation business Nest and its Verily life sciences business units, it continues to be a drag on overall profits given the operating loss of $916 million on revenue of $409 million. The positive to be had is the unit’s revenue climbed 56% year over year and size of the operating drag compressed 16% vs. the year-ago quarter and was less than $940 million it was Wall Street expected it to be. We see that as progress given the less than mature nature of the businesses housed in Other Bets. As they mature further, we expect them to be less of a drag on overall profits with several of them potentially adding to the valuation argument to be had for the shares as they become a more meaningful piece of the overall revenue mix.

On the housekeeping front, the company’s Board authorized the repurchase up to an additional $8.6 billion of its Class C capital stock. With more than $101 billion on the balance sheet in cash and equivalents exiting 2017 the company has ample funds to opportunistically repurchase shares.

  • The net impact of Alphabet’s bottom line miss looks to have the shares open lower this morning, which when paired with our new $1,300 price target (up from $1,150) offers some 15% upside to be had. That along with our view the company’s search and advertising businesses make it a core holding even as it grapples with the transition to mobile from desktop.

 

This week’s earnings season game plan

This week’s earnings season game plan

 

We have quite the bonanza of corporate earnings for holdings on the Tematica Investing Select List. It all kicks off tomorrow with Corning (GLW) and picks up steam on Wednesday with Facebook (FB). The velocity goes into over drive on Thursday with United Parcel Service (UPS) in the morning followed by Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet/Google (GOOGL) and Apple (AAPL). Generally speaking, we expect solid results to be had as each of these companies issues and discuss their respective December quarter financials and operating performances.

Given the recent melt-up in the market that has been fueled in part by favorable fundamentals and 2018 tax rate adjustments, we expect to hear similar commentary from these Tematica Select List companies over the coming days. The is likely to be one of degree, and by that I mean is the degree of tax-related benefits matching what the Wall Street herd has been formulating over the last few weeks? Clearly, companies that skew their geographic presence to the domestic market should see a greater benefit. The more difficult ones to pin down will be Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Google, which makes these upcoming reports all the more crucial in determining the near-term direction of those stocks.

We are long-term investors that can be opportunistic, provided the underlying investment thesis and thematic tailwinds are still intact. Heading into these reports, the thematic signals that we collect here at Tematica tell me those respective thematic tailwinds continue to blow.

As we await those results, we continue to hear more stories over Apple slashing iPhone X production levels as well as bringing a number of new iPhone models to market in 2018. These reports cite comments from key suppliers, and we’ll begin to hear from some of them tomorrow when Corning reports its quarterly results. We’ll get more clarity following Apple’s unusual tight-lipped commentary on Thursday, and even if production levels are indeed moving lower for the iPhone X we have to remember that Apple’s older models have been delivering for the company in the emerging markets. Moreover, the company could unveil a dividend hike or upsized repurchase program or perhaps even both as it shares the impact to be had from tax reform. As I shared last week, there are other reasons that keep us bullish on Apple over the long-term and our strategy will be to use any post-earnings pullback in the shares to improve our cost basis.

In digesting Apple’s guidance as well as that offered by other suppliers this week and next we’ll be keeping tabs on Universal Display (OLED), which is once again trading lower amid iPhone X production rumors. As I pointed out last week, Apple is but one customer amid the growing number of devices that are adopting organic light emitting diode displays. We remain long-term bullish on that adoption and on OLED shares.

We’ve received and shared a number of data points for the accelerating shift toward digital shopping in 2017 and in particular the 2017 holiday shopping season. We see that setting the stage for favorable December quarter results from United Parcel Service and Amazon later this week. We expect both companies to raise expectations due to a combination of upbeat fundamentals as well as tax reform benefits. With Amazon, some key metrics to watch will be margins at Amazon Web Services (AWS) as well as investment spending at the overall company in the coming quarters. As we have shared previously, Amazon can surprise Wall Street with its investment spending, and while we see this as a positive in the long-term there are those that are less than enamored with the company’s lumpy spending.

In Alphabet/Google’s results, we’ll be looking at the desktop/mobile metrics, but also at advertising for both the core Search business as well as YouTube. Sticking with YouTube, we’ll be looking for an update on YouTube TV as well as its own proprietary content initiatives as it goes head to head with Netflix (NFLX), Amazon, Hulu and Apple as well as traditional broadcast content generators.

In terms of consensus expectations for the December quarter, here’s what we’re looking at for these six holdings:

 

Tuesday, JANUARY 30, 2018

Corning (GLW)

  • Consensus EPS: $0.47
  • Consensus Revenue: $2.65 billion

 

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Facebook (FB)

  • Consensus EPS: $1.95
  • Consensus Revenue: $12.54 billion

 

Thursday, FEBRUARY 1, 2018

United Parcel Service (UPS)

  • Consensus EPS: $1.66
  • Consensus Revenue: $18.19 billion

 

Alphabet/Google (GOOGL)

  • Consensus EPS: $10.00
  • Consensus Revenue: $31.86 billion

 

Amazon (AMZN)

  • Consensus EPS: $1.84
  • Consensus Revenue: $59.83 billion

 

Apple (AAPL)

  • Consensus EPS: $3.81
  • Consensus Revenue: $86.75 billion

 

 

WEEKLY ISSUE: CES 2018 Delivers for the Tematica Investing Select List

WEEKLY ISSUE: CES 2018 Delivers for the Tematica Investing Select List

Welcome to this week’s issue of Tematica Investing, where we leverage our proprietary thematic lens to invest in well-positioned companies when it comes to our investment themes.

Over the last week, we’ve seen one of the best starts to a new trading year in some time, and the Tematica Investing Select List has been benefitted from not only that start but news being made at the currently occurring annual technology tradeshow better known as CES 2018. I’ll recap some of the meaningful announcements below in a minute, but the impact of those results have moved our positions in Universal Display (OLED), Applied Materials (AMAT), Nokia (NOK) and AXT Inc. (AXTI) higher over the last week.

These moves and the causes behind them have me once again revisiting my price targets on OLED and AMAT shares to the upside. Confirming data will likely be had in the coming days as 4Q 2017 earnings begin in earnest next Tuesday. As I discussed in this week’s Monday Morning Kickoff, the likely scenario is we see U.S. listed companies offer an upbeat outlook and use the benefit to be had from tax reform to boost 2018 EPS expectations. On an annual basis, those tax reform related benefits should more than outweigh the cold snap weather and winter storm Grayson disruptions that we have likely encountered with restaurant, retail and construction companies. This means that at least in the near-term investors will need to be choosey, hwoever, the net effect should see the stock market melt higher, especially if more Wall Street strategists boost their price targets for the S&P 500, the proxy for the overall U.S. stock market. I expect this to be the likely scenario.

My perspective that I laid our in this week’s Monday Morning Kickoff remains – I continue to suspect expectations could be getting ahead of themselves given the recent climb in consumer debt levels and continued growth in the lack of qualified workers that could hamstring business investment in the coming months despite lower taxes. The strategy that we’ll follow near term is to listen to the data and look for opportunities – companies at prices that offer a skewed risk-to-reward proposition that is in our favor. It has been that discipline married with Tematica’s thematic lens that has steered us clear of such 2017 disasters as GoPro (GPRO) and Blue Apron (APRN).

 

Watching the Fed minutes this afternoon

Later today, we will receive the next iteration of the Fed’s FOMC meeting minutes. While we know the policy impact from the December meeting, I’ll be interested in seeing more on to what degree the Fed factored in tax reform into its GDP forecasts, and what it sees as some of the swing factors to watch.

 

A first pass from CES 2018

While CES 2018, the annual technology trade show held in Las Vegas that features more than 4,000 exhibitors, officially got underway yesterday, we’ve received a number of announcements in the last few days that have sent tech shares in general, and several of our holdings, higher.

Starting with TVs, which are one of the more high-profile items to kick off the annual gathering, we are starting to see artificial intelligence (AI) embedded into these devices. For example, is adding both Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Google Assistant and Amazon’s (AMZN) Alexa to its latest 4K OLED and Super UHD LCD TV lineup. But TVs aren’t the only things that will embed AI in the coming year – yesterday it was announced by Moen that its cloud-based, Wi-Fi enabled shower system “U by Moen” will add support for Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa AI assistants in the first half of 2018.

Outside of Moen, both Kohler and Whirlpool (WHR) are also bringing voice activation capabilities to their smart kitchen, bath and appliance products. No stranger to voice assistants in its products, Whirlpool is going one step further as the appliances it is debuting at CES this year can be controlled using Alexa or Google Assistant. Per Whirlpool, its offering includes “dishwashers that can be set and started remotely by voice, refrigerators that homeowners can change temperature settings on using a voice assistant, and washing machines that let the user check with Alexa to see how much time is left on a cycle.”

We’re also seeing connectivity make its way into toothbrushes courtesy of Colgate’s (CL) Smart Electronic Toothbrush uses Apple ResearchKit with the user’s permission to crowdsource toothbrushing data so the company can “anticipate the future of oral care.”

This is a first pass at the CES news flow and I’ll have more over the coming days, so be sure to check back at TematicaInvesting.com for those thoughts.

Stepping back we find the rising number of connected devices – be they through voice assistants, smartphones or other – driving incremental demand for RF semiconductors. This, in turn, bodes very well for incremental substrate demand for AXT’s (AXTI), the basic building block for RF semiconductors from the likes of Skyworks Solutions (SWKS), Qorvo (QRVO) and others.

That is poised to drive semiconductor manufacturing utilization rates higher and bodes well for incremental orders at semi-cap company Applied Materials (AMAT), which is also benefitting from the ramp in organic light emitting diode display demand I noted above. With AMAT shares trading at just 13.5x on expected 2018 earnings, I’m once again reviewing my $65 price target with an upward bias.

I also see Amazon making a significant “land grab” with its Alexa voice assistant, which, in our view, bodes very well for continued growth in Amazon’s Prime membership and the company capturing consumer wallet share.

  • We continue to rate AXT Inc. (AXTI) shares a Buy at current levels and our price target remains $11.
  • We continue to rate Applied Materials (AMAT) shares a Buy at current levels and our price target remains $65.
  • We continue to have a Buy on Amazon (AMZN) shares, and our price target remains $1,400.

 

 

Alphabet Continues to Ride the Connected Society Tailwind

Alphabet Continues to Ride the Connected Society Tailwind

Last night Alphabet (GOOGL) reported June quarter earnings that bested expectations; however, the shares traded off last night in aftermarket trading following managements comments that costs are slated to rise faster than revenue near-term as mobile becomes a greater portion of its traffic and searches.

That tradeoff is continuing today, with the shares down almost 3 percent, as investors and analysts rejigger their EPS expectations. Making it somewhat murky was the fact that Alphabet management was tight-lipped about margin prospects in the coming quarters, and we suspect that means Wall Street could cut deeper than needed.

From our perspective, Alphabet’s core businesses – search, advertising, YouTube, and shopping – all stand to benefit from the ongoing if not accelerating shift toward a digital world, which as you know, is the thesis behind our Connected Society investment theme. ( Click here to download a full thematic glossary we recently put together detailing all 17 of our themes)

As we have said previously, GOOGL shares are ones to own, not trade, even as this pullback occurs.

  • Therefore GOOGL shares, which benefit from tailwinds from our Asset-Lite Business Model and the Connected Society investing themes, remain on the Tematica Select List with a $1,050 price target.

 

Let’s Look Beneath the Headlines of GOOGL Earnings

Looking deeper at Alphabet’s 2Q 2017 EPS, it reported $5.01 per share, $0.58 better than the consensus of $4.43. Excluding the $2.7 billion antitrust fine, EPS would have destroyed expectations and been $8.90 per share. Stepping back, during the quarter the company continued to deliver double-digit growth at its core businesses and despite the $2.7 billion fine to the European Union, still managed to crush earnings expectations.

Quarterly revenue at Alphabet, rose 21 percent to $26.01 billion, beating analysts’ average estimate of $25.65 billion with aggregate paid clicks up 52 percent year over year and 12 percent vs. the prior quarter. Paid clicks, where an advertiser pays only if a user clicks on ads, handily beat the expected 35 percent increase among the Wall Street analyst community for 2Q 2017. Google’s ad revenue, which accounts for a lion’s share of its business, rose 18.4 percent to $22.67 billion benefitting from advertising on both mobile and You Tube. With advertisers still shifting toward digital vs. other advertising modalities, research firm eMarketer sees Alphabets’ digital ad revenue jumping nearly 18 percent for full year 2017 to $73.5 billion. We’d note given the launch of YouTube TV that is expanding its available markets, plus the overall shift from TV advertising to digital platforms not only could eMarketer’s forecast be conservative, we expect share gains to continue past 2017.

 

Now for what has the shares trading off today

Even though the average cost per click fell 23 percent year over year and the company continues to make progress on reducing costs associated with its “Other Bets” segment, its costs for the quarter grew faster than revenue. This led to a modest decline in margins compared to expectations for the quarter. One-quarter does not make a trend, and we’ll continue to watch these line item as we head into the back half of 2017.

The reaction to all of this has led to a variety of price target changes across Wall Street, some up and some down. Looking at the situation through our thematic investment lends:

  • We continue to have a $1,050 price target on GOOGL shares, which offers just under 10 percent upside from current levels.
  • Should the shares retreat further, it will be tempting to scale into the position, but we’d suggest subscribers look for an even more compelling risk-to-reward trade-off near or below $900, given the potential for other EU fines and potential changes to be made to the company’s business to comply with the EU’s recent ruling. We expect more clarity on both in the coming months.

 

 

Why the On-Demand Economy Doesn’t Make the Thematic Cut

Why the On-Demand Economy Doesn’t Make the Thematic Cut

We keep hearing that thematic investing is gaining significant popularity in investing circles, especially when it comes to Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). For more than a decade, we’ve viewed the markets and economy through a thematic lens and have developed more than a dozen of our own investing themes that focus on several evolving landscapes. As such, we have some thoughts on this that build on chapters 4-8 in our book Cocktail Investing: Distilling Everyday Noise into Clear Investment Signals for Better Returns

One of the dangers that we’ve seen others make when attempting to look at the world thematically as we do, is that they often confuse a trend — or a “flash in the pan”  — for a sustainable shift that forces companies to respond. Examples include ETFs that invest solely in smartphones, social media or battery technologies. Aside from the question of whether there are enough companies poised to benefit from the thematic tailwind to power an ETF or other bundled security around the trend, the reality is that those are outcomes — smartphones, drones and battery technologies — are beneficiaries of the thematic shift, not the shift itself.

At Tematica Research, we have talked with several firms that are interested in incorporating Environmental, Social and Governance — or ESG — factors as part of their investment strategy. Some even have expressed the interest in developing an ETF based entirely on an ESG strategy alone. We see the merits of such an endeavor from a marketing aspect and can certainly understand the desire among socially conscious investors to ferret out companies that have adopted that strategy. But in our view and ESG strategy hacks a sustainable differentiator given that more and more companies are complying. In other words, if everyone is doing it, it’s not a differentiating theme that generates a competitive advantage that will provide investors with a significant beta from the market.

But there is a larger issue. A company’s compliance with an ESG movement is not likely to alter the long-term demand dynamics of an industry or company, even if certain businesses enjoy a short-term surge in revenues or increased investor interest based on a sense of goodwill.

For example, does the fact that Alphabet (GOOGL) targets using 100 percent renewable energy by 2018 alter the playing field or improve the competitive advantage of its core search and advertising business? Does it do either of those for YouTube?

No and no.

At the risk of offending those sensitive about their fitness acumen, it makes as much sense as investing in an ETF that only invests in companies with CEOs who wear fitness trackers. Make no mistake, our own Tematica Research Chief Macro Strategist Lenore Hawkins, a fitness tracker aficionado herself, would love to see more fitness trackers across the corporate landscape, but an ETF based on such a strategy means investing in companies across different industries with no cohesive tailwind powering their businesses, likely facing very different market forces that overshadow the impact of the one thing they have in common. To us, that misses one of the key tenants of thematic investing.

The result is a trend that is likely to be medium-lived, if not short lived. Said another way, it looks to us to be more like an investing fad, rather than a pronounced thematic driven shift that has legs.

Subscribers to our Tematica Investing newsletter know we are constantly turning over data points, looking for confirmation for our thematic lens, as well as early warning flags that a tailwind might be fading or worse, turning into a headwind. As we collect those data points, we mine the observations that bubble up to our frontal lobes and at times, ask if perhaps we have a new investing theme on our hands. Sometimes the answer is yes, but more often than not, the answer comes up “no”.

Now you’re in for a treat! Some behind the scenes action if you will on how we think about new themes and why one may not make the cut…

 

The On-Demand Economy:  Enough to become a new investing theme?

 Recently we received a question from a newsletter subscriber asking if the number of “on-demand” services and business emerging were enough to substantiate the addition of a new investment theme to go along with the other 17 themes we currently track.

By on-demand, we’re talking about those services where you can rent a car, (Lyft or Uber) or find private lodging (AirBnB) with the click of a button for only the time you need it rather than rent an apartment or studio for a week or month. It also refers to the many services that will deliver all the ingredients you need to prepare a gourmet meal in your own kitchen, such as the popular service Blue Apron or HelloFresh.

It was an interesting question because we have been debating this at Tematica Research for quite some time. We’re more than fans of On Demand music and streaming video services like those offered by Amazon (AMZN), Netflix (NFLX), Pandora (P), Spotify and Apple (AAPL).  Ultimately, we came to the conclusion that the real driver behind the on-demand economy is businesses stepping into fill the void created by a combination of multiple themes, rather than a new theme in of itself. Here’s what we mean . . .

Take the meal kit delivery services like Blue Apron, what’s driving the popularity of this service? We would argue that it’s not the fact that people like seeing their UPS driver more. Rather it is the result of underlying movement towards more healthy and natural foods that omit chemicals and preservatives — something we have discussed as the driver behind our Foods with Integrity theme — on top of a bigger Asset Light investment theme in which consumers and businesses outsource services, rather than accumulating assets and then performing the service themselves. The on-demand component of Blue Apron is not driving the theme, but is a beneficiary of what we call the thematic tailwind.

The challenge with the shift towards healthier cooking, that sits within our Foods with Integrity thematic, is the amount of work, and in many cases equipment, it takes to cook such foods — the shopping, the measuring, the cutting, special cooking utensils and preparation time, not to mention the cost. Recognizing this pain point, Blue Apron saw opportunity and consumers have flocked to it. As we see it, the meal delivery services are an enabler that addresses a pain point associated with our Foods with Integrity theme, rather than an independent theme unto itself.

There is also a clear element of the Connected Society investment theme behind these services, given how customers order the ingredients to prepare the meals – via an app or online – as well as our Cashless Consumption theme, given the method of payment does not involve cash or check and Asset Light whereby consumers pay for the end product, rather than investing in assets so that they can make it themselves. So that we are clear, the primary theme at play here is Foods with Integrity, but we love to see the added oomph when more than one theme is involved.

 

 Let’s look at Uber, the on-demand private taxi service. 

We’re big users of the service, particularly when traveling, and we love the ease of use. To us, while the service offered by Uber is very much On-Demand, from the customer perspective, it fits into our Asset Light theme, as it removes the need to own a car. If you think about, what’s?  the amount of time you spend using your car compared to the amount of time it spends parked at home, at work or in a parking lot? The monthly cost to own and maintain that vehicle vs. the actual number of hours it is used offers a convincing argument to embrace an Asset Light alternative like Uber.

We also like the payment experience — or the lack of an experience. We’re talking about having the ride fee automatically charged. No cash, no credit card swiping or inserting, no awkward “how much do I tip?” moments. It’s our Cashless Consumption theme in all of its glory, walking hand-in-hand with Asset Light — and the only thing better than a strong thematic tailwind behind a company is two!

The biggest users of the Uber and Lyft services, and the ones driving the firms’ valuations to stratospheric levels, are the Millennials who are opting to just “Uber “ around town — it’s become a verb — or use a car-sharing service like a ZipCar (ZIP) or the like.

Sure, Millennials have the reputation of being a more thrifty, frugal group compared to previous generations. But we have to wonder is it them being thrifty or just coming to grips with reality?

With crushing costs of college and student loans, as well as stagnant wage growth, many young workers are forced to cobble together part-time and contractor jobs rather than enjoying a full-time salaried position, so what choice do they have? Why buy a car and pay for it to sit there 95% of the time when you can just pay for it when you need it?

We call that the Cash-strapped Consumer theme meets Asset Light, and many businesses have also stepped in to service this rising demand for what has become known as the “sharing economy.”

 

Finally, what is the underlying function of all these on-demand services?

As we mentioned earlier, it’s the ability to connect and customize the services that consumers want through a smartphone app or desktop website, or from our thematic perspective, the Connected Society.

One of the key words in the previous sentence was “service.” According to data published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis in December 2015 and the World Bank, the service sector accounted for 78 percent of U.S. private-sector GDP in 2014 and service sector jobs made up more than 76 percent of U.S. private-sector employment in 2014 up from 72.7% in 2004. Since then, we’ve seen several thematic tailwinds ranging from Connected Society and Cash-strapped Consumer to Asset Light and Disruptive Technologies to Foods with Integrity that either on their own, or in combination, have fostered the growth of the US service sector. Given the strength of those tailwinds, we see the services sector driving a greater portion of the US economy. What this means is folks that have relied heavily on the US manufacturing economy to power their investing playbook might want to broaden that approach.

Now let’s tackle the thematic headwinds here

Headwinds involve those companies that are not able to capitalize on the thematic tailwind. A great example is how Dollar Shave Club beat Gillette, owned by Proctor & Gamble (PG), and Schick, owned by Edgewell Personal Care (EPC), by addressing the pain point of the ever-increasing cost of razor blades with online shopping. Boom — Cash-strapped Consumer meets Connected Society.

While Gillette has flirted with its own online shave club, the price of its razor are still significantly higher, and as far as we’ve been able to tell, Schick has no such offering. As Dollar Shave Club grew and expanded its product set past razors to other personal care products, Unilever (UL) stepped in and snapped it up for $1 billion.

Going back to the beginning and the impact of the food delivery services like Blue Apron — are we likely to see food companies build their own online shopping network? Most likely not, but they are likely to partner with online grocery ordering from Kroger (KR) and other such food retailers. That still doesn’t address the shift toward healthy, prepared meals and it’s requiring a major rethink among Tyson Foods (TF), Campbell Soup (CPB), The Hershey Company (HSY), General Mills (GIS) and many others. Fortunately, we’ve seen some of these companies take actions, such as Hershey buying Krave Pure Foods and Danone SA (DANOY) acquiring WhiteWave Foods, to better position themselves within the thematic slipstream.

The key takeaway from all of this is that a thematic tailwind can be thought of as a market shift that shapes and impacts consumer behavior, forcing companies to make fundamental changes to their business model to succeed. If they don’t, or for some reason can’t, odds are their business will suffer as they fly straight into an oncoming headwind.

Recall how long Kodak was the gold standard for family photographs, yet today it is nowhere to be seen, killed by forces that emerged completely from outside its industry. As digital cameras became ubiquitous with the advent of the smartphone and the cost of data transmission and storage continually fell, the capture and sharing of images was revolutionized. Kodak didn’t keep up, thinking that film would forever be the preferred medium, and paid the ultimate price.

As thematic investors, we want to own those companies with a thematic tailwind at their back — or maybe even two or three! — and avoid those that either seem oblivious to the headwind or won’t be able to reposition themselves, like a hiker who finds he or she has already gone way too far down the wrong path and is so utterly lost, needs to be helicoptered to safety.

Of course, when it comes to these “On-Demand Economy” darlings — Uber, Dollar Shave Club, Airbnb —few if any of them are publicly traded, which frustrates us so, since most of them are tapping into more than one thematic tailwind at once. If and when they do turn to the public markets for some added capital and we get a look into the economics of these business models, then we’ll also get to see the key performance metrics and financials behind these businesses.

In the meantime, stay tuned as we will be discussing more readily investable thematics next.

Housing and remodeling data rebounds, so we make another Rise-Fall of Middle Class move

Housing and remodeling data rebounds, so we make another Rise-Fall of Middle Class move

  • While the market waits for Yellen and Draghi to speak at the Kansas City Fed’s 40th Economic Policy Symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming later this week, we continue to low expectations for anything new being said at the event. Read More >>
  • A pick up in New Home Sales bodes well for the Tematica Select List position in Sherwin Williams (SHW). We continue to rate SHW shares a Buy, and our price target remains $350. Read More >>
  • We are issuing a Buy on shares of Whirlpool Corp. (WHR) as part of our Rise & Fall of the Middle Class investing theme with a $232 price target. Much like Sherwin Williams, Whirlpool stands to benefit from robust repair & remodel spending over the next few years. Read More >>
  • Updates Updates Updates on Amazon (AMZN), CalAmp (CAMP), Under Armor (UA) and Nike (NKE) shares. Read More >>
You can click below to download the full report.

 

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Getting this nursing stock off the bench and into the game

Getting this nursing stock off the bench and into the game

Continually throughout the past several weeks, we’ve shared our concern about the outlook for second half earnings for the S&P 500 group of companies relative to expectations — probably more than you’ve wanted to hear!

We continue to see those forecasts as overly robust, particularly with the stock market seemingly hitting new record highs every other day. Our view has been that there is more downside risk to be had as earnings expectations for the back half of 2016 get resized and reset.

Of course, as those expectations are reset, it can mean opportunity — opportunity for taking positions in companies we see as well-positioned from a thematic perspective, but at better prices than just a few weeks ago. We saw that last week with CalAmp Corp (CAMP), and we see it again this week with (AHS) AMN Healthcare Services.

 

In this week’s Tematica Investing:

  • We are taking advantage of a 23 percent drop in (AHS) AMN Healthcare Services shares to take them off the bench get them in the game — moving them from the Tematica Contender list to the Tematica Select List. Read More >>
  • With Back-to-School season more than in full swing, we dive into the intricacies of teen shopping habits and how they impact various positions across several of our themes, including Amazon (AMZN), Nike (NKE), Under Armour (UA) and what are probably the obvious themes and the not-so-obvious as well.  Read More >>

 

You can click below to download the full report.

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It’s 11am, do you know where your car is? If not the stock we’re adding this week probably does

It’s 11am, do you know where your car is? If not the stock we’re adding this week probably does

Last week, as the latest issue of Tematica Investing was being delivered to you, I was literally being wheeled into the operating room for knee surgery. It was nothing too major, just the repair of a small meniscus tear I suffered on the basketball court. Fortunately for you (and for the performance of the Tematica Select List) the issue was completed early that morning — well in advance of that surgery — as I was pretty loopy afterwards!

A week later, things are feeling pretty good, but I am looking forward to getting the stitches out so I can get back in the pool and get some relief from the extra humid conditions here in DC this week!

 

In this week’s Tematica Investing:

 

  • We’re placing shares of CalAmp Corp. (CAMP) on the Tematica Select List as part of our Connected Society investing theme with a Buy rating and a $21 price target. We would be comfortable adding the shares up to $17.50, at which point we see upside of 20% vs. the current 35% upside to be had at the last night’s closing share price. Read More >>
  • Updates on Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Physicians Realty Trust (DOC), Nike (NKE) and Under Armour (UA). Read More >>
  • We also dig into where we are with our position in The Walt Disney Co. (DIS) after their earnings announcement last night. Hint, we need to have the same patience as a the line at Space Mountain. Read More >>
  • Check your accounts! Dividend payments have been made over the last few days from Starbucks (SBUX) an PetMeds Express (PETS)Read More >>

You can click below to download the full report.
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