Category: INO.com Contributors

Two Value Stocks To Buy On Dips

Posted on by Taylor Dart

It’s been a volatile year for the major market averages, and the Nasdaq Composite (COMPQ) remains down 28% for the year and on track for its worst annual decline since 2008.

The difference this time is that it’s coming off a multi-year win streak and a more than decade-long bull market, making the current sell-off look more similar to 2000 than the 2008/2009 lows.

That said, for investors willing to look outside of the traditional FAANG names that have massively outperformed for years, there are always opportunities to hunt down alpha. This update will look at two general market names trading at deep discounts to fair value.

Builders FirstSource (BLDR)

Builders FirstSource (BLDR) is the largest supplier of structural building products, value-added components, and services to the professional market for the single-family and multi-family construction/repair/remodeling market in the United States.

The company has ~560 distribution/manufacturing locations across 42 states and boasts a market cap of $9.7BB.

Unfortunately, though, with the housing market teetering on a recession with new and existing home sales down sharply, investors have become worried about buildings products name, and Builders FirstSource hasn’t been immune from this anxiety despite continuing to put up phenomenal results.

In fact, the company just recently reported revenue of $5.8BB (+ 5% year-over-year) and adjusted annual EPS of $5.20, a 53% increase from the year-ago period.

Notably, these results were lapping already difficult comparisons from the year-ago period, with Q3 2021 annual EPS up 308% in the year-ago period. The strong growth in earnings was driven by ~20% growth in its higher-margin value-added products combined with aggressive share repurchases, repurchasing $2.0BB in shares to date (~30% of common shares).

Normally, I would be skeptical of a company growing annual EPS through share buybacks and buying back shares to this degree, given that many companies have a bad habit of buying back shares to prop up earnings vs. doing it opportunistically.

However, Builders FirstSource’s core business is strong with growth in its key segments (core organic sales in Value-Added Products up 20%, Repair, Remodel & Other up over 30%), and the stock is significantly undervalued. Continue reading "Two Value Stocks To Buy On Dips" →

The Fed Needs To Practice Patience

Posted on by George Yacik

It’s beginning to look a lot like 50 basis points.

OK, that’s not as catchy as that more famous Christmas tune. But that’s shaping up to be the likely outcome at the Federal Reserve’s next two-day monetary policy meeting December 13-14.

While inflation has slowed only a little bit since the Fed’s last rate hike on November 2 — its fourth 75-basis point increase in a row – the consensus seems to be that the Fed will moderate the size of its next hike to 50 bps, for no other reason perhaps than to see what effect its rate-raising process has had on the economy.

Indeed, the minutes of the Fed’s previous meeting at the beginning of November signaled such an outcome. “A substantial majority of participants judged that a slowing in the pace of increase would soon be appropriate,” the minutes said.

The Fed has now raised its benchmark federal funds rate by a cumulative 375 bps since it started hiking rates back in March, when the rate was at zero. A 50-bp hike in December would put the fed funds’ rate at an upper range of 4.25%.

While a slight moderation in the next increase will be welcomed by just about everyone, from Christmas shoppers to homebuyers to investors, it’s not likely to be the last, and possibly for a while yet.

That was the word handed down this week by New York Fed President John Williams. While he “did nothing to push back against expectations” of a half-point rate rise at the December meeting, the Wall Street Journal’s headline was more hawkish, quoting Williams as saying that “inflation fight could last into 2024,” meaning more rate hikes over a longer period of time than the market expects.

“Mr. Williams said he expected that rates would have to rise in 2023 to somewhat higher levels” than he had estimated back in September, the Journal said.

If the whole point of the Fed’s rate-raising regime is to try to slow the economy and thus reduce the heat under inflation, you don’t have to be a Harvard-trained economist to see that it hasn’t made that much of a dent so far and that it’s a long way from ending its restrictive cycle. Continue reading "The Fed Needs To Practice Patience" →

You Better Know When To Walk Away

Posted on by Chris Vermeulen

This week’s investor insight will make you think twice about the current stock and bond rally as we head into the end of the year.

We get a lot of questions about if the stock market has bottomed or if it is headed lower and how they can take advantage of the next Major market move. Over the next 6 to 12 months, I expect the market to have violent price swings that will either make or break your financial future. So let me show a handful of charts and show what I expect to unfold.

Let’s dive in.

We’re told that “quitters never win.” But is it always wise to stick with something when it no longer serves us or, worse, continues to harm us?

Many years ago, when Texas hold’em poker was big and online gambling was allowed in Canada, I used to run a poker league and build custom poker tables for people across the United States and Canada. I love poker, and I still play it to this very day, but the game does require skill, a proper mindset, and self-discipline. Without all three of these things, poker is pure gambling. It’s the same when it comes to active trading or investing if you lack the skills, mindset, and self-discipline.

Retired professional poker player Annie Duke, who is also a best-selling author, and decision strategist who advises seed-stage Startups, says that learning when to quit is a critical skill, especially for investors.

Annie states, “Quitting is a good thing when applied at the right time.”

If you’ve been following me for any time, then you know I follow a detailed trading strategy with position and risk management rules. As a result, you won’t find me taking random trades or trading based on emotions. Instead, you’ll find me patiently waiting on the sidelines for a high-probability trade signal to reinvest my capital.

I trade differently. I don’t diversify. I don’t buy-and-hope, and I don’t have any positions at certain times.

What I do is reinvest in assets that are rising in value. And when a particular asset stops moving higher, I give up on the position and exit it immediately. Because I use technical analysis to follow price action, we can quickly and easily determine if an asset is rising or falling. Therefore, I can step aside and let the asset fall and look for a new opportunity that is rising, or hold the falling position and ride it lower for who knows how long…

Unfortunately, most traders and investors do not understand how to read the markets, or they don’t have control of their money. They are at the mercy of what the market does or the skills of whoever controls their capital. Continue reading "You Better Know When To Walk Away" →

The Thanksgiving Rally Should Not Be Trusted

Posted on by Matt Thalman

The market rally during the shortened holiday trading week of November 21st-25th should not be trusted just yet.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.78% during the week, the S&P 500 increased by 1.53%, and the technology-heavy NASDAQ grew by 0.72%.

The move higher came for several reasons, but none materially changed the economy's outlook over the coming six to twelve months.

The biggest news was from the Federal Reserve. The Fed's meeting minutes from their November 1st and 2nd meeting pushed prices higher after several Fed members expressed interest in slowing the pace of rate hikes during future meetings.

Just the fact that the Fed is talking about reducing the amount of their rate increases is significant, and many economists applaud this move. Economists are happy with this because the Feds policy changes have a lag, meaning it takes time for rate increases to show in economic data reports.

The concern has been the Fed is raising rates too quickly, and by the time the lag sets in, the economy will be in the dumps. So, slowing the pace today is a possible way the Fed can avoid running the economy into the ground. Not running the economy into the ground is the "soft landing" we often hear about when people refer to the Fed and its current policies.

Another catalyst for the recent move higher was the Consumer Price Index in October, which was up 7.7% from a year ago. This was the lowest CPI reading increase since January of this year. But, let's be honest, a 7.7% increase year-over-year is still ridiculously high inflation.

However, many economists are actually saying they are seeing inflation leveling out. We aren't yet seeing that happen with the CPI numbers because we are still looking at year-over-year comparables before inflation got out of control.

The true sign that inflation has slowed, or is still climbing, will be in 2023 when we see year-over-year comps comparing current inflation measures with the elevated inflation we began seeing in early 2022. Continue reading "The Thanksgiving Rally Should Not Be Trusted" →