Month 91 - Food and Agriculture Companies - Winter 2019 Update

Situation: We all have to eat, so food is an essential good. Even in a commodity bear market, the valuations of food and agriculture companies will likely hold up better than the S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY - see Column D in this month’s Table). Which is amazing, given that grains and livestock account for 29% of the Bloomberg Commodity Index. Another way of saying this is that the volumes of food sold are inelastic, much like gasoline. This gives investments in food and agriculture companies a special, almost unique, competitive advantage. 

The most important development in recent years is that the sugar in corn kernels is being processed into ethanol for gasoline. And, to a lesser extent, soybean oil is being processed into diesel fuel (see Week 364). Two US companies are leaders in biofuels production, i.e., Valero (VLO) with a capacity of 1.4 billion gallons per year, and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) with a capacity of 1.6 billion gallons per year. Animal feeds are an important by-product of ethanol production, marketed as dry and wet distiller grains, that capture 40% of the energy in a kernel of corn. 

Mission: Use our Standard Spreadsheet to highlight important metrics for listed companies in the Food and Agriculture sector.

Execution: see Table.

Administration: The 21 companies in the Table meet specific standards for quality, which are: S&P Bond Rating of BBB or better; S&P Stock Rating of B+/M or better; and trading records that extend for 16+ years to allow analysis by the BMW Method. 

Bottom Line: In the aggregate, common stocks of these companies look to be a good bet (see Line 23 in the Table). Don’t be fooled. Eight of the 21 stocks track the ups and downs of futures markets in raw commodities (see red highlighted companies at the bottom of Column D in the Table). To build a position in any of those stocks you’ll need to employ dollar-cost averaging. And, only the two companies at the top of the Table have clean Balance Sheets (see Columns N-Q in the Table). 

To invest successfully in this sector, you’ll need to do a lot of research on a continuing basis. For example, note that fertilizer companies and seed companies are missing from the Table. Why? Because of the recent wave of mergers and acquisitions. If you had been an investor in now extinct companies like Monsanto, duPont, Dow Chemical, Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, and Agrium, you’ll have gained from the pain but also lost money.

Risk Rating: 8 (where 10-Yr US Treasury Notes = 1, S&P 500 Index = 5, and gold bullion = 10)

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into TSN, KO, CAT, UNP and WMT, and also own shares of HRL and MKC.

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Week 388 - Has The 4-Yr Commodities Bear Market Ended?

Situation: In Q2 of 2014, the trade-weighted index of 19 Futures Contracts for raw commodities peaked (DJCI; see Yahoo Finance), as did the SPDR Energy Select Sector ETF (XLE; see Yahoo Finance). Both hit bottom in early Q1 of 2016. That should have been the end of the Bear Market but prices have not risen much since then. On the plus side, both ETFs tested their early 2016 bottom in Q3 of 2017 and failed to reach it, suggesting that prices for both are in a new (albeit weak) uptrend. 

Interestingly, the SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD; see Yahoo Finance) has traced a similar track, peaking in Q1 of 2014, bottoming at the beginning of Q1 2016, and failing a test of that low point late in 2016. Other metrics also suggest that the Bear Market has ended. For example, recently posted earnings for Exxon Mobil (XOM) in Q3 of 2018 were robust enough to have reached a level last reached in Q3 of 2014.

Mission: Use our Standard Spreadsheet to track key investment metrics for companies that buy and/or extract raw commodities for processing, transport those by using 18-wheel tractor-trailers or railroads, or manufacture the diesel powered and natural-gas powered heavy equipment tractors that are used to mine and harvest raw commodities. Confine attention to companies that have at least a BBB+ S&P rating on their bonds and at least a B+/M rating on their common stocks,  as well as the 16+ year trading record on the NYSE that is needed for long-term quantitative analysis by the BMW Method.

Execution: see Table.

Bottom Line: Near-month futures prices for commodities have come down off a supercycle that blossomed in 1999, and are now back to approximately where they started. This represents a classic “reversion to the mean”, likely due to supply constraints growing out of the somewhat rapid buildout of China’s economy. We’re not at the end of a 4-Yr Bear Market. Instead, we’re in the long tail of a remarkably strong 2-decade commodities Bull Market. It is important to note that commodity production is changing away from fossil fuels. However, petroleum products still represent more than 30% of trade-weighted commodity production. Going forward, the composition of that production will shift toward environmentally cleaner transportation fuels. Gasoline and diesel will yield dominance to CNG (compressed natural gas) and hydrogen (sourced from natural gas). This will mirror the shift toward clean electrical energy that has replaced coal with natural gas during the build-out of wind and solar sources, along with the necessary enhancements to electricity storage and transmission.  

Risk Rating: 8 (where 10-Yr US Treasury Notes = 1, S&P 500 Index = 5, gold bullion = 10)

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into CAT, XOM, R and UNP, and also own shares of NSC, BRK-B and CMI.

"The 2 and 8 Club" (CR) 2017 Invest Tune Retire.com All rights reserved.

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Week 374 - Bet With The House By Picking Companies In The 2 And 8 Club

Situation: In the U.S., capital-intensive industries with strategic importance are tightly regulated (see Week 230). Electric power grids and railroad networks are expensive to install, maintain and upgrade but those chores are absorbed by shareholders in private companies. Regulatory bodies grant these companies monopoly-like pricing power, oversee safety practices, and set rates high enough to pay for maintenance and upgrades. 

Since the Great Recession, international Money Center banks have also come under intense regulation to meet Basel III requirements for sustainability and reduce systemic risks. A more specific definition now replaces Money Center Bank, which is Systemically Important Financial Institution (SIFI). 

Looked at from the shareholder’s point of view, companies in these three industries have enough government regulation (and monopoly-like pricing power) that bankruptcy is no longer a material risk. One downside risk is that the US market for their goods and services is largely saturated. So, significant growth in the “bottom line” requires innovation and international outreach that will be overseen by government regulators. 

Mission: Use our Standard Spreadsheet to highlight members of “The 2 and 8 Club” that are in the Electric Utilities, SIFI banking, and Railroad industries.  

Execution: see Table.

Bottom Line: The safest tactic in gambling is to “bet with the house” whenever you can. Politicians are now in effective control of three industries: Electric utilities, railroads, and international Money Center banks (now called Systemically Important Financial Institutions or SIFIs). These industries are not in danger of being “nationalized” because politicians would much prefer that shareholders (as opposed to taxpayers) put up the large amounts of capital needed to keep these industries safe and effective. 

Risk Rating: 6 (where US Treasury Notes = 1, S&P 500 Index =5, and gold bullion = 10)

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into NEE and JPM.

"The 2 and 8 Club" (CR) 2017 Invest Tune Retire.com All rights reserved.

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Week 367 - Safe and Effective Stocks

Situation: The stock market is becalmed, waiting for wind to fill its sails. "Risk-On" investors seem to be out of ideas, except for a renewal of interest in the energy sector. The bond market is experiencing hard-to-predict volatility. Safe stocks that will grow your money effectively are hard to find. The formula for Net Present Value tells us that more value is found when your original investment is returned to you quickly. Therefore, an “effective” stock is one that pays a good and growing dividend. 

Mission: “Safe stocks” = an oxymoron. Basically, we’re looking for a group of high-quality stocks issued by companies in “defensive” industries (Utilities, HealthCare, Consumer Staples, and Communication Services). “Effective stocks” are those that a) pay an above-market dividend, b) grow that dividend at an above-market rate, and c) have an above-market 16-Yr CAGR. Our reference for the “market” is the Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA). 

Execution: see Table.

Administration: What are “high-quality” stocks? Those are either “Blue Chips” (see Week 361) or members of “The 2 and 8 Club” (see Week 327 and Week 348) plus its Extended Version (see Week 362). “Safe and effective” stocks are those that have no red highlights in Columns D, E, G, I, K, and M of the reference Tables. (Red highlights indicate underperformance vs. DIA.) In addition, we require that the company be a Dividend Achiever, and that its long-term bonds have an S&P rating of A- or better (see Column T).   

Bottom Line: We find that only 5 companies issue “safe and effective” stocks (see Table). Were you to own shares of similar value in all 5, you wouldn’t be gambling. In other words, your risk-adjusted returns would likely “beat the market” by 1-2%/yr over a market cycle. But your transaction costs would also be 1-2% higher vs. owning shares in the leading S&P 500 Index Fund (SPY).  

Risk Rating: 4 (where US Treasury Notes = 1, S&P 500 Index = 5, and gold bullion = 10)

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into NEE, KO, and JNJ.

"The 2 and 8 Club" (CR) 2018 Invest Tune Retire.com All rights reserved.

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Week 364 - Ethanol Producers

Situation: “Market research analysts at Technavio have predicted that the global bio-fuels market will grow steadily at a CAGR of almost 6% by 2020”. But arguments against blending ethanol with gasoline are building. In 2016, 15.2 billion gallons were produced at 214 plants, with Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Valero Energy (VLO) and Green Plains Renewable Energy (GPRE) being the main publicly-traded producers. For example, those 3 companies operate 4 ethanol plants in Nebraska that together produced 2.2 billion gallons, representing 31% of the state’s crop. Not only is fuel a big business for the agriculture sector, but the by-product (“distillers grains”) is a rich source of animal feed. For every ton of ethanol produced, there are 0.24 tons of distillers grains. 

You need to think of ethanol plants as a permanent feature of the Corn Belt, i.e., the 11 states of the Upper Midwest. Government subsidies for ethanol plants in Europe and the United States aren’t going away, for two important reasons. Ethanol is a renewable fuel, and adding it to gasoline makes tailpipe emissions less damaging to the atmosphere. Furthermore, ethanol plants represent the only stable market for the dominant farm product of those 11 states (North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio). But, before you buy shares in one of the 6 companies we highlight here, you need to understand a number of factors that impact the feedstocks and ultimate markets served by those plants. Start by reading this summary prepared for Green Plains (GPRE) investors.

Mission: Analyze the 6 publicly-traded US companies in the ethanol business, using our Standard Spreadsheet.

Execution: see Table.

Administration: Ethanol plants have changed the lives of farmers in the Corn Belt from being a speculator to being a professional businessman. Iowa, the state that produces the most corn, almost exclusively grows #2 field corn  destined for ethanol plants. 20% of that corn becomes “distillers grains”, and dry distillers grains are shelf-stable and greatly valued as animal feed all over the world. So, that’s a stable and global market. And, ethanol is increasingly being shipped out of the US, either separately or blended with gasoline. For example, China recently adopted the same 10% ethanol content requirement for gasoline that the US has been using. That is seen as an export opportunity for US ethanol plants.

Bottom Line: Corn Belt = ethanol plants. That’s the equation you need to remember. It’s all based on #2 field corn. The #1 sweet corn that we like to eat is rarely grown in the Corn Belt. A state outside the Corn Belt (Washington) is the leading producer. But it’s only been 11 years since the Bush Administration pushed Congress to blend 10% ethanol with gasoline. Yes, hundreds of ethanol plants were built as a result but the economics of running those plants is only now being sorted out. If you invest in any those, you’re a speculator by definition. 

Addendum: Here’s the definition of a red line for “speculation” given in the May 28, 2018 Bloomberg Businessweek on page 8: “...a conservative threshold for volatility, typically lower than that of the broader market for relevant assets…” Column M in all of our tables lists the 16-year volatility of each company (with the required trading record) and highlights in red those that have a greater volatility than the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA). Of the 6 companies in this week’s Table, even Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), the longest-established (and highest rated by S&P) company, has a volatility well above that of DIA.

Risk Rating: 8 (where US Treasury Notes = 1, S&P 500 Index = 5, and gold bullion = 10) 

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), which is a member of “The 2 and 8 Club” (Extended Version; see Week 362).

"The 2 and 8 Club" (CR) 2018 Invest Tune Retire.com All rights reserved.

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Week 357 - Dividend Achievers That Support Commodity Production

Situation: Commodities crashed in 2014 but the only S&P industries to be affected were Energy, Industrials (specifically railroads) and Basic Materials. A new Commodity Supercycle began to take hold in early 2017.

Which companies stand to benefit?

Mission: Under the best of circumstances, commodity-related investments are highly speculative. If you gamble at this casino long enough, you’ll lose big and win big. So, let’s confine our attention to “the best of circumstances,” i.e., set up our Standard Spreadsheet to look at companies meeting these requirements: 
   1) S&P credit rating for long-term bonds is BBB+ or better; 
   2) S&P stock rating is B+/M or better; 
   3) Long-term Debt doesn’t exceed 33% of Total Assets; 
   4) Tangible Book Value is a positive number; 
   5) the company is a Dividend Achiever.

Execution: see Table.

Administration: Seven companies meet our requirements. Only the two railroads (UNP, CSX) and Exxon Mobil (XOM) meet the key requirement Warren Buffett has for saying that a company enjoys a “Durable Competitive Advantage” (see Week 54), i.e., steady growth in Tangible Book Value exceeding 7%/yr (see Columns AD and AE in the Table). It is also important to note that all areas of commodity production (aside from aquaculture) employ equipment that digs in the dirt. That makes Caterpillar (CAT) a useful barometer, and its stock has done well since the Commodity Crash of 2014-2016.

Bottom Line: If you’ve held shares in any of these 7 companies (see Table) for more than a few years, I commend your perseverance. Stick it out awhile longer and you may be rewarded. A new Commodity Supercycle appears to be starting, and will likely take hold if China stays the course and becomes a Superpower.

Risk Rating: 8 (where 10-Yr US Treasury Notes = 1, S&P 500 Index = 5, and gold bullion = 10)

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into Union Pacific (UNP) and Exxon Mobil (XOM).

"The 2 and 8 Club" (CR) 2017 Invest Tune Retire.com All rights reserved.

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Week 346 - Dogs of the Dow

Situation: It’s that time of year again. You need to think about placing a bet or two on the Dogs of the Dow at the start of each new year. Why? Because that group contains the 10 highest-yielding stocks in the 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and is likely to outperform the DJIA over the next year. The Dogs of the Dow have had a total return of 8.6%/yr since 2000 vs. 6.9% for the DJIA. 

SPOILER ALERT: The 10 highest-yielding DJIA stocks at the end of 2017 includes General Electric (GE), which is likely to be removed from the DJIA before the end of 2018. So, I’ve substituted the next highest-yielding stock, which is Intel (INTC).

Mission: Run our Standard Spreadsheet for the 10 highest-yielding DJIA stocks. Highlight the two members of “The 2 and 8 Club” (CSCO, IBM), as well as the two that would be members if their dividend growth rates were slightly higher, to meet the dividend growth requirement of 8.0%/yr over the past 5 years: Coca-Cola(KO) and Pfizer (PFE). 

Execution: see Table.

Administration: Four of the 10 are gambles (see Column M), likely to lose more than the S&P 500 Index in a future Bear Market: CSCO, INTC, PFE, MRK. Four are worth your attention because of being in (or nearly in) “The 2 and 8 Club”: CSCO, KO, IBM, PFE. It is also important to consider the two integrated oil companies (CVX, XOM) because their stocks are the most rational way for you to gain exposure to the Energy Industry. 

Bottom Line: The Dogs of the Dow strategy calls for buying equal dollar amounts of stock in all 10 companies on the first trading day of the new year. I’m not of that mind, but do know that these 10 companies are “blue chips.” Their valuations haven’t been impressive lately, which accounts for their high dividend yields. DJIA companies are called Blue Chips because they’re thought to be large enough and diversified enough to weather any downturn. Some of the Dogs will outperform the 30-stock DJIA in any given year, but not all of them. My plan is to bet on any Dog in “The 2 and 8 Club” that meets my criteria for brand value and balance sheet stability, which would be Cisco Systems (CSCO). 

GOOD NEWS: All 10 of these companies are projected to beat the DJIA ETF (DIA) over the next decade (see Column Y in the Table), assuming that growth rates for dividends and stock prices hold steady.

Risk Rating: 6 (where 10-Yr Treasury Notes = 1, S&P 500 Index = 5, gold bullion = 10)

Full Disclosure: I dollar-cost average into PG, XOM and KO, and also own shares of CSCO, INTC, IBM and PFE.

"The 2 and 8 Club" (CR) 2017 Invest Tune Retire.com

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Week 322 - Global Buildout of Combined Heat & Power (CHP) Systems

Situation: Cogeneration of heat and power is a method that has long been used to capture waste energy remaining in the heat generated to produce electric power. That residual heat is used to generate steam--to heat nearby buildings. However, the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 subsidized the buildout of large, centrally located Regular Electric Generation Facilities (REGFs) to bring all homes onto the national power grid. That subsidy aborted the buildout CHP systems. Nonetheless, CHP systems accounted for 9% of US electric power generation in 2008. Worldwide, the growth of CHP systems is predicted to be 4.38%/yr from 2014 to 2024. 

CHP systems are becoming more commonplace in urban areas, now that natural gas is replacing coal as the cheapest energy source. The idea is to add a heat exchanger that will generate steam from exhaust gases produced by newly installed electricity-generating gas turbines. This means that “energy wasted” is reduced to 20% from the 55% loss that is typical of REGFs. Unlike having a central station to generate electricity for wide use, CHP requires the station to be near heating and cooling application sites (https://energy.gov/eere/amo/combined-heat-and-power-basics). Most large applications are at industrial sites, typically oil refineries. But small applications used to heat or cool nearby buildings are also ideal. For example, the University of Cincinnati built a gas turbine powered CHP plant in 2004 with a capacity of 47,700 KW. The Department of Energy has identified a potential for over 290,000 sites in the US with more than 240GW of estimated output. That’s double the installed capacity of wind and solar power in the US.

Mission: Analyze 12 Electric Utilities that support electric grid connections to CHP power plants, including the 3 US companies highlighted in a recent study: “Some of the major players identified across the Global CHP system market for data centers include ENER-G, Korea Electric Power Corporation, National Grid plc, Exelon Corporation, NextEra Energy, Inc., Chubu Electric Power Company, American Electric Power Company, Inc. and others.

Execution: see Table.

Administration: Our best example of a CHP system is the one supporting the Phillips 66 (PSX) facility in Linden, NJ: “Linden Cogen Plant Gas Power Plant NJ USA” is owned by PSEG Power LLC, a division of Public Service Enterprise Group (PEG - see Table). The main purpose of this 1566 MW power plant is to provide Cogen-mode steam to the adjacent Bayway (Phillips 66) Refinery. It provides power to that refinery, and connects to the electrical grid operated by Consolidated Edison (ED) which provides power to the New York City and New Jersey markets.

Bottom Line: There are large up-front costs for building a cogeneration plant, but these pale in comparison to the long-term savings. But “the devil is in the details.” Plant engineers tend to focus on the avoided natural gas costs while assuming that the reliability benefit is approximately the same as for a Regular Electric Generation Facility. But it isn’t. Operating hours are lower and have a larger standard deviation. The key requirement for deciding to build a CHP plant is that it will provide steam for heating (and cooling) nearby buildings.

Risk Rating (for aggregate of 12 utilities): 4, where a 10-Yr T-Note = 1, S&P 500 Index = 5, and gold = 10. 

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into NextEra Energy (NEE).

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Week 316 - 2017 Barron’s 500 List: A-rated “Defensive” Companies That Moved Up In Rank During The Commodity Recession

Situation: A stock-picker can’t beat the market, given that transaction costs and tax inefficiencies reduce returns by 1-3%/yr compared to the lowest-cost S&P 500 Index fund  (VFINX), which returns 7-8%/yr. To effectively compete with that, stock picks would need to return 9%/yr. That’s one of the reasons why we use a discount rate of 9% when calculating Net Present Value. 

In business school, I was taught that there are only two ways to beat the market: Plan A is to trade on “insider information” (patently illegal); Plan B is to take outsize risks (i.e., run a portfolio where the capitalization-weighted 5-Yr Beta is greater than 1.0). Those of us who are employed full time in Financial Services may become good stock-pickers because we know a particular industry very well, the result being that we overweight our picks in that industry. In other words, we’re engaged in a legal form of insider trading. For example, doctors and dentists are often savvy traders of health-care stocks. 

The stock-picker who had the longest run beating the S&P 500 Index was Peter Lynch, who managed Fidelity’s Magellan Fund from 1977 through 1990. He relied on diversification, running ~1000 stocks with the help of a dozen analysts, but focussed on retail stocks. He claimed that the insights his wife shared with him after a day of shopping were pivotal to his success. You get the point: Invest in what you know.

But what about Plan B (risk taking)? Like Plan A, that approach requires you to run a portfolio concentrated in particular industries. But unlike Plan A, those stocks have to be in boring “Defensive” industries, i.e., the ones where sales grow only as fast as the population grows (Consumer Staples, Healthcare, Communication Services, and Utilities). By overweighting defensive industries, you insulate your portfolio. When the market crashes, those industries tend to keep on growing their earnings. Than means you’re following Warren Buffett’s Rule #1: Never Lose Money.

Mission: Analyze the recent Commodity Recession (see Column D at Line 26 in the Table), which was almost severe enough to keep both GDP and the S&P 500 Index from growing. 

Execution: see Table.

Administration: Commodities are a key driver of the economy, so the Commodity Recession gave us a rare opportunity to see which companies out-perform without that key driver. You’ll need some background information. Of the 22 commodity futures contracts that compose the Bloomberg Commodity Index, the 5 classified as “Energy” are strongest, with a combined weight of 30.57% (Natural Gas, Brent Crude Oil, West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil, Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel, and Unleaded Gasoline). When those are down ~20%, the S&P 500 Index will barely rise even though GDP might keep going up. Whether we like it or not, the prices of petroleum products will be the best predictors of the stock market for the next 10+ yrs. To be successful, a stock-picker has to anticipate the ups and downs in prices for energy commodities, and be positioned to reap good returns from stocks of A-rated S&P 500 companies that maintain or improve their valuation metrics during a commodity recession. 

Key metrics relate to cash-flow based ROIC, specifically the most recent year vs. the 3-Yr median, as well as sales growth for the most recent year. The Barron’s 500 List (published each May) ranks the largest 500 companies on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges in terms of those 3 metrics. We’re interested in knowing the names of ALL the A-ranked S&P 500 companies that moved up in rank. Most of those will be in “Defensive” industries. The few that are in “Growth” industries either have a business plan that allows them to be “hardy perennials,” or enjoy a special situation that allows them to take advantage of a Commodity Recession. This week we cover “Defensive” industries. Next week we’ll cover the few “Growth” industry out-performers.    

Bottom Line: The costs associated with owning the Vanguard 500 Index Fund (VFINX) are nil, whereas, the costs of owning (and trading) stock in a few dozen companies are substantial. And, the capital gains taxes that you’ll pay each year for trading those stocks are erratic and immediate vs. what you’ll pay upon eventually selling your VFINX shares. Your stock portfolio has to outperform the S&P 500 Index by 2-3%/yr to equal the returns you’d realize from owning VFINX shares. Invest smart, by knowing that the market goes down eventually and doing something about it ahead of time. Either stick to industries you know, or hedge by overweighting the stocks of companies in “Defensive Industries.” The 14 shown in the Table are a good place to start your research. Pay close attention to Columns P-S because even these companies can swoon in a market crash if they have messy Balance Sheets (messiness is highlighted in purple).

Risk Rating: 6 (where 1 = 10-Yr Treasury Notes, 5 = S&P 500 Index, 10 = gold)

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into JNJ and KO, and also own shares of HRL and WMT.

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Week 315 - High-quality Dividend Achievers That Beat The S&P 500 For 30 Years With Less Risk

Situation: The S&P 500 Index has risen faster than underlying earnings for the past 8 years. The main reason is that the Federal Reserve purchased over 3 Trillion dollars worth of government bonds and mortgages (including “non-conforming” private mortgages that carry no government guarantee). As intended, this flooded our economy with money that could be borrowed at historically low interest rates. Now the Federal Reserve is looking to start bringing that money back, by accepting the repayment of principal when loans mature instead of renewing (“rolling over”) the loans. This will result in a balance sheet “roll-off” that reduces the amount of money in circulation. Think of it as a “bail-in” to rebalance Treasury accounts, which will reverse the “bail-out” of Wall Street in 2008-9. Interest rates will slowly rise. Investors will once again have to consider the attractiveness of owning bonds in place of stocks. “Risk-on” investments, i.e., growth stocks and stocks issued by smaller companies, will be less sought after but “risk-off” investments (defensive stocks and corporate bonds) will be more sought after. Most of the stocks that have outperformed the S&P 500 over the past 25 years (see Week 314) and 35 years (see Week 313) have been issued by companies in “defensive” industries. 

Mission: Look at 30 year statistics by using the BMW Method, to possibly find more stocks that outperform the S&P 500 Index while taking on less risk.  

Execution: see Table. 

Bottom Line: We have turned up 3 new companies: two from defensive industries (Archer Daniels Midland “ADM” and Kimberly-Clark “KMB”) and one from a growth industry (WW Grainger “GWW”). That makes a total of 11 companies from the 4 S&P “defensive” industries (Utilities, Healthcare, Consumer Staples, and Communication Services): CHD, MKC, BDX, WTR, ED, GIS, CVS, PEP, PG, ADM, KMB. And, 5 from the 6 S&P “growth” industries (Consumer Discretionary, Industrials, Information Technology, Materials, Energy, and Financial Services): APD, MMM, MCD, GPC, GWW. 

In other words, the companies that make really good long-term investments are twice as likely to be from “risk-off” defensive industries than from “risk-on” growth industries. But think about what that implies, given that 2/3rds of the companies in the S&P 100 Index represent growth industries. If you want to beat the S&P 500 Index long-term, you’ll have to reverse that ratio and have 2/3rds of your money in defensive stocks. 

Risk Rating: 5 (10-Yr Treasury Note = 1, S&P 500 Index = 5, Gold = 10)

Full Disclosure: I own shares of MCD, MMM, GIS, MKC.

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Week 299 - “Basic Materials” And “Energy” Companies That Are Dividend Achievers

Situation: A Retirement Portfolio may benefit from some exposure to commodity-related Energy and Basic Materials companies. Yes, I know. During the 4.5 year Housing Crisis (from April 2007 to October 2011), stocks in the Basic Materials index fund (XLB) lost more than the S&P 500 Index, and stocks in the Energy index fund (XLE) didn’t do much better (see Column D in the Table). So let’s confine our attention to companies that kept increasing their dividend throughout that crisis, i.e., companies that S&P calls Dividend Achievers. 

Mission: Apply our standard spreadsheet analysis to Basic Materials and Energy companies in the 2016 Barron’s 500 List that are a) Dividend Achievers, b) have traded long enough to appear on the 16-yr BMW Method List, and c) have an investment-grade rating on their bonds from Standard & Poor’s. Only 9 companies meet those 4 requirements, if we include a Canadian energy company (Enbridge) that has grown its dividend annually for the past 10+ yrs. (Canadian companies are not surveyed by S&P for inclusion on the Dividend Achievers list.)

Execution: see Table.

Administration: During the 4.5 year Housing Crisis, all 9 companies outperformed the S&P 500 Index (see Column D in the Table). However, 5 of these companies are projected to lose more than that index in the next Bear Market (see Column M in the Table), as determined by statistical analysis conducted by the BMW Method. NOTE: stocks from this sector can’t balance out the effect of cyclical forces on your portfolio because they’re at the mercy of the multi-decade Commodities Supercycle: “A commodities supercycle is an approximately 10-35 year trend of rising commodity prices. The commodities super-cycle is based on the assumption that population growth and the expansion of infrastructure in emerging market nations drive long-term demand and higher prices for industrial and agricultural commodities.” It now appears that a new supercycle is beginning, in that the Dow Jones Commodity Index (^DJC) of 22 futures contracts in 7 sectors has “bounced off” its 1999 low and is heading upward.

Bottom Line: These companies issue stocks that represent high-risk/high-reward investments (see Columns I and M in the Table). The Net Present Value calculations are highest for ENB and SHW (see Column Y in the Table). When evaluating commodity-related companies, recall that copper prices set the trend for commodity prices. High grade copper prices fell 14%/yr from 2011 through 2015 but have risen 30% over the past year.

Risk Rating: 8 (where 10-Yr Treasury Notes = 1, S&P 500 Index = 5, gold bullion = 10)

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into MON and own shares of ENB.

NOTE: Metrics are current for the Sunday of publication. Red highlights denote underperformance vs. VBINX at Line 19 in the Table. Purple highlights denote Balance Sheet issues and shortfalls. Net Present Value (NPV) inputs are described and justified in the Appendix to Week 256: Briefly, Discount Rate = 9%, Holding Period = 10 years (no dividends accrue in 10th year), Initial Cost = average stock price over the past 50 days (corrected for transaction costs of 2.5% when buying ~$5000 worth of shares). Dividend Growth Rate is the 10-Yr CAGR found at Column H. Price Growth Rate is the 16-Yr CAGR found at Column K (http://invest.kleinnet.com/bmw1/). Price Return (from selling all shares in the 10th year) is corrected for transaction costs of 2.5%. The Discount Rate of 9% approximates Total Returns/Yr from a stock index of similar risk to owning a small number of large-cap stocks, where risk is mainly due to “selection bias.” That stock index is the S&P MidCap 400 Index at Line 26 in the Table. The ETF for that index is MDY at Line 18.

Post questions and comments in the box below or send email to: irv.mcquarrie@InvestTuneRetire.com

Week 268 - "Buy and Hold" Barron’s 500 Growth Stocks

Situation: Every investor has to know when to leave the party. Or, as Warren Buffett says, “be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.”

Mission: Design a template for leaving the party.

Execution: You’ll need a Central Thought. Mine is to stay invested in growth stocks, the ones that do badly in a recession. That means continue to invest in companies from the following 6 S&P industries: Consumer Discretionary, Financial, Information Technology, Industrial, Basic Materials, and Energy. The trick is to dump stocks with problematic Balance Sheets and buy stocks with clean Balance Sheets. 

Administration: Start by defining a clean Balance Sheet. Accountants do this by picking their favorite ratios. My favorite ratios are (see Columns Y thru AB in the Table):

1. Total Debt:Equity is under 200%. That means senior managers will still “call the shots” in a crisis, not the bankers.
2. Long-Term Debt:Total Assets is under 30%. Long-term debt has to either be renewed upon maturity or returned to the lender. In a crisis, the rate of interest that bankers charge for a renewal loan (called a “rollover”) will likely be higher than for the original loan. In the Lehman Panic, many companies found that rollovers were unavailable at any rate of interest. To avoid declaring bankruptcy, those companies had to either repay maturing loans by selling company assets at firesale prices or find a “White Knight,” such as another company willing to assume that obligation as part of an acquisition.
3. TBV:Px is a positive number. You want the stock’s price to include Tangible Book Value. Most S&P 500 companies don’t have TBV. Their book value lies in the perceived value of their brand.
4. Div:FCF is a positive number. Going into a Bear Market, you don’t want to own stock in companies that make a habit of borrowing money to pay their dividend. Always be suspicious of companies that don’t pay their dividend out of Free Cash Flow. 

There are other ways to know a company is likely to come through a Bear Market or recession unharmed. S&P stock and bond ratings are worth taking seriously: try to hold stock in A-rated companies (see Columns P and Q in the Table). Stick to companies with multiple product lines, i.e., those large enough to warrant inclusion in the Barron’s 500 List (see Columns N and O in the Table). That list ranks companies by cash flow and revenue. You can tell how a company is doing by comparing this year’s rank to last year’s. 

You’ll also want to restrict your choices to companies that pay growing dividends, even if the dividend is low. An S&P Dividend Achiever is a company that has raised its dividend annually for the past 10 yrs. With one exception, all of the companies in this week’s Table are Dividend Achievers. Union Pacific is the exception but UNP will become a Dividend Achiever next February with a scheduled dividend increase. 

Bottom Line: You can’t hope to keep up with the lowest-cost S&P 500 Index fund (VFINX at Line 21 in the Table) unless you stay invested in growth stocks. So, learn to pick growth stocks with clean Balance Sheets. Those are the ones likely to hold value in a Bear Market. Invest small amounts at a time by dollar-averaging your stock purchases automatically online. Then you’re certain to buy more shares per dollar invested when the market’s down.

Risk Rating: 6 (Treasuries = 1 and gold = 10)

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into NKE, MSFT and UNP, and also own shares of ROST, TJX, MMM, and EMR.

NOTE: Metrics are current for the Sunday of publication. Red highlights denote underperformance vs. VBINX at Line 19 in the Table. Net Present Value inputs are described and justified in the Appendix to Week 256. Briefly, Discount Rate = 9%, Holding Period = 10 years, Initial Cost = the moving average for stock price over the past 50 days, corrected for transaction costs of 2.5% when buying ~$5000 worth of shares. Dividend Growth Rate is the dividend CAGR for the past 16 years. Price Growth Rate is mean Price CAGR for the past 16 years (http://invest.kleinnet.com/bmw1/). Price Return from selling all shares in the 10th year is corrected for transaction costs of 2.5%. The NPV template is found at (http://www.investopedia.com/calculator/netpresentvalue.aspx).

Post questions and comments in the box below or send email to: irv.mcquarrie@InvestTuneRetire.com

Week 264 - High-quality Food and Agriculture Companies in the 2016 Barron's 500 List

Situation: The performance of food-related stocks is linked to the commodity supercycle, which has just completed a successful test of its 1998 low. Now would be a good time for you to prepare for the next commodity supercycle. You can buy mining and energy stocks while prices are low, but we’d rather have you think about buying food & agriculture stocks. Why? Because mining and energy stocks carry higher risk, whereas, food is both a daily requirement and in a growth market. This is because the number of people in East Asia alone who can afford to be adequately nourished has been increasing by almost 20 million persons a year for the past 20 yrs. The price of food also faces upward pressure, and is more likely to outstrip general inflation than to continue tracking it. Why? Because agriculture is the greatest consumer of water, and the steady expansion of drought-stricken areas is reducing the inventory of arable land that is able to support agriculture without irrigation.

Mission: Provide an update of food and agriculture companies listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges, by referencing the 2016 Barron’s 500 List of the largest companies by revenue. That list ranks companies by fundamental metrics (cash flow from operations, revenue) for the past 3 yrs. We highlight (using green) the companies that have improved their rank (see Table). We also exclude any that do not have an S&P bond rating of at least BBB+ and an S&P stock rating of at least B+/M. Companies with a BBB bond rating are also included if they carry an S&P stock rating of at least A-/M.

Execution: see Table.

Bottom Line: In the aggregate, these 12 companies are good investments. And, they’re safe enough to be long-term holdings in a retirement portfolio. The problem is that you’ll only choose to invest in two or three. To help you pick those, we’ve calculated Net Present Value (NPV) in Column AA of the Table. Ranked by NPV, and also considering safety metrics like Dividend Achiever status, General Mills (GIS), Hormel Foods (HRL) and Deere (DE) look like good bets. 

Risk Rating: 6 (where US Treasuries = 1 and gold = 10).

Full Disclosure: I own shares of GIS, HRL, KO, PEP, ADM, and DE.

NOTE: Metrics are current for the Sunday of publication. Red highlights denote underperformance vs. VBINX at Line 18 in the Table. NPV inputs are described and justified in the Appendix to Week 256. A shorthand way to estimate that a stock will have an investable NPV is highlighted in yellow at Column Q in the Table, i.e., 16-Yr CAGR (Column N) + Dividend Yield (Column G) needs to be 11.4% or higher.

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Week 248 - A-rated S&P 500 Growth Companies That Are Dividend Achievers And Have A Durable Competitive Advantage

Situation: Stocks are tricky investments to own, particularly “growth” stocks. How should you get started? You know by now that we believe the investor with less than a million dollars in net worth should focus on owning stock in S&P 500 companies. We particularly like those in the annual Barron’s 500 List of US and Canadian companies with the highest revenues. Stock prices reflect expected earnings growth. An easy way to find companies with steady earnings growth is to look for S&P’s Dividend Achievers, i.e., companies that have been increasing their dividend annually for at least the past 10 yrs. S&P also helps us by assigning each company in the S&P 500 Index to one of 10 industries, 6 of which are “growth” industries: Energy, Basic Materials, Financials, Industrials, Consumer Discretionary, and Information Technology. 

It helps to know how a company is capitalized. Does it mainly depend on selling common stock to attract investors, or does it prefer to float bond issues and sell preferred stock? If the answer is bonds and preferred stock, then the company’s book value will mainly reflect its brand value. (Accountants call that an “intangible” asset.) But if the answer is common stock, “tangible” assets may have more value than all the company’s liabilities. In other words, the company has what accountants call Tangible Book Value (TBV). If its stock price is no more than ~15 times TBV, it is undeniably solvent.

Mission: Develop a spreadsheet of growth companies in the Barron’s 500 List that are both Dividend Achievers and undeniably solvent. Focus on those with at least a 15 year trading history, taking care to exclude any with an S&P Bond Rating lower than A- or an S&P Stock Rating lower than A-/M. Then check to be sure TBV growth has at least doubled over the past decade and there haven’t been any more than 3 down years for TBV. In other words, the company meets Warren Buffett’s requirements for having a Durable Competitive Advantage (see Week 238).

Execution: There are only 5 companies that meet our criteria (see Table). In the aggregate, they’re no riskier than our key benchmark, VBINX at Line 12 in the Table. VBINX is essentially an S&P 500 Index fund that is 40% hedged with high quality bonds. Note in Column C of the Table that Total Returns over the past 2+ market cycles have been more than 3 times higher than the benchmark’s.

Bottom Line: If you’re new to stock picking, you’ve probably been confining your attention to “defensive” stocks, which are those issued by companies in the HealthCare, Utilities, Consumer Staples, and Communication Services industries. Your next step is to think about owning shares in “growth” stocks issued by companies in the Information Technology, Financial Services, Industrial, Consumer Discretionary, Basic Materials, and Energy industries. Those are riskier but have greater long-term returns. You can get help deciding which to own by screening for companies that a) grow their dividend reliably, b) have large revenues, c) have a Tangible Book Value (TBV), and d) meet Warren Buffett’s requirements for having a Durable Competitive Advantage (DCA): steady TBV growth that has at least doubled TBV over the past decade (i.e., growth of more than 7.1%/yr). We’ve run that screen and find that only 5 companies meet our requirements (see Table).

Risk Rating: 6

Full Disclosure: I dollar-average into NKE, MSFT and XOM, and also own shares of ROST and TJX.

NOTE: Metrics in the Table are current for the Sunday of publication; metrics highlighted in red denote underperformance vs. VBINX. Total Returns in Column C date to 9/1/2000, a peak of the S&P 500 Index.

Post questions and comments in the box below or send email to: irv.mcquarrie@InvestTuneRetire.com