Report
Valens Research

Valens Equity Insights and Inflections - 2020 06 23

AMKR currently trades at a discount to Uniform assets, with a 0.6x Uniform P/B (V/A'). At these levels, the market is pricing in expectations for Uniform ROA to improve from immaterial levels in 2019 to just 3% through 2024, accompanied by 4% Uniform asset growth going forward. Meanwhile, analysts have similarly muted expectations, projecting Uniform ROA to expand to 3% by 2021, accompanied by 2% Uniform asset shrinkage. That said, management is excited about their cost reduction actions and confident about their long-term growth strategy. Current valuations appear to be pricing in overly bearish expectations for AMKR, and should the firm just improve its profitability to historical averages, as positive management sentiment suggests, upside would be warranted.

COST Q3 2020 Embedded Expectations Analysis – Market expectations are for material Uniform ROA expansion, but management may be concerned about sales, margins, and their food courts

ABT Q1 2020 Embedded Expectations Analysis – Market expectations are for Uniform ROA to improve, and management is confident about coronavirus testing, FreeStyle Libre, and their manufacturing processes

URI Q1 2020 Embedded Expectations Analysis – Market expectations are for Uniform ROA to decline, but management is confident about their payment system and proceeds

AMKR, ABT, COST, URI, AAPL, AMZN, BURL, COO, CSX, DVA, INTC, KBH, LH, MSFT, PM, RAD, RIG, RPM, TSCO, WH
Underlyings
Abbott Laboratories

Abbott Laboratories is engaged in the discovery, development, manufacture, and sale of a range of health care products. The company's reportable segments are: established pharmaceutical products, which includes a range of generic pharmaceuticals; diagnostic products, which includes a range of diagnostic systems and tests; nutritional products, which includes a range of pediatric and adult nutritional products; and medical devices, which includes a range of rhythm management, electrophysiology, heart failure, vascular and structural heart devices for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes care products for people with diabetes, as well as neuromodulation devices.

Amazon.com Inc.

Amazon.com serves consumers through its online and physical stores. The company also manufactures and sells electronic devices, including Kindle, Fire tablet, Fire TV, Echo, and Ring, and the company develops and produces media content. The company operates customer service centers and provides programs that enable sellers to grow their businesses, sell their products in its stores, and fulfill orders through the company The company serves developers and enterprises of various sizes, including start-ups, government agencies, and academic institutions, through its Amazon Web Services segment, which provides a set of global compute, storage, database, and other service offerings. The company also provides services, such as advertising.

Amkor Technology Inc.

Amkor Technology is a provider of outsourced semiconductor packaging and test services, which include semiconductor wafer bump, wafer probe, wafer back-grind, package design, packaging, system-level and final test and drop shipment services. The company's Advanced Products include flip chip chip scale packages, wafer-level packages and flip chip ball grid array packages, while its Mainstream Products include leadframe packages, substrate-based wirebond packages and micro-electro-mechanical systems packages. The company provides its services to integrated device manufacturers, fabless semiconductor companies and contract foundries.

Apple Inc.

Apple designs, manufactures and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories, and sells a variety of related services. The company's products include: iPhone; Mac; iPad; and wearables, home and accessories, which includes AirPods?, Apple TV?, Apple Watch?, Beats? products, HomePod?, iPod touch? and other Apple-branded and third-party accessories. The company's services include: digital content stores and streaming services; AppleCare, which includes AppleCare + (AC+) and the AppleCare Protection Plan; iCloud, which is the company's cloud service; licensing; and other services, which include Apple Arcade?, Apple Card?, Apple News+, and Apple Pay, a cashless payment service.

BURLINGTON STORES INC.

Burlington Stores is a holding company. Through its indirect subsidiary, Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation sells merchandise including: women's ready-to-wear apparel, accessories, footwear, menswear, youth apparel, baby, home, coats, beauty, toys and gifts. The company operates stores under the names Burlington Stores, Cohoes Fashions, Super Baby Depot, MJM Designer Shoes and an online store. Cohoes Fashions provides products similar to those offered by Burlington Stores. MJM Designer Shoes provides moderately priced designer and fashion shoes. The Super Baby Depot stores provides baby clothing, accessories, furniture and other merchandise in the middle to higher price range.

Cooper Companies Inc.

Cooper Companies is a global medical device company. The company operates through CooperVision and CooperSurgical business units. CooperVision is a manufacturer providing products for contact lens wearers. CooperVision designs its products for astigmatism, presbyopia, myopia, ocular dryness and eye fatigues with a collection of spherical, toric and multifocal contact lenses. CooperVision is engaged in myopia management and specialty eye care markets with products, such as orthokeratology and scleral lenses. CooperSurgical focuses on improving the health of women, babies and families through a portfolio of products and services including medical devices, fertility, diagnostics and contraception.

Costco Wholesale Corporation

Costco Wholesale and its subsidiaries are principally engaged in the operation of membership warehouses based on the concept of providing its members low prices on a selection of nationally branded and private-label products. The company's merchandise are: food and sundries, which include dry foods, packaged foods, and groceries, snack foods, candy, alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, and cleaning supplies; hardlines, which include appliances, electronics, health and beauty aids, hardware, and garden and patio; fresh food, which include meat, produce, deli, and bakery; softlines, which include apparel and small appliances; and ancillary, which include gas stations and pharmacy businesses.

CSX Corporation

CSX provides rail-based freight transportation services. The company's principal operating subsidiary, CSX Transportation, Inc., provides a link to the transportation supply chain through its rail network, which serves centers in states east of the Mississippi River, the District of Columbia and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The company's CSX Intermodal Terminals, Inc. subsidiary owns and operates a system of intermodal terminals, primarily in the eastern United States and also performs drayage services (the pickup and delivery of intermodal shipments). The company's Total Distribution Services, Inc. subsidiary serves the automotive industry with distribution centers and storage locations.

DaVita Inc.

DaVita is a healthcare provider focused on transforming care delivery to improve quality of life for patients. The company's United States dialysis business provides kidney dialysis services for patients suffering from end stage renal disease (ESRD). The company's dialysis services include outpatient hemodialysis services, hospital inpatient hemodialysis services, home-based dialysis services, ESRD laboratory services, and management services. The company's ancillary services and strategic initiatives businesses include disease management services, physician services, ESRD Seamless Care Organization joint ventures, clinical research programs, vascular access services, as well as international dialysis operations.

Intel Corporation

Intel is a data-centric company. The company's operating segments are: Data Center Group, which develops platforms for compute, storage, and network functions; Internet of Things Group, which facilitates its customers creating, storing, and processing data; Mobileye, which provides assistance and automation solutions; Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group, which provides memory and storage products based on Intel? Optane? technology and Intel? 3D NAND technology; Programmable Solutions Group, which provides programmable semiconductors; and Client Computing Group, which connects people to data, allowing each person to focus, create, and engage in ways that unlock their individual potential.

KB Home

KB Home is a homebuilding company. The company builds a variety of homes designed primarily for first-time and first move-up, as well as second move-up and active adult homebuyers, including attached and detached single-family residential homes, townhomes and condominiums. The company's financial services operations provide various insurance products to its homebuyers in the markets where it builds homes and provide title services in certain of those markets. The company's financial services operations also provide mortgage banking services, including residential consumer mortgage loan originations, to its homebuyers indirectly through KBHS Home Loans, LLC, a joint venture the company formed with Stearns Lending, LLC.

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings is a life sciences company that is focused on guiding patient care. The company reports its business in the following segments: LabCorp Diagnostics (LCD) and Covance Drug Development (CDD). LCD is an independent clinical laboratory business. LCD provides a menu of requested and specialty testing through a network of primary and specialty laboratories across the United States. CDD provides drug development, medical device and diagnostic development solutions from early-stage research to clinical development and commercial market access. CDD engages in early development and clinical trials in each therapeutic category.

Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft is a technology company. The company develops and supports software, services, devices, and solutions. The company provides an array of services, including cloud-based solutions as well as solution support and consulting services. The company also delivers relevant online advertising. The company's products include operating systems; cross-device productivity applications; server applications; business solution applications; desktop and server management tools; software development tools; and video games. The company also designs, manufactures, and sells devices, including personal computers, tablets, gaming and entertainment consoles, other devices, and related accessories.

Philip Morris International Inc.

Philip Morris International is a holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the company is a tobacco company engaged in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes, smoke-free products and associated electronic devices and accessories, and other nicotine-containing products in markets outside the United States. The company's portfolio comprises international and local brands including Marlboro, which is complemented in the premium-price category by Parliament. The company's other international cigarette brands are Bond Street, Chesterfield, L&M, Lark and Philip Morris. The company also owns various local cigarette brands, such as Dji Sam Soe, Sampoerna A and Sampoerna U in Indonesia, and Fortune and Jackpot in the Philippines.

Rite Aid Corporation

Rite Aid is a pharmacy retail healthcare company. The company's Retail Pharmacy segment sells brand and generic prescription drugs, as well as an assortment of front-end products including health and beauty aids, personal care products, seasonal merchandise, and a private brand product line. The company's Pharmacy Services segment provides pharmacy benefit management (PBM) options through its EnvisionRxOptions and MedTrak PBMs, respectively. EnvisionRxOptions also provides mail-order and specialty pharmacy services through EnvisionPharmacies; a claims adjudication software platform in Laker Software; and a national Medicare Part D prescription drug plan through its EnvisionRx Plus product offering.

RPM INTERNATIONAL INC

RPM International manufactures, markets and sells various chemical product lines, including paints, infrastructure rehab and repair products, protective coatings, roofing systems, sealants and adhesives. The company's segments include: industrial, which includes maintenance and protection products and services for roofing and waterproofing systems; specialty, which includes industrial cleaners, restoration services equipment, colorants, exterior finishes, edible coatings and other coatings; and consumer, which includes rust-preventative, special purpose and decorative paints, caulks, sealants, primers, nail enamels, cement cleaners, floor sealers and woodcare coatings and other consumer products.

Tractor Supply Company

Tractor Supply is a rural lifestyle retailer. The company is focused on supplying the needs of recreational farmers, ranchers and all those who enjoy living the rural lifestyle, as well as tradesmen and small businesses. The company operates retail stores under the names Tractor Supply Company, Del's Feed & Farm Supply, and Petsense and operates websites under the names TractorSupply.com and Petsense.com. The company's selection of merchandise is comprised of the following main product categories: equine, livestock, pet, and small animal products; hardware, truck, towing, and tool products; seasonal products; work/recreational clothing and footwear; and maintenance products for agricultural and rural use.

Transocean Ltd.

United Rentals Inc.

United Rentals is an equipment rental company that operates throughout the United States and Canada, and Europe. The company's general rentals segment includes the rental of construction, aerial and industrial equipment, general tools and light equipment, and related services and activities. This segment's customers include construction and industrial companies, manufacturers, utilities, municipalities and homeowners. The company's trench, power and fluid solutions segment includes the rental of construction products and related services. This segment consist of: Trench Safety region, Power and Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning region; and Fluid Solutions and Fluid Solutions Europe regions.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Inc.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts is a hotel franchisor, licensing its hotel brands to hotel owners around the world. The company operates in the following segments: Hotel franchising, which licenses the company's lodging brands and provides related services to third-party hotel owners and others; and Hotel management, which provides hotel management services for full-service and limited-service hotels as well as several hotels that are owned by the company

Provider
Valens Research
Valens Research

In 2009, just as the dust was settling from the last major equity and credit market crises, we launched a boutique research firm with the intention of breaking Wall Street’s biases and broken incentives:

  • GAAP and IFRS have failed to provide rules for reliable financial statement reporting
  • Stock analyst recommendations are not grounded in disciplined financial analysis
  • Credit agencies have been set up to grossly fail in their responsibilities to investors and the public markets
  • Utter lack of willingness of major research firms to employ the the most advanced forensic analysis available

We sought to provide investors and company analysts with a source of information that changed all that.
Many years later, our business model remains because little has changed on Wall Street.

  • Corporate credit ratings remain years behind the fundamental underpinnings of company performance
  • Stock analysts continue to make recommendations with deeply inherent biases
  • Research firms have failed to break down the walls between credit, equity, and macroeconomic research
  • The governing accounting bodies have created more leeway for mis-estimates and mis-classifications as financials have become unwieldy and overwhelming

The integrity of Valens Research is founded in our disciplined processes and analytics. No “star” analysts. No corporate advisory relationships. No-nonsense opinions and recommendations.

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