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Valens Research

Valens Equity Insights and Inflections - 2019 10 08

PFE currently trades near recent averages relative to UAFRS-based (Uniform) Earnings, with a 15.2x Uniform P/E. At these levels, the market is pricing in expectations for Uniform ROA to decline from 19% in 2018 to 14% in 2023, accompanied by 2% Uniform Asset shrinkage going forward. However, analysts have less bearish expectations, projecting Uniform ROA to only decline to 17% by 2020, accompanied by 3% Uniform Asset shrinkage. Additionally, management is confident about their Array and Mylan transactions. Current valuations appear to be pricing in overly bearish expectations for PFE, and should they see profitability remain flat or expand, as recent profitability trends and positive management sentiment would suggest, material upside would be warranted.

XOM Q2 2019 Embedded Expectations Analysis – Market expectations are for Uniform ROA to remain muted, but management is confident about their operations growth and future opportunities

DHR Q2 2019 Embedded Expectations Analysis – Market expectations are for Uniform ROA expansion, but management may be concerned about China, innovation, and their positioning

DXC Q1 2020 Embedded Expectations Analysis – Market expectations are for a material decline in Uniform ROA, but management is confident about their pipeline, cloud business, and free cash flow


PFE, DHR, DXC, XOM, ACAD, AMT, ANET, ARMK, CHTR, CRM, FOXA, GE, HOLX, IONS, IT, MPWR, PAYC, PKG, SSNC, SWKS
Underlyings
ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Acadia Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of medicines focusing on central nervous system disorders. The company has a portfolio of product including its drug, NUPLAZID (pimavanserin), which has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson's disease psychosis (PD Psychosis). NUPLAZID is a selective serotonin inverse agonist preferentially targeting 5-HT2A receptors with no appreciable affinity for dopaminergic, histaminergic, or muscarinic receptors.

American Tower Corporation

American Tower is a holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the company is a real estate investment trusts and an independent owner, operator and developer of multitenant communications real estate. The company's primary business is the leasing of space on communications sites to wireless service providers, radio and television broadcast companies, wireless data providers, government agencies and municipalities and tenants in a number of other industries. The company also provides tower-related services, including site acquisition, zoning and permitting and structural analysis, which primarily support the company's site leasing business, including the addition of new tenants and equipment on its sites.

Aramark

Aramark is a provider of food, facilities and uniform services. The company manages its Food and Support Services (FSS) business in segments split between its United States and International operations. The company's FSS segments manage a number of interrelated services-including food, hospitality, procurement and facility services-for school districts, colleges and universities, healthcare facilities, businesses, sports, entertainment and recreational venues, conference and convention centers, national and state parks and correctional institutions. The company's Uniform and Career Apparel segment provides employee uniform solution, including design, sourcing and manufacturing, delivery, cleaning and maintenance.

Arista Networks Inc.

Arista Networks is engaged in providing cloud networking solutions, which consist of its Extensible Operating System (EOS), a set of network applications and its Ethernet switching and routing platforms. The programmability of EOS enable the company to create a set of software applications that address the requirements of cloud networking, including workflow automation, network visibility and analytics, and enable the company to integrate with third-party applications for virtualization, management, automation, orchestration and network services. EOS supports cloud and virtualization solutions, including VMware NSX, Microsoft System Center, OpenStack and other cloud management frameworks.

Charter Communications Inc. Class A

Charter Communications is a holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the company is a cable operator and a broadband communications company providing video, Internet and voice services. The company also provides its mobile service to residential customers. In addition, the company sells video and online advertising inventory to local, regional and national advertising customers and communications and managed solutions to enterprise customers. The company also owns and operates regional sports networks and local sports, news and community channels. The company owns and operates a two-way telecommunications network which passes various households and small and medium businesses across United States.

DANAHER CORPORATION

Danaher designs, manufactures and markets medical, industrial and commercial products and services. The company's segments include: Life Sciences, which provides research tools to study genes, proteins, metabolites and cells, in order to understand the causes of disease, identify therapies and test drugs and vaccines; Diagnostics, which provides analytical instruments, reagents, consumables, software and services that hospitals, physicians' offices, reference laboratories and other critical care settings use to diagnose disease and make treatment decisions; and Environmental and Applied Solutions, which provides products and services to protect resources and global food and water supplies.

DXC Technology Co.

DXC Technology is an end-to-end IT services company. The company provides a range of information technology services and solutions primarily in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The company operates through two segments: Global Business Services, which provides technology solutions that help the company's clients address main business challenges and improve digital transformations tailored to each client's industry and objectives; and Global Infrastructure Services, which provides a portfolio of offerings that deliver predictable outcomes and measurable results, while reducing business risk and operational costs for clients.

Exxon Mobil Corporation

Exxon Mobil operates or markets products in United States and other countries through its divisions and affiliated companies. The company's business involves exploration for, and production of, crude oil and natural gas and manufacture, trade, transport and sale of crude oil, natural gas, petroleum products, petrochemicals and other products. In United States, the company's development activities are focused on the onshore United States, in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico and the Bakken oil play in North Dakota. Gas development activities are also focused on the Marcellus Shale of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, the Utica Shale of Ohio and the Haynesville Shale of East Texas and Louisiana.

Fox Corporation Class A

Fox is a news, sports and entertainment company. The company has three segments: Cable Network Programming, which consists of the production and licensing of news and sports content distributed primarily through cable television systems, direct broadcast satellite operators and telecommunication companies and online multi-channel video programming distributors; Television, which consists of the acquisition, marketing and distribution of broadcast network programming nationally under the FOX brand and the operation of several broadcast television stations; and Other, Corporate and Eliminations, which consists of corporate overhead costs, intracompany eliminations and the FOX Studios lot.

Gartner Inc.

Gartner is a research and advisory company. The company's principal products and services are delivered through its three business segments: Research, which provides insights and advice across various functional areas of the enterprise through research, briefings, proprietary tools, access to the company's research personnel, peer networking services and membership programs; Conferences, which provides business personnel across an organization the opportunity to learn, share and network; and Consulting, which helps chief information officers and other senior executives driving technology-related strategic initiatives move from insight to action.

General Electric Company

General Electric is a technology industrial company. The company's segments include: Power, which serves power generation, industrial, government and other customers with products and services related to energy production; Renewable Energy, which engineers and manufactures energy equipment and projects, grid solutions and digital services; Aviation, which designs and produces commercial and military aircraft engines, digital components, electric power and mechanical aircraft systems; Healthcare, which provides healthcare technologies; and Capital, which provides financial products and services that build on the company's industry capabilities in aviation, power, renewables, healthcare and other activities.

Hologic Inc.

Hologic is a developer, manufacturer and supplier of diagnostics products, medical imaging systems, surgical products and light-based aesthetic and medical treatment systems. The company's segments are: Diagnostics, which provides diagnostic products which are used to aid in the diagnosis of human diseases; Breast Health, which provides solutions for breast cancer care for radiology, pathology and surgery; Medical Aesthetics, which provides aesthetic treatment systems, including SculpSure, PicoSure and MonaLisa Touch; GYN Surgical, which includes NovaSure Endometrial Ablation System to treat abnormal uterine bleeding; and Skeletal Health, which includes the Horizon DXA, a dual energy x-ray system.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals is engaged in discovering and developing RNA-targeted therapeutics. The company has two commercial medicines, SPINRAZA and TEGSEDI. SPINRAZA (nusinersen) injection for intrathecal use is a survival motor neuron-2, directed antisense oligonucleotide indicated for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy in pediatric and adult patients. TEGSEDI (inotersen) injection is a Generation 2+ antisense medicine and an approved subcutaneous RNA-targeting medicine designed to treat people with polyneuropathy caused by hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis.

Monolithic Power Systems Inc.

Monolithic Power Systems is a fabless semiconductor company. The company designs, develops and markets power solutions for systems found in consumer, computing and storage, automotive, industrial, communications and consumer applications. The company's primary product families include the following: Direct Current (DC) to DC products, which are used to convert and control voltages within a range of electronic systems such as portable electronic devices, wireless Local Area Network access points, computers, and monitors, automobiles and medical equipment; and Lighting Control Products, which include lighting control integrated circuits that are used in backlighting and general illumination products.

Packaging Corporation of America

Packaging Corporation of America is a producer of containerboard products and a producer of uncoated freesheet paper. The company's segments include: Packaging, which produces a variety of corrugated packaging products, including shipping containers, multi-color boxes and displays, and honeycomb protective packaging, as well as produces packaging for meat, fresh fruit and vegetables, processed food, beverages, and other industrial and consumer products; Paper, which manufactures and sells papers, including both commodity and specialty papers; and Corporate and Other, which includes transportation assets, such as rail cars and trucks, to transport the company's products to and from its manufacturing sites.

Paycom Software Inc.

Paycom Software is a provider of cloud-based human capital management (HCM) solution delivered as Software-as- a-Service. The company provides functionality and data analytics that businesses need to manage the complete employment lifecycle, from recruitment to retirement. The company's solution requires virtually no customization and is based on a core system of record maintained in a single database for various HCM functions, including talent acquisition, time and labor management, payroll, talent management and human resources management applications. The company's solution was developed in-house and is based on a single platform, there is no need to integrate, update or access various databases.

Pfizer Inc.

Pfizer is a research-based biopharmaceutical company. The company is engaged in discovering, developing, manufacturing and distributing of healthcare products, including medicines and vaccines. The company manages its commercial operations through three businesses: Pfizer Biopharmaceuticals Group, which includes Oncology, Inflammation and Immunology, Rare Disease, Hospital, Vaccines and Internal Medicine business units, as well as a hospital business unit; Upjohn, which includes the company's solid oral dose brands such as Lyrica, Lipitor, Norvasc, Celebrex, Viagra, and certain generic medicines; and Consumer Healthcare, which is an over-the-counter medicines business.

Salesforce.com inc.

Salesforce.Com is engaged in customer relationship management technology. The company's Customer 360 is an integrated platform that unites sales, service, marketing, commerce, integration, analytics and more to give companies a single, shared view of their customers. Through its platform and other developer tools, the company also enables third parties to develop additional functionality and applications, or apps, that run on its platform, which are sold separately from or in conjunction with the company's service offerings. The company's cloud service offerings include sales cloud, service cloud, marketing and commerce cloud, and salesforce platform and other.

Skyworks Solutions Inc.

Skyworks Solutions is a provider of analog semiconductors that connect people, places, and things, spanning a number of applications within the aerospace, automotive, broadband, cellular infrastructure, connected home, industrial, medical, military, smartphone, tablet and wearable markets. The company's product portfolio consists of various solutions, including: amplifiers, antenna tuners, attenuators, circulators/isolators, wireless analog system on chip, direct current (DC)/DC converters, demodulators, detectors, diodes, directional couplers, diversity receive modules, filters, front-end modules, hybrid, light emitting diode drivers, low noise amplifiers, mixers, and modulators.

SS&C Technologies Holdings Inc.

SS&C Technologies Holdings is a holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the company is a provider of software products and software-enabled services that allow financial services providers to automate business processes and manage their information processing requirements. The company provides its solutions to clients principally within the institutional asset and wealth management, alternative investment management, financial advisory and financial institutions vertical markets. In addition, the company's clients include commercial lenders, real estate investment trusts, corporate treasury groups, insurance and pension funds, municipal finance groups and real estate property managers.

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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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